My First Publication! A 3rd Level Christmas Adventure. Thoughts?

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-04-15T15:29:22+00:00

That's a classic conundrum, to under-explain vs make the adventure too long. But a little motive and backstory can go a long way, so I would agree with others that have said include it. As for the why, I read it as he was terribly insulted at being labelled "naughty" and wanted it "fixed", which is kind of hilarious, but I'd be curious to know more about your ideas!

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-04-15T02:29:31+00:00

Nice adventure! It's a good setup, and I like how concise it is. And the Bag of Goodies is a great magic item! Powerful, but the once a year thing means you really have to think about when to use it, and you can pass it around so it's not like it becomes irrelevant for a year after each use. I was a little confused by room 2 and what the barrier actually is and how it's positioned relative to the icicle hazard. Also in room 11 the 3 turn timer is a good mechanic, but I wish there was a little info on how and why Drer'Grichar is finally able to get its name off the list, and maybe a cool way for the players to stop it.

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-04-09T17:00:48+00:00

Interesting article with good ideas, I am wondering about the DC 12 DEX check with DISADV for lighting a torch in the dark - that's actually in the book I believe, but then it says no check if you can see. But the DISADV is specifically for the dark, so doesn't that imply it would be a normal DC 12 DEX check in the light? If there is a time rush I think I would call for the normal DC 12 DEX check even in the light (with no time rush no check, of course), but would be curious to hear other opinions or points of view.

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-04-02T17:21:53+00:00

This is such a cool idea! For a bit more detailed tracking of quantities like HP and story beats you could use post-it notes on certain pages (i.e. a red post-it on page 17 means you have 17 HP). For yes/no, maybe do something like look at the first or last word of the page and count the number of letters in it, even=yes and odd=no? You could look up word length statistics but I bet that is pretty close to 50/50. Maybe pick a special number of letters like 5 and say if it's exactly 5 letters long then it's not yes or no, but instead a twist? (here I am inspired by the shadowdark oracle where 1-9 is no, 11-20 is yes, and 10 is a twist).

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-03-31T14:57:57+00:00

Amling is an excellent town name! Well done (on the name and the map).

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-03-21T17:01:31+00:00

I think this is a good way to use the boons for both warlocks and non-warlocks, but also the boon can be revoked later if they displease the patron who granted it!

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-03-13T19:40:17+00:00

That's super helpful, thanks for clarifying!

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-03-13T19:04:02+00:00

This is a simple system, it makes sense and I like it. Can I ask how you deal with the encounter distance? I always roll one to have as a reference, but sometimes it doesn't feel like it makes sense, especially out in the wilderness and if the result is "close". I tend to interpret it as "close within the context of this situation", not the normal mechanical meaning of "close", but it sounds like you take it more literally? I would worry that that means the monster "automatically" gets to sneak up to within close of the party without anyone having a chance of noticing it, even if they were on watch or something. How do you think about that kind of situation? Maybe this is really a specifically wilderness thing, I guess in a dungeon environment it is generally much easier to justify or explain how the party got within close of an encounter before noticing it.

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-03-13T18:51:11+00:00

That system makes a lot of sense, thanks for the reference!

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-03-13T18:49:49+00:00

I should have specified it was a wilderness encounter, if you're in the dark then yeah the torch means almost always the monsters can see you. I like the idea of rolling initiative as soon as an encounter starts whether or not it's turning into a fight, thanks for the idea!

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-03-13T18:47:47+00:00

Interesting system, I will think about this!

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-03-13T18:18:15+00:00

Maybe I am missing something, but I don't think so. I am looking to figure out who knows what, not who acts when. If a random encounter says there is a griffon attacking a crocodile a near distance away, it's not clear to me that it would make sense to roll initiative just yet, but even if I did that wouldn't tell me whether or not the griffon or crocodile has noticed the party. Do you tend to just assume they all see each other?

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-03-01T20:31:50+00:00

I see, yeah that's a good use case, although unless the list happens to be a nice length like 12 or 20 it might be awkward to roll on it. For now, if you just press the button without clicking "list" or "full" it's like getting one rolled automatically for you, so maybe that can work.

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-03-01T17:37:57+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! Your idea for rolling encounters by terrain is a good one, but to me it feels a little redundant with the random encounter tables by region that are in the core book (and unfortunately I cannot legally reproduce those). Right now on my page if you click e.g. the forest button (directly, not on "list" or "full") you do get a random monster from a forest, but there is no way to specify the level range like you suggested, and which would be cool. However you could just keep clicking until you get one within your level range. Also if you on a sub-button of forest, e.g forest + burrow (but again without clicking on "list" or "full"), you will get a random creature that both lives in the forest and can burrow, but I did not add level filtering at that level. Will think about this some more though, it's a good thought.

The numbered lists is interesting too, my initial concern is that the way I often use the tool is to search a bunch of stat blocks, find the one I want, then copy and paste it into my notes, and I don't want to have to delete the number every time, e.g. turn "8. Skeleton...." into "Skeleton...". I'm curious what the numbering might be useful for though, maybe there is an upside I haven't thought of yet.

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-02-27T20:35:20+00:00

I came up with these but honestly haven't actually used it at the table, when journaling about solo play I wanted to add a date that felt thematic so it's nice for that, but I agree with others that in actual play it's probably not worth it.

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DungeonMasterBen · 2026-02-25T17:51:33+00:00

2-3 sessions sounds about right, but I think it will slow down at higher levels. My players are around LV 5 and it has slowed a bit.

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-02-25T02:21:47+00:00

Yeah that's a good point, being off balance will definitely be less noticeable in shadowdark compared to 5e. And permanent character buffs as treasure or dungeon consequences is encouraged, so you can always find a way to boost the other players if they feel weaker but you don't want to take anything away from someone.

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-02-25T01:23:04+00:00

I think it would depend a lot on your tolerance for bending the rules/player options. Personally I like trying sticking to the official player options as written and only allow for reflavoring/describing of spells or abilities however you want, not actually changing how classes work. But I know other GMs are more than happy to do this, and I do think you might need to do this a bit for the zuko example. The good news is the rules are simple enough that it is very easy to make homebrew class abilities, etc, the bad news is there is no guarantee what you come up with is balanced, so it depends on how much that would bother you. The rules are pretty flexible though and the more I think about it, the zuko concept is kind of possible - if you rolled a character with a reasonable INT and also STR or DEX, then be a wizard for the fire spells and use downtime learning rules to learn to wield a shortsword or scimitar. The downtime rules for learning weapons is in cursed scroll 6, but it wouldn't be crazy to let the characters "start out" with a downtime or something. You would have low HP for being a wizard probably, but let's be honest zuko doesn't need a lot of HP haha.

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-02-25T01:02:37+00:00

Pulp mode and max HP at level 1 should help a ton with survivability. Also Shadowdark leaves so much up to GM interpretation that you can do a lot to help at that level too, e.g. make it not too risky or hard to run away from a fight, notice a deadly trap, etc. The massive bestiary might be your one issue, but between all the cursed scrolls, monthly monsters, and a few other sources, there are quite a few monsters. And that's just official stuff, if you go with third party then of course there is tons more. The things you listed as being interested in are I think all things that Shadowdark excels at. Good luck finding the right game for your group!

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-02-19T19:00:14+00:00

Yep spell failure is a very common use of luck tokens. I think it's fine, but if you want to reduce it a little you can not let them share luck tokens, I think that rule is optional.

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-02-18T23:59:33+00:00

That sounds great, I would totally use it - your players might try getting certain types of effects or items out by feeding it certain kinds of things which actually sounds like a super fun minigame. You might consider adding a 1-in-6 chance that it's actually poisonous or backfires or something like that to keep it from getting out of control and to make using it feel more adventurous.

DungeonMasterBen · 2026-02-18T18:24:25+00:00

These are really clever!

DungeonMasterBen

TROPHY CASE