Shadow of the Weird Wizard Is Finally Here!

Long anticipated, it’s here! You can grab the PDF from DriveThruRPG. In fact, it has hit the #1 spot on the site.

By Rob Schawlb, SotWW is the sequel to Shadow of the Demon Lord and presents a more family friendly version of the game system.

Not DnD - Shadow of the Weird Wizard

Shadow of the Weird Wizard voted as one of the most anticipated ttrpgs of 2023 by EN World users. Join us as we discuss Rob Schwalb's family-friendly incarna...

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Shadow of the Weird Wizard® is a fantasy roleplaying game in which you and your friends assume the roles of characters who explore the borderlands and make them safe for the refugees escaping the doom that has befallen the old country. Unsafe are these lands: the Weird Wizard released monsters to roam the countryside, cruel faeries haunt the shadows, undead drag themselves free from their tombs, and ancient evils stir once more. If the displaced people would rebuild their lives, they need heroes to protect them. A brand new game built using the system powering Shadow of the Demon Lord, this game gives you everything you need for you and your friends to champion the innocent, to brave grave dangers, and right terrible wrongs, all while exploring the wild frontier of the borderlands!

Some saw him as a mad sorcerer who commanded eldritch powers of staggering might. As proof, one only has to look at all the abominations he set loose in the lands—the hybrid beasts, the multilegged hulking collectors, floating eyes that hang in the air trailing their nerve endings. And then, far, far beyond the edges of the new lands rose the walls of the Forbidden City and the clockwork peoples who dwelled there in seeming servitude to the dread mage who ruled over all he surveyed.



But the Weird Wizard is gone. His shadow remains, but the figure casting it disappeared and none, not even his closest servants, know where he went. It might be coincidence that his absence preceded the bloody civil war that tore the Great Kingdom apart and that precipitated the violent struggle between the other nations in the west, or the Weird Wizard might have had some stabilizing influence that enabled civilization to flourish once more following a far older, nastier decline. Too, he could have been the source of the conflict and abandoned the world to its fate.

Either way, the instability sends people by the thousands spilling into the borderlands. As this territory grows more and more crowded, refugees are looking to the east to make their homes. The first forays into the strange place have ended with disappearances and death, and the few people who have returned carry tales of hostile inhabitants, cruel faeries, and hideous, ravenous monsters. If the new lands would be tamed, there must be peace with the inhabitants.

Such efforts demand heroes. Luckily, there might just be a few around. This book shows you how to make a hero who can meet and triumph over the greatest challenges of exploring a world that stands in the shadow of a Weird Wizard.

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[mamba]

Not entirely true, but SotWW is another D&D-adjacent game, so the differences you'd get in some other fantasy games (something like Savage Worlds Fantasy or Fantasy Hero plays pretty different than something like PF2e, and forcing the same plot into each of them might produce unpredictable and undesirable consequences) aren't going to be all that pronounced.

I said stories, not gameplay I would expect I can tell the same story in D&D 5e, PF2, SotWW, 13th Age, Savage Worlds (Pathfinder or Fantasy), Fantasy AGE, The Dark Eye, Talisman Adventures, etc. Are there some slight adjustments (different classes, encounters, ...) sure, but I do not expect it to affect the story all that much

If you think there is something that absolutely does not work in one of them, I'd be curious to know what that is

 

[Retreater]

It was mentioned multiple times in the various purchase tiers. Seriously, this wasn't hard to figure out.

Uh, to people who aren't on Kickstarter, that means nothing. If I try to explain this to my players about which book to get, that means nothing. At the local game store, that means nothing. Looking on DriveThru, that means nothing.
Do you see the point?

 

[The Soloist]

I took a quick look at the KS page, it's spelled out that there are two books. A player's book and a GM book. I don't find it confusing.

 

[Shardstone]

I mean, except that it wasn't promoted and was just jammed in at the bottom as an afterthought.
The Kickstarter wasn't "Shadow of the Weird Wizard Player and GM Books" or anything that makes sense. You had to scroll halfway down the page.
And the dang system is called "Shadow of the Weird Wizard" which is the name exclusively of the player's book. It's not called "Chronicles of the Weird Wizard" or anything like that.
It's confusing. I follow gaming more than anyone I know. I get on sites like this one several times a day. This is literally the first time I've heard there is a second book.
It's amazing how botched this is.

Its not that deep.

 

[mamba]

I mean, except that it wasn't promoted and was just jammed in at the bottom as an afterthought.
The Kickstarter wasn't "Shadow of the Weird Wizard Player and GM Books" or anything that makes sense. You had to scroll halfway down the page.

I don't know about you, but I read that far when I am interested in a kickstarter. The different rewards also give it away (there is one for just this book ('I want only the PDF of the player's book, thanks!'), another one for both books)

And the dang system is called "Shadow of the Weird Wizard" which is the name exclusively of the player's book. It's not called "Chronicles of the Weird Wizard" or anything like that.
It's confusing. I follow gaming more than anyone I know. I get on sites like this one several times a day. This is literally the first time I've heard there is a second book.
It's amazing how botched this is.

I agree, it is confusing and I certainly would have expected the DTRPG description to be more clear. The KS I do not really think is all that confusing, even if the information could be featured right at the top.

 

[doctorhook]

Dang, there’s a lot of unwarranted negativity here. I backed the KS, I’ve followed the prereleases, and I’m extremely hyped to have it finally ready to play!

Chill Winston, the second part is coming soon! Do you get this upset when D&D has multiple books?? In a few months, both books will be available and nobody will remember that the GM book wasn’t immediately available at the same time.

 

[Jahydin]

Have to agree with @Retreater.

I was honestly going to buy it as soon as I saw it last night (got busy though) and didn't realize it was a part 1 of 2 deal. Rob's awesome and I wouldn't have minded (it's around the same page count as SotDL, so fair), but I could see others not being so happy.

 

[Retreater]

I don't know about you, but I read that far when I am interested in a kickstarter. The different rewards also give it away (there is one for just this book ('I want only the PDF of the player's book, thanks!'), another one for both books)

Well, yeah. But I didn't back the KS. I was trying to reverse engineer from the DriveThru description what was going on. I saw that there was a past KS for "Shadow of the Weird Wizard" which is the player's book on DriveThru. And to be honest, I initially thought the entire system was just incomplete because of the table of contents on DriveThru.
It's not explained well. I hope Schwalb clarifies this on DriveThru.

Its not that deep.

It's uh, pretty bad marketing.
Look at literally any major release of a game system. If it's not an all-in-one book, is it clearly denoted if it's for players or GMs?
And a player walking through the store and sees "Secrets of the Weird Wizard" is it possible that they confuse that for "Shadow of the Weird Wizard?" Might that player not be able to distinguish which book to get? Especially if it's catering to a newer, younger demographic?

Like, I'm really sorry if I'm not as "with it" as all you mega-fans are. I bounced off Demon Lord (primarily because of the grim setting) and was pleasantly surprised to see this released today. I voted for it as one of my most anticipated games of 2024 on here, so I'm not deliberately trying to hate on it. But this is antithetical to how you market RPGs.

 

[Retreater]

Chill Winston, the second part is coming soon! Do you get this upset when D&D has multiple books?? In a few months, both books will be available and nobody will remember that the GM book wasn’t immediately available at the same time.

No. Because D&D (and every other RPG system) is very clear about what is required to play and tells you if it's a Player's Book, GM's Book, or whatever.
Good on them for releasing two books. It's fine. Just tell me what to expect in the darned books and make it exceptionally clear for me to explain to my 16 year-old players which one to buy.

 

[Jahydin]

Not gonna lie, I have bought almost every single Demon Lord book and supplement that's out there, but when I saw the early drafts of this I just asked myself "why would I want this?". Rob Schwalb is an amazing game designer but I think I have everything I'd want in SotDL, so I'm happy that I passed on this Kickstarter.

This isn't for people who like SotDL, it's for those that were offput by the creepiness. I think it was just the version of SotDL he played with his kids, but realized there was high demand for it, so turned it into a full product.