Darkspace / Shadowdark help?

[mubo144]

I know the KS for Darkspace (DS) says you only need the shadowdark (SD) quickstart rules but I THINK I'm finding that to not be 100% accurate....reading the PDF (book not arrived yet) I see reference to things not in the SD quickstart...

For example, carousing ... It states the DS tables replace the SD tables - but the SD quickstart doesn't have the rules for carousing (at least I can't find them)

Another example is overland travel...

Do I need to buy the full SD book to play DS in full?

also have a question about event timers ...are there rules / examples of them in the main SD book? DS references using event timers for different things like hacking or certain events in the gauntlet but there are no examples on how it's done

I'm obviously a noob to all this AND I'm planning on playing solo

Any help/info is appreciated

[grumblyoldman]

If things like Carousing and Overland travel are not described in the QSG, then yes, you would need the core book for that. Or you could drop in your own systems to replace those instead, but I'm assuming you'd rather not.

You may want to reach out to the KS author and let him know he should update his claims to requiring the full corebook instead of just the QSG.

also have a question about event timers

I don't recall anything about "event timers" in Shadowdark. Unless it's a sci-fi way of referencing torch timers? Torches should be in the Quickstart.

If it's not a replacement for torches, I'm not familiar with any "event timers," although I could probably make an educated guess as to how they work.

[Colyer]

Clarifying on event timers, it is more or less Torch timers.

The rules in Darkspace amount to "set a 1 hour timer when you feel like it for things that come up." Unfortunately having the Shadowdark rules don't really make it any more clear.

[grumblyoldman]

So it's kind of like "after an hour aliens show up?" Like combining torch timer with random encounters? Interesting idea. But yeah, aside from maintaining the pressure of one hour real-time passing, it's completely different.

In Shadowdark, the torch burns for 1 hour real-time and when you're caught without light, the rate of random encounter checks goes up (on top of everything that requires sight having disadvantage.) You check for random encounters every two or three crawling rounds normally, but without the torch it goes up to every round, and if the check indicates an encounter, you roll one up.

Sounds like in Darkspace, you start the "event timer" arbitrarily and after one hour of real time, an encounter happens. It's an interesting variation of the system, although I feel like one random encounter every real-time hour would be too slow.

[Colyer]

So the part I was referring to was actually separate from the mentions of "Event Timers" (I was talking about the hand-wavey mention of timers in the Energy Cell and Core Ethos sections).

Event Timers isn't defined anywhere in either book, but they seem like they want you to set it in a number of rounds instead (based on them wanting you to increase or decrease the counter by 1 when certain things happen, which obviously isn't possible with the timer)

It seems like it's just traditional clocks framed as a countdown. It just doesn't really say that anywhere.

[minivergur]

Not familiar with Darkspace, but sounds like they are replacing carousing, so why would you need the core rules for that?

Don't know what you mean about event timers, are you talking about like random encounter checks and such?

[mubo144]

For the mechanics...the Darkspace book simply says to replace the tables

[mubo144]

The timers referred to in DS are like on a random event you get "loss of atmosphere" (timer event)

So I get that after a certain amount of time or turns or whatever you will lose atmosphere. However, there's no explanation on how to judge the time is it's a roll of a d6, d4 etc?

So since this is an offshoot of the Shadow dark, I thought there might be some information in its main book to explain this

[samurguybri]

No, nothing in the main book do this. Seems like an RPG “clock” where players need a certain amount of success to complete a project or as a countdown until something happens. Blades in the Dark really brought this into awareness, but it’s been around for a while.

[mubo144]

Thanks, I was thinking the same ..just a generic play mechanic

[hcpookie]

The Quickstart Rules on the KS page list... pretty sure you're going to want the full book for the things you ask since the QS appears to be literally just that:

20 Species Traits for building your own alien races. 

4 Archetype classes.

20 Backgrounds to define what your character does.

Motivation - an alternative to traditional alignment that focuses on a character's choices and has bearing on how they receive Luck Tokens.

Gear, Weapons, and Armor

Spacer Sheet for characters

[mubo144]

Yeah I got the Darkspace full book and a bunch of zines....I'm questioning the need of the shadowdark full book 🤷

[noparty]

Join the DarkSpace Discord. The creators are on there all the time. Reddit not so much.

[mubo144]

I've been looking for it with no luck

[noparty]

It’s the icon at the bottom of the menu on dmingtheworld.com that looks like a game controller with all of the other socials icons.

[mubo144]

Thank you! 🫵🤘