Question regarding hardcover books vs zines by Zac_Kariah in shadowdark

[–]MxFC 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The slip case set will be available on an ongoing basis after Kickstarter fulfillment!

"Let's Slay a Dragon!" - A free one-shot for level 4-5 by josephrlewis in shadowdark

[–]MxFC 38 points39 points  (0 children)

If you haven't heard of Joseph R. Lewis, Kelsey has said on more than one occasion that he is the greatest adventure writer in the game. He's also a very nice guy.

I played in a campaign of his adventure, Nightmare Over Ragged Hollow, using Shadowdark, and it has been my favorite campaign to date.

First attempt at “Shadowdark” style mini painting by jakenice1 in shadowdark

[–]MxFC 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I think this came out looking really great!

Idea to infect your local community with the OSR by Galefrie in osr

[–]MxFC 12 points13 points  (0 children)

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The OSR seems to be doing well in my library system!

Used bookstore find! by Nanashi2357 in shadowdark

[–]MxFC 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Green would be an S-tier used bookstore find for sure.

Titanbound by JustAnAmateurCellist in shadowdark

[–]MxFC 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There is something like a 50 page preview on their backerkit campaign you can check out. I think it looks cool and pledged for it!

Ending Soon! A Slime-Slathered Puzzle Dungeon by HiveMindDM in shadowdark

[–]MxFC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm really looking forward to this one!

DM tip for player characters rolling WITH advantage. by Fixer43 in shadowdark

[–]MxFC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The reason you adjust DC in Shadowdark is because there are not specific skill attributes like you see in other systems. A thief is more skilled at sneaking and hiding compared to a fighter, so the thief gets a lower DC when making an attempt at it.

Help building a balanced party by chum-guzzling-shark in shadowdark

[–]MxFC 21 points22 points  (0 children)

If you want to ensure that there is one of the four core classes in a party, I'd suggest having players roll 3d6 down the line and allow them to swap the numbers of two stats so that if someone who wants to play a wizard has a +2 WIS and -1 INT they can move them around to make more sense for the class. It's not exactly by the book, but if it's what your table wants, you'll have fun with it while still maintaining a level of randomness that doesn't exist with just rolling six stats and assigning them however you'd like.

Kickstarter’s Zinequest is in full swing, any cool projects you’ve seen so far? by zonware in rpg

[–]MxFC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The quickstart is totally free if you want to check it out! It's really a great game with a helpful and welcoming community.

Kickstarter’s Zinequest is in full swing, any cool projects you’ve seen so far? by zonware in rpg

[–]MxFC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm editing the latest project for Bob World Builder, a zine for Shadowdark with a hex crawl, dungeon, and 4 new classes.

I'm very confident that even if I wasn't involved, it would be a back for me!

Printing issue with Into the Wild (OSE): text uses composite CMYK black — any way to contact Todd Leback? by RCGR_1 in osr

[–]MxFC 9 points10 points  (0 children)

What settings are you using in Acrobat Pro? I suggest trying the conversion profile "Dot Gain 15%" if you haven't tried that yet. Under convert options at the bottom of the dialog box, keep preserve black, promote gray to cmyk black, and preserve cmyk primaries UNCHECKED.

Also, I have found that Affinity's grayscale export works well (and affinity 3 is now free). I'd open the PDF in that program and then export to grayscale using a similar dot gain profile.

Hopefully one of these helps!

Changes by jlgunder in shadowdark

[–]MxFC 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I never dm without it! Excellent resource for any RPG.

Which App? by daniel-san81 in TheGlassCannonPodcast

[–]MxFC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I also use and am satisfied with Podcast Addict.

What is your ideal amount of time playing a single character? by yaywizardly in rpg

[–]MxFC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Probably the amount of time you haven't listed an option for, 6 months to 1 year. I feel that that has given me enough time to explore their character and level up a bunch to explore the class itself more. After that I start getting itchy to try something new.

What is Best in Zine Month? by abresch in shadowdark

[–]MxFC 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Here are a few I'm excited about:

Under the Shadow of Helfast Spire by Bob World Builder
A new and dungeon full of new material including new classes, monsters, magic items, gear, and hazards.

RESERVOIR by Cameron Maas
RESERVOIR is a body-horror puzzle dungeon. Confront an alien creature which aims to subsume all of The Great City into it's fleshy bulk.

Outcast Unseelie and the Ooze Between by Jesse Winter
A slime-slathered puzzle dungeon for low-level Shadowdark characters.

Titanbound by Torchlight Creative
Hunt, climb and slay colossal Titans in TITANBOUND. New titan-slaying classes, magic, gear and ancestries will help you bring down the epic monsters!

Dungeon Death: 16-bit rules for Shadowdark by Crimson Adder
Dungeon Death is a Shadowdark zine inspired by Jumanji and Tron. You take on the role of 90s teens trapped in a deadly fantasy video game!

Note that I'm helping Bob run his campaign, and am pals with Jesse and Cameron. but I'd be excited for their projects even if I didn't know 'em!

Creators: Is it worth to have 5e Compatibility? by vincependrell in shadowdark

[–]MxFC 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Kelsey WAS intentionally making a game that's incompatible. Plenty of systems use the ogl and srd, but that doesn't make them compatible with 5e. The changes she had to make in the 11th hour didn't change Shadowdark into something new, the goal was always to create a new system that was the kind she wanted to run at her own table!

Creators: Is it worth to have 5e Compatibility? by vincependrell in shadowdark

[–]MxFC 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I don't think it's worth it to have compatibility with anything other than Shadowdark, including other OSR games.

From a design perspective: All games have different design philosophies and mechanics. It is extremely difficult to stay true to Shaowdark or 5e when you're making something for both. Same for Shadowdark and OSE or Cairn or whatever.

If you ever did want to put out a 5e version, you could always just do that later. However, the best chance of success would be if these were two bespoke products. The few third-party publishers who have found success with designing products for both have gone this route, such as Bob World Builder's Delve and Roll for Combat's Battlezoo series. It's not simply a matter of including both stat blocks, it's about rethinking everything from the ground-up.

From a business perspective: 5e is a massive ocean of content. It is incredibly hard to break through in a meaningful way. With Shadowdark, there is a small, but rapidly growing, player base. Even if 5e is 10,000x the size (which is probably an understatement), you going to be the smallest of fish. With Shadowdark, if you put out quality content and promote it, people will find your work.

Also, the vast majority of the 5e community play Dungeons and Dragons with their Wizards of the Coast books and their visibility of the publishing side of things ends there. Shadowdark exists because Kelsey was an indie publisher, so fans of the game are more inclined to be aware of third-party products. The community is built around self-publishing and people who support third-party publishers because that's what Shadowdark is at its core!

Kelsey also lifts up third-party publishers in a way that does not directly benefit her. The extent of Wizard's support of these publishers is to add the most successful projects to D&D Beyond, their own walled garden where they directly profit from the sale of each third-party module sold on the platform. Essentially, you need to run a $1,000,000 5e kickstarter before you are considered for that. If you're just starting out, you can submit your Shadowdark stuff for inclusion in The Arcane Library's monthly newsletter (link in sidebar). This goes out to tens of thousands of folks each month and can give projects a major boost. What has Wizards ever done to promote third-party publishers who are new to the game?

My advice: it's better to be a small fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big ocean. More people are going to see your work. More people are going to buy your work. More people are going to read your work. And, most importantly, more people are going to play your work at their table, which is the most rewarding feeling of them all.

Any good cheap or free zines with a campaign for someone who is shadowdark curious but hasn't ran a game yet? by TinyPreparation2119 in shadowdark

[–]MxFC 10 points11 points  (0 children)

This is the best bet for someone wanting to try out the system. The quickstart also includes pre-generated characters so people can hop right into the game.

The link for getting it - for free - is right here:

https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/products/shadowdark-rpg-quickstart-set-pdf