Shadow of the Weird Wizard Is Finally Here!

Long anticipated, it’s here! You can grab the PDF from DriveThruRPG. In fact, it has hit the #1 spot on the site.

By Rob Schawlb, SotWW is the sequel to Shadow of the Demon Lord and presents a more family friendly version of the game system.

Not DnD - Shadow of the Weird Wizard

Shadow of the Weird Wizard voted as one of the most anticipated ttrpgs of 2023 by EN World users. Join us as we discuss Rob Schwalb's family-friendly incarna...

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Shadow of the Weird Wizard® is a fantasy roleplaying game in which you and your friends assume the roles of characters who explore the borderlands and make them safe for the refugees escaping the doom that has befallen the old country. Unsafe are these lands: the Weird Wizard released monsters to roam the countryside, cruel faeries haunt the shadows, undead drag themselves free from their tombs, and ancient evils stir once more. If the displaced people would rebuild their lives, they need heroes to protect them. A brand new game built using the system powering Shadow of the Demon Lord, this game gives you everything you need for you and your friends to champion the innocent, to brave grave dangers, and right terrible wrongs, all while exploring the wild frontier of the borderlands!

Some saw him as a mad sorcerer who commanded eldritch powers of staggering might. As proof, one only has to look at all the abominations he set loose in the lands—the hybrid beasts, the multilegged hulking collectors, floating eyes that hang in the air trailing their nerve endings. And then, far, far beyond the edges of the new lands rose the walls of the Forbidden City and the clockwork peoples who dwelled there in seeming servitude to the dread mage who ruled over all he surveyed.



But the Weird Wizard is gone. His shadow remains, but the figure casting it disappeared and none, not even his closest servants, know where he went. It might be coincidence that his absence preceded the bloody civil war that tore the Great Kingdom apart and that precipitated the violent struggle between the other nations in the west, or the Weird Wizard might have had some stabilizing influence that enabled civilization to flourish once more following a far older, nastier decline. Too, he could have been the source of the conflict and abandoned the world to its fate.

Either way, the instability sends people by the thousands spilling into the borderlands. As this territory grows more and more crowded, refugees are looking to the east to make their homes. The first forays into the strange place have ended with disappearances and death, and the few people who have returned carry tales of hostile inhabitants, cruel faeries, and hideous, ravenous monsters. If the new lands would be tamed, there must be peace with the inhabitants.

Such efforts demand heroes. Luckily, there might just be a few around. This book shows you how to make a hero who can meet and triumph over the greatest challenges of exploring a world that stands in the shadow of a Weird Wizard.

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[Retreater]

The system is moot until we get the (not even on Kickstarter yet?) GMs book/bestiary.
I mean, it's not a playable, functional system able to be reviewed until we get that.
You can't judge a system on a player's book.
Maybe we'll see what happens when Schwalb finishes it in ... 2026?

 

[rozgarth]

The system is moot until we get the (not even on Kickstarter yet?) GMs book/bestiary.
I mean, it's not a playable, functional system able to be reviewed until we get that.
You can't judge a system on a player's book.
Maybe we'll see what happens when Schwalb finishes it in ... 2026?

Secrets of the Weird Wizard (the GM and Monster book) is part of the same Kickstarter. It’s currently in layout and is expected to release in PDF in just a couple months.

 

[Retreater]

Secrets of the Weird Wizard (the GM and Monster book) is part of the same Kickstarter. It’s currently in layout and is expected to release in PDF in just a couple months.

Great to know. But an absolute bonkers promotion to tell people what the product is. Nothing in the description that other books are necessary. Nothing in the title to indicate it's not a complete game.
Like it could be titled "Shadow of the Weird Wizard: Players Guide/Hero's Handbook/Adventurer's Book." And then - you have to go digging through the Kickstarter Page to see there's another book - and it's not even mentioned in the name of the KS or landing page.
Of course, the DriveThru description lists the credit of the artists, gives a big setting lore dump, but none of this other information.

From the description...

A brand new game built using the system powering Shadow of the Demon Lord, this game gives you everything you need for you and your friends to champion the innocent, to brave grave dangers, and right terrible wrongs, all while exploring the wild frontier of the borderlands!

I mean, it's "everything you need" except for monsters, grave dangers, terrible wrongs, and the wild frontier.

And maybe it wouldn't be as big of an issue if Demon Lord wasn't an all-in-one volume. Or if it very clearly stated what the heck it is, instead of assuming that players who haven't done research on the Kickstarter page that "Shadow of the Weird Wizard" must clearly be the book for players and "Secret of the Weird Wizard" must clearly be the book for GMs. I can see family-friendly players being able to make that distinction easily.

Really, I have no skin in this game, other than I hate to see a game four years in the making come stumbling out of the gate with such bizarre release decisions.

 

[mamba]

The system is moot until we get the (not even on Kickstarter yet?) GMs book/bestiary.

they were both part of the same kickstarter….

 

[Thomas Shey]

Interesting. We played SoTDL but the setting didn't grab the players. What is the name of the second book?

Secrets of the Weird Wizard.

 

[Thomas Shey]

as far as systems are concerned, because you like this one I guess. It certainly has some interesting ideas (going by SotDL, haven't looked at SotWW yet). for example I like how it handles classes / multi-classing better than what 5e does.

I don't think there is much difference between the stories you can tell in SotWW, 5e, PF2 or other generic fantasy TTRPGs

Not entirely true, but SotWW is another D&D-adjacent game, so the differences you'd get in some other fantasy games (something like Savage Worlds Fantasy or Fantasy Hero plays pretty different than something like PF2e, and forcing the same plot into each of them might produce unpredictable and undesirable consequences) aren't going to be all that pronounced.

 

[Thomas Shey]

The system is moot until we get the (not even on Kickstarter yet?) GMs book/bestiary.
I mean, it's not a playable, functional system able to be reviewed until we get that.
You can't judge a system on a player's book.
Maybe we'll see what happens when Schwalb finishes it in ... 2026?

That's way pessimistic. Its already mostly done. As to the other--if there was some reason for him to wait when he had the first one done to release it until he had the second, I can't see it.

 

[Retreater]

they were both part of the same kickstarter….

I mean, except that it wasn't promoted and was just jammed in at the bottom as an afterthought.
The Kickstarter wasn't "Shadow of the Weird Wizard Player and GM Books" or anything that makes sense. You had to scroll halfway down the page.
And the dang system is called "Shadow of the Weird Wizard" which is the name exclusively of the player's book. It's not called "Chronicles of the Weird Wizard" or anything like that.
It's confusing. I follow gaming more than anyone I know. I get on sites like this one several times a day. This is literally the first time I've heard there is a second book.
It's amazing how botched this is.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I mean, except that it wasn't promoted and was just jammed in at the bottom as an afterthought.
The Kickstarter wasn't "Shadow of the Weird Wizard Player and GM Books" or anything that makes sense. You had to scroll halfway down the page.
And the dang system is called "Shadow of the Weird Wizard" which is the name exclusively of the player's book. It's not called "Chronicles of the Weird Wizard" or anything like that.
It's confusing. I follow gaming more than anyone I know. I get on sites like this one several times a day. This is literally the first time I've heard there is a second book.
It's amazing how botched this is.

It was mentioned multiple times in the various purchase tiers. Seriously, this wasn't hard to figure out.

 

[Retreater]

That's way pessimistic. Its already mostly done. As to the other--if there was some reason for him to wait when he had the first one done to release it until he had the second, I can't see it.

Yeah. I just thought it hadn't been started yet. Didn't know it was a part of the same Kickstarter and was already in progress because ... I didn't back the Kickstarter and didn't get monthly updates about Schwalb's progress on the second book.
And sure, no reason to wait to release the player's book. But a damned good reason to tell people it's a player's book on DriveThru and explain what is required to play the game.