Shadowdark General Thread [+]

[Scribe]

So I'm sitting on a bunch of stuff I wrote for Shadowdark, but I also want to release it 'the right way' with all the art and whatever.

Should I just get it out there in a nice text format, minus the art, or wait for the art?

4 Ancestries
4 Classes (Barbarian will stand alone as I already have the process of art commission started there)

Feels like the art side alone could take months, and I've been essentially complete for a few months now.

Should I just stand up an itch.io and upload it?

 

[Fenris-77]

You could release it as a beta or ashcan edition and get feedback and whatnot and then release the full version with art when you're ready. I'd still probably lay it out in Affinty or InDesign if you have the capability. If you don't I may be able to help you out with that bit.

 

[Fenris-77]

Basic class layout isn't hard. A whole class plus titles (which aren't on the same page in the core SD book) fits nicely on one A4 or Letter page. Like so:

 

[Scribe]

Basic class layout isn't hard. A whole class plus titles (which aren't on the same page in the core SD book) fits nicely on one A4 or Letter page. Like so:
View attachment 406776

Yeah I put the Barbarian into A5 size, and printed it out to see how it looks, it worked fine.

I'll probably get it all up there if I can climb out from under this project work (real life BLEH) and finish things up.

I wanted to do more, but maybe I'll just keep the adventure in my back pocket for when I really publish it in my ideal scenario.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would definitely get it out there in rough version first. I have a half-finished adventure I created for a jam last summer that's sitting there for free on itch.io while I think about it some more. Once it's pretty and more polished, I'll worry about charging for the revised version.

 

[Reynard]

Basic class layout isn't hard. A whole class plus titles (which aren't on the same page in the core SD book) fits nicely on one A4 or Letter page. Like so:
View attachment 406776

So, the class looks fine as a draft, but the name really bugs me. Sentinels, by definition, are not hunters. They are watchmen and guardians.

 

[Fenris-77]

So, the class looks fine as a draft, but the name really bugs me. Sentinels, by definition, are not hunters. They are watchmen and guardians.

To which I shrug (no offense). I wanted something that really wasn't thief-indexed and watcher works fine for me. Honestly, I stole the name from Swords of the Serpentine that has a similar class called the same thing. I don't have any cognitive dissonance there, but its interesting that you do. I'll ask some of my customers if I get the chance.

 

[Scribe]

I would definitely get it out there in rough version first. I have a half-finished adventure I created for a jam last summer that's sitting there for free on itch.io while I think about it some more. Once it's pretty and more polished, I'll worry about charging for the revised version.

Here's hoping my client comes to their senses and I get some time this week to tweak the layout a bit and get it up there.

 

[Reynard]

To which I shrug (no offense). I wanted something that really wasn't thief-indexed and watcher works fine for me. Honestly, I stole the name from Swords of the Serpentine that has a similar class called the same thing. I don't have any cognitive dissonance there, but its interesting that you do. I'll ask some of my customers if I get the chance.

To be clear, it is just a pet peeve of mine. I bristle when things are named things that don't actually reflect what they are or do.

 

[Fenris-77]

To be clear, it is just a pet peeve of mine. I bristle when things are named things that don't actually reflect what they are or do.

I don't actually agree with your parsing of the word, but that's not super important. Sentinels don't have to be passive observers, and if they aren't passive then what are they doing? Probably something that sounds like investigating with a soupcon of doing so to protect someone or something. You get guardian of or defender against as easily as watcher out of Sentinel, and both the former describe the class really well. Can you call a Witchunter a sentinel against the rot of chaos? I think it fits, and they wouldn't be much bloody use if all they did was watch. Anyway, that was my thinking.