A "Shadowdark" For High Fantasy Adventure

[Umbran]

1. Low lethality, but death is not off the table. Since chipping away slowly at hundreds of hit points doesn't really scream "adventure" to me, I'd go with low health/hit points/etc., but make actually hitting very hard, whether that's due to armor or defensive styles, etc.

That leads to loads of "wasted" rounds in which they all stand around whiffing at each other, though.

This sounds a lot like Outgunned, honestly, although not identical to it.

The underlying system is called, "Director's Cut," which makes the cinematic intentions more clear.

But Outgunned doesn't show you how to introduce the fantasy tropes very well, what with its attention on modern gun bunny action.

Household would be a better starting place for fantasy on that engine.

A very basic Cortex variant (say, with Leverage as a basis) might also work quickly.

 

[pemerton]

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.

I don't think it's especially neo-trad, though: the player doesn't really get to decide their PC's character and story.

That's why I suggested Fantasy For Real - the player gets to choose their PC's skills (which emulates class, but much more simply), and to specify their PC's "picklet" (which establishes elements of the PC's "story", without guaranteeing that it works out as the player hopes).

I enjoy both systems, and have posted some comparisons of them:

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Thread 'GMing methodologies for setting, situation and improvisation in Mythic Bastionland'

May 2, 2026

Over the past two weekends I've GMed a session of Fantasy For Real, and a session of Mythic Bastionland.

I've been reflecting on those sessions, and also comparing them to other FRPGs that I've GMed in the past little while, that have some similarities: Torchbearer 2e, and Prince Valiant.

I've only played the two sessions of Mythic Bastionland. The first struck me with how unrelentingly gamist it was (gamist in this sense). It involved a lot of movement on the map, trying to figure out a path to where the PCs wanted to go, and using a...

• pemerton
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Post in thread 'Playing Fantasy for Real'

Apr 27, 2026

Interesting landing page. Doesn’t give much away about the game itself except that it is designed to “teach game mastering skills”

Let me know how that goes

As per my post just above, not too bad. I think the balance between procedure and imagination in prep, and between prep and improvisation in play - together with the rulebook advice on how to manage these things - are pretty solid.

Based on my experience, it is easier than In A Wicked Age - which is deceptively subtle, as I posted not long ago: *Situation* in RPGing (with In A Wicked Age as an illustration)

And I think it...

• pemerton

 

[SlyFlourish]

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

I'm using their own description of what those abtractions mean if you converted them to a grid.

 

[Aldarc]

Nope.

Then additional to the other suggestions made thus far, I would be inclined to also suggest Twilight Sword. It's in development. But it's a bit like a mix between 5e D&D and Dragonbane, but lighter and more more oriented towards "Zelda-like" heroic fantasy. Maybe a Nimble-like version of Dragonbane with 5e elements?

 

[jian]

I can’t believe I didn’t mention one of the most obvious choices for this, which is Beyond the Wall, for a given value of high fantasy. Basically, if you want to basically run a RPG based on Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain books or a similar zero to hero story in a folkloric high fantasy setting, with the characters starting out with a lot of investment in their starting village and each other, then Beyond the Wall is worth a look.

The system isn’t much to write home about - a sort of stripped down OSR with some interesting touches around spellcasting and monsters - but it’s very well integrated into the genre.

(There’s also Through Sunken Lands which is more or less the same game but for playing Elric or Conan, which is fine but honestly closer to Shadowdark in execution.)

 

[Chalice]

It’s been mentioned upthread, but it deserves at least one more mention: Exemplars & Eidolons. 48 pages (including covers, ToC, etc., and even the remainder is not 100% rules).

Offers precisely what the OP specified: rules light heroic high fantasy, in this case using essentially a customised OSR system, so in some ways similar to the named reference game, Shadowdark.

 

[Reynard]

It’s been mentioned upthread, but it deserves at least one more mention: Exemplars & Eidolons. 48 pages (including covers, ToC, etc., and even the remainder is not 100% rules).

Offers precisely what the OP specified: rules light heroic high fantasy, in this case using essentially a customised OSR system, so in some ways similar to the named reference game, Shadowdark.

Out of curiosity, what does it layer on top of OSR rules to support modern heroic play?

 

[Scribe]

Out of curiosity, what does it layer on top of OSR rules to support modern heroic play?

My struggle here is what is 'heroic' play? Is it mechanics or tone, or both?

I have an idea but my view on heroic is filtered through the permanent shade of grimdark that I grew up with.

Tone, obviously doesnt require much if anything and using Shadowdark as our reference as you noted it can be done. Is it more about player facing options, and 'big damn heros' that are less threatened by the game mechanics?

Not trying to be difficult, but I think I'm just stuck in how I look at the games, and what is heroic perhaps.

 

[Chalice]

Out of curiosity, what does it layer on top of OSR rules to support modern heroic play?

If you are curious enough, you can find out for yourself, for free: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/144651/exemplars-eidolons

But if you’re not, the most obvious differences that come to mind would be: a) Heroes - an altogether different “tier” of being, to which all PCs belong - do damage directly to non-Heroic beings’ Hit Dice, rather than Hit Points; and b) Fray Dice, which are essentially automatic damage that will be inflicted on, again, non-Heroic beings, this time all of them in close proximity, every round, as a kind of “free action” thing,

 

[Scribe]

If you are curious enough, you can find out for yourself, for free: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/144651/exemplars-eidolons

But if you’re not, the most obvious differences that come to mind would be: a) Heroes - an altogether different “tier” of being, to which all PCs belong - do damage directly to non-Heroic beings’ Hit Dice, rather than Hit Points; and b) Fray Dice, which are essentially automatic damage that will be inflicted on, again, non-Heroic beings, this time all of them in close proximity, every round, as a kind of “free action” thing,

Yeah I looked it over, and I guess my struggle remains. I dont see how its making things more heroic, but what is 'heroic' mechanically, or tonally.