Shadowdark Shadowdark General Thread [+]

[Reynard]

Honestly, that's so good, Kelsey should steal it for the core book, whenever it's eventually revised.

You publish for SD. YOU steal it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The new Kickstarter update is making me think of picking up the spell cards. They look great. I currently play online only, although if I start playing through organized play, I may end up getting the cards.

Also, priests get alignment spells in the Western Reaches Players Guide, to correspond to the wizards' alignment spells in the next three Cursed Scrolls!

 

[Scribe]

Did I mention that post-Kickstarter we decided to include a new set of priest spells for lawful, neutral, and chaotic priests? It's a thematic little bonus that I'm very excited to include in the Player's Guide to the Western Reaches. It only makes sense given that wizards get alignment spells, too!

Also, priests get alignment spells in the Western Reaches Players Guide, to correspond to the wizards' alignment spells in the next three Cursed Scrolls!

I dig it.

 

[Velderan]

The new Kickstarter update is making me think of picking up the spell cards. They look great. I currently play online only, although if I start playing through organized play, I may end up getting the cards.

Also, priests get alignment spells in the Western Reaches Players Guide, to correspond to the wizards' alignment spells in the next three Cursed Scrolls!

She mentioned Cursed Scroll #6 being next up. Did I miss #5 or is she just going out of order? Love the cover of 6 btw, excited to see what’s in it.

 

[Scribe]

She mentioned Cursed Scroll #6 being next up. Did I miss #5 or is she just going out of order? Love the cover of 6 btw, excited to see what’s in it.

Just out of order, 4 was the last one released.

 

[Keldryn]

Or is most of the xp supposed to come from carousing?

Should players get a bare minimum of 1 xp per session? This session they found no treasure of real value so they go nothing. Though I guess nothing stops them from carousing if they want xp....

I've started granting 1 XP for each rumor that the PCs confirm (whether true or false). I want to encourage exploration and investigation beyond just grabbing treasure.

I also gave the PCs 10 XP when

Spoiler: Spoilers for Cursed Scroll #1

they devised a plan to kill Mugdulblub and pulled it off. In one room there is a bowl of teeth and ash with a pearl hidden inside; when the pearl is removed, the teeth and ask knit into a skeleton that serves the pearl-holder.

In the adjoining room, there was a +1 dagger that deals 1d100 damage to anyone who tries to take it from it's previous possessor, dead or alive. One PC previously died trying to pick it up!

They had the skeleton pick up the dagger, and it burned him to ash. The PCs swept up the ashes into a shield, placed them back in the bowl, replaced the pearl and removed it. I said that the ashes knit back into the skeleton, as I thought it was clever and the adventure didn't say it could only be done once. He was now able to pick up the dagger safely, as he was still the owner.

Mugdulblub, the Elder Ooze, desires to dissolve the universe and was getting bored with consuming halflings and catfish. So the PCs offered the dagger so it could consume powerful magic. When Mugdulblub took the dagger, it inflicted 53 points of damage -- but it had 58 HP.

The Elder Ooze was a level 12 monster. 3 attacks per round at +8, 2d8 damage. There were also 7 of its servants in the chamber. Within 2 rounds, all of the PCs but one were are 0 HP, and the one who wasn't had 1 HP remaining. It looked like a TPK. The PC made one last desperate attack and rolled a natural 20, killing Mugdulblub!

As a DM, that whole session was honestly one of the most rewarding games I've run in years. The players had all started with 5e, and watching them really engage with the fiction in more creative ways was just wonderful. I felt that what they accomplished in that session was worth 10 XP.

 

[Retros_x]

As a DM, that whole session was honestly one of the most rewarding games I've run in years. The players had all started with 5e, and watching them really engage with the fiction in more creative ways was just wonderful. I felt that what they accomplished in that session was worth 10 XP.

That sounds such an awesome session and IMO special achievments like that are definitely worth bonus XP! I also really like the bonus XP for confirming secrets as truth or myths/lies, I will steal that!

 

[Velderan]

I am leaning towards running the gauntlet dungeon from Cursed Scroll #3 for my group since none of us have ever tried that style of game before. I think to get them psyched up to go into the dungeon despite knowing they're going to die, I am going to watch a bunch of Ultimate Warrior promos and steal the most nonsensical parts to have a NPC motivate their characters to seek glory in the dungeon.

 

[Fenris-77]

Maybe a little Ric Flair for seasoning.

 

[Fenris-77]

So somewhere down the line a supplment or two for Shadows of Empire I'm going to do a proper city sourcebook. One of the ideas I'm playing around with for that is to introduce a troupe style play mode to run Night Watch games. So every player has a core PC that is an officer or Sergeant, and there are also a bunch of specialist and rank and file watch as well. So a given session might have some players playing their core PCs while others take on rank and file guys, depending on the situation. Obviously Band of Blades is a big inspiration there. The trick will be to implement something that works, but that's light enough to not rest too heavyily on SDs slick chassis.