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]

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.

agreed on the DTRPG part, the description should be clearer about this being the player's guide only

 

[rozgarth]

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?

Looking at it again, I agree the DriveThru page isn’t really clear. I hadn’t looked closely since I backed the Kickstarter, which clearly described the different books. I did a quick look on the Discord and it appears that Schwalb will be updating the back cover blurb to explicitly reference Secrets of the Weird Wizard as well (to hopefully cover people picking it up off the shelf at the game store), so hopefully they clarify the DriveThru blurb too (it looks like it has been raised in a discussion comment there).

 

[dm4hire]

I agree the negativity is a little over the top. If I find a book that interests me the first thing I do is start researching it. That means visiting the publishers website for details, if it's a KS project then visiting the page, and Google for any information I can find. Decrying a product because it doesn't fully describe the product is pedantic in that it's no different than judging a movie by the logline.

In that same regard the history of RPGs is notorious with examples of playerguides releasing well before the other books within a given system. Even the latest version of D&D will have about a five month gap between books.

Perhaps the thought is to allow the players to fully digest the rules before actual play to prevent less chance of confusion and distaste, due to trying to learn the rules as you go.

 

[Retreater]

Decrying a product because it doesn't fully describe the product is pedantic in that it's no different than judging a movie by the logline.

A movie is usually watchable without an effective logline.
Not knowing what you're getting in a product that's essentially an instruction manual is a different case.

Even the latest version of D&D will have about a five month gap between books.

Oh, you're talking about the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual, which very clearly state the use and audience?

 

[Thomas Shey]

I said stories, not gameplay

I disagree you can completely separate them. Some stories make no sense in systems that won't support the beats they need.

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

I think there are things that don't work properly across many of them.

 

[Thomas Shey]

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?

You specifically mentioned the Kickstarter in the post I was responding to, and that was what I responded to.

 

[Shardstone]

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.

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.

Im not a mega fan. it just isnt that deep

 

[Zehnseiter]

What a strange thread.
How about some discussion about the game itself ?

I mean the first thing I did was actually google "Shadow of the Weird Wizard". First result was the link to the kickstarter for the game. The second result was the drivetru link. With all due respect to Retreater but this is such a non issue. I can't remember buying any new RPG game without at least google once about it.

And reviews at drivethru are usually not worth it. You mostly get extremes either 5 stars from fans of the game or 1 stars from people who had a special snowflake problem. Just look at the 1 Star review about the game. Sounds like someone with a personal axe to grind. 1 Star is something you give if a game is actually broken and has major issues at release. An example would be lets say the Shadowrun 6E core rulebook at first release pre-errata. That was so brutal that you needed the 5E core rulebook to make sense of charater generation.

 

[Baumi]

I really love the System of Demon Lords and this Version uses mostly the same superb Rules with a few updates. I has for example two changes that I really like .. the Initiative is faster and tactical and Magic Systems is now (even) easier and you are not gimped if you learn it later. So I would heartly recommend it for those who like Demon Lords but want a less Grimm Version of it. Also the Books has much more Expert Paths than the old Book, so you have tooooons of Character Options.

But I have to say that I massively dislike the new Layout. In DL every Novice and Expert Path got its own page and Picture so you get an immideate feel for it, but in WW they included much more paths while mentaining a "low" pagecount but the Layout suffers immensly for this .. Paths and Headers often start in the middle of the page, Headers look too much the Subheaders, most paths have no Art. And overall the Art doesn't grab me at all. That said, in actually play, this thankfully doesn't matter that much.

For those who want to buy it, you have to know that without the bestiary it is not really playable at the moment (dont know if the DL Monsters would work well). So only buy it if you want to read and study the rules, but to run it yu would be better wait for the Secrets book.

 

[Zehnseiter]

But I have to say that I massively dislike the new Layout.

Yes on that I would immediately agree. The drivethru preview alone is enough to tell me this. The grey background alone makes me dislike it.