Awaiting the approach of the McQuarrie brothers, the ambush positions of the murderhobos...I mean the party, have considerable advantages. They quickly make short work of two of the evil McQuarrie brothers, the Professor himself running across the muddy field to dispatch the third as he starts to tractor to get away (slowly - as chases go, it was a damp squib). Clearly, this party of so called 'academics' is not to be trifled with.
'Yeah...there seems to be a weight problem in the car we hired?'
Watching the whole thing however, without taking sides, is local farmer Ian MacDonald - no friend of the McQuarries, and who turns out to be a good source of information. Being an NPC, he immediately trusts the people who just despatched the McQuarrie brothers ...uhhhh...
Inviting the rampant killers..um...the party back to his farmhouse, he relates the tale of the missing MacRae baby, Hancock's relationship with Margaret in town, and the general strange goings on around Cannich regarding the new French witch in town - Anne Chantraine, and her accomplice Duncan MacBain.
Merely an artist's impression of the mysterious Anne Chantraine, who may, or may not, be really old...
The party resolve to try and find the mysterious Margaret first - as she serves them whiskey in the Cannich pub. They try to pass a note, but it is seen by the landlord...and quickly dismissed.
They note that she is wearing an elder sign on a necklace, similar to the one that Henry had been wearing...
Mags' elder sign...
They follow her, and note that she enters a tenement house, the door opened by a man...
Shotgun diplomacy may not be the order of the day this time...
Working their way further into the dwarven complex, having accidentally sealed the entrance, needing a new way out, and having lost two characters so far, the poor characters continue.
Down to ten people, they encounter the 'giant eyeballs with legs that work like facehuggers'...and end up having to kill two of their own party members (including one of the hobbits ...yay!).
Spiders later take care of one of thieves.
And then, there were seven...
'Dearest AI...pray tell, why is shadowdark combat better than that of 5e?'
While "better" is subjective—5e excels at crunchy, option-heavy grid-based tactics for larger groups or players who love build optimization—Shadowdark shines for old-school dungeon crawls where every fight feels risky and combats resolve in minutes, not hours.
In short: Shadowdark combat feels like a gritty swordfight—tense, swift, and punishing—perfect for crawl-focused play. 5e is a tactical minis game. If your group hates sloggy sessions, Shadowdark "fixes everything wrong with 5e" by prioritizing fun over features. Try the free quickstart PDF for a test run.
1. Blazing Speed and Flow (No Analysis Paralysis)
Shadowdark: One move (~30 ft, abstract "near" range; can split or double-move) + one action (attack, spell, improvise) per turn. Initiative: d20 + DEX mod for all (players + GM), highest first, then clockwise around the table—no tracking order sheets. Turns fly; even 6-player games have "rounds [that] fly" with "no decision gridlock."
5e Contrast: Action + bonus action + reaction + free movement + dozens of subclass features/spells. Individual initiative order often causes "whose turn?" delays and option overload.
Why Better: Combats end fast (e.g., 3 PCs vs. 3 monsters in ~40 min max, often less); real-time torch burning (~1 hour play) adds urgency without pausing.
2. High Lethality and Stakes (Fights Matter)
Shadowdark: Low HP (roll class HD + CON only at lvl 1; no CON after). Damage: straight dice (e.g., 1d6 sword, no STR mod). Crits (nat 20) double dice. At 0 HP: death timer (1d4 + CON rounds, min 1); roll d20 each turn (nat 20 stabilizes at 1 HP) or ally DC 15 INT check. Enemies morale-check at half HP (DC 15 WIS).
5e Contrast: Massive HP pools, death saves (3 successes/fails), reliable healing (e.g., Healing Word bonus action), short/long rests galore—fights drag with "immortality."
Why Better: Every hit hurts; players avoid fights or flee smartly. "Combat is fast, brutal, and decisive."
3. Minimal Bookkeeping and Rulings Over Rules
Shadowdark: Abstract ranges (close=5ft, near=30ft, far=sight). Attacks: d20 + STR/DEX vs. AC (flat math, mods -4 to +4). No spell slots/components/books—cast via check (DC 10+tier; crit fail = long rest penalty). Gear slots limit encumbrance.
Having found Hancock’s house, our heroes work out that not
only has the door once been kicked in, the lock has then been repaired, and
then picked. What the ???
Of course, little do they realise that moment before they arrive,
their old friend(?) ‘Sinead the Mad Irish’ is there. Why? Well, turns out she had
been hastily recruited by Adam – Henry’s ‘friend’ – to remove a rock-face from
the dig site, with her special skills.
True to form, she plants a tripwire/blast trap inside a vase
and Professor Schmidt walks right into it, receiving a large piece of priceless Ming vase to the face. (I’m sure he’ll be fine).
Revealing herself to her old friends, there are several
uniquely comical… I mean deadly serious --- moments of argument as the
characters wonder just what the hell is going on?
Eventually, having resolved their differences, they search the
house, finding the terribly decayed (and sanity roll provoking) body of Henry
Hancock hidden behind a picture…with the eerie feeling that they are being
watched.
They find a photo of Henry and Adam from Easter Island, with
the strange inscription on the back related to the ‘the whistler’ and the fact
that the ‘sword and the spear are one…’.
Indeed, the local farming community, whom they seem to have
disturbed, at least in the form of three strangely behaving brothers, appear to
be getting closer, wondering why the house has been disturbed…
Realising that Hancock has been questioned and murdered,
they search the rest of the house – and reason that whoever took Hancock, was
searching for something As McDaid has a smoke downstairs, not wanting to see
the remains of Hancock, he has an otherworldy encounter with the terrifying
ghost of the man himself...in the kitchen, which tries to possess him.
I mean they were going to split the party...but if Scooby Doo has taught us anything..am i right?.
Fighting back (with good rolls) he shrugs the thing off,
realising from his Cthulhu Mythos (gained from a recent read of Culte des Ghouls) that not only do the remains
need to be buried, but that the reason for the spectre must have something to
do with an ‘artefact’ in the house, the famous ‘disk’ they have read so much
about – which means the previous search by the bad guys did not find it.
Hiding the car, and musing with regard to getting out of
there, they instead quickly check the basement, and in the coal cellar, hidden by
an improvised box, is part of the disk of R’lyeh… which appears to be a
fragment of a map, inscribed upon a neatly sliced golden fragment.
As two of the farmer brothers (potentially the McQuarries)
approach the house with shotguns, the characters lie in wait… they may have
questions....especially regarding this strange 'French woman'...
The younger group, which has just finished the aforementioned 'Shadows of Yog Sothoth' (the 'substantially older' group are now on episode 5 of Yog Sothoth - confusing I know), have now returned to a D&D-esque experience, with the amazing 'Shadowdark' RPG.
Rather than wax lyrical about the advantages that Shadowdark has over D&D 5e, I asked an AI to do it (it summarises everyone else's opinion anyway, which of course saves me doing it...;)
Definitely what a cleric should look like
Shadowdark RPG (by Kelsey Dionne of The Arcane Library) is a streamlined, OSR-inspired tabletop RPG that modernizes classic dungeon-crawling while borrowing familiar 5e elements like d20 rolls, ascending AC, and advantage/disadvantage. It's not a direct 5e clone—it's based more on B/X D&D—but it's designed as an accessible entry for 5e players tired of bloat, power creep, and predictability.
. It won 4 ENNIE Awards (including Best Game and Product of the Year 2024) after a $1.3M+ Kickstarter.
The Kazad Mor 1st level adventure (available on Drivethru rpg - really well done - even the players get a map - I'm sure it's correct and there aren't some important details which only the DM gets to know )
Aspect
Shadowdark
D&D 5e
Why Shadowdark Wins
Character Creation
Roll 3d6-in-order stats (flat bonuses, often negative). Fits on a 3x5 card. 5-10 minutes.
No skills/proficiencies. Solve via creativity/tools/environment. Avoidance > combat.
Skill checks/class features short-circuit challenges.
Brain over sheet. Emergent stories from player choices.
DM Burden
One 416-page book. Indexed perfectly. Random tables galore.
100s of books. Constant tweaks for balance/fun.
Prep-light, playable out-of-box. Focus on fun, not fixes.
Campaign Fit
Short delves shine; scales to long campaigns via talents/ancestries.
Heroic epics, but exploration/social often sidelined.
Better for core fantasy (delves). Free quickstart + creator kit for easy content.
(I liked this bit especially): 5e is a broad superhero simulator that's grown bloated and DM-unfriendly. Shadowdark distills 50+ years of RPG evolution into tense, replayable adventures where every choice matters. It's "old-school gaming, modernized"—lethal, fast, creative.
The bridge on the way in, where the first of the 12 x 'zero' level characters was lost
That river with the lack of bridge is chock full o' red hot 'magma'
Back in Arkham, Professor Schmidt has been employed by Miskatonic
University for a year now and has been befriended by Dr. Edward Call – a man
who has links to the shadowy organisation known as ‘The Order of Silver
Twilight’. He even attends a few meetings, aware that the order has several
levels of hierarchy, perhaps even dangerous hierarchy.
Dr Call takes Schmidt to one side eventually, explaining
that he is very concerned about something that is going on in the higher echelons
of the society -briefing Schmidt on the
fact that (1) they are actively seeking an ancient, and potentially very
dangerous, artifact and (2) it is happening in his old haunting grounds’ of
Scotland.
Sleepy Cannich, about to be overwhelmed by maniacs, and that's just the player-characters
One of Hancock's last letters - not suspicious at all...
A stolen, strangely futuristic 'print' that Call has acquired and given to Schmidt.
He shares letters from Henry Hancock, a former big game
hunter, who had undertaken previously to help Call, and relocating with his colleague
to Scotland – keen to find the components of a hidden disc, now divided into 3
parts, and secured at various locations near Cannich. Schmidt telegraphs ahead
(through Call’s Postal contact – Sophie), asking his contacts in Scotland, McDaid
and McLeoid, to research the area south of their previous adventure, where the
matters have taken place. They determine the presence of an old Roman temple,
and a man called Belphogor…who is mentioned in some of the data that Call has
given to Schmidt.
He takes passage back to Britain, and then Scotland,
reunited with his erstwhile companions, except Sinead who seems to have
disappeared. They take stock of the research they have gathered (including
mention of a woman called Margaret, a man called Belphegor and a French witch),
and head for the remote town of Cannich, but 20 miles south of their adventure
a year earlier. Using Hancock’s letters, they try to find the house he had
purchased, passing another group of farmers, who take interest in their
movements. MacLeoid asks if they might consider a trade of Poteen later…the
interaction not going as well as hoped. At the nearby cottage, a large expensive
car sits, garnering their attention…
A large expensive car..?
The Hancock House...not at all secure...
The party eventually find Hancock’s house, which shows signs
of recently having been visited…by a wide wheeled …large expensive car, and the
house has been broken into…
And speaking of quality of writing, who doesn't remember 'Epic Rap Battles of Historeeeee' :
The characters pull away from the eastern side of the Lough,
immediately being pursued by groups of the MacAllen clan using their own boats.
Having gained some time, they stop at the
island mid-way, with a view to setting Macguffin’s unstable dynamite to destroy
the first of the obelisks. Schmidt notes that there is a symbol on this one –
and that it seems older than the other one previously observed; the symbology
is clearly some sort of ancient map, and he takes a rubbing. The party wastes
no time and sets a short fuse, taking to the boat, with the MacAllens in hot
pursuit.
'Stop the carefully constructed wooden aquatic craft.'
Having sensed that they are tampering with the pentagramic
pattern denoted by the obelisks however, the Lloigor attacks them mid channel.
In a rush of violence, using its powers to set MacGuffin alight, and then rush
toward Schmidt with jaws opening wide. In the confusion, McQuaid falls into the
water, and a flurry of close range shots, and tossed dynamite from Sinead,
create chaos.
Apparently the 'Watcher' from the Lord of the Rings was a Lloigor, who knew...
With Schmidt between its jaws, (and impossibly small amounts
of damage done despite a fair crit) the beast is driven off, explosives detonating
inside its jaws as it submerges; reaching the far bank in time, gives the
characters time to ambush the onrushing boats of MacCallen cultists (with the
help of the now dead MacGuffin’s remaining Lewis Gun ammunition).
The carefully drawn white-board map, becomes a mess...
They head for a second obelisk, hoping to eliminate the
threat, once and for all. This second set of detonations is much more successful;
Sinead looks on at the practicality of her expertise; as the pentagram is
finally broken, the Lloigor rears up in agony out of the lough, falling (apparently
dead) onto one of the MacAllen boats, the rest withdrawing in apparent
disarray.
Days later…and silence settles upon Lough Fein and the town
of Gregor. The characters tie up loose ends, exploring the now quiet MacAllen
farms (and finding a random copy of Cultes
des Ghoules, and relocating Erma to Inverness, after Sinead (as a random
act of poison laden vengeance) sorts out Erma’s husband (and not in a good
way).
'A sordid, undefinable stench settled over the place, and the ancient spirit slept...' H.P. Lovecraft
The characters go their separate ways, Sinead disappearing
into the Scottish criminal underground, Schmidt returning to London, where he
discovers that he has been offered tenure at Miskatonic University in Arkham,
where he will be contacted by members of the Order of the Silver Twilight…
The best quote from the pending campaign (starting just after the Scottish episode) has to be with regard to the characters' adversaries who range from...
'...living wizards to undead horrors and alien monsters, who plan to raise dread R'lyeh, the city of Great Cthulhu, from the bottom of the sea, and [thereby] unleash the Elder gods upon a terrified world. If the players' investigators do well, they will save the world. If they do poorly, well ...'
Schmidt, McDaid and Macleod, having agreed to help Paten
MacGuffin in his search for vengeance, start to cross the Loch toward the ruins
of Castle MacLaraig.
Sinead Maguire, who has stayed back at the guesthouse
keeping an eye on the still mourning Elaine, assembles and takes stock of her
‘bag’o’bombs’, keeping a close eye out for interference from the MacAllens.
(Uncannily, rolling a straight 100 fumble on her ‘spot hidden’…oops).
Flash back to the chaps on the Lough …as McLeod’s eagle
eyesight at night, spots a group of torches, heading north along the western
bank, toward the castle. Reckoning they can make it there first, and choosing a
route that avoids McLeod’s estimation as to the epicentre of the pentagram, the
party rapidly beach the boat, and make their way through the marshland to the
ruined castle.
As the torchlit procession makes its way toward the ruins.
McLeod spots the fact that the eight MacAllens fiends, have a captured and bound
Elaine and Sinead with them. (Rolling a fumble for a spot hidden rarely bodes
well for the roller…and Sinead discovers that she has been nabbed by the
MacAllens…along with Elaine, clearly with the help of Erma’s husband at the
guesthouse).
The true horror..uhhh maybe
A quick search of the castle reveals a trapdoor, but there
is no time to investigate that just yet, as there is an ambush and a daring
rescue to spring! Having MacGuffin with his Lewis gun (well stocked with
ammunition) pays dividends as his vengeance eventually plays out, bullets
flying in the night at the head of the MacAllen column as it rounds the bend
into the ruins, the captives safely in cover, and the ends of the column being
shot to pieces. Schmidt shouts ‘get down’ in German, knowing that Elaine at
least will understand it, though gaining a strange look from MacGuffin, whose
memories still lie in the mud of the western front trenches.
plotting a route that avoids that hatched bit in the middle...
The ambush, potato chip flank...as the party shoots up the MacAllen column...
A turn of surprise actions, and accurate close range fire
from the party makes short work of the inbred and hulking MacAllens, and the
slaughter is complete… Releasing the ladies, the party leaves Elaine and
MacGuffuin on watch (Macguffin takes great pleasure in disposing of the
bodies), the rest descending below to check out the dungeon level of the
castle, before any more of the MacAllens turn up.
McDain and McLeod take the lead, knowing that it is ‘SAN
roll’ time… The disgusting remnants of horrible rituals are found in two of the
chambers; in one, leathery paralysed corpses posed in horrific death throes,
whilst in another, the charred bones of the MacAllen’s nefarious activities (or
the activites of something else…). In some cases evidence of spontaneous
combustion seems obvious. Despite the potential for it all to become too much
for the investigators, they have seen worse on the western front, and keep
their stiff upper lip intact (SAN rolls passed).
The charnel house room is last in the tour however,
decorated with ancient and recent blood stains and the stench of vile
depredations. In the corner of the room sits a strange curved mirror, an
ancient gallic text carved crudely onto its dark oak frame. Despite her best
efforts, Sinead can not translate it (which is probably a good thing). McLeod
has a strange feeling examining the thing. The party endeavours to destroy the
mirror, drawing straws to see who gets to carry out the deed.
NOT the mirror in the bathroom...
Just as McDaid and Sinead are about to use shotguns to
destroy it...something stirs…dust on the floor swirls, and small motes of
burning ember seem to float up in a vortex, an image, then a solid form, of the
vile dreaded head…of the Lloigor forming from the bloated charged air in the
vile dungeon… ROLL YOUR SAN!
...just the tip, of the Lloigor
Both pass, running like hell (but lose a point anyway),
slowed by that burning sensation in their chests, a heat, a flame, an agonising
pain as their burning lungs strive to find oxygen as the thing makes them pay
for their transgression.
Luckily they make it out in time, despite some lung damage
to both, and race to the surface, just in time for MacGuffin to warn them, that
torches, many torches, can be seen moving from the MacAllen farms…toward the
castle.
The next day is Samhain…Halloween…a festival bloodily celebrated
through the MacAllen’s ghastly rituals. Perhaps the dreaded inbred sect of evil,
wishes to start its celebrations, a little bit early…with the investigators as
the prize.
With the resulting standoff in MacKenzie House, Sinead Maguire , now with
MacLeod pointing a pistol at her, and seemingly also supported by his two new
friends, drops her bag and raises her hands. She opts not to reach for the oh-so-tempting
bottle of unstable nitro, that has got her out of so many situations in the
past.
She does opt to produce her one bargaining chip – the Willard
Gibson notebook that she found whilst staying in his old room. This then appears to
placate the rest of the party, and bearing in mind the potential dangers (and
her bag full of dynamite), they agree to work together, at least for a time.
There are several points to decipher in the notebook.
Willard had made friends with a man called Paten MacGuffin up the lough, and
had conversely managed to annoy the vile and malignant MacAllens, whom Erma
MacKenzie, upon being assessed by the wily Schmidt (rolling a 01 on psychology)
is terrified of.
Further ‘intense probing’ reveals that not only have the vile
MacAllens killed Paten’s wife, and caused upset in the town, but they are
somehow linked to the 'thing' in the Lough, and vile bouts of ‘keeping it in the
family’. Sinead resolves to stay at the guesthouse for the evening, and keep an
eye of Willard’s daughter Elaine, who heard the entire discourse.
See the toepath..just there...yep that's it...
Resolving to walk the toe-path around the lough as darkness
falls (I mean, why wouldn’t you?), they discover the wreckage of wooden boats
on the shoreline. They also encounter one of the deformed MacAllens, with an
even more deformed dog called ‘Satan’ who crosses their path, the off kilter moron assuring them that they are being watched. No shots exchanged (at least
in terms of lead) ,the two parties move on.
According to AI this is a 'mad inbred Scottish farmer from 1925 with a dog called Satan and a shotgun'
As it grows dark, moonlights glints off something in the
tree line, and they discover an out of place, rune marked, horribly black obelisk
style, standing stone …which appears to be acting as part of a magnetic field
(confirming Schmidt’s earlier research regarding standing stones). It has also
been cleaned of muck, perhaps even unearthed by the local mad men MacAllens?
I asked AI for a black obelisk - this was option B...
The lands surrounding the Lough seem controlled by the
MacAllens, except for one area, a well positioned and stockade protected farm…Paten MacGuffin
meets them with his friendly shotgun in hand, though McDaid manages to
fast-talk him with regaled tales of the war and the party’s knowledge of
Willard Gibson, and they are allowed into the farmhouse.
Inside is a mess, since the death of MacGuffin’s wife Sara,
though they do see an intact rowing boat (called the ‘Sara’). MacGuffin
confirms their worst fears regarding the stones, of which it seems there are
five. Consulting the map of the area, MacLeod correctly assesses that they form
the shape of a dreaded pentagram, and whatever is in the lough, might rise
atthe epi-centre.
MacGuffin is distraught since the death of his wife,
at the hands of the MacAllens. He wants only vengeance, and the characters
might be just the vehicle he has been waiting for …combined with the boxes
of unstable dynamite and a handy-dandy Lewis Gun, currently needing a little
oil, in the barn…
The first episode in the latest run through of a (very much expanded, due to its unintelligible plotlines..) ‘Shadows of Yog Sothoth’, with the players from the Wednesday Night
Bunker. There are scenarios from other older supplements, and even some ‘made
up crap’ in the context of this campaign. If it suddenly ends, you know that
the players have en masse, taken the ‘Keeper of Arcane Lore’ out back and beat
him with bricks…
Dramatis Personae
Professor Wolgang Schmidt (not used to hide his true
surname: Von Junzt, definitely not, honest) – ex German officer from the
trenches of France, now the doyenne of English Archaeology through means not
altogether wholesome.
Cameron McDaid – the English officer who took him prisoner
at the end of the war, now his great friend, and an artist, with a penchant for
chemical cocktails of explosive import.
Sinead Maguire – Irish explosives expert fleeing after the
civil war, and on the run… (sensing a theme). App7, due to an 'accident' in the past.
John MacLeòid - A Scottish Private Investigator, contracted
to catch the Maguire woman, by organisation(s) unknown.
Wolfgang and Cameron attend the London funeral of Willard
Gibson, a noted palaeontologist found murdered at Gregor, near Inverness, in
Scotland.
They comfort his daughter Elaine, a student at the London
university, who gives the men letters she had received from her father, having
asked for Schmidt’s help. They undertake to accompany her north to determine what happened at Loch Feinn, as information from the authorities is sparse. She advises that
her father had asked if Wolfgang could find a copy of ‘Unspeakable Cults’ from
the university library, which he dutifully ‘borrows’ with McDaid running
interference.
Meanwhile, McCleod is closing in on Maguire in the remote
Scottish village of Gregor, north of Inverness. He is at Inverness station when
he bumps into his old friend McDade, and the Wolfgang party…
They head north, opting to check the guest house and room
where Willard Gibson stayed…Erma McKenzie (who runs a fine boarding house), welcomes
them, informing them (1) they should not waken her enormous, drunk and sleeping
husband currently occupying the entire lounge, and (2) an Irish woman is in
Willard’s old room currently.
Maguire, over-hearing the whole thing, grabs her gear, and
the notebook she found in the room, and leaves via the window, escaping into
the street below…
Using her superb disguise still, she opts to return dressed
as a bloke – hoping to spring a trap. At the top of the stairs, McLeod ‘s eyes
narrow, as he recognises his prey at the door, despite best disguise…
On the 4th anniversary of the 6th regenerative rub at re-beginning, the blog that will eternal lie (in true politician style - see what I did there...) - I HAVE RETURNED.
In this episode of 'Return of the Keeper of Arcane Lore Who Never Came back... I am re-constituting this (apparently Fantasy Wargaming) Blog into an RPG 'thing', mainly since after my 5e D&D expedition(s), I am now running the one true game - Call of Cthulhu.
Currently running this campaign every other week, and likely to run it again on a weekly basis with a different group:
Now, if I am good, and blog in timely fashion..updates may appear here, with character details etc., as I might also run...this (yes - that 1st edition version...I am what you might call a Tradionalist - watch this space):
Now, Call of Cthulhu has been on my shelves for many a year (Ed: tell the truth - since 1984) - in fact I may have sold more of it off, than I currently have, but I am resisting the temptation to buy it all back from ebay...so far. Of course, I am running a mish-mash lying between 2nd, 4th and Edition 5.6 - I mentioned Tradition right?
Did I mention the Fantasy Wargaming blog is now an RPG 'thing'?
