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'