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Post by jeffb on Oct 13, 2023 21:12:00 GMT -6
Anyone running it? Comments? I have the starter, but I've only glanced through it.
I've become interested in it thanks to Sly Flourish's (Mike Shea) excellent DM prep videos for his Shadowdark game using a mini hexcrawl/sandbox called "The Gloaming". I like *some* of the stuff I'm hearing about the rules in play (and not liking some old school-isms that have always rubbed me the wrong way), but possibly/probably what I'm really taking a liking to is the weird fantasy setting and how Mike is fleshing it out before and during play sessions (each episode starts with a previous session recap). Some very fun locations and ideas, and some good "adventure building" advice.
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Post by Finarvyn on Oct 14, 2023 4:37:57 GMT -6
I backed the KS but haven't looked much at the PDFs yet. Waiting for the printed version, which should arrive soon.
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Post by aldarron on Oct 14, 2023 7:00:41 GMT -6
Yes. I don't like the fact that it uses that stupid/redundant "DC" thing. Otherwise it is brilliant. Kelsey Dione has created a game that is like 85% OD&D compatible and somehow convinced people that it is a 5e variant.
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Post by Finarvyn on Oct 14, 2023 7:49:12 GMT -6
Yes. I don't like the fact that it uses that stupid/redundant "DC" thing. Otherwise it is brilliant. Kelsey Dione has created a game that is like 85% OD&D compatible and somehow convinced people that it is a 5e variant. That makes me happy because my crew only wants to play 5E at the moment and this may be a way to sneak in more OSR style stuff.  |
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oldskolgmr
Level 3 Conjurer
Can the Cleric heal me? What? Alright, the Clerk will have to do.
Posts: 99 
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Post by oldskolgmr on Oct 14, 2023 7:55:34 GMT -6
I didn't buy it, but I played a session on Discord. It was kind of alright. I didn't click with the people though, and I decided to leave the Discord.
I generally prefer the people on another, non-product/game co. Discord to play with. (Unofficial Discords seem more...relaxed).
For me it's OD&D or DCC/MCC, Holmes D&D was fun (but DM's please make adventure packs! Shopping while everyone else games is dull.)
Good Luck to Kelsey though, she would frequent the Discord herself! She seemed very approachable.
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Post by grodog on Oct 14, 2023 13:25:33 GMT -6
I played a game with Kelsey at GaryCon in 2022 (along with James Mishler), and enjoyed it. Someone is running a few games at TsunamiCon next weekend, and Henry and I may register to play together for one of the events: tabletop.events/conventions/tsunamicon-2023/schedule#?query=ShadowdarkFor those who backed the KS (I didn’t, figured I could buy a copy at GaryCon if I was really interested), do you know if the three events above are modules, or perhaps homebrew scenarios? Allan. |
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Post by Finarvyn on Oct 15, 2023 5:05:12 GMT -6
There are several folders of adventures as part of the KS, and I haven't explored them really. I got the impression that these were all things that Kelsey has run at previous conventions, and probably are ones being run currently. (1) Three folders with Cursed Scroll 1, 2, and 3. Three different names, but I presume a series. (2) Four folders with "mini adventures" 1-5 V1, 1-5 V2, 1-4 V1, and 1-4 V2. As best as I can tell, V1 and V2 are different versions of the same files. Still, that gives 5 mini adventures in one folder and I assume 4 in the other. (3) Something called "Concealed Abby of the Dragonfly" which sounds like an adventure. I can poke around and generate a full list of titles if you like. |
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Post by grodog on Oct 15, 2023 10:33:38 GMT -6
Thanks, Marv. The three events at TsunamiCon are: - Sepulchre of Dust - The Seers Sanctum - Falkrest Abbey I’d prefer to not replay the same adventure from GaryCon, if possible, but the current DM didn’t differentiate the event descriptions at all at TsunamiCon  Allan. |
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Post by Finarvyn on Oct 15, 2023 11:21:54 GMT -6
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Post by jeffb on Oct 15, 2023 16:33:42 GMT -6
FWIW- "The Gloaming" mini setting/sandbox and dungeon adventure that Mike Shea is running is apparently in Cursed Scroll #1.
And thanks to all for the feedback.
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Post by jamesmishler on Oct 15, 2023 21:50:19 GMT -6
I went all in with the RPG Crawling Group reward. But then, I am biased, as I was in one of the play test groups.
Imnsho it is the best edition of D&D since Moldvay/Cook.
Takes all that is great about Old School and reinterpreted it through the core 5E mechanic.
Much like a simplified Castles & Crusades, which I also adore.
Kelsey will be at Gamehole Con this weekend.
She'll also be at Gary Con this spring, running nigh continuous demos. I have a booth there this year (fingers crossed, me planning to go to Gary Con is literally tempting fate) and I will have the Shadowdark and Labyrinth Lord 2E lines at the booth, plus whatever of my own products I can print up for the show... Hawkmoor for Shadowdark, almost certainly, maybe some LL products, too.
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Post by grodog on Oct 17, 2023 0:43:38 GMT -6
James do you recall which scenario we played together at GaryCon, by chance? She'll also be at Gary Con this spring, running nigh continuous demos. I have a booth there this year (fingers crossed, me planning to go to Gary Con is literally tempting fate) and I will have the Shadowdark and Labyrinth Lord 2E lines at the booth, plus whatever of my own products I can print up for the show... Hawkmoor for Shadowdark, almost certainly, maybe some LL products, too. Will you have any print copies of your Baba Yaga book? Allan. |
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Post by jamesmishler on Oct 18, 2023 22:13:07 GMT -6
James do you recall which scenario we played together at GaryCon, by chance? She'll also be at Gary Con this spring, running nigh continuous demos. I have a booth there this year (fingers crossed, me planning to go to Gary Con is literally tempting fate) and I will have the Shadowdark and Labyrinth Lord 2E lines at the booth, plus whatever of my own products I can print up for the show... Hawkmoor for Shadowdark, almost certainly, maybe some LL products, too. Will you have any print copies of your Baba Yaga book? Allan. Lost Citadel of the Scarlet Minotaur from the Quickstart Rules (free on the Arcane Library website and DriveThruRPG). RE my products at Gary Con, undecided as yet. But I'll definitely take suggestions... James |
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Post by hamurai on Oct 19, 2023 8:35:04 GMT -6
We've started a semi-regular game and so far, it does what it wants (I guess), it seems to me like a good mix of old simplicity (OD&D'ness) and modern ideas from 5E D&D. I'm not too happy about what I've learned about the default setting (our DM wanted to try it), but I've seen far worse and we're adjusting it as we go along.
Is it a necessary game? Probably not, as we've had house-rules and homebrew re-writes for 5E stuff already, but it's nice to have it in a professional format without doing the work ourselves.
Personally, I won't get a copy because it's really close to what I'm doing when running my B/X games, and I'm comfortable with that.
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muddy
Level 4 Theurgist
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Post by muddy on Oct 19, 2023 9:49:36 GMT -6
I backed the kickstarter, and am still waiting for the stuff to arrive. Played a session with people from the discord, didn't feel very different from D&D. It seems like starting characters are more powerful - especially spell casters, though that doesn't seem like a bad things. It does have me thinking about differing needs for adventure design (less need for scroll heavy treasures, for example). For some reason things that have bothered me in the past (no, you're dwarf can't be a magic user!) don't seem to bother me in SD, maybe because things seem pretty balanced. You can learn a lot about the game play just creating characters using the online generator, which is pretty neat. shadowdarklings.net/create |
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Post by jamesmishler on Oct 19, 2023 21:01:04 GMT -6
I'm not too happy about what I've learned about the default setting (our DM wanted to try it), but I've seen far worse and we're adjusting it as we go along. What is it about the default setting that you do not like? |
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Post by hamurai on Oct 20, 2023 6:56:06 GMT -6
First of all, half-orcs and goblins as PC races - that's not at all what I expected from an old-school game. I keep reminding myself they're not evil by nature, but I feel I'm strongly biased.
Also, the pantheon didn't really click with me. A lawful heroine/knight ascended to godhood, a neutral nature god, a lawful goddess of the universal laws (What exactly is the deity worshipped for? Gravity?), a neutral god of knowledge, a chaotic lion-god who wants to destroy reality, a chaotic barbarian blood/fight-god and a chaotic god of evil magic.
I rolled a strange background story for my cleric and had to select one of these, although I felt none of the non-chaotic deities fitted my background and character. The chaotic deities are clearly evil, so they didn't fit my character. I ended up choosing the ascended knight just because the text says that most lawful humans worship her. The fact that there had been 9 gods and 2 are now forbidden/forgotten, while 3 are The Dark Trio and evil, says there's more Chaos than Law in this pantheon, which seems unnatural in the civilization we play in. But maybe there's a lot of our GM's invention in that.
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Post by geoffrey on Oct 20, 2023 8:51:25 GMT -6
She'll also be at Gary Con this spring, running nigh continuous demos. I admire and envy the ability to do this. DMing a 4-hour A/D&D game once a week for my friends at one of our houses is close to my limit. But to travel far away and then DM game after game for strangers, hours on end? I couldn't do it. I'd wipe out. |
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Post by Finarvyn on Oct 21, 2023 5:36:25 GMT -6
Heck, if my games go 3 hours I'm fatigued. I can't imagine doing one 4-hour block after another.  |
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rayotus
Level 4 Theurgist
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Post by rayotus on Oct 23, 2023 8:12:01 GMT -6
I backed it. Whatever else you might say about the rules, they come from a very genuine place and Kelsey worked her ass off at multiple conventions running it for people and ensuring everyone had a good time. I am going to play it with my group for 9-12 sessions -- once the physical books arrive. It looks good to me, despite a couple of oddities. I do think the generative tables are a bit weak compared to the strongest things out there (e.g. Tome of Adventure Design or Maze Rats).
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Post by jamesmishler on Oct 26, 2023 20:09:56 GMT -6
First of all, half-orcs and goblins as PC races - that's not at all what I expected from an old-school game. I keep reminding myself they're not evil by nature, but I feel I'm strongly biased. Also, the pantheon didn't really click with me. A lawful heroine/knight ascended to godhood, a neutral nature god, a lawful goddess of the universal laws (What exactly is the deity worshipped for? Gravity?), a neutral god of knowledge, a chaotic lion-god who wants to destroy reality, a chaotic barbarian blood/fight-god and a chaotic god of evil magic. I rolled a strange background story for my cleric and had to select one of these, although I felt none of the non-chaotic deities fitted my background and character. The chaotic deities are clearly evil, so they didn't fit my character. I ended up choosing the ascended knight just because the text says that most lawful humans worship her. The fact that there had been 9 gods and 2 are now forbidden/forgotten, while 3 are The Dark Trio and evil, says there's more Chaos than Law in this pantheon, which seems unnatural in the civilization we play in. But maybe there's a lot of our GM's invention in that. I appreciate the details. I can understand your position on each of these. The specifics were not my cup of tea, either, but I rolled with them in creating my Shadowdark campaign setting in order to try them out. I used some things wholesale and modified a few others. I kept goblins but changed half-orcs to simply full orcs. Just works better for my world. Goblins and orcs can be civilized in my setting, most aren't, but some are. This contrasts greatly with the Labyrinth Lord campaign I am running, in which humanoids are merely meat puppets for least spirits from the Hells. But I cut my teeth on the Wilderlands and Mystara, so PC humanoids are nothing new to me. The gods list was also short gir me, so I punched it up a bit and added a lot of new gods (most just reskinned from real world pantheons, with Law and Chaos also a factor). I've never taken any campaign presumptions at face value from any game. I always add, delete, mutate, and otherwise alter materials to fit the needs of my campaign and players. So for me, though the materials did not jibe with my ideal, I made them fit. YMMV. |
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Post by hamurai on Oct 27, 2023 10:30:41 GMT -6
Yeah, our DM just didn't have the time to flesh out his own world before we started, he just wanted to start playing and we started using the default setting. Not sure how long we'll be till we "make it our own".
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Post by thegreyelf on Nov 1, 2023 15:05:31 GMT -6
I swapped some books with the author for her "quick start" rules (which are shockingly complete) a couple years back at GaryCon. I liked what I read.
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Post by jeffb on Nov 27, 2023 20:02:06 GMT -6
So for those who backed this (in print) or just know- Any updates on when the physical books will be available? Website has said "Fall 2023" for quite some time.
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Post by Finarvyn on Nov 28, 2023 5:07:22 GMT -6
Got this update a few days ago. |
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rayotus
Level 4 Theurgist
Posts: 122
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Post by rayotus on Nov 28, 2023 11:05:00 GMT -6
Is there a word for the decrease in excitement/interest that occurs between one's Kickstarter pledge and the physical delivery?
Sizzle-fizzle?
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Post by jeffb on Nov 28, 2023 12:27:43 GMT -6
Is there a word for the decrease in excitement/interest that occurs between one's Kickstarter pledge and the physical delivery? Sizzle-fizzle? Idk the term if there is one, but waiting several months is nothing. The Chaosium took 5 years to fulfill the entire RQ Classic KS. The words I'd like to use would get me banned. And I know some other KS projects from other creators never had any fulfillment and people got screwed, unfortunately. |
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Post by waysoftheearth on Nov 28, 2023 14:58:13 GMT -6
30 tons of books. That's a lot of books.
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Post by Finarvyn on Nov 29, 2023 14:07:20 GMT -6
Is there a word for the decrease in excitement/interest that occurs between one's Kickstarter pledge and the physical delivery? Sizzle-fizzle? Love this.  I love to support projects, but it is somewhat frustrating when so many KS projects take sooooooo long to be completed. I mean, I understand WHY this works and even big name groups like Goodman who usually have a product pretty much written but it still takes a long time to get it done. In the case of Shadowdark, I'm still running 5E and am always looking for streamlined rules to run my games, so I'm still looking forward to getting the physical product. (I could have been reading the PDF, but I like actual paper books.) |
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