Shadowdark: tips for a new GM?

[darjr]

Also attacking the light sometimes means attacking the casters of light spells.

The monsters could devour the source of light or run away with it too.

I’ve considered a house rule that light is a “concentration” spell.

 

[Bill Zebub]

General advice:

Make sure the players of spell-casters know they can fail to use their spells with a bad roll. My group started out leery of this rule and when the player failed the roll, things went pear-shaped in a hurry (at the table). IMO it's terrible design to nerf casters this way. There was a discussion on the topic here a while back.

Completely, 100% disagree.

This is not even remotely a caster nerf. On average casters get a lot more spells per day than in, say, D&D. That might not be true at level 1 with really bad stats*, but that will improve over time. (And you can let that poor player re-roll...)

This is especially true for Wizards, who know all of their spells every day; they don't have to pick which of them to "memorize" each day.

Really it's one of my favorite parts of Shadowdark, that distinguishes it from Vancian and quasi-Vancian systems, which I freakin' hate.

*Which reminds me: my favorite modification to Shadowdark chargen...or any RPG where you roll 3d6 straight down the line...is to give the player an option to "invert" their stats. That means you replace all six numbers, still in order, with 21 - N. 3's become 18's, 4's become 17's, and so on...until 17's become 4's, and 18's become 3's. But it's all or nothing; you have to invert all six numbers.

 

[Golden age Superhero]

I think a lot of stuff in Shadowdark is designed is direct contrast to 5e and to a degree 3.5. Messing with spellcasters was a way step away from caster dominance.

 

[Golden age Superhero]

I prefer my magic to be unpredictable.

 

[Piperken]

In a few weeks I’ll be running my first Shadowdark campaign with some friends.

I’ve read the rules and a few adventures and very eager to give it a go. I’ve run many games over the past 25 years (D&D 5e, Dungeon World, Mythras, WFRP 1e, 2e, 3e, Dark Heresy, Fate Core, Vampire the Masquerade, Stars without number etc you get the point). I’m looking for advice about this game in particular, not general GM advice.

I couldn’t find a general thread for Shadowdark here, so I started this one.

For those of you who’ve run this game, any recommendations, warnings or general advice for DMing Shadowdark?

Thanks!

If you happen to be in the mood and are inclined, please do a follow up post on how things went!

 

[Bae'zel]

I prefer my magic to be unpredictable.

I certainly appreciated this take on magic after I read Dungeon Crawl Classics for the first time

 

[Golden age Superhero]

I certainly appreciated this take on magic after I read Dungeon Crawl Classics for the first time

True, it's like DCC but much more simplified.

 

[Theory of Games]

Completely, 100% disagree.

This is not even remotely a caster nerf. On average casters get a lot more spells per day than in, say, D&D. That might not be true at level 1 with really bad stats*, but that will improve over time. (And you can let that poor player re-roll...)

This is especially true for Wizards, who know all of their spells every day; they don't have to pick which of them to "memorize" each day.

Really it's one of my favorite parts of Shadowdark, that distinguishes it from Vancian and quasi-Vancian systems, which I freakin' hate.

*Which reminds me: my favorite modification to Shadowdark chargen...or any RPG where you roll 3d6 straight down the line...is to give the player an option to "invert" their stats. That means you replace all six numbers, still in order, with 21 - N. 3's become 18's, 4's become 17's, and so on...until 17's become 4's, and 18's become 3's. But it's all or nothing; you have to invert all six numbers.

Compared to B/X or 5e (Shadowdark's inspirations) forcing players to successfully roll in order to use spells is the very definition of "nerf".

But, you have your opinion and I have mine and I'm merely suggesting @Bae'zel keep this in mind

 

[Jay R]

Compared to B/X or 5e (Shadowdark's inspirations) forcing players to successfully roll in order to use spells is the very definition of "nerf".

Can't the caster cast the spell forever until they fail a roll? Seems that it is a nerf or isn't a nerf depending on the luck of the dice.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Compared to B/X or 5e (Shadowdark's inspirations) forcing players to successfully roll in order to use spells is the very definition of "nerf".

Except in very rare cases Shadowdark spells have no saving throws, which in 5e can be frustratingly easy for adversaries to succeed at.

Sure, buffing spells (like healing) in 5e are automatic, but once you use it that slot is gone. In Shadowdark when you succeed at spell casting the resource cost (other than your action) is zero.

And really what matters overall is how many spells per day succeed. Whether that's automatic but limited by a spell slot, requires a to-hit (and a spell slot), requires overcoming a saving throw (and a spell slot), or requires a skill check...the mechanics don't matter. It's "successful spells per day".

And in the absence of some detailed analysis and mathematical modeling, I think Shadowdark gives you more successes per day.

But, you have your opinion and I have mine and I'm merely suggesting @Bae'zel keep this in mind

Exactly!