What is Shadowdark?

What is ShadowDark? It's a system that that Old School Revival (OSR) feel with a more modern base ruleset. Think pared down D&D 5E with with a focus on speeding up play.

ShadowDark is meant to be dangerous. Dungeons are perilous and darkness is deadly. Equipment and resources are precious commodities. More things are decided by player action than by die rolls.

Character sheets are simpler, with fewer options and a focus on quick and easy character generation.

For anything falling outside the lines of ShadowDark, I'll expect I'll lean heavily on 5e from which it incorporates some base principals.

If you don't already have the ShadowDark rules and are unfamiliar with them, you can download the free Quickstart set from The Archane Library site.

Playing outside of the character sheet

What does this mean? It's kind of "Saying" and not "Rolling". In Shadowdark, a character's actions and decisions are emphasised over reliance on dice rolls. The game encourages players to "think outside the sheet" and consider what their character would realistically do in a given situation, rather than simply scouring their character sheet for options.

Key aspects of this emphasis include:

Imagination and Description: Players should describe their character's actions and intentions to the GM, who then determines the outcome. The focus is on creative problem-solving and engaging with the game world.

Automatic Success: Characters automatically succeed at tasks they are trained to do, without needing to roll a check. For example, a wizard can always read magical runes. A thief can always find a trap if he looks for it in a way that would find it. There is no passive perception.

Checks as a Consequence: Checks are typically reserved for situations with negative consequences for failure, when skill is required, or when there is time pressure.

Social Encounters: These rely more on what the players say rather than Charisma checks. A moving speech or the use of secret information to influence an NPC does not require a check to succeed.

Player Skill vs. Character Skill: Players are encouraged to develop their own skills in the game, such as learning to spot secret doors, and the game should allow them to make decisions based on their creativity and wits.

This approach aims to create a more immersive and engaging experience where player agency and clever thinking are paramount. While stats, spells, gear, and talents are important, players are encouraged not to limit themselves to only those.