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No one has gotten there yet, but I'm using I1 Dwellers in the Forbidden City in a slightly different part of Hepmonaland's jungles than indicated in the 80's Greyhawk box (the only Greyhawk for me). I've swapped Yuan-ti for Viperians (same thing), Beastmen for Mongrelmen, and Kobolds for...

One person's Frankenstein is another's brilliant synthesis. I genuinely relate to your POV and have often felt the same, but when I first tried running Shadowdark during the KS, I was thrilled to discover that Kelsey's combination of bits and bobs absolutely sing. I went all in! All of the...

Because there's no XP for killing monsters, PCs are better off outwitting or outrunning them if they're tough. So, the short adventures for 3rd level characters are technically less lethal if LV 1 PCs don't use the 5e mindset of slaying every creature they meet. (And the DM might want to be...

Haven't done this myself. Theoretically, it should be fine. There will be a ton of stat conversions you'll obviously need to make, and treasure adjustments for XP (maybe use Hunter Mode). Follow the advice of page 193, of course, but consider the 10+ bump to be something more like [Avg. party...

I'd love to play 5e with those players! They sound awesome! But Shadowdark is not for them, even with 4d6 char gen. Shadowdark's vibe is its own thing, from char gen to advancement. I just tried to use a wine analogy on a friend to help him understand the differences between fantasy RPGs that...

To quote the rule book, “Fights are fast and unfair. Monsters are insidious.” And killing monsters doesn’t earn you XP. Shadowdark games play out differently than combat-centric D&D games. Character creation feeds into that difference.

A fair concern, even with Shadowdark... ...but there are more 5e-ish, less OSR-ish safeties in place, like the death timer and stabilizing. There's no B/X "Any defender reduced to 0 hit points or less is dead." More importantly, there's no XP for beating monsters in a fight, only for getting...

I can only explain why it's fun. Shadowdark isn't about resource management. It's about risk management. Along with that, character creation is randomized, not optimized. So, much of the spirit of playing the game is knowing that every dice roll is going to matter, and you might have to live...

When folks are desperately grasping at any narrative that will explain away the great success of someone who is not exactly like them, it’s just good ol’ fashioned jealousy.

After playing a few times, I stand by my previous description: ShadowDark is a B/X-inspired, 5e-informed RPG doing its own fast and fun thing. XP for treasure and carousing, but not for killing monsters, is refreshing, and initiative always on makes play breezy.

In her last email, Kelsey said, “Kickstarter is processing payments.This should take about two weeks, and I'll be able to send out PDFs to backers as soon as this completes”

Same. I’m even hoping that the included tables are evocative enough to get me back to my no-prep days!

Love it. Can't wait to hold the entire book in my hands. Kelsey just "gets it" for me. And I loved what she wrote in the comments on the Kickstarter: "Gary Con has been a very busy time. :) We celebrated the $1million rollover while playing Shadowdark at Gary Gygax's old house at 330 Center...

I watched two of the designer’s videos to be sure of this. It’s one at a time until the situation suggests otherwise. Then you can shift to the group. I’ll say that always-on initiative really speeds up play and keeps players on task and in the moment. Edit: If I ever run 5e again (which is...

Here, here! I tried it out last week and found it to be a b/x-inspired, 5e-informed slick and fast-playing RPG doing its thing its way. XP for treasure and carousing (not killing monsters) is a baseline vibe I can get behind! I upped my pledge the next day.

Same here. I don't know the module you're using, but I did try ShadowDark with the quickstart rules, and it really did what I hoped it would do! In my opinion, the one thing I think you might need to be aware of is something that isn't in the quickstart. It's the "Designing Monsters" advice...

It’s just skills: At 3rd level, choose two of your skill proficiencies. Tool proficiency is its own thing.

Binged it and enjoyed the ride! Although it’s probably obvious, stay away from the ultra-spoilery “Making of” show until you finish the series.

This Pathfinder grippli image inspired my all-time favorite PC, Mr. Rynn, a grippli freebooter (ranger) for the Skull & Shackles AP.