Shadowdark

Posted 19 Jan 2025 to Fantasy

A great OSR game which is easy to pick up and play.

XP Card

Sessions GM'd: 8
Sessions as Player: 2

I Used

Shadowdark core book (link). I also purchased a 3rd party booklet (link) with animal-kind ancestries (like cat people) because Thousand Thousand Islands has a lot of those. We played on Foundry, which supplied all content for free. We did not use any of the third party classes that have been published. I also played 2 sessions in an online campaign I found, as a canny dwarf.

Overview

Our campaign was set in fantasy South East Asia, using the booklet adventures for Thousand Thousand Islands and the first part of Reach of the Roach God. Our PCs were a mage from a foreign land (who was wonderfully portrayed using body paint to cast spells), a priest of a scorpion cult, a warrior (skilled tracker and archer), and a canny thief without a sense of self-preservation. I presented a small hex map and dropped in hooks to some of the adventures. We knew this was going to be a short campaign, and tried to keep the pace fast. Our characters reached level 4 by the end of 8 sessions.

The Good

So easy to run. The fact that treasure is intentionally randomly generated lifts a burden from the GM, and adds excitement to the table when we all lean forward to see what weird treasure we find. There are also a variety of random tables to help with improvisation cues. This is a great gateway rpg system.

Foundry has everything you need, including monsters and magic items. The game really is drag and drop and handles all the mechanics.

Carousing was great. In between adventures, players can spend their gold and roll on a table and earn XP but also discover a rival or ally. This was fun to do! And a wonderful money sink. It meant that players often started the adventure with only pocket change, which kept them hungry for adventure.

Magic works great. Rolling for spellcasting feels exciting. Every time a player cast a spell, there was an audible sigh of relief when it worked. If you fail that roll, then you lose access to the spell until you rest, which is a significant set back - especially at low level. It also means that learning a new spell is a significant gain for a player - they now have another useful tool in their toolbox. Something to fall back on, if their favourite spell is lost for the day. I was able to be generous with scrolls, and was able to use some of the weirder, more unique spells (such as "Speak with Insects") that our adventures included, because players were going to be able to use them, without having to waste a spell slot on it.

Real risk of death. When a character reaches 0 hit points, they roll 1d4 to see how many rounds they live. This happened frequently, at least every session (our thief only had 3 hit points at level 2), and I added a visible clock on to the screen for everyone to see. It really felt like it added urgency to the scene, without being overly punitive.

Good selection of monsters. Most of the classics are here, and a broad selection that I could use for reskinning where needed.

Back to basics XP. For the last few years, I have been using milestone level advancement. This time, I deliberately used a trickle feed of XP. As the players finished a scene or room, I gave them XP for it. Players commented that this was a good way to run Shadowdark, as it kept the just-one-more-room urge to push their luck strong.

The Not-So-Good

Quite squishy characters, particularly below level 3. I accept this is part of the game design. We had one character death in our first session, and everyone was a lot more cautious after that. PCs have very few hit points (less than 10 HPs until level 3+), and tend to go down easily. This makes fights exciting, but it also makes characters feel more disposable.

Real time mechanics didn't really change the game for us. Supposedly one of the unique aspects of this game are the torches which deplete in real time 60 minutes. It is supposed to help spur the players into quick actions and to speedily move through dungeons. I didn't feel it had that effect. A torch costs merely 1sp, and is only relevant when you are in the dungeon. Our game spent a lot of time exploring forests, and engaging in shenanigans in town. Those times that we did go underground, we did use the torch mechanic, but it was not a big deal. If you have 4 players and each carries 2 torches, then you can be down there for 8 real time hours. My games don't tend to come anywhere close to that amount of dungeoneering. Torches are easily replenished when back in town.

Random character progression. When you level up, you roll on a table to see what benefit you gain. It could be extra stat points, or it could be a bonus to your attacks. Mechanically, this was fine, but it also made the characters feel a bit disposable. If your PC mainly works as an archer, it can be disappointing to gain a bonus to melee attacks. My players didn't seem to mind, but I think we were all just aiming to have fun without taking the game very seriously, and this was a contributing factor. I bet it works well for beer and pretzels style groups.

Stealth Archer is the best way to play. Much like Skyrim, players gradually learn that the ability to attack from afar, preferably before the enemy knows you are there, is the best way to deal with combat. I guess this is realistic and pragmatic.

Verdict

I think this is a great little system. I have tried a variety of OSR systems and this is certainly the most accessible. It was quick to play and quick to create characters. It lends itself to a light hearted fun campaign.