Shadowdark Finally Played Shadowdark

[MrTemplar]

Like Daggerheart, I was not sure I would like the game before I purchased. Way back in 77, when we played DND in the white box, and the supplements like Greyhawk, etc. I did not enjoy the game and quickly found other systems, and when I did play, it was with a DM that would be have been great no matter what the system. A bad DM/GM is no fun in any system, but in the earlier iterations of Dnd and now OSR, it really ruins the game.

I finally have played Shadowdark, and we are four games in with one week left to finish the adventure. While there are things I would homebrew if I were running the game, the game has been fun. We have had a lot of people go down, come back, go down, and back up thanks to having 2 priests (we are playing with an old DnD sized group of 8). Combat has been very fast despite the large number of players, and my character, a thief, has only taken 2 points of damage total so far, mainly because I rely and my short bow and movement and stealth/hiding to stay out of melee range. There has been some luck. In one combat last night, with a total of 8 attack rolls in one round against us the DM hit no one--he rolls to hit in front of the party, so there is no ambiguity as to his results. Alas, that same combat, he did kill our toughest fighter, and by then the Priests had failed their healing spells, and medicine checks all failed. Despite that one death, the number of times we made it through by the skin of our teeth were quite a few. It was fun.

I think Shadowdark preserves the best of what I remember of the old school original days of DnD; like any OSR it is easy to homebrew if so inclined--I want to bring in some of my favorite races from the Arduin Grimoire trilogy (the original, which itself as a homebrew version of the OD&D).

Daggerheart provides our group with the heroic fantasy, more collaborative style TTRPG. DnD 5e will fade into the background, although we did agree to play one last campaign in it. But Shadowdark and Daggerheart are part of our regular rotation now.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Is the Arduin Grimoire available anywhere today? I've heard all about it, but never seen it.

 

[Nikosandros]

Is the Arduin Grimoire available anywhere today? I've heard all about it, but never seen it.

This collection should contain it.

 

[francisca]

Played it once at a convention. It is easy to teach and get people going, and I'm guessing the piles of random tables are source of ideas (if not for rolling up entire adventures) for new GMs, but in the end, I'm sitting on 40+ years of D&D experience, and Shadowdark isn't what I am looking for, and I'm probably not the target demographic, either. Overall, from my one-shot and reading through the core book, it looks like a solid system, and the people I know who like it have a great time playing it.

 

[francisca]

Is the Arduin Grimoire available anywhere today? I've heard all about it, but never seen it.

When it came out, it got a lot of side-eye from my gaming circles, and I had a relatively negative opinion of it until the mid-2010s, when it slightly improved. There are some really wicked monsters in there, but a lot of the rules seem to fall in the "who would use this?" category for me. (It's been 10+ years since I gave it a good look.)

 

[MrTemplar]

When I played my first game of DND (white box, with Greyhawk etc) in late 77, the group at the FLGS was already including bits from the Arduin Grimoire, including crits and fumbles, which could be brutal. There were also a couple of races cribbed from the rules, like Phraints, and then spells and magic items. At least in LA back then, DND also usually meant using some of the many third party versions or supplements. As a separate game, Arduin was gonzo, with dozens of character classes, levels up to 100, and the dungeons Dave Hargrave published were ludicrously deadly, zany, with "Monty Haul" levels of treasure. We also used the Warlock supplements out of Cal Tech, and quite a few other options that the Wisconsin OGs considered table top heresy.

 

[kermit4karate]

When I played my first game of DND (white box, with Greyhawk etc) in late 77, the group at the FLGS was already including bits from the Arduin Grimoire, including crits and fumbles, which could be brutal. There were also a couple of races cribbed from the rules, like Phraints, and then spells and magic items. At least in LA back then, DND also usually meant using some of the many third party versions or supplements. As a separate game, Arduin was gonzo, with dozens of character classes, levels up to 100, and the dungeons Dave Hargrave published were ludicrously deadly, zany, with "Monty Haul" levels of treasure. We also used the Warlock supplements out of Cal Tech, and quite a few other options that the Wisconsin OGs considered table top heresy.

I didn't even know anyone actually played the Arduin Grimoire. That's bonkers! We simply used it as a resource for AD&D. Whenever we wanted help thinking outside the traditional D&D boxes, especially back in the day, Arduin was so far outside the box is was heretical, but also totally helpful! SO many great ideas for rules, monsters, magic items. Especially back in the day, there'd been nothing else like it -- nothing else that dense with outrageous D&D-compatible (within reason) ideas.

Those books are treasures, IMO, but I'd say less so today because of the sheer volume of outrageous 5e material available now. Still, though, for any fan of D&D, you could do a lot worse than tracking down copies of those first 3 Arduin books.

P.S. Here's the version of book #1 I had (have, somewhere in a box). That book is almost 50 years old! The Arduin Grimoire Vol 1 David Hargrave 1977 RPG VINTAGE RARE | eBay

P.P.S. I found this example of one of the critical hit tables from book #1. The book is filled with things like this. Imagine the impact something like this had on a young D&D player in the late 1970s.

01-02 Brain penetrated die immediate death damage 4-32 points
03-04 Voice box ruined total voice loss damage 1-8 **
05-06 Hand severed, die in 1-8 minutes damage 3-18
07-08 Impalement, weapon is stuck there damage 3-30
09-10 1-5 ribs broken damage 1-3 per rib
11-15 Leg, artery cut die in 1-10 minutes damage 1-8
16-20 Arm, as above die in 1-12 minutes damage 1-6
21-25 Achilles tendon cut fall immediately 1-3 **
25-30 Finger 1-5 roll side damage 1 each
31-32 Toes, as above damage 3 per 2
33-34 *1 Eye ruined (roll side) or torn out damage 1-6
35-36 *2 forehead gash blood in eyes, can’t see damage 1-3
37-38 *3 Genitals/Breasts torn off, shock damage 3-18
39-40 *4 Ear taken off, hearing loss damage 1-3
41-42 *5 Buttock torn off, fall, shock. damage 4-16
43-44 Stunned 1-10 melee turns. No fighting. Damage 1-2
45-46 Stunned 1-6 minutes. No Fighting. Damage 1-4
47-48 Minor concussion, as above. Stunned 1-10 minutes damage 1-6
49-50 *6 Moderate confusion, unconscious. damage 1-8
51-55 *7 Major skull fracture, unconscious. Damage 1-10
56-60 Throat cut, die in 1-3 melee turns. Damage 1-8
61-65 Arm torn off (roll % loss) die in 1-3 turns. Damage 4-24
66-70 Leg, as above, fall, die in 1-3 melee turns. Damage 4-48
71-75 Heart pierced die immediately. Damage 1-10
76-80 *8 Spine ruined, varied results. Damage 2-20
81-85 As for no. 33-34 both eyes blinded. Damage 2-12
86-90 *9 Node ruined -6 charisma, stunned. Damage 1-8
91-94 *A Head general, nothing apparent later problems. Damage 1-2
95 Guts ripped out, 20% chance of tangling feet. Die 1-10 minutes. Damage 2-16
96 *B Skull caved in major brain damage. Damage 2-12
97 *C Lung pierce internal damage. Damage 1-12
98 Head torn off immediate death. Damage 5-50
99 Body split in twain, immediate death. Damage 10-100
100 Entire head pulped and splattered over a wide area, irrevocable death insues. Damage total.
** – Indicated permanent damage
*1 – Unable to fight 1-10 melee turns (roll), loss is irrevocable.
*2 – Blo0d in eyes can’t fight for 1-10 melee turns (roll).
*3 – Immediate shock induced coma, death in 1-4 minutes.
*4 – Permanent 50% hearing loss and -2 charisma.
*5 – Shock induced coma for 3-30 minutes, permanent -3 agility, 1/2 speed.
*6 – Actually unconscious for 1-6 melee turns, after revival, confused and groggy for 6-60 minutes.
*7 – out for 2-20 minutes and amnesia for 2-24 hours afterward, 40% chance of it becoming permanent.
*8 – Roll six sided die with the following results:1=100% paralyzed; 2=left side ditto; 3=right side ditto 4=waist up ditto; 5=waist down ditto; and 6 means damage was too severe, death in one minute.
*9 – Breathing problems, -2 constitution as applicable to endurance, and a bad speech problem (1-12) months to learn to speak properly, etc.).
*A – Brain will hemorrhage in 1-10 days resulting in in either (roll) death, or total and permanent insanity, incoherence, etc.
*B – All mental faculties permanently halved, roll % of memory destroyed (starting at 50%), charisma reduced by 8.
*C – Permanently halving of strength, constitution, and endurance.

Arduin Grimoire vol 1 critical hit tables

One of my favorite charts, if not favorite, is the critical hit table. The original three books never said anything about critical hits, they didn’t even say a 20 was a hit, let alone a criti…

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[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There's apparently either been a crowdfunding campaign to bring the Arduin Grimoire back into print in a deluxe fashion or one is coming soon.

 

[Nikosandros]

There's apparently either been a crowdfunding campaign to bring the Arduin Grimoire back into print in a deluxe fashion or one is coming soon.

It's active right now.

 

[kermit4karate]

It's active right now.

Squeeeeee!!!!! Thank you!