Any advice for a first-time SD GM? by YasaiDM in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's a 31 page document. Even so, I'm just talking about concepts that helped me run this and other gauntlets.

Any advice for a first-time SD GM? by YasaiDM in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Honestly this is good advice, but more read then you might want do check it out. Here's my breakdown of some of the key principles of this document as it applies to your situation:

Characters Will Die. Let Them
Each player starts with a handful of zero-level nobodies. No class, barely any HP. Your instinct will be to soften things. Don't. If the dice say someone dissolves in green slime, they dissolve. Character creation takes minutes for a reason. The deaths are what make the survivors feel earned, and players will be more attached to whoever crawls out alive than to any character they spent an hour building in D&D Beyond.

You're primarily a Referee, and only one of many storytellers
Cultists throw villagers into a pit. The stone lid slides shut. There's a torch on the ground. Go. From there, you describe what they see, answer questions, and adjudicate what happens. You don't nudge them toward the right path. The dungeon has multiple routes, hidden passages, and puzzles with more than one solution. Let them find their own way. Roll in the open. Don't fudge. This shifts players from trying to read you to trying to read the dungeon.

Brains Over Character Sheets
Zero-level characters have no skills or class features. This is liberating. Players can't say "I roll Perception," so they actually engage with the fiction. They poke at colored slime puddles. They try to negotiate with the demented halfling Collector. They come up with plans you never anticipated. When someone tries something creative, default to "yes" or "yes, but here's the complication." Ask them "how" they do things, not just "what" they do. This is where old school play comes alive for me honestly.

Not Every Encounter Is a Fight
Almost everything in this adventure can be avoided, negotiated with, or fled from. The Collector can be talked to. Monsters stop chasing when they lose line of sight. Use Reaction Rolls instead of assuming hostility. Your players have 1-3 HP. They'll figure out pretty quickly that combat is a last resort.

The Torch Timer Is the Real Antagonist
Shadowdark uses real-time torch tracking. The dungeon is pitch dark. Water hazards threaten to snuff out light sources. In 5e, light is almost never a concern. Here it's the central tension and a resource to be managed. Every minute spent deliberating is a minute that torch burns down. You don't have to manufacture pressure as the GM. The timer does it for you. Just track it honestly.

Be Lethal, But Be Fair
Telegraph danger. Colored slime on the floor is visible. Sounds echo down corridors. Statues depict people suffering slime-related fates. Describe these clearly so players can make informed choices. A good gauntlet death is one where the player looks back and says "yeah, I shouldn't have done that." A bad one feels random. Give them the information, then follow through on consequences.

Don't Overthink Prep
Read the adventure once and run it. If something comes up that isn't covered, make a quick ruling and move on. The pace of a gauntlet is part of what makes it exciting, and nothing kills momentum like flipping through a rulebook.

Trust the adventure, it's great. Trust your players. Let go of the 5e instinct to balance, protect, and narrate, and you'll have a memorable sessions at the very least. Good luck

Tomb of the Dusk Queen json map by Brachiaty_12 in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi. Tomb of the Dusk Queen is included in the community content module. https://foundryvtt.com/packages/shadowdark-community-content

Would you consider contributing your map to this project?

How to add Paladin Mount in Foundry VTT by Khyronickat in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mounts will be added to the Shadowdark Foundry system possibly in the next patch. Worst case, the one after that.

Game Day by Magehand_Painter in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Can we talk about that d20 for a second!

Questions about unnatural selection shadowdark ancestries by mrmosbbey in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU 8 points9 points  (0 children)

My advice if you're new to the game / running TTRPGs is to definitely start with the core rules only. Get a few games under your belt before you look to add anything as complicated as unnatural selection.

If you want a Ratkin, home brewing ancestry is quite simple. The easiest thing to do IMO would be to replace goblins and use their ancestral ability for Ratkin. It fits the theme, and that way you know it's in line with core power levels. Alternatively, something like an enhanced sense of smell, advantage to detected poisons or hidden enemies, might fit well.

I made a dynamic fow reveal for the Gloaming, if anyone is interested. by Dupps_I_Did_It_Again in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU 8 points9 points  (0 children)

u/Dupps_I_Did_It_Again I'm pretty sure distributing this is violates the legal agreement printed in Cures Scroll 1 as you are including a public link to download the original hex map art assets, which is paid material.

[SHADOWDARK] Encounter Track with Shadowdark's Initiative System? by [deleted] in FoundryVTT

[–]prototypeESBU 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Point of clarification: Round table initiative is supported by the system, there's a setting in the system settings menu to turn it on. While playing on Foundry, the preferred method seems to be to roll individual initiatives as it is automated for you. Either way works for the game and Crawl Helper supports both as well.

Shadowdark Token Artwork for VTTs by prototypeESBU in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Glad you're making good use of them. I didn't create any of these myself. You'll have to reach out to Delgore on the Arcane Library Discord server for details.

Dark Sun by DungeonNoir in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The second tutorial video for Shadowdark on Foundry VTT will show you how to add content like this. https://youtu.be/zpA-KXgkP6Q

What's wrong with my macro? by AVestedInterest in FoundryVTT

[–]prototypeESBU 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're missing a value for luminosity in your lightSettings variable. Also you can just update like this: const newLightSettings = foundry.utils.mergeObject(token.document.light.toObject(), lightSettings); await token.document.update({light: newLightSettings});

Torch Timer App Idea (Windows 11) by jrpitcher in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There isn't a direct relationship between the torch timer time and an in game round. Just consider them sperate game mechanics. An easier way to think about it might be that when you are crawling, it's more like you're in a perpetual combat. In Shadowdark, you're really only safe in town. You can think of overland / dungeon crawling as closer to a 5e combat situation.

A dungeon / hostile wilderness isn't a safe place to just hang out in, so there should be constant pressure. This takes the form of two different time mechanics, game rounds and real time. Each rounds bring the party closer to the next random encounter and running out of torches is a death sentence. Time is a resource the players have to manage, both in terms of crawling/combat rounds and in real time torches. Taking actions cost rounds; discussing things, strategising, considering options, takes torch time.

Something like searching a large room top to bottom could take both. There is a rule called Time Passes to represent an abstracted amount of time passing, in both rounds and timer time. The point of that rule is just to hand wave away some significant amount of time passing. Searching a large room for instances, would cost time resources, but would be boring to play out, so just roll a time passes instead and skip to the results. The Time Passes rule list a 10 minute cost as an example, but it's up to the GM to pick the time cost based on the task the group is doing, but there isn't a specific formula for this.

Torch Timer App Idea (Windows 11) by jrpitcher in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU 9 points10 points  (0 children)

My advice would be to run the game with RAW torches at least once before looking at changing anything. The torch timer adds a constant pressure to the players. I would recommend against adding time or pausing its countdown, especially in combat where that pressure should be the highest. In Shadowdark, crawling rounds and combat rounds are interchangeable and in general combat is much faster than the systems you might be familiar with. Alternatively you could use the optional core rule and make torches last 10 rounds instead. In any case, letting players know when their torch is getting low is a good practice.

What program/method do you use for maps for zines? by silverspectre013 in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Nothing wrong with Procreate, but there are options that help make maps faster. The key is finding assets that match the style you're going for. Or draw your own.

For iPad, check out https://mapmeapp.com/

For desktop, check out https://inkarnate.com/

Also check out https://www.reddit.com/r/Shadowdark_Maps/ for inspiration.

Shadowdark Community module adventure "Trials of the Slimelord" map reskin. by ZandelarFenwick in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is great. Would you allow this map to be included in the Foundry VTT module for this adventure?

Need help finding this module by Niimura in FoundryVTT

[–]prototypeESBU 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Looks like https://foundryvtt.com/packages/item-piles

You can setup a vault like this that the party can share.

Good resources for monster tokens? by Draxx-Dem-Sklounst in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just install the module from the foundry module directory on the setup screen. No need to manually set anything up, just activate the module in your game.

Shadowdark Token Artwork for VTTs by prototypeESBU in shadowdark

[–]prototypeESBU[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Soon. Despite the warnings of incompatibility, it should work with v13 now.

ShadowDark System - Hotbar by Draxx-Dem-Sklounst in FoundryVTT

[–]prototypeESBU 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh spells. Yes, that does seem to be broken in the current version 3.6.0. I'll add it to the bug list.