Shadowdark Session 0.5 (the Pitch)

finding our stride

So! After all my poking around, and our post-Quiet Year conversation, a game bubbled to the surface that might be a good contender to try next:

SHADOWDARK

What we have here reads like simplified D&D with a focus on dungeon crawling in the style of Old School Revival (OSR), which tries to capture the vibe of older versions of D&D with modern updates. The premise centers what tends to play as secondary to narrative and performance: delve into a dungeon (ruins, crypts, mines, etc), explore (wilderness, settlements), get treasure, get gear, get XP, get levels. Narrative springs from this activity. I think we're probably more accustomed to experiencing this the other way around!

Shadowdark's primary conceit that makes it unique is the Dark:

• All dungeons are dark and require a light source because there is no darkvision.
• Torches provide illumination in a defined area and burn out after one hour of real time.
• If it goes out, PCs get disadvantage on checks and dungeon inhabitants get advantage against the PCs.

It also centers concepts that are common to OSR style games that I've read, but feature less in games that I've run for you:

• Resource management: Similar to the light sources, what you have on hand matters and inventory management is by necessity not as handwave-y as we usually play. You have a certain number of inventory slots based on strength, and each object takes up a certain number (usually one) of slots, making you choose between room for treasure and room for essential supplies, like torches and food.
• Randomness: Characters are generated with randomly rolled stats. On the GM side, there are many, MANY random tables, from wandering monster encounters to settlement generators to keep prep light and improvisation forward. This is one of the big draws for me!
• Short class list: Fighter, Thief, Priest, Wizard, done! What you'd expect, except spells require a skill check to cast successfully and critical failures have consequences.

I think Shadowdark could be a good fit for us because:

• Flexibility: Quick character creation means if we aren't feeling a character, or a character dies, its quick and easy to roll up a new one and jump back in. I think this will also make it easier to accommodate absences.
• Structured: Clear, digestible rules that support turn-based dungeon exploration, wilderness traversal, and downtime activities.
• Attainable: Max level is 10 with a clear route to the top, making progression feel like we can actually get there!
• Familiar: Its got the six abilities we all know and love, the customary d20 system, and procedures we know (initiative, attacks to hit, saving throws, etc.). Its basically D&D in a handful of pages.
• Pacing: It feels designed to keep things moving forward, not necessarily at a breakneck pace, but at a steady clip. The prospect of finishing a campaign is as enticing as it is novel!

I thought I'd send this out for everyone to chew on ahead of our next sesh! If we're interested in giving this a spin, we can do a session 0 and start to feel it out. Send thoughts!