Shadowdark: tips for a new GM?

[Reynard]

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.

It's a buff,not a nerf.

 

[Bill Zebub]

It's a buff,not a nerf.

There are two reasons I can think of why it might be seen as a nerf:

• Not understanding it in full
• Limited experience in play, combined with bad luck

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's not 5E lite. It's B/X with some 5E-isms. That's an important distinction.

That said, since it shares so much DNA with both BD&D and 5E, any time you forget a rule, whatever your memory squirts out from one of those two rulesets works fine.

I would also pay attention to the characters' backgrounds, since that's where their "skills" come from. There are no skills per se in the game, but give advantage to something that the PC would know how to do based on their background. So a soldier, for instance, could recognize what military used a weapon the group finds, know heraldry, have a bonus with social interactions with members of the military, and be better able to translate military diagrams they find in a bandit's camp.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

TORCH TIMER

I saw in one video that they just tracked torches every 6 "exploration turns" instead of every hour because the GM said that he had enough to keep track of as it was.

(funny, I'd think that meticulous tracking of turns would be more work than setting an "egg timer" on the side, but hey that's me)

What were peoples' thoughts on the real time torch tracker?

It works great. People tend to not trust it before it's used in play, but it has been a great success for me in both home games and convention games. It keeps everyone active and engaged.

Similarly, always on initiative just means rotating turns between all the players like you would a boardgame. I think it's a rare table where there are no players who might talk over other players and this evens things out.

Try both rules before discarding them, IMO.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Question: what if there are multiple light sources? eg, at least 2 characters have torches going at the same time. The timer applies to both, even if they were lit at different times?

The timer applies to the most recently lit one. If the players want to use up their torches by lighting a bunch of them when they don't need to, let them.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

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.

Yep. A lucky caster, or one with good stats, can in theory cast the same spell forever.

Or, if you're like one of my players, you blow all of your spells in the first 10 minutes of the game and get torn apart by a swarm of skeletons.

Spellcasting is probably best for players with a good understanding of probability math.

 

[darjr]

Oh!

Built into the rules is you can go out of initiative order when it's convenient. Especially out of the dungeon. In fact it helped me get past some issues doing that.

Just watch that you don't get out and forget to go back in.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Yep. A lucky caster, or one with good stats, can in theory cast the same spell forever.

Or, if you're like one of my players, you blow all of your spells in the first 10 minutes of the game and get torn apart by a swarm of skeletons.

Spellcasting is probably best for players with a good understanding of probability math.

In some cases casters can get permanent advantage on a favorite spell. Combine that with luck tokens and...yeah...cast all day.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In some cases casters can get permanent advantage on a favorite spell. Combine that with luck tokens and...yeah...cast all day.

And wands!

 

[Arilyn]

I had a priest who went a long time without failing spell checks. She got so cocky that when I rolled that fumble, it really felt like her goddess was smacking her down for her taking her for granted. I know I stared at that one, feeling offended.

We always start with max hit points, just to let characters be a little more robust at 1st level, and to avoid the fighter having the least due to an unlucky roll. This is purely a taste thing, however. Some tables love the challenge of 1 or 2 hp characters.

Don't forget the morale rolls. Monsters flee more easily than in 5e. Our group also use intimidation a lot. Toss an ogre head into a pack of goblins, add in some swagger and you might just get some allies...

Shadowdark is pretty flexible. It doesn't have to be all dungeon crawling. The game supports wilderness and urban as well. There are modes to make the game deadlier or pulpier. You can just do dungeon crawls with a high death count and embrace the chaos, or have a story develop from character choices and goals. Players can survive quite well with cautious play.

Enjoy. It's a fantastic game!