Shadowdark Shadowdark General Thread [+]

[Arilyn]

I love Shadowdark. I love Dolmenwood, and although I think the S. Dark ruleset is better, I'm using the Dolmenwood rules because it fits the vibe so well. S. Dark will definitely work, but there's something about the whole package of Dolmenwood I don't want to tinker with.

We are having a blast and the charm (and warty bits) of the rules add to the zest.

 

[overgeeked]

Hes not selling it, so I'm not that convinced, but I'm also fine with people protecting their hard won IP.

That’s one of those persistent myths. It’s still a copyright violation even if you’re not selling anything. Besides, it would cost Gavin sales as a complete fan conversion would make the official books redundant. Not a great way to show support of a creator who’s work you enjoy.

 

[Xenolith234]

I always wonder why you can’t have a conversion document that only makes things clear within the scope of owning the original document, like referencing page numbers in the original.

I did think about just mixing SD with Dolmenwood and crossing my fingers that things don’t break too much - there’s a Reddit post from Kelsey a couple years ago that mentions just having the rune magic function as-is in the DW books, essentially outside of the roll-to/cast system.

 

[overgeeked]

I always wonder why you can’t have a conversion document that only makes things clear within the scope of owning the original document, like referencing page numbers in the original.

Because people always want more. Whatever you include won’t be enough until the whole thing is there. Only do monster stat conversions, someone will want PC races. Only do those two, someone will want classes. Only do those three, someone will want spells. Etc.

 

[Fenris-77]

That’s one of those persistent myths. It’s still a copyright violation even if you’re not selling anything. Besides, it would cost Gavin sales as a complete fan conversion would make the official books redundant. Not a great way to show support of a creator who’s work you enjoy.

There was never going to be a full fan conversion as far as I know. It's the kind of labor of love that as a designer I'm never going to have a problem with. What aspects of the project that are publicly available have been very carefully managed as well. So yes, I understand copyright, and no in this case it wasn't something I thought was a big deal. Not really much point in arguing it regardless.

 

[Fenris-77]

Because people always want more. Whatever you include won’t be enough until the whole thing is there. Only do monster stat conversions, someone will want PC races. Only do those two, someone will want classes. Only do those three, someone will want spells. Etc.

That's a lazy argument my friend. Public pressure to do X isn't some kind of unavoidable slippery slope.

 

[Velderan]

I always wonder why you can’t have a conversion document that only makes things clear within the scope of owning the original document, like referencing page numbers in the original.

I've seen people do that for 5e conversions of old TSR modules. The one I bought for DL1 to get the maps handles the conversion work in a way that's impossible to run the adventure in 5e without buying the 1e module to reference the non-mechanics details. Here's a pretty simple example:

In the above example you still need the 1e DL1 to find out what area 17 is all about, but this at least tells you to replace the refugees with Commoner stats from page 345 in the 5e Monster Manual.

 

[overgeeked]

That's a lazy argument my friend.

It’s true regardless.

Not really much point in arguing it regardless.

Clearly.

 

[Fenris-77]

It’s true regardless.

Clearly.

I wasn't trying to be unfriendly, sorry if it came across like that. We could argue about the truth there, but I think it's probably surplus to requirements here.

 

[Xenolith234]

I've seen people do that for 5e conversions of old TSR modules. The one I bought for DL1 to get the maps handles the conversion work in a way that's impossible to run the adventure in 5e without buying the 1e module to reference the non-mechanics details. Here's a pretty simple example:
View attachment 426931

In the above example you still need the 1e DL1 to find out what area 17 is all about, but this at least tells you to replace the refugees with Commoner stats from page 345 in the 5e Monster Manual.

I’d think you could do the same but with like “replace pg xx mechanic in paragraph x with DC15” type of thing instead of copying any of the content.