Shadowdark Shadowdark General Thread [+]

[overgeeked]

LOL. No well-adjusted person would ever willingly leave the relative safety and comfort of home to go risk life and limb in some dark and dangerous dungeon. I always remind players of this when they try to justify PC cowardice as some kind of smart, self-preservation strategy. Sorry, no. A coward would not have gotten this far. They never would have left home. When making a character, make an adventurer.

 

[Fenris-77]

It's just an outgrowth of a system where you roll high to get positive results. The positivie result for morale is not running away, much like a saving throw. Don't over think it would be my advice.

 

[Bill Zebub]

"You fail your Wisdom check, return home, reconcile with your father, turn the dairy farm into a rousing success, end up having six children, 40 grandchildren and die peacefully in your bed, surrounded by your loving family, at the age of 79, which is pretty good for this point in fantasy history."

Kind of the perfect inverse of "save-or-die".

 

[DarkCrisis]

What is your design philosophy behind the flow of the maps, as played in Shadowdark?

One thing that I don't see discussed very often is how the torch timer changes the calculus of actual torch consumption. In B/X (or similar) where processes like checking doors, searching rooms and other activities eat turns, a lot of small chambers, short corridors and searchable heaps eat a lot of light resources. In SD tho, a focused party can get through a lot more of these things in "real time" thus saving light resources.

Combat time eats Real Time Torches. Combat in game is like 30 seconds in Torch Time its like 20 minutes or more. It evens out.

 

[el-remmen]

Don't over think it would be my advice.

Yeah, that’s not advice i can imagine ever taking as I don’t see that as remotely “overthinking” or a concept I personally find to have much value.