Shadowdark Shadowdark General Thread [+]

[Bill Zebub]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/482738549/sapphire-seas-for-shadowdark-rpg-level-1-10-adventure/description

Backed. Take my money, please.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Yeah, we've definitely reached firehose levels.

Even just going with Shadowdark-statted adventures means backing a ton of projects.

(I actually am an apparent weirdo who is just fine with grabbing any old OSR adventure, rather than Shadowdark-specific ones, although Shadowdark is how I stat my own work.)

I have only been backing/buying adventures and settings. I have no interest in 3rd party classes, treasure, etc.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Which, honestly, OSR is the space for. But just publish it as your fantasy heartbreaker.

Exactly! If you want to write an RPG, write an RPG.

I feel you. But that's literally the entire hobby. Every single RPG you've ever played is "some person's glorified homebrew" or "some group of people's glorified homebrew."

I dunno, I think there's a line between someone creating an RPG and someone claiming to have fixed a game that wasn't even broken most of the time.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with modding a game. We all do it in varying degrees. But I get rubbed the wrong way by people mistaking their preferences for actual problems. If someone wants to add a robust skill system to Shadowdark, by all means. But don't claim that the game is broken without one - that is how it was designed.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Exactly! If you want to write an RPG, write an RPG.


I dunno, I think there's a line between someone creating an RPG and someone claiming to have fixed a game that wasn't even broken most of the time.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with modding a game. We all do it in varying degrees. But I get rubbed the wrong way by people mistaking their preferences for actual problems. If someone wants to add a robust skill system to Shadowdark, by all means. But don't claim that the game is broken without one - that is how it was designed.

They are problems though...for their playstyle and preferences.

 

[Scribe]

They are problems though...for their playstyle and preferences.

A personal problem, is not a problem with the game itself though. Thats a subjective issue, not an objective one.

 

[overgeeked]

Exactly! If you want to write an RPG, write an RPG.

I dunno, I think there's a line between someone creating an RPG and someone claiming to have fixed a game that wasn't even broken most of the time.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with modding a game. We all do it in varying degrees. But I get rubbed the wrong way by people mistaking their preferences for actual problems. If someone wants to add a robust skill system to Shadowdark, by all means. But don't claim that the game is broken without one - that is how it was designed.

I'm not sure that's a distinction that makes a difference. If people didn't think OD&D was broken and needed fixing there'd never have been any other RPGs*. Again, that's literally how the entire hobby came to be. Someone played a game, thought something was broken, and got to fixing it. Fix enough things and it's a completely different game.

* You can trace this backwards in time as well. If Gygax didn't think Arneson's Blackmoor notes were broken and needed fixing, there'd be no OD&D. If Arneson didn't think Wesley's Braunstein was broken and needed fixing, there'd be no Blackmoor. Back to Strategos, back to free Kriegsspiel, back to rigid Kriegsspiel, etc.

 

[Micah Sweet]

A personal problem, is not a problem with the game itself though. Thats a subjective issue, not an objective one.

Yeah, so what? They fixed the game for them. That it was fine before for you isn't relevant to the statement.

 

[Scribe]

Yeah, so what? They fixed the game for them. That it was fine before for you isn't relevant to the statement.

Sure. I'm not going to go down this path, fix, implies broken. It's a poor word choice.

Change, modify, update, alter.

Either way, not a debate I'll have in this thread.

 

[Bill Zebub]

They are problems though...for their playstyle and preferences.

That's not really a very useful/helpful observation. I'm hoping it was just meant to be witty.

I may as well argue that OG Traveler has a big problem that makes it completely unplayable. That problem is that I haven't seen my copy of it since about 1988.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

But don't claim that the game is broken without one - that is how it was designed.

I honestly find those complaints super weird. Between the background and the class, you already know what your PC is good at, and the book gives examples of using that information with rolling to succeed.

There already is a skill system in the game, but it's just "what would a character of your ancestry, background and class be good at? Roll with advantage using the proper attribute stat as a bonus." Maybe people need a cheat sheet for what a former wizard's apprentice might be good at, but I am dubious that is really hard for most groups to figure out. ("No, Steve, being a former wizard's apprentice doesn't mean you're good at taming an unruly horse.")