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Kelsey has been super-active on the Discord server, where there was an active and loud celebration. And she was also clarifying some of the language in the final version of the book at the 11th-hour, based on feedback. She's also waiting for official word from Kickstarter and getting things set...

Yup, you got it! Most people on the Discord have agreed that we would let the 1 XP roll over, but officially it resets. On the other hand, you can think of it as they have 11 XP, and then decide to "cash in" 10 of those XP to "level up." Now they're Level 2 with 1 XP. As always, it's your...

"Spellcasting checks" takes the place of saves in Shadowdark. If the Wizard succeeds at the check, then yes, the monster is charmed. Requiring a second check would be unduly punitive - nobody gets a save to avoid being harmed by an attack after it succeeds. The spell casting check effectively...

After I asked this over on the Discord, it was quickly pointed out that there's a special lightning dragon in the Cursed Scroll Zine that adds a bunch of desert stuff.

Other than those who have seen the full rules, we don't know the answer. Although I will note that the one dragon in the quick-start is not a Black or Green, but a "Swamp Dragon." Personally, I like the idea of defining dragons by their breath weapon, territory, or some mix of the two, not...

This was our rough draft over on the Discord: Draconic Breath. You can shoot a fiery breath by rolling 1d20 + your constitution modifier against a DC of 11. On a success, you vomit liquid fire at one creature out to a Near distance, dealing 1d6 damage. On a failure, you lose this ability to...

Totally reasonable. I just rather adore the "Press your luck" aspect of the Spellcasting mechanic.

Yeah. NOBODY gets Darkvision. Except the monsters. :devilish:

As someone who hates "daily" uses, I'd lean towards giving Dragonborn a close breath weapon (damage type determined by choice or die roll) that is cast like a spell but with CON. Failure and you roll on a special mishap table. So it's "limited" in the same way spells are.;) As a related aside...

I am pretty active there, because there's a lot of discussion. I use the same handle and Avatar.

I'd also note that, definitionally, most canals tend to get dug on land masses. So if your "canal city" has a number of sizable landmasses, even if they're criss-crossed with canals, the landmasses could have underground areas, even some that extend beneath those canals. Just worth considering.

Word of Kelsey is that the full rules will have some added rules for "Overland Travel" and "City Adventures." And lots of Random Encounter tables.

My point is that averages don’t tell the whole story. That B/X Ogre has 4d8+1? Sure that averages 19. But the range goes from 5 to 33. Case in point: a B/X owlbear has 5HD. That averages to 22 or 23 hp. Except that the one in Keep actually has 30 (feel free to check). I haven’t seen one from...

I think there's a definitional question about compatible that probably bothers people more who came to the hobby late. For those of us who played back in the days of the BECMI/Advanced D&D split, we knew that one system had AC start at 9 and go down, whereas the other had AC start at 10 and go...

I know that we played a little fast and loose with the tables. The B/X ones were easy to find. The 1e DMG was…lengthy.

I think a tremendous number of us ran some hybrid of B/X and AD&D back then. It was much easier to find the tables in the B/X books than in the 1e DMG. But the Monster Manual and Fiend Folio had way more monster/foe options than the Basic and Expert books did. And I'm sure I'm not the only one...

I agree about making it annoying. Making it unpredictable isn’t necessarily about making it annoying. Are critical failures unfair to mages? Only if they’re only applied to them. Is spell failure annoying? If we can balance magic by letting it stay powerful but making it unreliable, then it...

I used to have all the same complaints, and I will confess to having come around on all of those but Vacian magic. Hit points aren’t realistic, but they’re elegant and simple. The problem with D&D isn’t hit points per se, it’s that the pools start too small and get too large. And that cracks...

I've been saying for years that D&D needs a Starter Set that covers Character Creation AND the first 5 levels but offers only a limited selection of Ancestries, Classes (and Sub-Classes). What it should NOT be is an incomplete game that only includes pregen characters. Start with Human, Elf...

Same. ;) I'm really digging Shadowdark. I may want a slightly more developed Skill System for my home game but that's a minor tweak. I'm glancing through my old 1e Survival Guides (Dungeoneer's & Wilderness) for inspiration on how it might work.