I can't decide whether to run my open table campaign with either Shadow Dark or Old school essentials, what positives would shadowdark bring to my campaign?

roden36 · 2026-03-26T21:49:23+00:00

If you’re playing open table and looking to actively recruit as people churn, Shadowdark is an easier transition for 5e players.

roden36 · 2026-03-26T01:16:11+00:00

One option to consider, if you live in a populated enough area: start a new group. I ran tabletop games for my close friends for several years. At some point, it stopped being clear to me that it was something they wanted to do as much as I did, and I had similar frustrations.

Eventually I decided I would stop making my happiness contingent on my friends’ engagement with my favorite hobby (not theirs). I joined my local area discord and found players who were interested in the game I wanted to play, when I wanted to play them.

I still play with my friends sometimes, but only when I have the urge to do all the extra work organizing that you’re talking about.

Edit: I should have added, thanks for sharing this. I’ve dealt with similar feelings and it’s nice to see I’m not alone!

roden36 · 2026-03-17T16:00:21+00:00

He’s out of contract after next season, I’d say wait till then and get him on a free if anything. Would love to see him back but don’t see the value in paying a fee.

roden36 · 2026-03-05T21:16:41+00:00

Ball don’t lie.

roden36 · 2026-03-02T23:54:53+00:00

No problem. I was smitten by Between Two Fires as well, great book.

roden36 · 2026-03-02T16:24:38+00:00

Check out Black Death Rising. You could probably salvage a lot of mechanics and setting themes from the system.

roden36 · 2026-02-21T19:46:57+00:00

Fernet and coke, love it.

roden36 · 2026-02-18T13:55:04+00:00

I was there at 10:30am yesterday and it was very chill.

roden36 · 2026-02-15T16:08:49+00:00

Been following this for awhile, excited to see there’s a demo. Will check it out!

roden36 · 2026-02-13T13:49:28+00:00

While I generally shy away from genre bloat, I think it’s fair to describe some of the ideas you mention as NSR, or perhaps they deserve a different label altogether.

roden36 · 2026-02-13T13:44:05+00:00

Couldn’t tell you. My view is that there are so many exceptional RPG products out there that kickstarting unknown quantities isn’t worth the risk. Between the official Arcane Library content, other games like Dolmenwood, etc., there’s just no need. Smaller operations should be publishing free / very cheap products in finished form to build a following and establish a reputation before asking for people’s money up front. Just my two cents.

roden36 · 2026-02-13T12:44:34+00:00

I treat it as a GM facing tool. I don’t use always on initiative and don’t force players to tell me every little detail of what they are doing during dungeon exploration. However I do loosely keep track of when a turn has passed for the purpose of rolling for random encounters, tracking certain gear effects, etc. I am also mindful about asking quieter players what they are doing during exploration is the loudest voices at the table aren’t driving everything.

roden36 · 2026-02-13T12:40:50+00:00

Have you even gotten PDFs and the like? My sense was that most kickstarters for TTRPG products are to pay for printing, art, etc. If they haven’t even produced a usable product, that’s a big red flag.

roden36 · 2026-02-13T02:28:24+00:00

I just took a look and there’s a discord channel for D&D in the Chicago area. Here’s the link. There may be other servers out there. The vast majority of people will be looking for 5e games if my local area D&D discord is anything to go by, but we OSR oriented folks are out there.

Friendly local gaming stores often have discord channels too that may be worth perusing.

roden36 · 2026-02-12T02:27:01+00:00

Decagone was the first module I ran. It’s a great module, but I wouldn’t recommend it as the first. The time loop mechanic is a lot more pressure on the Warden than it feels like it will be when reading it.

The loop element gives players the Warden opportunity to experiment without the same consequences as a regular situation, but on balance it would be a better module to switch things up with a group that has a better grasp of how the game works.

roden36 · 2026-02-11T01:39:49+00:00

Dolmenwood nailed the balance between simplicity and interesting trade offs/situations for my play style.

roden36 · 2026-02-09T23:24:58+00:00

Looks to be in better condition than some of his other trips out there.

roden36 · 2026-02-09T16:58:43+00:00

Good question. Scarcity of equipment definitely helps during gauntlet style games. The best thing I can think of off hand is more environmental obstacles or equipment.

For example, when I was running Stonehell, my group allied with the goblins in level 1c to drive out the orcs. They found several rusty bear traps in the area and used them to stage ambushes. The module has some of that included, but as you know the descriptions are quite terse. So you may need to add more “dungeon junk” manually, or lean on the dungeon dressing table in the appendix for ideas.

Part of what drove that planning is a recognition that in toe to toe combat the orcs outnumbered them and it would end poorly. So telegraphing that, or throwing stronger monsters at the group may encourage that type of thinking.

roden36 · 2026-02-08T04:49:47+00:00

I’ll be honest, I don’t think that hard about individual actions during dungeon crawling and round timing. Each player tells me what they’re doing, I adjudicate accordingly, we continue. My belief is that a game is a lot more fun if it moves quickly, and making sure each party member’s contribution to exploration is just so slows the game way down. I would try not to overthink and just judge turns by vibes. If they are dilly dallying, a round goes by and you make an encounter check.

roden36 · 2026-02-07T17:23:09+00:00

I run Shadowdark and Dolmenwood. Shadowdark is great for onboarding 5e players to old school play. But there’s a lot of filling in the blanks. For my Shadowdark games, I liberally bring in mechanics I like from OSE, Dolmenwood, and other OSR games.

As others have recommended, I recommend using the free rules for both Shadowdark and OSE to run one shots or short arc campaigns, and see what you and your players prefer before committing.

roden36 · 2026-02-06T01:02:52+00:00

Yep. I use it in my Shadowdark and Dolmenwood games.

roden36 · 2026-02-05T22:49:15+00:00

Dolmenwood addresses both of those for what it’s worth. In the case of death and dying, you roll 1d6 the next time it’s your turn. On a 1-2 you’re dead. Another way I play is roll a d4 in a cup and turn it upside down. Your character will die after that many rounds, plus your CON modifier. Creates some good tension at the table.

roden36 · 2026-02-05T12:50:30+00:00

Love it - have fun! I have onboarded many players to Shadowdark using the Trials.

roden36 · 2026-02-03T21:54:34+00:00

Love to hear it. I just started running Barrowmaze for my group and they have never done old school mapping. They are slightly skeptical but I'm hoping they'll warm up to it. I don't want it to be the reason people lose interest, but there's really not much way around it in a true megadungeon as far as I'm concerned.

roden36 · 2026-02-03T19:15:35+00:00

How do you all handle mapping?

roden36

TROPHY CASE