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...;)
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| 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.
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| 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.
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The bridge on the way in, where the first of the 12 x 'zero' level characters was lost
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| That river with the lack of bridge is chock full o' red hot 'magma' |
D&D lost me - FAR too many books and rules. In my dotage I prefer a game that doesn't involve looking up things every two minutes! "Watch what you're doing with that censer, you'll have someone's skull off!"
ReplyDeleteThanks Jack. Yep, they totally lost the plot, went for book sales off the back of 'stranger things', and now it's a corporate mess. The message is gone. But for shadowdark and a few others, the ethos of the game - both in terms of design and intent, would be gone completely i think. Kelsey had managed to save the whole thing with this game.
DeleteI'll have to take a look at it
DeleteNow there is lots of free stuff i can email if you'd like Jack. Shoot me a mail at ducdegobin (at) gmail (dot) com
DeleteI picked up the FREE quickstart set from DriveThru so I'll give it a read 👍
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