Book Overview: Yndaros – the Darkest Star

I just picked up the latest adventure book in the Throne of Thorns campaign, the official epic series from Järnringen. It’s in Swedish (Yndaros: Slocknad stjärna), but I know a lot of you international Symbaroum players are curious about its contents. So here’s a quick overview of what’s in the book:

The first chapter follows the same structure as the location books on Thistle Hold and Karvosti. Yndaros is detailed with a gorgeous new map, locations of interest, major historical events, famous taverns, inns, and rumors of goings-on.

The second chapter has a very detailed map of Ambria including the boundaries of its 65 counties and baronies, as well as the capitals of each of those provinces. The chapter also has information on the major houses active in the royal domain of Yndarien and some of the distinctive geographical areas of the duchy. This is expanded on later in the book with a chapter dedicated to the background and motivations for the greatest noble houses in the kingdom.

The Game Master’s section opens with a lot of detail on Korinthia’s imprisonment by the Dark Lords during the Great War, as well as going into some of the motivations of the enemy. Some of the other revelations of the GM’s section also expands on the reasons for why the dwarven noble families were driven out of Küam Zamok.

Some of you may enjoy that the book has a detailed structuring of the Ambrian calendar, including all the names of the months (new and historical) as well as the names for the days of the week!

There are almost seven pages dedicated to detailing what the various factions have been up to in the (suggested) three months between the Witch Hammer and Darkest Star, and ten adventure seeds for things that a player group could get up to during a stay in Yndaros.

The chapters on additional rules includes five pages on Mystical Ceremonies (a grander type of ritual with several mystics involved and terrifying effects), four new Monstrous Traits (Corruption Sensitivity, Stampede, Mystical Resistance, Penetrating Attack), one new Mystical Power (Dimensional Travel, Sorcery), three new Abilities (the three that were included with the Ability cards in the recent Kickstarter campaign: Armor Wrestling, Two-Handed Finesse, and Whip Fighter), Mystical Qualities for weapons that can hypnotise opponents or sunder their armor and shields, two new monsters, and optional rules for characters that go without sleep for extended periods of time.

Later in the main adventure you can also find Pansár given as a new Elite Profession (as Wrath Guard was in Karvosti), which has Two-Handed Finesse as its special ability.

Notably, the book does not have any new adventuring rules – as the Thistle Hold and Karvosti books have included with structure for organising and launching expeditions and constructing random ruins. The book also doesn’t have any prepared minor adventures as were found in the Ruins of Davokar section of the Thistle Hold book.

I haven’t looked over the main adventure itself yet, but I will spend time reading it over my Christmas break.

2 Replies to “Book Overview: Yndaros – the Darkest Star”

  1. Awesome! I cannot wait for the Kickstarter for the English version.

  2. It’s surely a sign that Jarnringen listens to its public. A full calendar, a detailed map, and much, much more. It’s a shame that here in Italy we won’t have a chance to read this adventure until 2019.

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