Have you run this adventure? If so, what did you think? Any tips for other GMs running it for the first time? If you haven't run it yet, do you plan to?
As for sneaking, in Cursed Scrolls volume 2 (Red Sands) there's an adventure with somewhat heist theme, and basing on DCs for sneaking provided in that adventure you can come to below rules: - Easy difficulty (DC 9) = Onlookers distracted or focused on some specific activity (for example guard change, entertainment area) - Standard difficulty (D 12) = Onlookers are not on guard and are minding their own business - Hard difficulty (DC 15) = Onlookers are there specifically to guard an area (high security areas like treasure vaults, prisons) - Extreme difficulty (DC 18) = Alarm has been raised , characters are being actively search for Examples: - Sneaking through castle kitchens while "someone" let cats inside and everyone is focused on chasing the cats out (DC 9) - Sneaking through castle kitchens (DC 12) - Sneaking into castle treasury (DC 15) - Hiding/avoiding chase when magical alarm in castle treasury has been set off (DC 18)
As for actions, my rule of thumb is, if it requires a roll - it is an action, if not - it is not an action (it is multitaskig). - Preparing remedy requires INT roll thus it would be action. Applying remedy doesn't require roll thus I'd rule it as multitasking, - Opening door doesn't requires roll thus I'd rule it as multitasking, breaking down barred door requires STR roll thus it would be action, - Jumping into an empty barrel to hide yourself doesn't requires roll thus I'd rule it as multitasking, hiding in a shadows in relatively opened area requires DEX roll thus it would be action. My second rule of thumb is - if it is cool, cinematic or impactful - it is an action. If it is maintenance or routine activities, then it is multitasking. So opening doors, weapon swapping, quaffing potions, swapping gear between characters etc. are all non-actions. I don't want players to "waste" their turns doing boring stuff. Waiting whole round to just say "I drink potion of heroism" doesn't sound heroic, but saying "I drink potion of heroism, jump on the table and with my new powers, try to cut that ogre's head off" is ;-D Yea, these are not hard rules but to run more rule lite systems (like SD) you got to become comfortable with making calls on the fly and don't be afraid of word "arbitrary".
This is true of any 5e and Pathfinder players running old school type games. I ran an AD&D 2e game with my 5e group, and it was a very rude awakening for them. In 5e, you just run into combat and smash open doors and traps with little concern. In older systems and clones, you actively have to think your way through. No smash and grab. Modern games have a lot more customization and options, but that comes with the cost of dumbing down encounters.
5e players and DMs tend to think that the character sheet is the interface to the game. OSR like games think the fiction is the primary interface to the game. 5e main focus is builds and combat, so if this is all you have ever played anything more open with less rules will seem to fall short.
This is not accurate, this is your opinion. I’ve been playing since first edition and I can tell you that at least half the people I played first and second edition with treated the character sheet like an interface and we’re all about mid maxing whatever the fuck they could with their characters.
I tend to agree with both. 5e much of the character is built as you level, making every decision towards advancement counts towards something. In 1e and 2e, you built your character upfront. Everything else was acquired through questing, something sorely missing in 5e
@@Polymath76I’ve been playing around the same time, in the old games, there was simply little that you could do to your sheet, except items. That is kinda how you’re supposed to “modify” your sheet. THe items give you powers and “feats” that others don’t have. It’s much harder to customize it the way you want but the goodies suggest how to run your character. So, yes we would min max what we could, but there wasn’t much to do.
The lack of rules for everything, is indeed the point :). It is after all an extremely lightweight game, much more so than 5e (where people just... don't read the rules, I found).
I’m a Shadowdark GM and player. I appreciate your review of the system, especially as a 5E guy playing it with 5E players. On some of things where you feel like there is a lack of rules clarity, that is because Shadowdark is designed with a lot of OSR concepts in mind. One of them is that the GM can (and has to in many instances) adjudicate many things on the spot without letting the game get bogged down by rules checks. In your case, in terms of applying surprise you just have to make a ruling based upon the information/rules in the book and what seems fair. OSR games intentionally are rules-light and ask the GM to make rulings. If a GM is fair and consistent, usually this works out fine. I believe there is also a concept that with fewer rules in mind (and fewer abilities on the character sheet) players will use their imagination more and introduce things they otherwise wouldn’t. These are not really new ideas. This is more the way D&D was played in the late 70s and early 80s. They are just ideas that have been codified by the OSR in the last 15-20 years. It is certainly a different play style. I rediscovered it about 16 months ago (after playing B/X as a kid) and I walked away from 5E to play OSR-only (particularly Shadowdark). I love this style of play but it is far different than the modern style of 5E. As a quasi-forever GM, you could not get me to approach 5E again.
Thanks for watching and sharing your experience! It's definitely a different style, but it also has huge appeal for me as a GM. We'll see how the players feel after a few more sessions!
@@RuneforgedTTRPG Yeah, I just watched the 2nd half of the video. I could see and hear the good vibes from you as you recalled the gaming session :-) Kelsey is a great content creator, and she believes in a lot of the good tenets of dungeon creation, such as multiple entrances and multiple ways in and around (and up and down) in a dungeon, traps and puzzles (often with trade-offs), trade-offs for anything good the players get, a "living dungeon" with rival factions trying to do things (in this case, Beastmen vs.Ettercaps), and a meaningful random encounter table where not everything is a combat encounter. And having a wandering threat - or some kind of wandering feature - like the Scarlet Minotaur is really, really cool. I have watched a ton of her videos and she really knows how to create a good dungeon. Yeah, running Shadowdark is SO easy compared to 5E. I have heard numerous tellings of 5E groups in your situation that end up with the GM loving Shadowdark but the players preferring to stay with 5E. 5E is SO player-friendly but I think most players have NO idea just how much work a 5E DM does. I do not intend to ever go back to that :-)
Older style systems feel more like playing the game. Modern D&D always feel more like playing the system. Even when bogged down in detail like AD&D it felt like enhancements to game interaction and narrative. Now there's a rule for everything because the system interacts with the system. I prefer when players interact with the game first, then systems. Shadowdark reminds me a lot of this vintage approach. Thanks for sharing your story.
One thing about running nearly any OSR game is that as the DM, you're going to have to learn to make rulings on the fly, based on the characters and situation at hand. For example, a particular treasure might be 3xp for 1st level characters, but only 1xp for 5th level characters as it's gone from being a huge windfall to pocket change. With RPG's like this, there aren't going to be rules for every little thing and it's up to the DM and players to work out how they want to handle certain things. The character sheet doesn't tell you what you can do, just what you're good at, and it's up the the DM to decide how difficult they want something to be.
Meanwhile, the OTHER half of the internet complains that 5e doesn’t have clear rules and it’s terribly shoddy game design that it requires the DM to make so many rulings and make up so much up…
I think people have given you some good responses so far but one thing I'd like to point out is that if Shadowdark isn't telling you what to do in a situation you can and should do whatever feels best to you. One of the best things to do in your case is just do what 5e would have. Don't know what an action is? Just do what 5e would have. Don't know how often to roll stealth? Just do what you remember from 5e. This is just falling back on what you think makes sense and is perfectly acceptable. Shadowdark is really clear on what it considers important (Darkness, collaboration between GM and players, and information sharing/informed decisions). If it's not talking about something, it doesn't consider that important, just do what makes sense based on your experience as a GM. The other thing that's easy to miss with regards to player abilities is that Shadowdark characters look pretty thin if you don't read the magic items section. Like a 5e wizard looks like a class that can't do much unless you read the spells. Old school games need magic items to give characters fantastic abilities as they go up in level if that's the story your players are looking to tell. This takes some of the picking and choosing out of the hands of the players but they have already rolled their characters randomly and remember, collaboration between the players and the GM is part of the glue holding the game together. This is a great video thanks for sharing how things went for you.
A good video and an approachable conversation about 5e players or anyone who has reservations about shadowdark or other rules lighter systems, sounds like a fun game night you had. I do have some notes about the questions you had if you or anyone else is interested. Stealth DC: There is a quick reference of "average, challenging, etc" with something like 9,12,15,... but I think the main consideration is your party strength and weakness and if the moment feels right to go after a weakness or not and weighing in on the actual challenge being attempted. Basically I think the idea is for the DM to set the DC around what's logical but also mixing in what's possible from the party. So not having explicit stealth DC examples is a feature. Treasure: This is another one I think of as a feature for not being explicit as you can award treasure and experience based on feeling. A group with a lot of strength and therefore plenty of excess gear slots won't view a bag of holding as valuable as a group who desperately wants that bag. This will effect how much you feel like awarding different treasures for the party. Typically a good treasure is worth 1 but if the party gets something that makes them excited I give them 3 and the arbitrary nature can be exciting and give a sense of curiosity of what's in the next room or dungeon. Obviously that's an opinion but I hope to showcase how not defining it ahead of time and tailoring it for your specific group in the moment has its own benefits. Ranger herbalism: note that it says the herbal remedy loses effectiveness after 3 rounds which rounds are deliberately loosely defined before combat, since turn order still exists out of combat as players are crawling through a dungeon a ranger could take their action to scour the walls and look for various growths to make their remedy, I would rule this as part of their roll and they could make this remedy before charging into the next room or as they search the hallways of the dungeon or whatever the focus of the session is. 1 or 2 rounds may pass as the group explores before a combat takes place which still gives a round for the Ranger to use their remedy in combat. Random Encounters: I would recommend only rolling these when the party pushes their luck and explore dangerous areas where there are no "planned" encounters or during Rests in dangerous locations. This is a personal recommendation but if it seems like there are too many encounters or if the party feels like it's too much of a grind I would hold off on them, basically just treat them like all the other random tables and use them to Jumpstart a slow section but not use them as a required thing. Anyway those are just some tidbits in case anyone needed some tips.
With regards to rules in an OSR game, they are simple, you are the GM and you make the calls, just make sure you are consistent, and if you make a bad call, let your players know and that you will amend decision for future events. For players, it is hard getting over thier character sheets and recognising that the sheet is restrictive, their imagination is not. Foundry is a far superior VTT. However, as a FGU GM, I actually prefer FGU as I find it easier to navigate and build encounters. You can also pop-out windows in Foundry, use the Pop-Out module.
Don't need to pop out character sheets if you use token action hud for shadow dark. It's a module that allows you to select a token and it gives you the ability to roll from an interface.
Item Piles module allows placing items on ground, making containers, trading items between players and making item shop. I don't know if it's compatible with Shadowdark, but it's compatible with multiple systems.
@@RuneforgedTTRPG Checked it myself, it is indeed compatible with Shadowdark! I believe it's system agnostic and should work with any system in FoundryVTT, unless that system somehow handles items unusually.
Search for the Popout module. This allows you to move pretty much create an independent window for most of the child windows in Foundry. It can even be used to popout the chat and combat tracker tabs if you launch them as child windows (righjt licking on the tab does this, I think.). Hope this helps.
I agree with TC. I think 5e's rules being so codified and detailed in regards to corner cases can make rule sets like Shadowdark feel under developed in some areas. By design it shifts some of that burden back on the GM to make those calls.
Foundry was a bit of a learning curve for me after using roll20, but I doubt I'd ever go back. For the inventory swapping, you might want to take a look at the Item Piles mod. And there is an excellent Pop Out mod the I use to throw things on the second monitor. Thanks for your thoughts on Shadowdark.
As far as the disarm, trip or shove, have you ever tried opposed rolls? that they both the player and the target roll and whoever beats higher wins the struggle.
I guess it depends on your group. We had a blast even with the very high difficulty. A couple considerations: you don’t have to fight the Minotaur; you can run from it. Also, you could come back after leveling up more or persuade the other dungeon factions to help.
May have missed it in the comments, but Ione thing to realize wit SD is that it rewards not being combat heavy. Remember, there's no XP for combat, so thinking your way to the treasure makes sense. Attacking evetything in sight in 5E is fairly normal and rewards the characters with XP. With SD it's likely just going to get you killed. Glad you seemed to have fun with SD.
I think you are confusing yourself on the herbalism. First they are not ment to be crafted in combat but outside of combat. It is not healing magic. The second thing that is I believe you are confusing Shadowdark Rounds for D&D Rounds. The Stimulant for example 10 rounds is an Hour in Shadowdark. In D&D 10 rounds is like only like a minute or two.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Have you run this adventure? If so, what did you think? Any tips for other GMs running it for the first time? If you haven't run it yet, do you plan to?
As for sneaking, in Cursed Scrolls volume 2 (Red Sands) there's an adventure with somewhat heist theme, and basing on DCs for sneaking provided in that adventure you can come to below rules:
- Easy difficulty (DC 9) = Onlookers distracted or focused on some specific activity (for example guard change, entertainment area)
- Standard difficulty (D 12) = Onlookers are not on guard and are minding their own business
- Hard difficulty (DC 15) = Onlookers are there specifically to guard an area (high security areas like treasure vaults, prisons)
- Extreme difficulty (DC 18) = Alarm has been raised , characters are being actively search for
Examples:
- Sneaking through castle kitchens while "someone" let cats inside and everyone is focused on chasing the cats out (DC 9)
- Sneaking through castle kitchens (DC 12)
- Sneaking into castle treasury (DC 15)
- Hiding/avoiding chase when magical alarm in castle treasury has been set off (DC 18)
Great info - I'll check that out. Thanks for sharing!
As for actions, my rule of thumb is, if it requires a roll - it is an action, if not - it is not an action (it is multitaskig).
- Preparing remedy requires INT roll thus it would be action. Applying remedy doesn't require roll thus I'd rule it as multitasking,
- Opening door doesn't requires roll thus I'd rule it as multitasking, breaking down barred door requires STR roll thus it would be action,
- Jumping into an empty barrel to hide yourself doesn't requires roll thus I'd rule it as multitasking, hiding in a shadows in relatively opened area requires DEX roll thus it would be action.
My second rule of thumb is - if it is cool, cinematic or impactful - it is an action. If it is maintenance or routine activities, then it is multitasking. So opening doors, weapon swapping, quaffing potions, swapping gear between characters etc. are all non-actions.
I don't want players to "waste" their turns doing boring stuff. Waiting whole round to just say "I drink potion of heroism" doesn't sound heroic, but saying "I drink potion of heroism, jump on the table and with my new powers, try to cut that ogre's head off" is ;-D
Yea, these are not hard rules but to run more rule lite systems (like SD) you got to become comfortable with making calls on the fly and don't be afraid of word "arbitrary".
These are great guidelines - I’ll be using these in my next game. Thank you for sharing!
This is true of any 5e and Pathfinder players running old school type games. I ran an AD&D 2e game with my 5e group, and it was a very rude awakening for them. In 5e, you just run into combat and smash open doors and traps with little concern. In older systems and clones, you actively have to think your way through. No smash and grab. Modern games have a lot more customization and options, but that comes with the cost of dumbing down encounters.
The functionality you’re looking for is PopOut (and PopOut Resizer) as well as Item Piles
This sounds awesome.I will probably run this adventure on my current one is over.
Awesome! If you end up running it, let us know how it goes!
5e players and DMs tend to think that the character sheet is the interface to the game. OSR like games think the fiction is the primary interface to the game. 5e main focus is builds and combat, so if this is all you have ever played anything more open with less rules will seem to fall short.
This is not accurate, this is your opinion. I’ve been playing since first edition and I can tell you that at least half the people I played first and second edition with treated the character sheet like an interface and we’re all about mid maxing whatever the fuck they could with their characters.
I tend to agree with both. 5e much of the character is built as you level, making every decision towards advancement counts towards something. In 1e and 2e, you built your character upfront. Everything else was acquired through questing, something sorely missing in 5e
@@Polymath76I’ve been playing around the same time, in the old games, there was simply little that you could do to your sheet, except items. That is kinda how you’re supposed to “modify” your sheet. THe items give you powers and “feats” that others don’t have. It’s much harder to customize it the way you want but the goodies suggest how to run your character. So, yes we would min max what we could, but there wasn’t much to do.
The lack of rules for everything, is indeed the point :). It is after all an extremely lightweight game, much more so than 5e (where people just... don't read the rules, I found).
This seems like a kick ass adventure. I have taken another step closer to purchasing Shadowdark.
Glad you had fun with it. I think it’s a really fun adventure.
Thanks! It was a great session.
I’m a Shadowdark GM and player. I appreciate your review of the system, especially as a 5E guy playing it with 5E players.
On some of things where you feel like there is a lack of rules clarity, that is because Shadowdark is designed with a lot of OSR concepts in mind. One of them is that the GM can (and has to in many instances) adjudicate many things on the spot without letting the game get bogged down by rules checks. In your case, in terms of applying surprise you just have to make a ruling based upon the information/rules in the book and what seems fair. OSR games intentionally are rules-light and ask the GM to make rulings. If a GM is fair and consistent, usually this works out fine.
I believe there is also a concept that with fewer rules in mind (and fewer abilities on the character sheet) players will use their imagination more and introduce things they otherwise wouldn’t. These are not really new ideas. This is more the way D&D was played in the late 70s and early 80s. They are just ideas that have been codified by the OSR in the last 15-20 years.
It is certainly a different play style. I rediscovered it about 16 months ago (after playing B/X as a kid) and I walked away from 5E to play OSR-only (particularly Shadowdark). I love this style of play but it is far different than the modern style of 5E. As a quasi-forever GM, you could not get me to approach 5E again.
Thanks for watching and sharing your experience! It's definitely a different style, but it also has huge appeal for me as a GM. We'll see how the players feel after a few more sessions!
@@RuneforgedTTRPG Yeah, I just watched the 2nd half of the video. I could see and hear the good vibes from you as you recalled the gaming session :-)
Kelsey is a great content creator, and she believes in a lot of the good tenets of dungeon creation, such as multiple entrances and multiple ways in and around (and up and down) in a dungeon, traps and puzzles (often with trade-offs), trade-offs for anything good the players get, a "living dungeon" with rival factions trying to do things (in this case, Beastmen vs.Ettercaps), and a meaningful random encounter table where not everything is a combat encounter. And having a wandering threat - or some kind of wandering feature - like the Scarlet Minotaur is really, really cool. I have watched a ton of her videos and she really knows how to create a good dungeon.
Yeah, running Shadowdark is SO easy compared to 5E. I have heard numerous tellings of 5E groups in your situation that end up with the GM loving Shadowdark but the players preferring to stay with 5E. 5E is SO player-friendly but I think most players have NO idea just how much work a 5E DM does. I do not intend to ever go back to that :-)
Older style systems feel more like playing the game. Modern D&D always feel more like playing the system. Even when bogged down in detail like AD&D it felt like enhancements to game interaction and narrative. Now there's a rule for everything because the system interacts with the system. I prefer when players interact with the game first, then systems. Shadowdark reminds me a lot of this vintage approach. Thanks for sharing your story.
One thing about running nearly any OSR game is that as the DM, you're going to have to learn to make rulings on the fly, based on the characters and situation at hand. For example, a particular treasure might be 3xp for 1st level characters, but only 1xp for 5th level characters as it's gone from being a huge windfall to pocket change. With RPG's like this, there aren't going to be rules for every little thing and it's up to the DM and players to work out how they want to handle certain things. The character sheet doesn't tell you what you can do, just what you're good at, and it's up the the DM to decide how difficult they want something to be.
Meanwhile, the OTHER half of the internet complains that 5e doesn’t have clear rules and it’s terribly shoddy game design that it requires the DM to make so many rulings and make up so much up…
I think people have given you some good responses so far but one thing I'd like to point out is that if Shadowdark isn't telling you what to do in a situation you can and should do whatever feels best to you.
One of the best things to do in your case is just do what 5e would have. Don't know what an action is? Just do what 5e would have. Don't know how often to roll stealth? Just do what you remember from 5e. This is just falling back on what you think makes sense and is perfectly acceptable. Shadowdark is really clear on what it considers important (Darkness, collaboration between GM and players, and information sharing/informed decisions). If it's not talking about something, it doesn't consider that important, just do what makes sense based on your experience as a GM.
The other thing that's easy to miss with regards to player abilities is that Shadowdark characters look pretty thin if you don't read the magic items section. Like a 5e wizard looks like a class that can't do much unless you read the spells. Old school games need magic items to give characters fantastic abilities as they go up in level if that's the story your players are looking to tell. This takes some of the picking and choosing out of the hands of the players but they have already rolled their characters randomly and remember, collaboration between the players and the GM is part of the glue holding the game together.
This is a great video thanks for sharing how things went for you.
A good video and an approachable conversation about 5e players or anyone who has reservations about shadowdark or other rules lighter systems, sounds like a fun game night you had. I do have some notes about the questions you had if you or anyone else is interested.
Stealth DC: There is a quick reference of "average, challenging, etc" with something like 9,12,15,... but I think the main consideration is your party strength and weakness and if the moment feels right to go after a weakness or not and weighing in on the actual challenge being attempted. Basically I think the idea is for the DM to set the DC around what's logical but also mixing in what's possible from the party. So not having explicit stealth DC examples is a feature.
Treasure: This is another one I think of as a feature for not being explicit as you can award treasure and experience based on feeling. A group with a lot of strength and therefore plenty of excess gear slots won't view a bag of holding as valuable as a group who desperately wants that bag. This will effect how much you feel like awarding different treasures for the party. Typically a good treasure is worth 1 but if the party gets something that makes them excited I give them 3 and the arbitrary nature can be exciting and give a sense of curiosity of what's in the next room or dungeon. Obviously that's an opinion but I hope to showcase how not defining it ahead of time and tailoring it for your specific group in the moment has its own benefits.
Ranger herbalism: note that it says the herbal remedy loses effectiveness after 3 rounds which rounds are deliberately loosely defined before combat, since turn order still exists out of combat as players are crawling through a dungeon a ranger could take their action to scour the walls and look for various growths to make their remedy, I would rule this as part of their roll and they could make this remedy before charging into the next room or as they search the hallways of the dungeon or whatever the focus of the session is. 1 or 2 rounds may pass as the group explores before a combat takes place which still gives a round for the Ranger to use their remedy in combat.
Random Encounters: I would recommend only rolling these when the party pushes their luck and explore dangerous areas where there are no "planned" encounters or during Rests in dangerous locations. This is a personal recommendation but if it seems like there are too many encounters or if the party feels like it's too much of a grind I would hold off on them, basically just treat them like all the other random tables and use them to Jumpstart a slow section but not use them as a required thing.
Anyway those are just some tidbits in case anyone needed some tips.
With regards to rules in an OSR game, they are simple, you are the GM and you make the calls, just make sure you are consistent, and if you make a bad call, let your players know and that you will amend decision for future events.
For players, it is hard getting over thier character sheets and recognising that the sheet is restrictive, their imagination is not.
Foundry is a far superior VTT. However, as a FGU GM, I actually prefer FGU as I find it easier to navigate and build encounters. You can also pop-out windows in Foundry, use the Pop-Out module.
Don't need to pop out character sheets if you use token action hud for shadow dark. It's a module that allows you to select a token and it gives you the ability to roll from an interface.
Item Piles module allows placing items on ground, making containers, trading items between players and making item shop. I don't know if it's compatible with Shadowdark, but it's compatible with multiple systems.
I'll check it out. Thank you!
@@RuneforgedTTRPG Checked it myself, it is indeed compatible with Shadowdark! I believe it's system agnostic and should work with any system in FoundryVTT, unless that system somehow handles items unusually.
@@RuneforgedTTRPG I checked it myself, it's indeed compatible with Shadowdark. It's a system agnostic module and should work with any system.
I got this working today! Thank you so much for the tip - it's a huge game changer.
Search for the Popout module. This allows you to move pretty much create an independent window for most of the child windows in Foundry. It can even be used to popout the chat and combat tracker tabs if you launch them as child windows (righjt licking on the tab does this, I think.). Hope this helps.
You're amazing. Thanks for sharing!
@@RuneforgedTTRPG I'm glad I could help. That module is one of my favorites.
Thanks
Thanks for watching!
I agree with TC. I think 5e's rules being so codified and detailed in regards to corner cases can make rule sets like Shadowdark feel under developed in some areas. By design it shifts some of that burden back on the GM to make those calls.
Foundry was a bit of a learning curve for me after using roll20, but I doubt I'd ever go back. For the inventory swapping, you might want to take a look at the Item Piles mod. And there is an excellent Pop Out mod the I use to throw things on the second monitor. Thanks for your thoughts on Shadowdark.
Thanks for watching! I just downloaded those mods yesterday and they are AMAZING. Good tips!
As far as the disarm, trip or shove, have you ever tried opposed rolls? that they both the player and the target roll and whoever beats higher wins the struggle.
Good thought. I’ll give that a try.
Sounds like the difficulty needed to be adjusted for the party's capabilities. Two characters downed in two rounds seems a bit much.
I guess it depends on your group. We had a blast even with the very high difficulty. A couple considerations: you don’t have to fight the Minotaur; you can run from it. Also, you could come back after leveling up more or persuade the other dungeon factions to help.
May have missed it in the comments, but Ione thing to realize wit SD is that it rewards not being combat heavy. Remember, there's no XP for combat, so thinking your way to the treasure makes sense. Attacking evetything in sight in 5E is fairly normal and rewards the characters with XP. With SD it's likely just going to get you killed. Glad you seemed to have fun with SD.
good vid thnx
Thanks for watching!
First time ever playing an OSR type of game?
I think you are confusing yourself on the herbalism.
First they are not ment to be crafted in combat but outside of combat. It is not healing magic.
The second thing that is I believe you are confusing Shadowdark Rounds for D&D Rounds. The Stimulant for example 10 rounds is an Hour in Shadowdark. In D&D 10 rounds is like only like a minute or two.
Thanks for the clarification. I'll take another look!
God it’s just…
Going straight from 5e slop to Shadowslop has got to be my least favorite thing I’ve ever heard of.
What games do you recommend and what do you think makes them better than 5e and Shadowdark?