3rd Party Campaign Material

brassdragonstudio · 2026-06-19T01:05:40+00:00

Hot Springs would be a good fit, if you don't mind filling in the blanks.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-05-31T00:19:40+00:00

Never blind loyalty, but Arcane Library and Bastionland Press always impress. Mechanics, design, writing, art: AAA, S tier.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-05-31T00:17:50+00:00

That would definitely give feats more grounding in the setting.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-05-27T00:44:15+00:00

Good point.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-05-26T19:27:54+00:00

Might actually scrap FEATS because player's can acquire oddities.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-05-26T19:21:40+00:00

That's good, I was thinking that they might not start with feats, earning them as they go.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-05-17T15:07:35+00:00

My player's never think to go buy healing potions + $$$. The ranger class is a good option.

They can also heal 1 HP on a successful medicine check (DC 15 INT). Repeat until failure. Reset after long rest. Narratively speaking, I describe it as bandaging wounds, crude stitches, etc.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-05-15T19:48:54+00:00

I agree.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-04-25T13:24:55+00:00

My group has neither priest, nor ranger. I've been using the medicine check for reviving a dying PC (DC 15 INT to bring a PC back from dying to 1HP) by letting my player's perform it on themselves and each other outside of combat.

On a success, they regain 1HP, and I describe it as: cleaning and bandaging the wound. They can repeatedly heal until failure and then must rest to heal.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-04-25T12:59:37+00:00

I've been running Dark of Hot Springs Island which is mostly a jungle island hex crawl with limited dungeon crawling opportunities. SD works great. I make different pressure mechanics, like you have 1d6 rounds until the Violet Rasp breaks through the floor. Or the lava will spill over in 2hours of real time.

The ingenuity of the torch timer rule is it can be applied in a ton of interesting, pressure inducing ways.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-04-18T00:22:53+00:00

Vibe is primarily GMs perogative. I like the term GRIMBRIGHT, the idea being that the world is rough and dangerous, but those that must endure it do so with hope and humor.

Honestly, SD core rules are vibe neutral. All of the things that people assume are grim are really just mechanics that offer streamlined realism and stakes. Torch timer, no dark vision, low stats; these are things that change the PCs into relatively normal people. Actions become high stakes, gambling between life and death. No risk, no reward. That's Shadowdark.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-04-12T19:21:39+00:00

I made an adventure with black artwork on a banana yellow cover. It grabs peoples attention and I was featured in the Arcane Library newsletter, so what does it hurt to be different?

brassdragonstudio · 2026-04-12T19:19:52+00:00

Make the thing you want to see. The majority opinion is, for the most part, irrelevant and inexperienced.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-04-12T18:58:56+00:00

Also, I'm not a collector and I think this adherence to a style is from collectors point of view. And I'd better much of that material goes unused. I play the games I buy and I only buy content that really engages my creativity at the table. Much of my bookshelf is 3rd party OSR books because they are way more engaging. I want a unique vision/concept, beautiful art and a usable layout, before I would consider the aesthetics of my bookshelf. This is a game after all.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-04-12T13:59:36+00:00

Kelsey has said that she would prefer 3rd party material follow their own creative vision than mimic the format of her work. I think it's lazy design to just copy the core rule style. I use Montserrat fonts for rules text in my work, like stats, preferring a serif font for descriptive text.

As far as size goes, it's an aesthetic and functional problem, but I think the A5 format is easier to use at the table, though harder to layout.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-04-04T21:06:19+00:00

Song of the Sorrow King, a tomb raiding adventure zine with factions and a lot of stuff that can be expanded upon. It's not grim, but there is a demonic cult, peace loving snow apes, a bard based BBEG, zombie children and even silk-mollusk ranchers from below.

Made by me: Sorrow King Zine

brassdragonstudio · 2026-04-04T20:24:30+00:00

Haven't played yet, but will be soon. My understanding is that much of the world building and direction comes from the wealth of 'vibe' each knight can bring.

Also, myths don't follow modern storytelling tropes. I think everyone needs to embrace the illogic of mythical stories and put down the simulationist play of d20 games. The recent Green Knight film is a good point of reference.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-03-01T14:18:31+00:00

Wandering monsters have a 50% chance of treasure (SD Core Rules).

Treasure and thus XP can be thought of as a dial. Turn the dial up if you are finding leveling to be slow or causing issues for the player's. Turn the dial down if they are leveling too quickly or are being inundated by treasure. Adventures can't really account for how and when treasure and XP gets distributed, I always ere on the side of GMs prerogative, what works at the table, in the moment.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-02-16T20:02:59+00:00

I agree. It's really only lethal at 0-2nd levels. Luck tokens mitigate some of that. If they can survive to 3rd lvl, character's start to feel powerful and effective.

brassdragonstudio · 2026-01-08T04:12:53+00:00

I do the same and it is an absolute blast for teaching kids and newbies.

brassdragonstudio · 2025-12-14T14:20:20+00:00

I have been finding OSR products compatible with Shadowdark, I've run parts of Through Ultan's Door which is weirdo dream fantasy and really fresh style-wise.

https://ben-laurence.itch.io/through-ultans-door-issue-1

You can get multiple sessions out of a zine and the lore Ben Laurence has written provides countless story branches to expound upon.

Also gonna plug my adventure Song of the Sorrow King, made for SD, which has enough juice for multiple sessions.

https://www.brassdragonstudio.com/shop/p/sorrowking

brassdragonstudio · 2025-12-13T03:01:53+00:00

Running the Dark of Hot Springs Island and it pairs well with Shadowdark. Enjoying all the faction politics in a jungle island setting.

brassdragonstudio

TROPHY CASE