I've been running a weekly game fro about two years now, and have found Shadowdark nearly perfect. I actually love the torch timers, and I don't find the game terribly deadly. We have adopted a few house rule though.
READY AN ACTION: Players may ready an action. The readied action must have a specific trigger, and if the trigger does not occur, the player loses their action for that turn.
CINEMATIC ADVANTAGE: Players can use features of an area to take big, risky actions to gain advantage on their next attack. For example, a player could attempt to swing from a chandelier to get behind an enemy. They would make a check (e.g. DC 12 DEX), and if successful would get advantage on their next attack roll. Failing the check would naturally have consequences (e.g. fall and land prone in front of your enemy, who then attacks with advantage).
INTERPOSE: If an ally within close would be struck by an attack, as your action you can push them out of the way and become the new target of the attack.
ATTACK LOCK: After the DM declares which creatures a monster with multiple attacks is attacking, those attacks are locked. If, for example, a troll targets one PC with its two attacks, and the first attack downs the PC, then the second attack must also target the downed PC.
ATTACKING A PC WITH 0 HP: If a PC that has gone to 0 HP is successfully attacked again, the death timer is decreased by 1.
FLEE: Fleeing is a party action. On any PC’s turn, any player can propose that all the characters flee the fight. If all players agree, they successfully retreat, carrying any fallen heroes away with them. The party suffers a campaign loss.
LUCK TOKENS: Per RAW, If a PC decides to use a luck token, they MUST use the new roll. Another PC cannot give them another luck token that can be used on the same turn. If a PC does not have a luck token, another PC can give that PC their luck token.
BUYING LUCK: If a suitable shrine or church is available, a PC can purchase a blessing that bestows a luck token for 100gp.
CAROUSING LUCK: Turn in a luck token for 100 gp of carousing
CRITICAL HITS & MISSES: Any attack roll of natural 20 results in a d100 roll on Roll & Play’s Critical Hit tables. Any attack roll of natural 1 results in a d100 roll on Roll & Play’s Critical Miss tables.
COMBAT: Dual Wielding. Martial characters can carry two onehanded weapons. When rolling damage, both weapon damage dice are rolled and the highest value is used.
EXHAUSTION: Gaining exhaustion. The character reduces their maximum gear slots by one. If all gear slots are full, an item of the player’s choice is removed. Removing Exhaustion. A character removes all exhaustion by having a week of Downtime.
