The Implicit Worldbuilding of the Shadowdark Core Rulebook
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- Опубліковано 5 сер 2024
- The Shadowdark RPG presents no established setting for your games - and yet the book still gives you lots of details about the assumed world your game will take place in! And we can learn a lot of interesting things from what the game implies will be true about your homebrew worlds…
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Chapters:
00:00 - A Different Type of Campaign Setting Review
02:13 - How Character Rules Establish the Tone
05:00 - The Gods of Shadowdark
12:00 - A Word From Our Sponsor
13:22 - The Status Quo for Everyday People
16:12 - Picking Up Details from Monsters and Random Encounters
25:01 - What We Learn From Location Names
27:29 - The Mystery of Gehemna and the REAL Arcane Library
28:47 - Building Your World Through Emergent Gameplay
30:36 - Outro
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Which worldbuilding detail are you most excited to integrate into your “Shadowdark” game?
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This is super impressive! :D You have found many, many secrets and lore nuggets!
The tin foil hat rightly, capped it off well.
Thank you! 😁
I would always rather have an implied setting in an RPG book, and a clear tone that makes you understand how a campaign in the system should feel, rather than an elaborate explanation of all the (usually pretty restrictive) details of a default setting. Whenever I read through setting details in an RPG book, I'm thinking "well, I'm gonna throw that out or replace it," every few lines.
Likewise. (And I think it's notable that most indie games I've seen do this. Rather than having a specific setting, at least in the core book, will have somewhere in between an implied setting and a sample setting (and that sample setting will usually be framed as a _sample_ even if there's only one in the core book) - There are some that go a bit further, giving an explicit setting but deliberately leaving a bunch between the gaps, and a few that don't have as much implicit beyond the basic premises of the genre it represents, but I think 90% of the games I read are somewhere between 'there is an implicit setting but you'll need to figure out your world yourself' and 'here is one or two sample settings if you need a bit of a prompt beyond what's implicit in the rules'
I was going to largely disregard most of the Shadowdark lore in favor of my own... but man this stuff is tasty. Kelsey really hid some good treats in here.
The tinfoil section is the best part of this video, imo.
As a DM, I've been trying to not fall into the "should have written a book" level of worldbuilding and Shadowdark honestly seems rad as hell for a more loose "play to see what happens" type game, I'm definitely going to have to run a game of it sometime.
This is the type of Shadowdark video I have been waiting for.
The wandering merchant is giving me big Tom bombadil vibes.
I’m thinking more like Covetous Shen from Diablo III.
Beedle
One of my favorite non CR videos. I like how you highlight the open-ended invitational style of these lore drops. Many GM advice channels say to do this but we rarely see evocative examples. One day, maybe you could do examples or analysis of how to craft these well. The sweet spot for the level of detail on these is so important, and we know you at least have a great eye for it
Another reference to Gehemna: under the desert encounters table, “The legendary Alabaster Library of Gehemna materializes”. Strong Avatar the Last Airbender vibes.
Also, I would bet money that Mike’s university for his shadowdark campaign will be the university from the Kingkiller Chronicles.
Wow, I'm so grateful to be apart of Mike's first Shadowdark campaign! Here's hoping for many long, fruitful journeys with Dwaroark Roarkson, Son of Crwthoark Roarkson, Son of Beoarc Roarkson, Son of Arok Roarkson.
Thank you for covering Shadowdark! I really like the game.
Excellent video. The openness of implicit world building has done wonders for my campaign - playing 5e for years, there are so many specifications and rules to gods that my party was too afraid to play with them as they were worried about "breaking canon". In our ShadowDark Campaign, however, one player's relationship with Madeera has developed naturally as they introduce (through improv) rituals and values that match with her brief description. Same with Knight of St. Ydris - as there is no real guidance to who St. Ydris is, a different character has painted a deep picture of what their code follows - and, as a dungeon master, makes me adapt to their great ideas.
I like how the 'evil' gods are described. The interrelationships have enough wiggle room where the motives are not necessarily evil. Such as my first thought for memnon is that maybe he is trying to free his sister from the laws she is bound by. Maybe those strict laws remove her own agency and he wants to free her from that fate.
Thanks so much for the shout-out on my artwork for Shadowdark!!! Seeing this made my day!
Thank you so much for your awesome art!
So I got the "Starter Set" for Shadowdark and I just get more and more excited to at one point try it.
I'm so glad Mike made this video. As a longtime GM, I am always trimming and extending D&D core rules, because those rules DEFINE things about your world that I want to be able to shape.
Certain spells and creatures have MASSIVE implications for how things would develop: Fly, Plant Growth, Cure Disease, Sending, Teleportation, Clairvoyance, etc. would all radically alter things away from European medieval assumptions. Are there ANY aerial enemies in your world? Castles wouldn't exist. They'd be caves, or shaped like eggs if they protruded above the surface. If there are magic-users, why do they not rule all of the kingdoms? If there are devil-people, why do primitive villagers not kill them on sight? Etc.
I love the name Gehemna, if that isn't a reference to Gehenna (an inspiration for the Christian idea of hell if folks didn't know) I'll eat my hat.
But overall, your previous video on how to make characters made me think I wasn't really interested in being a player in this game, but this video made me certain that I definitely want to be the GM for it! I love this kind of lore and worldbuilding, it's actually one of the things I still look back fondly on D&D 4e for doing with its points of light setting.
Your hat deserves mercy since that is an excellent guess... but this name is a tribute to the first D&D wizard's school I ever read about called Mathghamhna. It's in "College of Wizardry" for 2E by Bruce Cordell! :)
The mechanism is an obvious reference to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism (or obvious if you know that exists).
Yes! Loving the Shadowdark content! Thank you for compiling these cool lore snippets, I've read the book cover to cover, but seeing it condensed into a video is very cool!
That one point about npc class levels being better for rival characters I think finally made it click why I usually like the concept of at least recognisable player abilities being used on npcs even if its something I remember you criticising in the past. NPCs having some form of player mechanics helps make the world feel more cohesive to the players, if other important figures they're fighting with or against have clearly similar skills, they both have a new way to interact with tools they already understand, it helps make them feel more like they belong in the world and aren't major outliers. It defintiely works best for rival characters because it gives the impression of an even playing field, but I think there are some npcs it works for too, maybe a powerful wizard semi retires into a position to run an adventurer's guild, there's too much going on for them to be able to help in everything they can so they scale back to a position to help direct other adventurers towards goals they'd be suited for, although this only works if your campaign isnt about a singular world ending threat or whatever.
I love how the legendary monsters in the bestiary all have quotes, including the Terrasque. His quote, however, is very succinct.
I like to think the Wandering Merchant is one of The Lost. One day, he got tired of being a god and dealing with all the rules and regulations, so he quit and took up mercantile work.
I recently learned that Arcane Library (the creator of Shadowdark) is mainly an adventure writer, instead of a game designer. Knowing that, it makes a lot of sense to me that her ruleset would have lore and setting weaved into it.
(Sidenote: I haven't ran any of her 5e adventures yet, though I absolutely have some on my wishlist, and they look super table friendly. Would recommend checking it out.)
So loving the Shadowdark content! No one else is doing this kind of video for this delightful little system!
Last time you talked about Shadowdark my commenting that it may or may not be for me because I prefer story focus over dungeon crawl focus somehow gave the impression that I was a relatively new player who had only played 5e, which is hilarious as a 35-year-old who has been playing roleplaying games since they were about 7 or 8 and actually hasn't had a chance to try 5e yet and hasn't played any D&D branded system since 3.5 in high school.
I still stand by my original thoughts; this looks super cool but I don't think it's overall for me. This video did tip me over the scale into "I definitely want to try it once with the right GM' territory, but I still think I prefer a deliberate story from the GM rather than just a pile of random encounters in a trench coat looking like a story. You definitely evoke really interesting thoughts about the setting, and I really see wanting to try it once, but I actually mostly learned I'm a bit interested in stealing the setting itself for a slightly more traditional RPG where the story can be deliberate.
That's a perfectly valid response. Not everyone plays RPGs looking for the same experience. I own Shadowdark, and I'll admit that it does tend to favor more sandbox style play, where the story emerges from the PCs and their actions, over a more story-based style that more recent editions of D&D favors.
I will say this, though - I think Shadowdark is _really_ good for one-shots or when you're down a few players and don't want to run your main game. Being able to randomly generate a dungeon fairly quickly is really handy.
Excellent review. I'm keen to get myself a physical copy of SD soon, to meticulously study for my own homebrew projects. I love the simplicity and grittiness of the system
I had a lot of fun literally just reading the handbook from front the back
I’ve already be so excited to run Shadodark for one of my D&D groups. This deep-as-possible-dive into the lore just make me even more excited!
Also: I cackled and startled my cat at the tinfoil bit. 😂
I literally got shivers and goosebumps when you talked about the logo being diagetic
What's really cool about Gehemna, it evokes the name Gehenna. Gehenna is a valley outside Jerusalem, it is linked with torture and punishment, it's practically synonymous with hell. But, importantly, it's NOT hell.
To someone who knows Abrhamic theology, they might link the places. The Gehemna they build will be a dark, evil place. To one who does not, they might associate the vaguely Jewish name with Jerusalem, and build something like a pristine "holy city..." or whatever they may associate with Jerusalem.
To someone who doesn't see the name connection at all, they will likely build a place focused entirely on the in book lore.
Man this is such a unique and cool way to build an RPG world. Enough to get your DM juices flowing without giving you a set environment, I love it.
Good video, I know a bit of Shadow dark since a French rpg UA-camr loves it. But I didn't know it had a rumors table 😅
Thank you Mike, I'm currently building a a new homebrew world and this video and the way Shadowdark approaches its worldbuilding is getting the neurons firing
The coolest thing about Shadowdark is that all of those little flavor bits are there for you if you want them, or easily changed if you don't. Do you want your players to have ability scores higher than 18? Change it. Do you want levels to go past 10? Change it. Do you want different encounters, different gods, different classes or races? Do you want hammers in your game? Totally just change it!
The limits are there because limits are easy to change or remove, but hard to establish. The world is not very fleshed out because you're encouraged to make it YOUR world, but over the years the game was being developed there are little things that have kind of become part of the collective consciousness of the folks who have been there to watch it become the game it is today. And so they are threads that run through most Shadowdark worlds … but they don't have to. It's up to you.
"Rules as written" isn't really a thing that applies to Shadowdark much.
Glad OSR stuff is getting some juice as of late.
I wasn't really interested in Shadowdark but I gotta admit this was really cool! Great video! I'm gonna be trying out the Fate TTRPG system soon to see if it's a good fit for what I want for the campaign I have in mind but if that doesn't work out I may look into Shadowdark!
This is a really interesting way to build a world.
woah how did i not get this in my notifications? watching now!
Loved your video! Everything you have talked about made SD even more interesting!
The Wandering Merchant sits alongside Father Christmas, Baba Yaga, and Tom Bombadil in my mind as just pure whimsy and magical storytelling fun. Little touches and details likes this are one of the reasons that Kelsey is one of the best game designers of her generation.
Maybe the cockatrice choice is reference to the evil chicken trope in video games where if you abuse an animal or NPC too much you summon an evil chicken or creature that gets vengeance for the mistreatment…
Definitely want to see your next delve into the arcane secrets!
Fantastic video!
Love this video. It the irony is that I am running Eberon with this system right now
Well done!
My ideas on The Wandering Merchant (spoilers obvs):
They are one of the Lost, wandering the lands searching for the other
Yeah, I had them down as one of the Lost too, I like that idea
I already said this on the Patreon link, but I’ll put it here as well:
I love how Conan this world feels, also I can’t find any proof of this but I am 100% convinced that the Yuan-Ti were made just to put Snake Earl Jones and his cult from the first Conan movie into DnD
Awesome!
I just found you Bro. Really liked this video. Thanks!
In my world, two lost Gods are called the Ultimates. Should either win, nothing will stand. One will bring the ultimate order, stripping free will and uncertainty. Causing all that's random to be certain and deterministic.
The other is entropy incarnate, it does not seek destruction, but undoing. Reality existing is too orderly for him.
The Wandering Merchant could be one of the lost gods! Watching over their domain that forgot about him. I intend to roleplay it like the merchant from the original Resident Evil 4.
There's a lot of the same names in the Arcane Library D&D5e adventures too, lots of connections!
Love the OOTS reference!
I'd love to hear about your take on running Curse of Strahd RAW or using homebrew from creators on the CoS subreddit like Mandymod, Dragnacarta, and so on. Personally I'm halfway through the adventure running it mostly RAW and it's been more than enough of content and fun times. I personally believe that sometimes bringing in extra homebrew content is compensating for focusing on running the game well.
I think the minimalist worldbuilding could have been even more interesting if they hadn't named gods or their demesnes, just the total number of major deities and how they're split up by alignment. If it had just been "The four lawful gods, the two lost gods etc." but encouraged GMs to come up with gods and decide where certain domains sit within the alignment chart as needed, I think that could be cool. I can just imagine figuring out if, for example, the God of Feasts is Lawful, Chaotic, or Neutral and what that implies about the world.
The tinfoil bloody GOT me 🤣
I'm not super fond of low magic settings... I don't always play fantasy campaigns, but when I do, I don't personally like half-assing the fantasy element. But, as a long-time Fallen London player, the Lost Ones entry evokes a search for a certain Name, which is _very_ exciting... 🤐
In my head canon, the Wandering Merchant was originally Tevye the Dairyman.
Session 1 my GF got lost in the woods and lo and behold, the leprechaun showed up offering a bargain. She threw the mcguffin into the woods and followed him into her swampy fate.
ShadowDark is an absolute pleasure to run on the fly!
@SupergeeekMike - awesome video and great insight! What published world do you believe would fit best for a DM running Shadowdark for the first time?
My take on the God's from the book was more that there were cosmic forces of Chaos and Order that are at odds with one another, and the God's were constructs of mortals to explain the struggle, or people who, after their death, were elevated to their followers. Priests draw their power from Order or Chaos. But maybe I am just wrong.
I think the lost Mechanism with a Greek name is a reference to the Antikythera mechanism.
Hey just got my book in the mail sn hour ago
It's a ten eyed oracle. You need nine more hats.
great video
Thank you!
would love to see a fear and hunger type shadowdark
I remember first edition, Orcs were Lawful Evil.
Geniouine shadowdark question: what are the rules for being under water? Because they are mentioned in the giant oze monster card but I can not for the life of me find where the rules are in the rule book. Anyone know?
I don't think there are any. Probably best to use common sense. Can't swim in plate. Chainmail is hard to swim in. Attacks are harder etc.
Thumbs up for pronouncing Gede correctly.
If only I could yet my players to learn a game that's not dnd lol. It took me years to get them to learn dnd alone.
At least, shadow dark is very simple, so if you convince them to try it, they will learn it quickly ^^
It's basically stripped down 5e, you can sell it with that idea
Yes, let's do get to the bottom of this.
So ... there are two lost gods, one could be the merchant as a form of "The Traveller" typical in various fantasy works. The other? We have that symbol that seems to connect things to Gehemna a secret place full of wizardy, and even a powerful entity like Mordanticus is prohibited to talk of.
We seem to have greek references in the books too, so we can look at other historical events in our world right?
Like ... Gehenna. A place known two be forsaken and condemned by gods, where it is believes (in different religions) to be a place of malice and even child sacrifice in honor of names like Baal.
Is Gehemna a secret society of wizards worshipping greater demons and in specific Baal a nameless god, forbidden by the other 8 gods so no one can speak of?
The cockatrice is, in essence and a way, a chicken, that's why. 😁
9:27 It also implies an end times.
If you think Leprechauns are in any way light-hearted, visit Ireland and listen to the old tales. The cheery drunken green sprites of modern culture are to leprechauns what Colonel Klink was to Amon Goeth.
You absolutely should have ended with the tinfoil hat. That would have been perfection
Mine says subscribed so I am probably Subscribed
Making Orcs not automatically evil isn’t subverting a trope anymore. It seems this change is flavor of the month in DND advice videos and is ironically no longer achieving its goal of surprising players.
I’m far more a fan of evil orc hordes anyway. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
It’s a shame that Mike’s critical role videos carry the bulk of this channel. He has a lot of insightful ideas to share about the TTRPG hobby as evidence in this video.
Thanks for the video.
Why aren't high level NPCs going on adventures themselves? Uh...... because they are high level. They'd be running the barony, or at least advising the baron. Maybe running a wizard college or at least his own tower, or running a shrine or other cleric type stuff. When I heard the average 5e goofballs talking about their 30th level players doing a rinking dink adventure like escorting a wagon etc, it makes me laugh.
Competing NPC adventure parties are always a fun mechanic though. I just wouldn't make them high level.
There’s more going on in the Shadowdark core rulebook than a single read through can detect.
Noice noice
The best part of Shadowdark, is it isn't for 5e, it replaces 5e. It does D&D better than D&D.
THIS is 100% CORRECT! Everyone - DITCH 5e and switch to Shadowdark! Your game play will be faster and everyone will have a blast!
Always felt orcs should remain evil, one of the big things about half-orc characters is that often they are the products of violent sexual assaults. That always brought about some great character creation when playing half orcs. I would think that the creator of Shadow dark with her respect to Tolkien himself would lay the groundwork for them to be an antagonistic enemy but not a two-dimensional straw man.