Shadowdark #1

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.	Point-buy/standard array + backgrounds + feats + multiclassing. 30+ minutes, 100s of pages.	Faster start, encourages adapting to rolls (ingenuity over optimization). No "superhero" bloat.
Combat & Lethality	Low HP (d6-d10 + CON only at lvl 1). One-shot kills common. Tactical, with morale checks.	High HP, bounded accuracy. Fights drag; bosses need heavy homebrew to threaten.	Stakes feel real—death is frequent but fair. Rewards smart play over grinding.
Exploration	Torch mechanic: Real-time burning (12 min/torch) + random events every 6 min. Slot encumbrance.	Abstract (10-min turns). Resources rarely matter post-lvl 3.	Creates urgency/tension. Players plan routes, ration light—pure dungeon-crawl bliss.
Magic	Roll-to-cast (risky at high levels). Mishaps/corruption. No slots/prep limits.	Vancian slots/prep. Scales exponentially (wizards dominate late-game).	Dynamic, unpredictable. Fixes "linear warrior, quadratic wizard."
Player Agency	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'

 

Episode 5 – Cannae git awah frae bonny Scotland…

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' :

 

 

Movie Recommendation

 No game this week, though here is a 'Lovecraftian, and yet not Cthulhu' style movie recommendation...really original piece.  

 

Episode 4 - A Fistful of Dynamite

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 characters may have bigger fish to fry...

The coming campaign - Shadows of Yog Sothoth

 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 ...'

 

Watch this space.