A "Shadowdark" For High Fantasy Adventure

[zakael19]

w

Yes, I assumed you meant that. It’s a tough ask but it’s doable. I was thinking about this for Fabula Ultima (not that it really fits in this discussion since it’s not D&D based) and yes, that would work for most characters.

FU's core rules are relatively simple, and it uses the same "roll a pair of your attributes" for everything. The fact that status effects and the like all just make dice sizes larger or smaller helps keep things trim, no bespoke mechanics - just pretty obvious outcomes.

And like, shadowdark's stuff is pretty long as soon as you get to a spell caster (it's just non-spell progression that's super slim because of how limited it is).

If you applied Kelsey's incredible discipline & ruthless editing to a lot of other games mentioned here you'd get pretty close. Nimble is most of the way there already imo.

 

[mamba]

That sounds interesting. I have kind of been put off by Land of Eem's aesthetics, but maybe I should take a look.

the two have a lot of common ideas, since you like DH I think it is worth a look

 

[mamba]

They both have free quickstarts

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/322009/land-of-eem-rpg-quickstart-guide

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/516648/vagabond-pulp-fantasy-rpg-basic-hero-s-handbook

 

[pemerton]

Does this hypothesised game have to be a D&D variant, in mechanical terms?

If not, Fantasy For Real seems to me like it ticks the box.

 

[Reynard]

Does this hypothesised game have to be a D&D variant, in mechanical terms?

Nope.

If not, Fantasy For Real seems to me like it ticks the box.

::googles::skims your play report here::

Interesting. Probably not a game for me, but interesting.

 

[mmadsen]

So, with that in mind, what would a Shadowdark-like focused design look like if instead of being aimed at old school dungeon fantasy, it was aimed at modern neo-trad high adventure and heroic fantasy?

Could you spell out what “modern neo-trad high adventure and heroic fantasy” means to you? And how it differs from tweaking something like Shadowdark? Because it wouldn’t be too hard to rename the game, replace the art and design, and declare it high fantasy.

 

[Reynard]

Could you spell out what “modern neo-trad high adventure and heroic fantasy” means to you? And how it differs from tweaking something like Shadowdark? Because it wouldn’t be too hard to rename the game, replace the art and design, and declare it high fantasy.

I thought "modern neo-trad high adventure and heroic fantasy" was pretty descriptive. What aspects of that need more explanation for you?
As to tweaking Shadowdark -- I addressed this in the OP: you can make Shadowdark run more heroic pretty easily, but you would still have to change a bunch of elements, from character abilities to game procedures, to take it out of the B/X mindset, even if you make characters die less often.

 

[Xenolith234]

There is Shadowfinder, which brings in Pathfinderisms.

 

[SableWyvern]

Mythic Bastionland might fit the bill if your idea of "high adventure and heroic fantasy" includes questing knights wandering the realm looking to unearth and oppose ills.

On that note, perhaps Into the Odd or Electric Bastionland, although I don't know much about those, other than the fact that they're predecessors to MB with different themes.

Godbound is a pretty simple game built on the B/X chassis, which allows you to play roaming demigods. There's also Exemplars and Eidolons, which preceded Godbound. I was initially inclined to suggest Worlds Without Number, but it might not be slimmed down enough..

I thought "modern neo-trad high adventure and heroic fantasy" was pretty descriptive. What aspects of that need more explanation for you?

For what it's worth, I ignored the "modern neo-trad" portion as being pretty vague. We had a whole thread on what 'modern" means a while ago, and there was as much dissent as agreement. I just interpreted it as meaning "younger than D&D 5e", if anything. I recall similar levels of dispute over what "neo-trad" means, or even if it means anything.

 

[Umbran]

Even their abstract distances are crunchy (melee, very close, and close are all within 10 feet of each other).

If you are referring to them in feet, you aren't using them abstractly, but in a concrete manner.