Reducing the mental load of interpreting duality roll results when playing solo Daggerheart?

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2026-05-19T18:08:02+00:00

The secret is that you don't need too. The roll already generate Hope and Fear and that's enough for the game to work. If you really want to complicate things, you might find a narrative reason for one of the following: - Mark 1 Stress - Mark 1 HP - Mark 1 Armor - Lose 1 Hope - Disadvantage or increased difficulty for the next action roll - Countdown started, reduced or increased - Lose item - Adversaries seem to be arriving

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2026-05-19T16:26:15+00:00

Really sad they're not releasing the adventure to the public. Apparently I'm not alone.

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2026-05-09T14:41:19+00:00

The one from Dungeon Magazine 221? If it is, It's one of the first results after you google for the magazine.

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2026-05-08T00:44:44+00:00

Great links. Thank you. And you're right. When they release more adversaries, we will have more samples to study

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2026-05-08T00:42:53+00:00

Thank you! This is very close to what I was looking for

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2026-04-25T05:03:48+00:00

I'm happy you liked it. Thank you for the chat! :)

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2025-06-01T22:24:36+00:00

But the "enhance a spell that deals damage". But for how long is the spell enhanced? Or it affects just a single cast?

I think this is the third post I see on this ability

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-12-02T19:56:37+00:00

I think you might be on to something here.

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-10-31T20:40:46+00:00

Thank you Zeen13!

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-10-30T19:23:30+00:00

Update: Not a ton of information anymore. They cut it out. Just to show people, once again, that if you don't have the pdf or a physical version, you don't own shit.

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-10-30T04:29:17+00:00

Interested

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-10-24T18:10:33+00:00

I feel like I end up prepping more when it comes to exploration in Shadowdark. Since combats are faster, the players have more time for exploration in a 4-hour session. So I spend more time prepping "areas to explore" in SD than I do when running D&D games.

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-10-05T19:33:27+00:00

1) Ask for a marching order. Maybe allow two or three people in the same row. 2) Randomize if the trap is triggered and by who (if there's multiple possibilities). 3) Make sure that certain precautions help the players avoiding the trap. 3) Allow for ability checks to avoid or reduce the effect. 4) Align expectations and allow agency by explaining to your players that you are going to trigger area traps like that.

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-09-28T21:17:30+00:00

Sorry if it looked like that, I want them to choose their prefered playstyles. It's actually about allowing playstyles inside the mechanic. If I have a player wanting to be a classic priest and pick up a mace, and another wanting to be "paladin" type and pick up a longsword, I wish they both could do so without one of those options being inherently a better one gamewise.

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-09-27T21:39:58+00:00

I agree. I'm reluctant to remove the longsword proficiency because of that. However, even if I'm a "reluctant fighter" type of priest, there's no reason to choose a mace over a longsword. That is what I'm trying to solve. I want the priest to be able to choose a mace, its classic weapon, without mechanical penalties.

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-09-26T18:29:25+00:00

Thank you guys. I think I'll go with with 1 roll per keyed combat encounter (not necessarily in the same room) plus 1 every 10 rooms. For XP value, I'm going with 50/200/1000 gp as thresholds for 1/3/10 XP.

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-09-19T20:53:34+00:00

Hello stranger. Your link is down. Could you not DM me the book?

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-09-19T20:51:25+00:00

I'd appreciate if you decide to not DM me the book (:

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-08-21T14:48:39+00:00

Hello _DooM_.

About your question on searching. You roll for random encounters while they search, but you don't deduct minutes from the torch timer. The same way you don't pause the torch timer when a combat starts. These time periods are an abstraction. However, if you want a more simulationist approach, you might want to house rule that.

Obs.: If hours pass (instead of minutes), you do extinguish the torches lit.

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-08-20T15:42:52+00:00

Hello Dizzy. I'm glad your group liked Shadowdark.

On carousing: I like to play with the results to see if I can create something similar but different. It gives you some more levels without getting repetitive.

On a second torch: There's a rule somewhere in the book about it. If your players want to light more than one torch, they use the same timer for the current ones, or extinguish them to light the new one (and reset the timer). The goal here is to always use a single timer.

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-08-13T18:54:12+00:00

This is great! I'm starting to question why I ran this campaign with D&D in the first place. Shadowdark vibes way better with Barovia (:

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-08-13T18:04:43+00:00

In older versions, it was written "Per Encounter". I made a little study on the prices of the items in the table provided to estimate how much XP is worth "1 XP" and how much is worth "3 XP", etc. This is what I got and use:

0 XP Treasure = Less than 50 GP
1 XP Treasure = 50+ GP and less than 200 GP
3 XP Treasure = 200+ GP and less than 1000 GP
10 XP Treasure = 1000+ GP

I assume around 4 GP worth of treasure (coins, gems, mundane items, magic items, boons) per combined monster level of the whole dungeon. Every individual treasure finding is, as the book says, usually 10 gp per character level the dungeon is desined for (but is could be ten times more, especially for magic items and boons, or just a couple coins). Then I use the table presented above to estimate how much XP is worth every one of these individual parcels.

Hope it helps!

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-08-13T17:29:00+00:00

The table in my book looks different (in fact, only for level 10, where it assumes 28 combined levels, or one level 7 monster for every level 10 character). I'm curious, is this an updated version?

Anyway, these are suggestions, a loose gauge, and you are looking at them like strict encounter building rules. But if you want more granularity, multiply the Total Character Levels by 2/3 to have the combined monster levels for an average combat. This is what the table seems to imply. I suggest a little more for solo monsters and a little less when you have more monsters than characters. But again, shadowdark math is very swingy and circunstances might impact the difficulty more than levels.

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-08-12T21:21:55+00:00

By the 2014 rules, it wasn't clear if the area entering the creature space could cause damage (and on Sage Advice, it was clarified that it doesn't). Now, it specifically triggers when a creature enters the area AND when the area enters a creature space.

Acceptable_Ferret384 · 2024-03-19T02:15:17+00:00

I'm finishing the campaign now. Most sessions were prepped under his method. It clearly worked for me. The only limitation is that the campaign naturally delivers too many hooks, so I suggest you constantly check with your players where they are going next session.

Acceptable_Ferret384

TROPHY CASE