Shadowdark Shadowdark General Thread [+]

[darjr]

Naturally, my group has dubbed the one guy they've encountered a "werebacon."

He also beat their ass -- they had no magic items and no spellcasters today -- until someone tried to wedge the Crown of the Serpent King (from Tomb of the Serpent Kings) on his head, causing him to momentarily experience horrifying visions, making him flee.

lol!

I came here to suggest you not name them and let the players do that. But looks like they did anyway!

 

[darjr]

FroM the latest email from Arcane Library

2025 was a BIG year for The Arcane Library and Shadowdark:
Our Western Reaches Kickstarter campaign has exceeded $3 million in funding including Backerkit late pledges!
We tabled at more conventions than we ever have before.
There were 84 crowdfunding campaigns for third-party Shadowdark projects (more than any RPG other than 5e).
The Glass Cannon Podcast has adopted Shadowdark as their mainline system for their celebrated actual-play series.
Shadowdark can be found in more retail stores than ever before.
To sum it up: Shadowdark has really grown!

 

[Velderan]

Ok, so this will be incredibly interesting to see what kinds of things people make..

Shadowdark 8 bit Game Jam

A game jam from 2026-01-22 to 2026-02-15 hosted by Dungeon Masterpiece - Baron de Ropp. Shadowdark 8-Bit Game Jam To celebrate the incredible momentum of Shadowdark and the creativity of the community, we’re hosting the Shadowdark 8-Bit...

itch.io

 

[Reynard]

Ok, so this will be incredibly interesting to see what kinds of things people make..

Shadowdark 8 bit Game Jam

A game jam from 2026-01-22 to 2026-02-15 hosted by Dungeon Masterpiece - Baron de Ropp. Shadowdark 8-Bit Game Jam To celebrate the incredible momentum of Shadowdark and the creativity of the community, we’re hosting the Shadowdark 8-Bit...

itch.io

Neat!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Ok, so this will be incredibly interesting to see what kinds of things people make..

Shadowdark 8 bit Game Jam

A game jam from 2026-01-22 to 2026-02-15 hosted by Dungeon Masterpiece - Baron de Ropp. Shadowdark 8-Bit Game Jam To celebrate the incredible momentum of Shadowdark and the creativity of the community, we’re hosting the Shadowdark 8-Bit...

itch.io

I'm really torn on this one. These games are mostly ones that don't speak to me, personally, but this is a good structure for a jam and I bet it'll turn out a lot of fun stuff.

 

[zottel]

Currently waiting on the Western Reaches, which I want to use with an open table to introduce more people to RPGs and Shadowdark.
In the interim, I want to play a few sessions with my regulars. I am unsure what to bring to the table, what I am thinking about:

• Gardes of Ynn
• The Stygian Library
• The Caverns of Thracia
• Forge of Fury

Ynn and the Library have my curiousity, but I am hesitant if they will work well. Love the tone of Ynn, but seems like light and darkness, torches and so on, won't be that important.
Does anyone have some experience with Ynn/Stygian Library, especially with Shadowdark?
Any other input and insights on what to play with my friends? Also open to a couple of one-shots, if they offer a nice, fitting mood.

 

[Reynard]

This is from a recent email update from Arcane Library:
----------
"2025 was a BIG year for The Arcane Library and Shadowdark:

• There were 84 crowdfunding campaigns for third-party Shadowdark projects (more than any RPG other than 5e)."

----------
I love Shadowdark. it is great fun. But I really think Shadowdark's success says more about people wanting a "simple 5E" than it does about people explicitly wanting to do old school dungeon crawling. Just looking at the broad selection of ShadowDark hacks, from Gamma World to Deadlands to Cyberpunk, most of them AREN'T very "shadowdarky."

 

[Velderan]

I'm really torn on this one. These games are mostly ones that don't speak to me, personally, but this is a good structure for a jam and I bet it'll turn out a lot of fun stuff.

I don't intend to enter anything, but for fun I clicked the link to get 3 random NES games suggested and got Baseball Stars, Solstice, and Ghosts and Goblins. Solstice and Ghosts and Goblins would be easy to pull inspiration for Shadowdark, but I would love to see the idea someone far more creative than me pulls from Baseball Stars to mix with the other 2.

 

[Velderan]

This is from a recent email update from Arcane Library:
----------
"2025 was a BIG year for The Arcane Library and Shadowdark:

• There were 84 crowdfunding campaigns for third-party Shadowdark projects (more than any RPG other than 5e)."

----------
I love Shadowdark. it is great fun. But I really think Shadowdark's success says more about people wanting a "simple 5E" than it does about people explicitly wanting to do old school dungeon crawling. Just looking at the broad selection of ShadowDark hacks, from Gamma World to Deadlands to Cyberpunk, most of them AREN'T very "shadowdarky."

I could see that. As I mentioned in my post in the thread summing up our 2025 gaming, I think 2026 will end up being the year I move away from crunchier games and settle on something that plays a lot looser and faster. Shadowdark is definitely one that I want to run a short campaign in to see how the group I run games for enjoys it for more than a one shot.

 

[Scribe]

This is from a recent email update from Arcane Library:
----------
"2025 was a BIG year for The Arcane Library and Shadowdark:

• There were 84 crowdfunding campaigns for third-party Shadowdark projects (more than any RPG other than 5e)."

----------
I love Shadowdark. it is great fun. But I really think Shadowdark's success says more about people wanting a "simple 5E" than it does about people explicitly wanting to do old school dungeon crawling. Just looking at the broad selection of ShadowDark hacks, from Gamma World to Deadlands to Cyberpunk, most of them AREN'T very "shadowdarky."

Is 'shadowdarky' just more dungeon crawl to you? Would you classify Cursed Scroll 4 as Shadowdarky? Its got some weird, some grim, some dark, but also is just a cool jungle adventure.

I too think its at least partially about a 'simple 5e' among other motivations, but I dont think the game is that tied to the dungeon either. I have my SD Spelljammer on the way for example.