Shadowdark looks so good!

[Nightfly]

I like the roll-to-cast system in Dungeon Crawl Classics more. For one thing, it has spellburn, which allows you to burn luck -- or, in truly dire situations, permanently burn down another attribute score -- to push through a spell that would have failed. That way wizards aren't completely at the mercy of one die roll, but the price they pay for that can be incredibly high. (There are other things I like too, but that's for another thread).

I love Shadowdark, but the spellcasting system doesn't quite hit my sweet spot. But that's what house rules are for, right?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yeah, it wouldn't be hard to add spellburn to Shadowdark, if one preferred. In my experience, players (and GMs) do forget about luck points, which help ameliorate wizards whiffing all their spells straight off.

 

[Jahydin]

Kelsey's doing another live video! In this one, she's creating a "Halloween" adventure, Vampire Hunt!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The folks who get really upset with people wanting to hack Shadowdark -- I think the Shadowdark Facebook group had to ban someone who kept ranting and raving about people going beyond the book -- are going to spiral when they see that she's created darkness-adapted vampire PCs for this adventure.

One thing I've always liked about her adventure design videos (both for 5E and Shadowdark) is how thoughtful she is in her process. In this case, she thinks about what makes horror adventures work and the impact of usually creating maps as she goes, rather than grabbing a Dyson Logos map, as she does here.

 

[Arilyn]

I watched Kelsey's vampire video. Looks like it'll be a blast. I'll wait for her her to fill up the castle cause she's way more imaginative than me!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I watched Kelsey's vampire video. Looks like it'll be a blast. I'll wait for her her to fill up the castle cause she's way more imaginative than me!

Given how prolific an adventure writer she was in the 5E era, I'm glad that Kickstarter fulfillment is no longer taking up so much of her time, so she can get back to cranking out adventures again. She has a whole series of very spooky 5E adventures that I'd love to see something similar for in Shadowdark.

 

[Jahydin]

Given how prolific an adventure writer she was in the 5E era, I'm glad that Kickstarter fulfillment is no longer taking up so much of her time, so she can get back to cranking out adventures again. She has a whole series of very spooky 5E adventures that I'd love to see something similar for in Shadowdark.

Absolutely!

Once she gets a really meaty adventure out for Shadowdark (that hopefully picks up an ENNIE or two), I'm thinking the popularity of this game will skyrocket even more.

 

[Scribe]

Absolutely!

Once she gets a really meaty adventure out for Shadowdark (that hopefully picks up an ENNIE or two), I'm thinking the popularity of this game will skyrocket even more.

Part of the March Kickstarter maybe?

 

[Bill Zebub]

I'm all-in on Shadowdark as a system, and I personally love the aesthetic. The only thing I struggle with is that I often play with my kids and their friends, with an age range of 8+, and the horror aspect of Kelsey's adventures is often a bit too horrible for that age range. It really doesn't take much to make an 8 year old's skin crawl.

I end up editing out a lot of those features, but that some times ends up leaving the adventures a bit colorless/themeless. I could write my own adventures, but honestly finding time just to play is hard enough; I don't have time to write the adventures, too. (One of the things I love her adventures is zero prep time.)

 

[Bill Zebub]

Also, what I really keep hoping is next for Kelsey is a campaign setting. I'd love to see what she could come up with. And if she kept releasing new regions, slowly fleshing out a whole world, I'd keep buying them.