You only roll for a new talents on odd levels not every level. It’s on pg39 but some classes like the fighter weapon mastery increases every even level. Caster do gain new spells every level.
I started playing RPGs in 1976 with Empire of the Petal Throne. My fist version of D&D was AD&D 1E in 1978. I agree that Shadowdark is a great on ramp to the hobby, and a great game in its own right. I'm running it for my weekly game right now and we're having a blast. We are also using the rules for our West Marches campaign locally, and I plan to use Shadowdark to run a Dolmenwood campaign when those books come out.
I think you nailed it with your opening comments. "You don't need D&D books. You can just play Shadowdark." Lots of reviewers have said SD is a great way to introduce people to D&D, but the reality is SD is more than capable of running a lengthy campaign just as easily as 5E can, if not easier since the system doesn't overburden the GM...and you get the benefit of it being easily compatible with all the great OSR content already out there. My SD campaign has been running for over a year. Players and I are all having a blast.
I started playing, fresh out of High School, in 1981 with the Red and Blue book Basic and Expert Ruleset. I moved on to AD&D, 3rd Edition, and then 5th Edition. However, I prefere simpler rules. So my current campaign had been running on The Black Hack initially and then Five Torches Deep (FTD), but I changed over to Shadowdark when I discovered the Quickstart rules shortly before the Kickstarter kicked off. Haven't looked back.
This is a great, concise breakdown of the features of this very slick, fun system. I've run a level 0 meatgrinder for some players, and am eager to get into it more.
I also started around '83 with BECMI. I played for several years before moving on to other games because there were some things that I didn't like (Hit Points, Vancian Magic). In recent years, I've had a nostalgia-driven urge to play it again. Even though some of the rules bothered me, I enjoyed the "feel" of the classic fantasy it represents. I tried going through my old Rules Cyclopedia, but found it just wasn't working for me. I eventually settled on Old School Essentials, but then learned of ShadowDark when the Kickstarter launched. I really like ShadowDark. It has the D&D feel, but without some of the aspects I didn't care for. I actually don't see any reason to use it as an *intro* to D&D. I think it's much better as a replacement.
I started with AD&D 2nd edition and 3.5. Been out of the hobby for like 10 yrs. I originally started with TSR's Dragon Dice. It's a dice pool army game. When I was in Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico - Arecibo campus, I tried to get people to play Dragon Dice. I was told We'll play your Dragon Dice game but you gotta play Magic the Gathering and I eventually worked my way to AD&D. Prior to that I've seen people playing 1st edition AD&D in high school. At the time I didn't know much about it. It was during that time that Chick track about D&D was out and PR was very conservative at the time.
Chick tracks! I remember those things. I grew up in the church in the southeastern US... so, I'm very familiar with the evangelistic ways of church-ianity. So, you were out of the hobby for 10 years? Do you play D&D now? Are you looking into Shadowdark?
@@direden not at the moment. I picked up the 4e basic game to see where it was going and looked hard into the 4e D&D essentials which I did pick up but never played. I own a 5e PHB. Didn't interest me then I looked at some of the retroclones picked up. (Laberynth Lord+AEC, Dark Dungeons and Basic Fantasy). I pledged to Shadowdark RPG Kickstarter and recently picked up White Box FMAG. I also like 3.5 lite (house rules online).
After playing Curse of Strahd for the past three years using 5e, I'm ready for some relaxing one-shots and faster gameplay. I received Shadowdark a while back and will be running it for several months with my group for the one-shots.
My first edition was 3.0. I still mostly run 3.5, though I use 5e to introduce new players as a sort of "3.5 lite". You've definitely sold me on giving shadowdark a shot!
It's a really fun game. My group is switching to it after we finish our current 5e campaign. I don't know if it will be a permanent switch. Our short adventures with Shadowdark have been great. When we run longer adventures, we'll probably use the pulp variant rules, which add more ways to use the luck mechanic.
You make a good point about narrative goals. I think this could be covered by the Boons, Secrets, and Blessings section. Achieving a narrative goal will almost always involve one of those, after all.
Nice breakdown of Shadow dark, a system I really want to play. As an aspiring pro DM though, after commencing my D&D journey 4 years ago with Dragon of Icespire Peak, I find myself short on time for it. So, Shadowdark sits in my "someday" pile
I play GURPS and I'm waiting for Tales of the Valiant. I've already picked up a few things from SD to add to GURPS and I may by the book to see what else I can cherry pick. Wouldn't hurt to have a low crunch system in pocket either.
For my solo shadowdark game, I have added narrative XP based on the grand scale of how hard it might be. I.e. if I convinced a local Lord to help me, I might get three XP. If I convince a dragon to take out a sorcerer with me, that might be 10 XP. Etc.
I know there are a bunch of alternate 5e systems out there, Level Up, Tales of the Valiant, to name a couple; but ive gone in on FateForge. Amazing world, beautiful books, modular rules for alterong 5e. The best part, i can use it to run any 5e content and never have to buy another book from WotC.
I started with Red Box. Most of my time was in AD&D 2nd edition. Later I player a bunch of other games, Savage Worlds and WHFRP 2nd edition became my main games. I also played a chunk of d20 era 3rd ed D&D / Pathfnider 1st and derivatives of d20. In 2020, I started running a LOT of 5th ed online and it just stopped feeling like D&D when played at a costco level of volume. D&D 5e content is very easy to find without even buying a book and a DM can see the same cheesy combos and Optimized "online recipe builds" over and over. Honestly, taking a Gloomstalker Ranger into Ravenloft is just redonk. It really takes the game to a place where, as a GM, you are trying to get the players to engage in non optimization as part of a story and WotC is just spitting out a stream of enticing, player facing, power creep candy. Taking the candy away is not something players love you for as a GM. With many new players , I find the assumption is that ALL rules are valid and in play. Everything is assumed to be balanced and nothing is broken or a nerf which undercuts the thrill of potentially losing a fight, failing a roll or being surprised. So, after a lot of low stake power fantasy, in 2022 I started looking for things that felt right. This has taken me to Shadowdark, DCC and Dragonbane as my new fantasy RPG stable. I absolutely think Shadowdark is the best for starting out and it sets a tone so very well. The Zine content for it is great and there are already many wonderful 3rd party options. One of the best things about it in terms of the "old school" is that it encourages you to create and gives you tools and raw material. Rolling up a Dungeon, item, treasure, custom monster or even a PC is a proces of discovery and an invitation to create and engage the imagination. It is so far from the "MTG Tournament Deck Building" mentality which dominates modern big name games. Optimization of gimmicks and nerfing danger made 5e a slog for me. Shadowdark fixes this with DARKNESS, fast combat and powerful yet unreliable magic. Also with mentioning, Light sources and supplies eat up inventory slots and are finite. They are also consumed in rests..Snce rests can be ruined if interrupted by danger, the "long rest spam". Style of play goes out the window. Since fights can be deadly and XP is not based on kills, the tone of the game changes from "The Avengers" in a dungeon to something borering on survival horror.
i started with Pathfinder, because my FLGS was holding an intro session one weekend, then continued playing for a while in their Pathfinder Society format. i switched to 5e, trying the Adventurers League format, and ultimately started playing official 5e campaigns and one-shots on Roll20. i like 5e better than PF, but more importantly for me, i think, was moving away from the Pathfinder Society/Adventurer League format. those sessions were always good for the first half, but then always got rushed in the last half to complete the module so everyone could get XP, etc. i'm probably missing the point of your question, but for me the environment in which i play is more important than the system. and though i enjoy playing on Roll20 as a PC, i find being a DM there too intimidating and would rather DM an in-person game, but i have to find players for that, which is a challenge for my age group (60+).
I started woth WEG d6 Star Wars in the 90s. There was still this shadow of dnd being devil worship so I never found friends to play it till 3e came out. I much prefer a blend of 3.5/pf1e but most people like playing the newest stuff of 5e and pf2e.
Shadow Dark is an easy way to avoid D&D and it’s endless tombs of rules and super hero like characters. I’m introducing my daughter to role playing and I can’t imagine a better game. Lastly, the magic system here is fantastic-even if I’m running a relatively Wizard, warlock, witch-light game.
More like a decent way to transition out of WoTC/PF D&D. It is not exactly the best introduction game to the world of D&D, that would be the free Swords & Wizardry.
I've never bothered to look at 5e XP tables... much less try to make sense of them. I never bothered with XP after my initial years with AD&D. I only use 5e XP for monsters and encounter budgets. And Kobold Fight Club does most of that for me.
You only roll for a new talents on odd levels not every level. It’s on pg39 but some classes like the fighter weapon mastery increases every even level. Caster do gain new spells every level.
Thanks for catching that
Shadowdark is just the best. I'm a huge fan.
Mee Toooo
I started playing RPGs in 1976 with Empire of the Petal Throne. My fist version of D&D was AD&D 1E in 1978. I agree that Shadowdark is a great on ramp to the hobby, and a great game in its own right. I'm running it for my weekly game right now and we're having a blast. We are also using the rules for our West Marches campaign locally, and I plan to use Shadowdark to run a Dolmenwood campaign when those books come out.
That sounds awesome. I love the Dolmenwood setting!
I think you nailed it with your opening comments. "You don't need D&D books. You can just play Shadowdark." Lots of reviewers have said SD is a great way to introduce people to D&D, but the reality is SD is more than capable of running a lengthy campaign just as easily as 5E can, if not easier since the system doesn't overburden the GM...and you get the benefit of it being easily compatible with all the great OSR content already out there. My SD campaign has been running for over a year. Players and I are all having a blast.
I started playing, fresh out of High School, in 1981 with the Red and Blue book Basic and Expert Ruleset. I moved on to AD&D, 3rd Edition, and then 5th Edition. However, I prefere simpler rules. So my current campaign had been running on The Black Hack initially and then Five Torches Deep (FTD), but I changed over to Shadowdark when I discovered the Quickstart rules shortly before the Kickstarter kicked off. Haven't looked back.
It's a great game! I'm really enjoying it.
My group and I are having a great time with Shadowdark.
This is a great, concise breakdown of the features of this very slick, fun system. I've run a level 0 meatgrinder for some players, and am eager to get into it more.
I also started around '83 with BECMI. I played for several years before moving on to other games because there were some things that I didn't like (Hit Points, Vancian Magic). In recent years, I've had a nostalgia-driven urge to play it again. Even though some of the rules bothered me, I enjoyed the "feel" of the classic fantasy it represents. I tried going through my old Rules Cyclopedia, but found it just wasn't working for me. I eventually settled on Old School Essentials, but then learned of ShadowDark when the Kickstarter launched.
I really like ShadowDark. It has the D&D feel, but without some of the aspects I didn't care for. I actually don't see any reason to use it as an *intro* to D&D. I think it's much better as a replacement.
It might be a replacement for us. We'll see
I started with AD&D 2nd edition and 3.5. Been out of the hobby for like 10 yrs. I originally started with TSR's Dragon Dice. It's a dice pool army game. When I was in Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico - Arecibo campus, I tried to get people to play Dragon Dice. I was told We'll play your Dragon Dice game but you gotta play Magic the Gathering and I eventually worked my way to AD&D. Prior to that I've seen people playing 1st edition AD&D in high school. At the time I didn't know much about it. It was during that time that Chick track about D&D was out and PR was very conservative at the time.
Chick tracks! I remember those things. I grew up in the church in the southeastern US... so, I'm very familiar with the evangelistic ways of church-ianity.
So, you were out of the hobby for 10 years? Do you play D&D now? Are you looking into Shadowdark?
@@direden not at the moment. I picked up the 4e basic game to see where it was going and looked hard into the 4e D&D essentials which I did pick up but never played. I own a 5e PHB. Didn't interest me then I looked at some of the retroclones picked up. (Laberynth Lord+AEC, Dark Dungeons and Basic Fantasy). I pledged to Shadowdark RPG Kickstarter and recently picked up White Box FMAG. I also like 3.5 lite (house rules online).
@@alejandroacosta1227 I hope you find one you enjoy! It's a great hobby, I'm glad you're back in it.
After playing Curse of Strahd for the past three years using 5e, I'm ready for some relaxing one-shots and faster gameplay. I received Shadowdark a while back and will be running it for several months with my group for the one-shots.
My first edition was 3.0. I still mostly run 3.5, though I use 5e to introduce new players as a sort of "3.5 lite". You've definitely sold me on giving shadowdark a shot!
It's a really fun game. My group is switching to it after we finish our current 5e campaign. I don't know if it will be a permanent switch. Our short adventures with Shadowdark have been great. When we run longer adventures, we'll probably use the pulp variant rules, which add more ways to use the luck mechanic.
I definitely want to try Shadowdark with my kids
I do this and they pick up the rules quickly and love the excitement!
I love the Shadowdark love!!!
You make a good point about narrative goals. I think this could be covered by the Boons, Secrets, and Blessings section. Achieving a narrative goal will almost always involve one of those, after all.
@sleadaddy I dig that idea.
That's a good way to reward non-dungeon encounters. You could use that for social encounters and urban adventures.
Shadow dart is where it’s at. I feel like the gameplay was faster and more exciting.
I see what you did there!
❤ Love Shadowdark!
Nice breakdown of Shadow dark, a system I really want to play. As an aspiring pro DM though, after commencing my D&D journey 4 years ago with Dragon of Icespire Peak, I find myself short on time for it. So, Shadowdark sits in my "someday" pile
I play GURPS and I'm waiting for Tales of the Valiant. I've already picked up a few things from SD to add to GURPS and I may by the book to see what else I can cherry pick. Wouldn't hurt to have a low crunch system in pocket either.
For my solo shadowdark game, I have added narrative XP based on the grand scale of how hard it might be. I.e. if I convinced a local Lord to help me, I might get three XP. If I convince a dragon to take out a sorcerer with me, that might be 10 XP. Etc.
I know there are a bunch of alternate 5e systems out there, Level Up, Tales of the Valiant, to name a couple; but ive gone in on FateForge. Amazing world, beautiful books, modular rules for alterong 5e. The best part, i can use it to run any 5e content and never have to buy another book from WotC.
Oh, and the four core books are pay what you want on DTRPG
I started with Red Box. Most of my time was in AD&D 2nd edition. Later I player a bunch of other games, Savage Worlds and WHFRP 2nd edition became my main games. I also played a chunk of d20 era 3rd ed D&D / Pathfnider 1st and derivatives of d20. In 2020, I started running a LOT of 5th ed online and it just stopped feeling like D&D when played at a costco level of volume. D&D 5e content is very easy to find without even buying a book and a DM can see the same cheesy combos and Optimized "online recipe builds" over and over. Honestly, taking a Gloomstalker Ranger into Ravenloft is just redonk. It really takes the game to a place where, as a GM, you are trying to get the players to engage in non optimization as part of a story and WotC is just spitting out a stream of enticing, player facing, power creep candy. Taking the candy away is not something players love you for as a GM. With many new players , I find the assumption is that ALL rules are valid and in play. Everything is assumed to be balanced and nothing is broken or a nerf which undercuts the thrill of potentially losing a fight, failing a roll or being surprised.
So, after a lot of low stake power fantasy, in 2022 I started looking for things that felt right. This has taken me to Shadowdark, DCC and Dragonbane as my new fantasy RPG stable.
I absolutely think Shadowdark is the best for starting out and it sets a tone so very well. The Zine content for it is great and there are already many wonderful 3rd party options. One of the best things about it in terms of the "old school" is that it encourages you to create and gives you tools and raw material. Rolling up a Dungeon, item, treasure, custom monster or even a PC is a proces of discovery and an invitation to create and engage the imagination. It is so far from the "MTG Tournament Deck Building" mentality which dominates modern big name games. Optimization of gimmicks and nerfing danger made 5e a slog for me. Shadowdark fixes this with DARKNESS, fast combat and powerful yet unreliable magic. Also with mentioning, Light sources and supplies eat up inventory slots and are finite. They are also consumed in rests..Snce rests can be ruined if interrupted by danger, the "long rest spam". Style of play goes out the window. Since fights can be deadly and XP is not based on kills, the tone of the game changes from "The Avengers" in a dungeon to something borering on survival horror.
i started with Pathfinder, because my FLGS was holding an intro session one weekend, then continued playing for a while in their Pathfinder Society format. i switched to 5e, trying the Adventurers League format, and ultimately started playing official 5e campaigns and one-shots on Roll20. i like 5e better than PF, but more importantly for me, i think, was moving away from the Pathfinder Society/Adventurer League format. those sessions were always good for the first half, but then always got rushed in the last half to complete the module so everyone could get XP, etc. i'm probably missing the point of your question, but for me the environment in which i play is more important than the system. and though i enjoy playing on Roll20 as a PC, i find being a DM there too intimidating and would rather DM an in-person game, but i have to find players for that, which is a challenge for my age group (60+).
We’d love for you to check out Alloyed RPG!
Diredenizens@gmail.com
Feel free to shoot me any info or details
I started woth WEG d6 Star Wars in the 90s. There was still this shadow of dnd being devil worship so I never found friends to play it till 3e came out. I much prefer a blend of 3.5/pf1e but most people like playing the newest stuff of 5e and pf2e.
I loved that version of Star Wars!
We played it too
@direden we didn't have a Star Trek game but we would use those books and make Trek adventures too.
Eh, I think I’ll stick to WWN or Low Fantasy Gaming for my Old School/ Modern hybrids
Shadow Dark is an easy way to avoid D&D and it’s endless tombs of rules and super hero like characters.
I’m introducing my daughter to role playing and I can’t imagine a better game.
Lastly, the magic system here is fantastic-even if I’m running a relatively Wizard, warlock, witch-light game.
Maybe it should be the best way to avoid D&D.
It certainly could be.
More like a decent way to transition out of WoTC/PF D&D.
It is not exactly the best introduction game to the world of D&D, that would be the free Swords & Wizardry.
5e's XP table for leveling is just beyond stupid and has no real rhyme or reason to its increments
I've never bothered to look at 5e XP tables... much less try to make sense of them. I never bothered with XP after my initial years with AD&D.
I only use 5e XP for monsters and encounter budgets. And Kobold Fight Club does most of that for me.