Shadowdark Best inspiration/advice for developing a Shadowdark adventure and eventual campaign?

[renbot]

I'm getting ready to run my first Shadowdark adventure and I REALLY want my gaming group to like it as much as I do. I am a D&D forever DM of many years and am proud of the D&D campaigns that I generate and run. I bought some SD adventures and am impressed with the ingenuity: the traps, special circumstances, unexpected roleplay opportunities, etc.

So I guess my question is where do folks get their inspiration from? I will likely use one of the adventures I've purchased for the upcoming game (I just have to choose which one) but sooner rather than later I'd like to generate and run a quality game. I also backed the new SD Campaign Setting on KS which might answer my questions but there is no harm in picking the brains of those of you who are already generating your own content.

Thanks in advance!

 

[The Firebird]

The best advice I have is just to read. Read other adventures, classic stories (especially appendix N for Shadowdark), medieval history, contemporary fantasy. Borrow and/or steal as you see fit. Movies in the genre you're going for are also a good bet.

 

[renbot]

OK, I kinda feel like an idiot, but my Shadowdark doesn't have an "appendix N." Is there somewhere else I should be looking?

 

[Reynard]

I personally adore the random dungeon generation system. Grab a handful of dice and drop.them on a paper. Now you have a map and the high level contents of the rooms. Follow up with the tables and you have a whole dungeon. Embrace the monster mutations and rolling for NPCs. Tie it all together with the theme, genre, milieu or whatever you are aiming for and GO.

In my opinion,Shadowdark works best as a improv heavy heavy exploration game. But that doesn't mean you can't have a strong theme, a throughline and BBEG.

 

[LordBP]

OK, I kinda feel like an idiot, but my Shadowdark doesn't have an "appendix N." Is there somewhere else I should be looking?

Here you go.

Appendix N

 

[The Firebird]

OK, I kinda feel like an idiot, but my Shadowdark doesn't have an "appendix N." Is there somewhere else I should be looking?

You aren't missing anything -- it is the list of literary inspiration Gygax included in the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide.

Goodman Games does a good job with this content. That's their introduction to the list, and they've got numerous articles on individual authors. The material there remains a big inspiration for OSR games like Shadowdark.

 

[renbot]

Oh, the Gygax Appendix N. Sorry I had brain-flatulence. Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

In addition to other adventures and various fantasy books, I'm a big fan of the horror genre. I listen to a bunch of horror youtubers (who often narrate "creepypasta" stories written by others), and occasionally incorporate elements into my games. Some examples, if anyone cares:

Lighthouse Horror

Welcome to the channel! I hope you enjoy the stories. → Business Inquiries: contact@lighthousehorrorstories.com If you'd like to support me further, there's a link to my Patreon at the bottom ↓↓

m.youtube.com

The Dark Somnium

The Dark Somnium: I am a Creepypasta Narrator, Composer, Sound Designer and Graphic Designer. I narrate Horror Stories, Nosleep Stories and just random scary stories from the internet. I compose Original theme music for the stories I read, you can hear the music on my channel or on spotify...

m.youtube.com