THE SECRET ART OF GAME MASTERY | Get 250 pages of game master advice, knowledge, and wisdom to elevate your role-playing game! thedmlair.com/collections/the-secret-art-of-game-mastery MY SHADOWDARK ADVENTURES www.patreon.com/thedmlair
I have a question. What do I do about a player who hasn't played D&D before and is constantly on edge? They also play like they don't want to play. For example whenever I try to push a quest that everyone else agrees to they are like "No I don't trust this" or "I don't want to". I also can't just kick them out because we don't have a replacement person and we are already low on players. What should I do?
@torreyintahoe maybe they decided to sneak away from 1 or 2 foes, maybe they had some social encounters, maybe they had some traps or tricks to navigate, maybe they did some negotiation. I put all of those into my sessions. Smart groups in Shadowdark pick fights carefully and are ready to run away at a moment's notice!
The best thing about Shadowdark for me is that it actively encourages my players' survival instincts. They are very aware that things can go sideways fast, so they get cautious and creative to make their way through the adventure, and it keeps me on my toes because their creative solutions are often really awesome. It's engaging both for my players and me as their DM.
@@Subject_Keter EVERYBODY HOP IN, JOIN ME AS I HOMEBREW 5TH EDITION D&D INTO AN EARLY 20TH CENTUARY PARANORMAL HORROR INVESTIGATIVE GAME BECAUSE 5TH EDITION D&D IS THE BESTEST THING EVER MADE, AND IT'S PERFECTLY DESIGNED FOR EVERYTHING I JUST NEED TO HACK THE ENTIRE SYSTEM FIRST BUT OTHERWISE IT'S THE PERFECT MATCH. I FULLY INTEND TO TRANSPLANT ALL THESE DOPE RULES FROM THIS WEIRD BOOK CALLED "CALL OF CTHULHU" (IT SAYS TTRPG ON THE COVER WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!?!).
That's the core of Old School DnD gameplay that's been lost over the years. Because the characters are SO complicated players focus internally instead of looking to the environment and interacting with the world. They can ignore the game world and plod forward confident in the knowledge that everything is balanced!
Since the OGL scandal we have been delving into the Shadowdark and we have not looked back. I can run my TSR modules, Pathfinder APs, and Warhammer fantasy adventures using one book. We have a great time using it in our sand and sandals Clash of Titans themed game. Can’t say enough about how Kelsey is a great person.
Shadowdark essentially takes you back to D&D BX days but with some familiar D&D 5e d20 mechanics. It relies heavily on DM rulings and interpretations in any given situation, rather than hard & fast rules (although the expansions cover some of this). It requires a high degree of trust between players and the DM as it's the sort of game that tests player ability rather than character ability in problem solving situations. Character differentiation within classes is mostly up to the players' roleplaying rather than anything mechanical - just like it used to be. I've run a couple of short, 10-12 session "campaigns" in Shadowdark and it plays fine, but nothing I couldn't have done in other, similarly lightweight, systems. If you drop out the graphics and convert the Shadowdark QuickStart Player rules to D&D 5e letter-size two-column format, it comes in to a mere 16 pages. 19:40 As Luke points out the Shadowdark spellcasting mechanics can be be quite brutal and sucks for low-level casters. We adopted a houserule that the first time a character casts on a day they get a free cast and start rolling on their second cast.
It's a bit less deadly than BECMI but does feel fairly similar. The spellcasting system is very different from any version of D&D - and very cool - though.
15:18 In Shadowdark you can die... Yeah, don't get over-attached to your character. Last GrandCon, I ran a gauntlet: 0-level Shadowdark characters trying to make a name for themselves. The *core concept* is character death: the survivors are the heroes. The rule: There is a camp of 24 characters. Each player picks one to adventure with. If the character dies, they pick another from the camp pile that shows up in the following round (having gotten antsy and left the camp to join the team!). The group of players loses if the entire camp dies before they reach the treasure. Everyone had a blast; death toll varied from group to group.
I started running a Shadowdark campaign roughly three months ago, and oh-boy, its a doozy! Started with a Gauntlet (0-level characters, rules in the SDRPG book) for my players, many deaths and mayhem, and I have never seen players so happy to reach 1st-level because they earned it! They convinced a group of bandits to join them for a cut of the loot, went back into the dungeon (Gauntlet), and promptly almost TPK'd due to feeling untouchable now that they had some minions and basic gear. Next session - they are fleeing for their lives, two minions dead, and they are nearly out of torchlight...
My biggest concern for rules light games is that it also means options light when it comes to character creation. The fewer options to choose from, imo, means characters start feeling the same and not so different or distinct from one another. You all can correct me if I'm wrong. I've never really played a rules light game, but have been wanting to try a few.
Players don't get to choose what they get as they level up. It's all entirely based off a roll on a table. Only exception to that is spell selection, but you have the option to roll for that as well. The game also does not have standard ability scores, you are expected to roll for those as well. Characters being the same should be quite rare.
Well, if you didn't played any then that's just some prejudice. Go for the experience then think and talk again. Part of games like this is that the character isn't about informations on a sheet, but in a major part about how the player reacts and thinks. Mechanics and rules support player agency, which mean there could be thousands of possibilities of different characters and so different games. Newer D&D brainwashed so many people... So, in other words, your are wrong.
One of my favorite things about Shadowdark is how easy it is to make or modify content for. If you have an old D&D module and the Shadowdark rulebook, you can easily run it with very little effort in “converting” it
I really like how the classes feel unique and distinct in shadow dark. Each party member has a thing with out it feeling like everyone else can do that thing too.
Shadowdark is amazing! I want to slowly wean my players off of 5e and move to shadowdark, the combat is one of my favorite things, and i love the dark gitty feel of the game. Primo, plus Kelsy is great and id much rather give her support rather than wizards of the coast.
Oh boy, more Shadowdark love! I'm happy wherever and whenever I find it cuz IT IS AS GOOD AS THEY SAY. As you found out and are saying 😄. I've been playing since 1979 and SD brings me back to what I fell in love with as a kid. I stepped away from 5e a year ago and have never looked back. I could go on, but most of the points I'd make are well covered in the comments already. Long live Shadowdark!
Shadowdark is incredibly fun, our group plays basically almost entirely using the in-built random generators, and I am the GM. I have one or two modules ready to go but only if the random one is a bit awkward to implement.
It seams, Shadowdark presents the unknown horror that lurked beyond the surface and DnD 5e has a more supernatural heroic vibe to it where the PCs do not really have to care about consequences or failure, but more about „what else can I do on my turn that’s crazy awesome unbelievable 🎉“
This was a brilliant video and it summarized a lot of good points of Shadowdark (and other OSR games). The only thing I have to add is a definition of OSR and further reading. The Old School Renaissance/Revival (OSR) is a play style movement that draws inspiration from how D&D was played in the 70s and early 80s. It refers both to the play style but also the movement around the play style. I'll mention in general no one has found a set in stone definition of it. For further reading you should take a look at "Principia Apocrypha" by Ben Milton (Questing Beast), Steven Lumpkin, and David Perry and "Quick Primer for Old School Gaming" (revised in 2024) by Matt Finch.
@@Subject_Keter That's what I'm doing! I use 5e as a base, cut out all the bad parts, and add in rules from previous editions, as well as rules from other games that I like. About to playtest soon. 👌
Excellent video! The shelves of many a bankrupt game store are lined with the “best and most fun TTRPGs” I would love to see a list of role playing games (all genres) of old TTRPGs from the last 40 years…from Tunnels & Trolls to Shadow Dark a history of role playing games
Shadowdark has overtaken 5e as my most requested system to use. I positively LOVE Shadowdark! One notable thing that I enjoy the most of Shadowdark is the elegant simplicity of the system; homebrewing is fast and easy. It is such a blast. Alternatively, there is a special add-on known as SoloDark, allowing people to play solo; no DM at all.
First: u surely don't suck! 😊 Second: switched to shadowdark the second I read the free pdf. Never switched back. Third: Shadowdark + Prof.DM's UDT is just the perfect match. Best way to play it i.m.o. 👍🏻
It’s because of this video that I am now a HUGE ShadowDark fan! I watched this video 5 days ago, and now I have 5 different ShadowDark characters to play with! 😅
Giants are intelligent foes, which automatically lets them be interesting. If you are treating them as mindless brutes that only attack, you are using them wrong. Giants _should_ be terrifying foes, felling trees, collapsing bridges, causing rockslides, and other general mayhem. They are fast, too, so pinning them down and killing them should be a difficult task, where failure means they return tonight and drop a tree on your tent.
I’ve noticed much more interaction and immersion in Shadowdark sessions. The light, resources and treasure related to XP make it feel much more about a sort of desperate treasure dive into unknown danger. I also shift DC based on how people are attempting a task. I find that helps them get in the mode of adding detail and critical thought versus rolling a skill.. The sparse backgrounds get enriched by times when a person can make a case for a solution tied to their PCs prior life experience.
My single biggest issue right now is how to turn them into campaigns. It feels more like characters are more likely to die so it makes it tougher to build a long campaign
I don't run campaigns that are character dependent. I never have. That can lead to plot armor, not wanting to play if X player can't make a session, and low stakes (because death is usually off the table).
You can run campaigns - for example you might have a kingdom with various towns besieged by goblins - the campaign is about liberating the kingdom - if a PC dies, another can be generated for the current campaign lvl in a jiffy (for nuance, maybe a 1 or 2 lvls lower).
It sounds like many of the things you love about shadow dark are some of the things I fell in love with OLDER world of Darkness games. Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, wraith, Changeling etc. My group left D&D and moved over to 1st and 2nd edition World of Darkness because we found there was a lot more consequence to choices and dice were far less important. I have to say we had a lot of fun in those good old days! Great video sir! That was a walk down the memory lane for me :)
I play BECMI with my daughter whose not interested in the complexities of 5e. There are things about 5e that she likes, so we can incorporate those into BECMI. It sounds like Shadowdark has some interesting things that we could implement too. One of the nice things about all these OSR games is that there are people, like yourself, who are making adventures for them. And these adventures can easily be played with ones OSR ruleset of choice.
Dear Luke and Team, great video. As usual. You described very well positive traits of Shadowdark that are characteristic of good old Basic D&D (B/X, BECMI, Rules Cyclopedia). That is not a coincidence. And I appreciate SD for that. Nowadays, playing hexcrawling solo using retroclones (of those D&D editions and oD&D) is a lot of fun. Keep up the great work!❤ V
"Hey look, you don't suck." Is that right? 🤣 Srly dough, i like your content. The right amount of humor and seriousness, and great lenght. Keep up the good fight
Hey Luke You are fine as you are Don‘t worry too much about what the community has to say about you as a person You are you The internet is „non-obligatory“
LUKE!! You are amazing! Def don't suck. Thanks for the overview and your thoughts on Shadowdark. I've been eyeing it for a few months now, but wasn't sure whether to try it out. I think I will now.
Shadowdark sounds excellent... except for the spellcasting rules. I haven't played the game, but I have a feeling that I wouldn't enjoy being a player or DMing for players with unlimited spells / losing the spell altogether. That mechanic doesn't sit right with me... I really like the concept of "spells as resources" and the game of managing those resources effectively. But I'd be willing to give it a try!
I'm going to finish my current campaign with 5e because that's how we started and a couple character arcs are actually tied to the class mechanics at this point. After that, I'm pretty sure I'm switching exclusively to Shadowdark.
Thansk for the dive into Shadowdark TTRPG. I’m looking for rules-lite games to compare the game I’m creating to, and I’m interested in some new games to share with my gaming group. This could definitely be one to put at the top of the list.
I have not yet played Shadowdark, but will soon be playing with friends who already know it. I've been trying to wrap my head around why everyone is raving about this, and THIS VIDEO explains why perfectly. Now I understand. It reminds me of playing D&D in the 80's, and now I can't wait to get started. THANK YOU. Oh, and you don't suck.
There are currently 3 Cursed Scroll zines in print. 3 more have just been announced for a Kickstarter in March. Some new adventures are also available on the arcane library site.
ShadowDark is great! I ran Ravenloft per Mike Shea's blueprint and only one character from the STARTING party survived... And that was due to a natural 20. AND, of ALL the PCs that were in the game, that same character was the only survivor! BTW, I know Luke doesn't like roll20 but someone there made a serviceable ShadowDark character sheet and it works pretty well. If you've got the PDF of the rulebook it's pretty easy to copy and paste monster descriptions into the NPC sheet.
@@lore_shards The class was fighter. And she was both smart and lucky. There was a natural 20 early on that saved her life. She played smart the whole game, though. It's just a very lethal game.
Thanks for this great video. I have been telling my co-GMs that SD is great for all kind of Comabt-level play but they insisted that it is designed for dungeon crawling. Having my party spend two hours of real time preparing in the village to journey and raid a dungeon was on the best RP opportunities I have had.
Shadowdark delivers to me the same feeling I had when in 1980, I found a red box basic dnd set at a flea market and became a lifelong gamer. I'll play other games, but I will only ever run SD. I just wish more people would try the game. I think that once people play it, they will love it. It's just getting more people to play it. I mean there's a reason it took 5(4?) ennies including best game of 2024!
I have a question. What do I do about a player who hasn't played D&D before and is constantly on edge? They also play like they don't want to play. For example whenever I try to push a quest that everyone else agrees to they are like "No I don't trust this" or "I don't want to". I also can't just kick them out because we don't have a replacement person and we are already low on players. What should I do?
ShadowDark rules! I've been a DnD player/DM since 1978 and since this time last year, I've fully abandoned DnD for ShadowDark. Every point Luke makes in this vid is 100% correct. Also ShadowDark is 100% adaptable to any DnD module/adventure. I've ported several of my official DnD & homebrewed mods to the SD format, no problem (or at least, minimal problem for the reward). So there's that too. \m/
New to TTRPGs but man I am drawn to this game for some reason. And it’s nice I can try out a piece of it for free which makes me wanna actually buy it once I get more familiar and find a group
Can you please give a more in-depth explanation of how the "Edit: Combat/Spell System" Shadowdark mechanics work? This video only seems to give your opinion without any real examples. Thank you!
Ya actually big confession of mine i hate having 5 players or more. In fact i find it easier to prep for a personal solo D&D game than deal with multiple people.
The only thing I would disagree with is the need for additional books. You will find you need several of the cursed scrolls as the core rulebook is a bit thin on content.
THE SECRET ART OF GAME MASTERY | Get 250 pages of game master advice, knowledge, and wisdom to elevate your role-playing game! thedmlair.com/collections/the-secret-art-of-game-mastery
MY SHADOWDARK ADVENTURES www.patreon.com/thedmlair
I have a question. What do I do about a player who hasn't played D&D before and is constantly on edge? They also play like they don't want to play. For example whenever I try to push a quest that everyone else agrees to they are like "No I don't trust this" or "I don't want to". I also can't just kick them out because we don't have a replacement person and we are already low on players. What should I do?
Ran Shadowdark at PAX Unplugged last week. 12 rooms, two combats, 2 hours. What blast!
Hi Professor!
That's not much combat for twelve rooms.
Yeah! Great to see you professor. You and Luke are my favorite roleplay channels!
@@nazaritev6482 Luke is cool.
@torreyintahoe maybe they decided to sneak away from 1 or 2 foes, maybe they had some social encounters, maybe they had some traps or tricks to navigate, maybe they did some negotiation. I put all of those into my sessions. Smart groups in Shadowdark pick fights carefully and are ready to run away at a moment's notice!
The best thing about Shadowdark for me is that it actively encourages my players' survival instincts. They are very aware that things can go sideways fast, so they get cautious and creative to make their way through the adventure, and it keeps me on my toes because their creative solutions are often really awesome. It's engaging both for my players and me as their DM.
All it is a percieved mood shift and players acting. The game doesnt summon pinkertons to enforce such things and the rules can be transplated. 😂
@@TonyCrenshawsLatte i reward my players indirectly for running away. No leroy jenkins at my table.
@@Subject_Keter EVERYBODY HOP IN, JOIN ME AS I HOMEBREW 5TH EDITION D&D INTO AN EARLY 20TH CENTUARY PARANORMAL HORROR INVESTIGATIVE GAME BECAUSE 5TH EDITION D&D IS THE BESTEST THING EVER MADE, AND IT'S PERFECTLY DESIGNED FOR EVERYTHING I JUST NEED TO HACK THE ENTIRE SYSTEM FIRST BUT OTHERWISE IT'S THE PERFECT MATCH. I FULLY INTEND TO TRANSPLANT ALL THESE DOPE RULES FROM THIS WEIRD BOOK CALLED "CALL OF CTHULHU" (IT SAYS TTRPG ON THE COVER WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!?!).
That's the core of Old School DnD gameplay that's been lost over the years. Because the characters are SO complicated players focus internally instead of looking to the environment and interacting with the world. They can ignore the game world and plod forward confident in the knowledge that everything is balanced!
Since the OGL scandal we have been delving into the Shadowdark and we have not looked back. I can run my TSR modules, Pathfinder APs, and Warhammer fantasy adventures using one book. We have a great time using it in our sand and sandals Clash of Titans themed game.
Can’t say enough about how Kelsey is a great person.
“Hey Luke, you don’t suck.” :)
Thank you!
Shadowdark essentially takes you back to D&D BX days but with some familiar D&D 5e d20 mechanics.
It relies heavily on DM rulings and interpretations in any given situation, rather than hard & fast rules (although the expansions cover some of this). It requires a high degree of trust between players and the DM as it's the sort of game that tests player ability rather than character ability in problem solving situations. Character differentiation within classes is mostly up to the players' roleplaying rather than anything mechanical - just like it used to be.
I've run a couple of short, 10-12 session "campaigns" in Shadowdark and it plays fine, but nothing I couldn't have done in other, similarly lightweight, systems. If you drop out the graphics and convert the Shadowdark QuickStart Player rules to D&D 5e letter-size two-column format, it comes in to a mere 16 pages.
19:40 As Luke points out the Shadowdark spellcasting mechanics can be be quite brutal and sucks for low-level casters. We adopted a houserule that the first time a character casts on a day they get a free cast and start rolling on their second cast.
I haven't played Shadowdark, but from what you're saying it really reminds me of playing the old BECM D&D from the 80's. Sounds cool. Good video.
It is very similar to that. You could easily call Shadowdark the child of Moldvay BX and 5e.
It's a bit less deadly than BECMI but does feel fairly similar. The spellcasting system is very different from any version of D&D - and very cool - though.
@@simontmn yeah the magic reminds me more of DCC.
Nice to see you rep Shadowdark Luke. I've been running it since the OGL, and will keep coming back for more SD content. Thanks man.
I want to second how great Shadowdark is for newbies. My non-gamer partner finally relented and agreed to play a one shot. She really enjoyed it.
15:18 In Shadowdark you can die... Yeah, don't get over-attached to your character.
Last GrandCon, I ran a gauntlet: 0-level Shadowdark characters trying to make a name for themselves. The *core concept* is character death: the survivors are the heroes.
The rule: There is a camp of 24 characters. Each player picks one to adventure with. If the character dies, they pick another from the camp pile that shows up in the following round (having gotten antsy and left the camp to join the team!). The group of players loses if the entire camp dies before they reach the treasure. Everyone had a blast; death toll varied from group to group.
I started running a Shadowdark campaign roughly three months ago, and oh-boy, its a doozy! Started with a Gauntlet (0-level characters, rules in the SDRPG book) for my players, many deaths and mayhem, and I have never seen players so happy to reach 1st-level because they earned it! They convinced a group of bandits to join them for a cut of the loot, went back into the dungeon (Gauntlet), and promptly almost TPK'd due to feeling untouchable now that they had some minions and basic gear. Next session - they are fleeing for their lives, two minions dead, and they are nearly out of torchlight...
Wow! Welcome to the OSR, Luke! You're gonna like it here.
My biggest concern for rules light games is that it also means options light when it comes to character creation. The fewer options to choose from, imo, means characters start feeling the same and not so different or distinct from one another. You all can correct me if I'm wrong. I've never really played a rules light game, but have been wanting to try a few.
Players don't get to choose what they get as they level up. It's all entirely based off a roll on a table. Only exception to that is spell selection, but you have the option to roll for that as well. The game also does not have standard ability scores, you are expected to roll for those as well. Characters being the same should be quite rare.
You're wrong. ;-) unique characters are up to you, not the rules. Also the treasures do a lot to differentiate the PC's.
Well, if you didn't played any then that's just some prejudice. Go for the experience then think and talk again.
Part of games like this is that the character isn't about informations on a sheet, but in a major part about how the player reacts and thinks. Mechanics and rules support player agency, which mean there could be thousands of possibilities of different characters and so different games.
Newer D&D brainwashed so many people... So, in other words, your are wrong.
One of my favorite things about Shadowdark is how easy it is to make or modify content for.
If you have an old D&D module and the Shadowdark rulebook, you can easily run it with very little effort in “converting” it
I really like how the classes feel unique and distinct in shadow dark. Each party member has a thing with out it feeling like everyone else can do that thing too.
Shadowdark is amazing! I want to slowly wean my players off of 5e and move to shadowdark, the combat is one of my favorite things, and i love the dark gitty feel of the game. Primo, plus Kelsy is great and id much rather give her support rather than wizards of the coast.
Amen to all of that.
Shadowdark is awesome! Like others here have said, it's replaced D&D at our table. So much fun packed into one little book!
I just read the book Shadowdark. So looking forward to running game!
Oh boy, more Shadowdark love! I'm happy wherever and whenever I find it cuz IT IS AS GOOD AS THEY SAY. As you found out and are saying 😄. I've been playing since 1979 and SD brings me back to what I fell in love with as a kid. I stepped away from 5e a year ago and have never looked back. I could go on, but most of the points I'd make are well covered in the comments already. Long live Shadowdark!
Shadowdark is incredibly fun, our group plays basically almost entirely using the in-built random generators, and I am the GM. I have one or two modules ready to go but only if the random one is a bit awkward to implement.
It seams, Shadowdark presents the unknown horror that lurked beyond the surface and DnD 5e has a more supernatural heroic vibe to it where the PCs do not really have to care about consequences or failure, but more about „what else can I do on my turn that’s crazy awesome unbelievable 🎉“
This was a brilliant video and it summarized a lot of good points of Shadowdark (and other OSR games). The only thing I have to add is a definition of OSR and further reading. The Old School Renaissance/Revival (OSR) is a play style movement that draws inspiration from how D&D was played in the 70s and early 80s. It refers both to the play style but also the movement around the play style. I'll mention in general no one has found a set in stone definition of it. For further reading you should take a look at "Principia Apocrypha" by Ben Milton (Questing Beast), Steven Lumpkin, and David Perry and "Quick Primer for Old School Gaming" (revised in 2024) by Matt Finch.
The best TTRPG is the one you make yourself after cutting and stitching the stuff you like. 😂
@@Subject_Keter That's what I'm doing! I use 5e as a base, cut out all the bad parts, and add in rules from previous editions, as well as rules from other games that I like. About to playtest soon. 👌
Amen brother.
So good to see you talking about SD! If there is more content like this I would love too see it!
Excellent video! The shelves of many a bankrupt game store are lined with the “best and most fun TTRPGs” I would love to see a list of role playing games (all genres) of old TTRPGs from the last 40 years…from Tunnels & Trolls to Shadow Dark a history of role playing games
I feel like a actual dive into "cool rules to steal tm" is better then "people dont like dm fiat... ao buy my game full of dm fiat" 😂
Shadowdark has overtaken 5e as my most requested system to use. I positively LOVE Shadowdark!
One notable thing that I enjoy the most of Shadowdark is the elegant simplicity of the system; homebrewing is fast and easy. It is such a blast.
Alternatively, there is a special add-on known as SoloDark, allowing people to play solo; no DM at all.
Hey Luke, you don’t suck!
Glad to see you sharing the love of the style of play that Shadowdark encourages and so readily facilitates!
First: u surely don't suck! 😊
Second: switched to shadowdark the second I read the free pdf. Never switched back.
Third: Shadowdark + Prof.DM's UDT is just the perfect match. Best way to play it i.m.o. 👍🏻
100% agree. i ran Shadowdark at Gamehole Con using UDT and it was perfect.
It’s because of this video that I am now a HUGE ShadowDark fan! I watched this video 5 days ago, and now I have 5 different ShadowDark characters to play with! 😅
You really nailed it. And you've said in very simple and detailed terms why Shadowdark is so amazing. Bravo!
Thank youi!
Giants are intelligent foes, which automatically lets them be interesting. If you are treating them as mindless brutes that only attack, you are using them wrong. Giants _should_ be terrifying foes, felling trees, collapsing bridges, causing rockslides, and other general mayhem. They are fast, too, so pinning them down and killing them should be a difficult task, where failure means they return tonight and drop a tree on your tent.
I fell in love with ShadowDark as soon as I saw it! So fun, so fast.
Excellent video! I am so happy to see you delve into Shadowdark!!
Luke, you don't suck(!!!!). But seriously, I'm really inspired by your advice and cats.
Hey Luke, you dont suck! I have been reading ShadowDark and plan to run my next adventure with it 😁 thanks for all your talky talky!
Best advocacy video for OSR that I've ever seen. Good job.
I’ve noticed much more interaction and immersion in Shadowdark sessions. The light, resources and treasure related to XP make it feel much more about a sort of desperate treasure dive into unknown danger. I also shift DC based on how people are attempting a task. I find that helps them get in the mode of adding detail and critical thought versus rolling a skill.. The sparse backgrounds get enriched by times when a person can make a case for a solution tied to their PCs prior life experience.
Might be a fun change of pace. My players really like investing a lot in one character and taking them to high level.
Love it! This might be a great ttrpg to introduce new people into the hobby.
You are fun and energetic and definitely do not suck. I enjoyed your frenetic review of Shadowdark. May all your hits be crits!
I've incorporated the spell critical failure chart into my D & D game...players love it...probably could add the spell mechanic too.
My single biggest issue right now is how to turn them into campaigns. It feels more like characters are more likely to die so it makes it tougher to build a long campaign
I don't run campaigns that are character dependent. I never have. That can lead to plot armor, not wanting to play if X player can't make a session, and low stakes (because death is usually off the table).
You can run campaigns - for example you might have a kingdom with various towns besieged by goblins - the campaign is about liberating the kingdom - if a PC dies, another can be generated for the current campaign lvl in a jiffy (for nuance, maybe a 1 or 2 lvls lower).
Gary Gygax used to just start his players at level 3 to avoid them dying too easily.
There are free character sheet generators for dnd 5E lol. I use them to make combat npc’s and human enemies that feel super unique
I was sceptical until my best friend told me I'd love it, and I ran it. Fantastic game, 21 sessions in, no desire to go back to 5e.
I also like that the gm screen is the same digest size as the core book when folded up.
You don't suck Luke. You do solid work💯
"Hey Luke, you don't suck." 🙃
It sounds like many of the things you love about shadow dark are some of the things I fell in love with OLDER world of Darkness games. Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, wraith, Changeling etc. My group left D&D and moved over to 1st and 2nd edition World of Darkness because we found there was a lot more consequence to choices and dice were far less important. I have to say we had a lot of fun in those good old days! Great video sir! That was a walk down the memory lane for me :)
I play BECMI with my daughter whose not interested in the complexities of 5e. There are things about 5e that she likes, so we can incorporate those into BECMI. It sounds like Shadowdark has some interesting things that we could implement too.
One of the nice things about all these OSR games is that there are people, like yourself, who are making adventures for them. And these adventures can easily be played with ones OSR ruleset of choice.
Yes, it would be super easy for me to take a Shadwodark adventure I made and run it in a different system, especially if it was a rules light one.
Hey Luke! You don't suck! Mean that in the nicest possible way.
That bookshelf is enviable.
Hey Luke, you don't suck! But also, I'm a Shadowdark fan, great review!
Dear Luke and Team, great video. As usual.
You described very well positive traits of Shadowdark that are characteristic of good old Basic D&D (B/X, BECMI, Rules Cyclopedia). That is not a coincidence. And I appreciate SD for that.
Nowadays, playing hexcrawling solo using retroclones (of those D&D editions and oD&D) is a lot of fun.
Keep up the great work!❤
V
"Hey look, you don't suck." Is that right? 🤣
Srly dough, i like your content. The right amount of humor and seriousness, and great lenght. Keep up the good fight
Great list of why I like Shadowdark too.
The answer is yes. We have abandoned dungeons and dragons and got exclusively to shadowdark!
Same here. D&D is old and busted.
Same here!
Shadow darks death clock made our session memorable 😂
Hey Luke
You are fine as you are
Don‘t worry too much about what the community has to say about you as a person
You are you
The internet is „non-obligatory“
LUKE!! You are amazing! Def don't suck. Thanks for the overview and your thoughts on Shadowdark. I've been eyeing it for a few months now, but wasn't sure whether to try it out. I think I will now.
You should!
Shadowdark sounds excellent... except for the spellcasting rules. I haven't played the game, but I have a feeling that I wouldn't enjoy being a player or DMing for players with unlimited spells / losing the spell altogether. That mechanic doesn't sit right with me... I really like the concept of "spells as resources" and the game of managing those resources effectively. But I'd be willing to give it a try!
I'm going to finish my current campaign with 5e because that's how we started and a couple character arcs are actually tied to the class mechanics at this point. After that, I'm pretty sure I'm switching exclusively to Shadowdark.
That's what I did. Finished 5e Stonehell after 7 years back in August, then went to Shadowdark.
I run D&D 5e & Pathfinder 2e via Theater of the mind.
It's actually easier for me as it keeps players from obsessing over optimal moves.
Thansk for the dive into Shadowdark TTRPG. I’m looking for rules-lite games to compare the game I’m creating to, and I’m interested in some new games to share with my gaming group. This could definitely be one to put at the top of the list.
You don’t suck, and are my favorite UA-cam content creator.👍👍
Thank you, Jeff!!!
I have not yet played Shadowdark, but will soon be playing with friends who already know it. I've been trying to wrap my head around why everyone is raving about this, and THIS VIDEO explains why perfectly. Now I understand. It reminds me of playing D&D in the 80's, and now I can't wait to get started. THANK YOU. Oh, and you don't suck.
There are currently 3 Cursed Scroll zines in print. 3 more have just been announced for a Kickstarter in March. Some new adventures are also available on the arcane library site.
ShadowDark is great! I ran Ravenloft per Mike Shea's blueprint and only one character from the STARTING party survived... And that was due to a natural 20. AND, of ALL the PCs that were in the game, that same character was the only survivor!
BTW, I know Luke doesn't like roll20 but someone there made a serviceable ShadowDark character sheet and it works pretty well. If you've got the PDF of the rulebook it's pretty easy to copy and paste monster descriptions into the NPC sheet.
Great to hear!
The loading of monsters from PDF & characters from the online generator into the Roll20 char sheet is very cool, yup!
What class was the surviving character? Were they smart or lucky?
@@lore_shards The class was fighter. And she was both smart and lucky. There was a natural 20 early on that saved her life. She played smart the whole game, though. It's just a very lethal game.
@TheVTTDM thanks!
Very rad, thanks for this!
I don't like real time for torch expenditure, but the game is very good
Thanks for this great video. I have been telling my co-GMs that SD is great for all kind of Comabt-level play but they insisted that it is designed for dungeon crawling. Having my party spend two hours of real time preparing in the village to journey and raid a dungeon was on the best RP opportunities I have had.
My osr homebrew is pretty similar to shadowdark, its a great system for beginners and experienced players, its great.
luke, have you ever played 1e AD&D? sounds like you may like
I'm the person at the table who wants to follow the rules! But I agree that rules-light is better because they are easier to follow.
I love ALL the DM Lair videos!!!! ❤
Love shadowdark is now my go to game :)
Luke, you do not suck!
Shadowdark delivers to me the same feeling I had when in 1980, I found a red box basic dnd set at a flea market and became a lifelong gamer. I'll play other games, but I will only ever run SD. I just wish more people would try the game. I think that once people play it, they will love it. It's just getting more people to play it. I mean there's a reason it took 5(4?) ennies including best game of 2024!
I am looking forward to trying Shadowdark. It will be nice to get to play dark and gritty after so many games of high cinema superheroes.
You re great Luke, you and your team. Great video!
...the UDT is Ultimte Dungeon Terrain not Universal....i think
Oh, yeah, could be. My bad. :D
Love ShadowDark so much. I would stop using 5e if I was not in the middle of 2 campaigns.
Hey Luke, you don't suck! You rock, man. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Shadowdark is awesome! And, Luke, you don’t suck!
I have a question. What do I do about a player who hasn't played D&D before and is constantly on edge? They also play like they don't want to play. For example whenever I try to push a quest that everyone else agrees to they are like "No I don't trust this" or "I don't want to". I also can't just kick them out because we don't have a replacement person and we are already low on players. What should I do?
You don't suck. In fact, I think I would enjoy your games.
Hey Luke, you don't suck. You're actually pretty good.
Where on your Pareon page is the Shadowdark material? i am %25 Tier member and can only find the kinks for monthly Lair drops.
They are in the Google Drive that I share with $25 patrons. If you don't have it, message me on Patreon.
@@theDMLair Ah - I got it. Was looking for a link on Patreon...didn;t remember about the Google Drive link.
Hey Luke, you don't suck and bacon is amazing
Thank you! Bacon is the best.
Sounds like a lot of fun, it’s one of my target games for the next garycon.
I'm working on a sandbox campaign to play in this system hopefully soon, I really enjoy the rules light system, and the carousing system is cool too.
ShadowDark rules! I've been a DnD player/DM since 1978 and since this time last year, I've fully abandoned DnD for ShadowDark. Every point Luke makes in this vid is 100% correct. Also ShadowDark is 100% adaptable to any DnD module/adventure. I've ported several of my official DnD & homebrewed mods to the SD format, no problem (or at least, minimal problem for the reward). So there's that too. \m/
Where did you get that "Trust Issues" mimic shirt ??? I want one!!!
It is a fun game
I like no dark vision
You know you can take out dark vision right? 😂
@@Subject_Keter Why are you hating so much lol go play 5e
, You don't suck. Shadowdark is amazing!
New to TTRPGs but man I am drawn to this game for some reason. And it’s nice I can try out a piece of it for free which makes me wanna actually buy it once I get more familiar and find a group
ran U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh with this. Storming the Sea Ghost was a blast.
Can you please give a more in-depth explanation of how the "Edit: Combat/Spell System" Shadowdark mechanics work? This video only seems to give your opinion without any real examples. Thank you!
I tried Shadowdark as well as a player. I am writing a mini campaign and I am thinking about using Shadowdark's rules.
Luke, you still don't suck! Excellent video.
Hey Luke, you don't suck!
Ya actually big confession of mine i hate having 5 players or more. In fact i find it easier to prep for a personal solo D&D game than deal with multiple people.
The only thing I would disagree with is the need for additional books. You will find you need several of the cursed scrolls as the core rulebook is a bit thin on content.