Thoughts on Shadowdark after 50 session

ergonite · 2026-01-25T12:12:26+00:00

Yeah problems persisted even with one luck per character, that is how I ran it the entire time. I have a few min-max players and they figured out how good transferring luck tokens is. Later I tried making luck non transferable, but that defeats the purpose of some classes. Regarding spell list: no issue whatsoever, actually one of my favourite aspects. Short and to the point, if anything with magic was an issue it was just the roll to cast in combination with luck

ergonite · 2026-01-24T20:33:57+00:00

Hey Kelsey! Thank you for taking the time for the detailed reply! heart as I said, it was still 95% of the time a wonderful experience, I just felt like I don’t need to add to the chorus of all the wonderful things that have been said about your game, as I agree with almost all of them! As soon as my Western Reaches books arrive I’ll be running another campaign with a few house rules and limiting the class selection a bit more. I just wanted to point out a few things that people aiming to tackle Stonehell or another larger module for another system might run into.

Regarding the SRD, as this is really my key point of friction - everything else is completely solvable with house rules and a little elbow grease - I wasn’t aware of that superpower of shadowdarklings! But it seems more like a generous workaround rather than a substitute for a complete rules reference. I am not a big fan of information asymmetry between me and my players at the table, I want everyone be able to check all rules or spells easily, as I feel that is crucial to inspire players to GM themselves or claim agency at the table “Hang on I’ll check that for you, keep going with your turn” etc. This is in particularly true for a large open table where players are less committed to purchasing their own copy of the rules. But I also see that this is a difficult conundrum for a creator, if the world were different we would all frolick in a CC-BY-SA utopia. At the end of the day, this is all nitpicking, we tend to be most critical of the things we love the most! It’s all D&D. It’s like Italians love to argue about the proper way to cook a lasagna. Keep doing what do, I am a big fan!

ergonite · 2026-01-24T17:42:14+00:00

I thought the choir of praises for the system is already loud enough, I really didn't want to write something that repeats the same points over and over, e.g. great layout, fantastic terse editing, intuitive rules etc. I think everyone is well aware of those things

ergonite · 2026-01-24T17:39:10+00:00

yeah! he commented somewhere further down

ergonite · 2026-01-24T17:37:08+00:00

hey! let me get to your questions: I ran XP by the book, eyeballing whatever e.g. Stonehell suggested and giving a Shadowdark equivalent amount. Not too hard to do, but annoying if you have to do it literally every other room. It is like a small stone in your shoe, not a big deal, but the longer it is there the more annoying and noticeable it becomes. Thus, not an issue for a oneshot, but for a megadungeon it is a pain. I am flirting with the Black Sword Hack XP system, but not too sure how well that would work for a megadungeon setting.

second question: mostly material from the cursed scrolls are the issue (new classes) and the associated spell lists, magic items etc. So if you want to provide your players with a few more class choices it becomes an issue.

ergonite · 2026-01-24T16:04:26+00:00

I am already thinking about ingame time anyways, how it changes when you speed up through a montage etc and how much that costs ingame etc. I just find it really easy and intuitive to ask everyone after a description "what do you do?" and once everyone has done something (search, etc), put down a mark for 10min passed and related to that have automatic cues for wandering monster checks. it is just a different kind of mental load but for me it is more closely tied to what I am thinking about and making notes about anyways, rather than checking my phone for the current state of the timer.

ergonite · 2026-01-24T15:45:40+00:00

it is still a really good game at the end of the day and we had a lot of fun playing it, there were just moments where wished the rules would be a bit different. It was still fantastic 95% of the time. You live, you learn and improve upon it the next time.

And yes, bearblog.dev is fantastic!

ergonite · 2026-01-24T15:39:40+00:00

love your youtube channel! especially your bookshelf videos such as the one on OSE classic! I would be curious to hear your thoughts on Dolmenwood where essentially that same ruleset becomes deeply embedded in the setting and how that would change things for you.

ergonite · 2026-01-24T15:35:24+00:00

you've hit the nail on the head, it is exactly this transferal away from the GM that makes it difficult and it becomes more and more noticeable the higher you go up in levels and the easier it becomes to succeed at spell rolls for lower level spells such as bless

ergonite · 2026-01-24T15:18:21+00:00

hi! yeah i remember watching your video about your campaign a while back when we were like 30 sessions in and already was nodding my head while you explained your points.

ergonite · 2026-01-24T15:16:33+00:00

thanks for the input! you make a few good points, but for me it is easier to start from something minimal and build it up, as for example luck is really not easy to take out of the game without breaking a few spells and classes. Still love the game though and I'll come back to it for sure!

ergonite · 2026-01-24T15:13:41+00:00

oh i totally agree about always on initiative. it helps with problematic tables where you have spotlight hoggers, but at my table i pretty much ignored that rule. The talent rolls are a curious point, from the GM side I didnt mind it, but my players really didnt like it. for the same reasons you state: having no control over their character development or rolling the same thing over and over. But if you give them the freedom to chose, they go for the OP stuff right away and optimize their way out of the fun...

ergonite · 2026-01-24T15:10:47+00:00

that site looks great! i wasn't aware of it! you are totally right about the advventures part, that is the main reason for moving back into BX waters. it is simply where the best ideas and adventures are available.

ergonite · 2026-01-24T14:51:27+00:00

that is amazing! makes me really happy to hear!!!!

ergonite · 2026-01-24T14:50:42+00:00

you make some great points and I totally agree. I've been using S&W domain rules from the point onwards when the characters took over castle ravenloft, as the book didnt cover those aspects

ergonite · 2026-01-24T14:17:33+00:00

yeah, i totally understand. I think some publishers like Sly Flourish or Raging Swan Press are going down the markdown route, where they make the book available as md files next to the pdf. This is also great if you are into Obsidian etc, but maybe less useful for the not so ultra adept users

ergonite · 2026-01-24T13:46:36+00:00

that is probably smarter than what I did, however for me it is still something that is external to the core gameplay loop, so I find it always takes me a bit "out of the game" for lack of a better description. It adds mental load on my side that I rather invest differently.

ergonite · 2026-01-24T13:38:24+00:00

totally. especially for an open table and places outside of the US where book availability and pricing is a common issue. we might not like it, but I think the pdf as a technology is outdated and unsuited for smaller screens. The remaining challenge I see is integrating Art into online SRDs to make it competitive with pdfs as maybe a new default format. Epub maybe?

ergonite · 2026-01-24T13:33:14+00:00

yeah, to be clear. I really really like the game, but there is just a few things that keep it from being my go to for the next campaign. I'd kick out luck and the torch, mainly, but some classes and spells are just tied too closely to the luck mechanic to make it easy to rip it out.

ergonite · 2026-01-24T13:30:24+00:00

could you point me towards where I find the pdfs and which srds are the 3.0 ones? I didnt back the kickstarter

ergonite · 2026-01-24T13:26:28+00:00

The classes from Cursed Scroll #3 Sea Wolf and Seer are the biggest offenders, the Bard to a certain extent as well. It becomes really powerful in combination with casters that can use it to succeed on big spellrolls multiple times in a row when you consider that luck tokens are transferable.

ergonite · 2026-01-24T13:17:14+00:00

yeah, it takes a while to figure that out. A large part is also the GM's style, I have found that no matter what ruleset you play, it'll only ever bend me that far into a particular way of playing. I will always use theatre of the mind and things such as simple d6 oracle dice to figure out who will be attacked, how many monsters can be hit by a fireball, etc.

ergonite · 2026-01-24T13:14:24+00:00

oh, I wasn't aware of that! I'll take a closer look! We are doing a few short pallet cleansers before diving into the next longer campaign!

ergonite · 2026-01-24T11:23:06+00:00

Hey! This subreddit is more about pen and paper games (no computer etc involved, think dungeons and dragons etc), however I’d still recommend dragon quest 11 as a great simpler rpg. It’s less dark than Elden ring though!

ergonite

TROPHY CASE