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Shadowdark (Shadowdark)

English Rules-light The Arcane Library English Rules-light

3 groups3

29 players29

Shadowdark RPG (2023)

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Contents

Overview
Active games and players
Articles & Videos
Reviews

Overview

Shadowdark RPG is a modern masterpiece of old school fantasy tabletop gaming, created by Kelsey Dionne and published by The Arcane Library in 2023. It blends the lethal, dungeon crawling spirit of the

Old School Renaissance

with streamlined, modernized mechanics inspired by the

fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons

. Description In Shadowdark, players are adventurers delving into tombs and ancient underground cities in search of gold and glory. The game is highly lethal, emphasizing player skill, resource management and creative problem solving over character sheet abilities. The dark is a physical, terrifying presence and making sure keeping the light on, is beyond vital to survival. System Overview & Key Features

Real Time Torches Torches last exactly one hour of real time. The Game Master sets a physical timer at the table. When the timer runs out, the light goes out, and the characters are plunged into total darkness where deadly monsters thrive.

Familiar d20 Mechanics The core system uses a standard 20 sided die (d20) with advantage and disadvantage, making it incredibly easy for modern players to pick up. However, modifiers are kept extremely low to maintain a grounded feel.

Randomized Character Growth Instead of picking from a massive list of feats or skills when leveling up, players roll a random talent on their class table. This speeds up character creation and forces players to adapt to the unique strengths of their adventurer.

Slot Based Inventory Encumbrance is simple and strict. Characters have a number of inventory slots equal to their Strength score or a minimum of ten. Every item, from a sword to a torch, takes up exactly one slot, making resource management important.

Additional links thearcanelibrary.com/pages/shadowdark - Official The Arcane Library website shadowdarklings.net - Shadowdarklings (An excellent online character creator)

Active games and players

Once a month, in-person game in Sacramento, CA

Once a month, in-person game in Sacramento, CA

Hi there. Our gaming group has a chair to fill at the table since we recently lost a player due to a schedule change. I run game once a month at the wife and I's house in the Rosemont area of Sacramento, close off Hwy 50 and Watt Avenue. I've been running games since 1995 when I had the AD&D 2E Dungeon Masters Guide thrust into my hands at a local game store. Since then I've run and played many games and run multiple campaigns that stretched on for years on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Now with me and my players being in our 40s and 50s we only play once a month on a Saturday selected by how many folks are available, from 1pm until around 5pm-6pm. After ending a long running 5E campaign a few years ago, I've mainly been running the group through Delta Green. However, a couple of months back we started playing Shadowdark and been having a blast. We'll be keeping on with Shadowdark but will sprinkle in some Delta Green and perhaps Call of Cthulhu from time to time. If anyone reading this is looking for a chill group of gamers, feel free to reach out!

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Crawl Breakers: Shadowdark Adventures in the OSR

Crawl Breakers: Shadowdark Adventures in the OSR

Newbie friendly

Crawl Breakers will take you to places dark and dangerous where glory and death stand side by side. CRAWL BREAKERS CLASSICS Summer Series with ANDREW P. MAYER Delve deeper as we explore classic DCC Adventures with Shadowdark rules and Crawl Breakers unique "GrimWyrd" flavor Existing experiences and a strong dose of genuine 1979 OSR flavor. Things will get exciting and wild while maintaining a classic dungeon-crawling feel! Join us every Tuesday, 6-9pm, @ BLACKWATER BAR (Portland, OR, 5115 Sandy Blvd.) Sign up on Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/oregon-sorcerous-realms-osr/events/314553353/

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Shadowdark - The Lost Citadel

Shadowdark - The Lost Citadel

Roleplay focused

Newbie friendly

Vibe: Grimdark, high fantasy, found family, dungeon crawl I'm looking for players who enjoy the tension of resource management and clever problem-solving over "face-tanking" monsters. Tone: I'm not going to say the tone will be intentionally comedic or serious, as I can understand that it can be difficult for people to successfully pull off either, so it's going to be more of a playing be ear of seeing what players I get and seeing where it goes, and hopefully having those funny or serious moments come organically rather than intentionally. DM Style: I'm aiming for something very RP heavy. Low on combat. I'll try to make combat's more like puzzles that you can solve almost instantly rather than health bars you have to chip away at. If an entire session is just the players and NPC's talking to each other, and they've barely moved from where they started, I would consider that a perfect session. Schedule: Every other [Saturday/Sunday], 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST (GMT-5). Platforms: discord(voice), owlbear rodeo My Motivation: I just really like the fantasy setting. I have no idea why. I saw this system on Dungeons & Daddies and became intrigued by the "classic" toned down vibe. My preference for fantasy is the grit of adventuring balanced with the ever growing party dynamics, so I thought it a perfect fit. Oh, and to make friends. This feels like the easiest way to meet people who are also into fantasy. I've yet to read the material, so it'll probably be a week or two until the first session. But just DM me if you're interested and I'll DM you once I've set everything up.

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Bruxelles - Brussel

Well met, stranger. I'm hiddenson. I've played different rpgs since the 90's, both as GM and as player, and I'd like to get back into it. I prefer GMing because I enjoy world building and long-term campaigns, delving deeper into the preset worlds to give them my signature flavor of horror and hardcore mechanics. My style is immersive, often choosing to play the right track at the right second for the right scene. That said, I enjoy the acting and teamwork part of playing, so I like to get the chance to do that as well from time to time. I'm also launching a paid Vampire: The Masquerade 5e soon, so I'm willing to trade seats if our tastes and playstyles match. As this is my player profile, I'd like to focus on roleplay heavy horror games. I have experience in Vampire: The Masquerade, and would love to play it and other settings of the World of Darkness. I have a lot of experience in the previous edition of Call of Cthulhu set in the Roaring Twenties, so I'm sure I can adapt to the new edition easily. Lastly, I have no experience in Shadowdark or Mothership, but I'd like the chance to try them out to round up the horror experience. When it comes to my playing style, I'm roleplay focused and lean into characters keen on knowledge and lore rather than riches. Think erudite professors, librarians looking for eldritch tomes, and tomb raiding archaeologists. When I GM, I lean towards Rule of Cool, and I favor players who invest creativity in their characters. Regarding scheduling, I'm available every week (but would prefer every other week) from Thursday to Sunday between 8pm and 2am GMT+2. Hit me up with your best message and let's tempt fate together!

Hello, I've been playing TTRPGs on and off for about 10 years now. Played with different systems and on different platforms over the years (mostly Pathfinder 2e recently). Don't have a favorite system but hoping to play and learn AD&D, willing to learn and try new games (have a preference for fantasy settings). Timezone is CET and should be free on almost everyday of the week in the evening. Thanks.

Hi I am Ashley and I am looking for LGBTQ+ freindly groups online or over the table, I have experince playing and running a variety of systems but am only looking to to play at the moment. I tend to lean into the more silly side of roleplay but am also interested in playing a more serious game too. I am preferably looking for a free game online but would not mind paying if the games are hosted in a venue or chipping in to help purchase game material.

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Articles & Videos

Delving Into Shadowdark

Shadowdark: The REAL TIME Old-School RPG

Bob World Builder

You Don’t Need 1200 pages to Play D&D | Shadowdark Basic Rules

Other entries

Geek Native

Geek Native is an independent news site and community for tabletop roleplaying games, board games, anime, and geek culture. It covers tabletop mechanics, industry news, and reviews with a critical but welcoming tone. Whether you’re a player, a Game Master, or somewhere in between, it’s a solid place to find content that actually holds up. It also publishes practical tools for session prep and world-building - things like spaceship name generators and lists of oddly unsettling phrases to throw at your players. Alongside those, there are columns on the psychology of gameplay and table dynamics. It’s been around long enough to build a genuine community, and it shows. Links geeknative.com - Website

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Season of Ghosts

Actual Play & Podcasts

Season of Ghosts

The premiere Pathfinder Adventure, featuring seasoned improv artists, writers, and gamers. The small town of Willowshore has a big problem—it's cursed! When a group of heroes awaken in the woods after a festival to usher out the last day of spring and welcome in the summer—a time known locally as the "season of ghosts," they find their hometown has been invaded by monsters, strange weather, and horrifying ghosts. Yet theses manifestations of the ancient evil that threatens Willowshore are nothing compared to the harrowing secrets awaiting discovery in Season of Ghosts. Links youtube.com - Youtube playlist podcasts.apple.com - Apple Podcasts feed

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Brotherhood of the Dice

Brotherhood of the Dice

Brotherhood of the Dice is a group of friends who get together to play tabletop RPGs, mostly leaning into horror with a sprinkling of fantasy and sci-fi. We run games like Call of Cthulhu, Mothership, The Dee Sanction, Dead of Night, Electric State, Pirate Borg, Dragonbane, and Outgunned, throwing in the occasional curveball with something more quirky like Land of Eem when we feel like changing things up. As most of our games lean heavily into horror, they tend to favour a serious tone, but when things go off the rails, chaos and hilarity are never far behind. Which is just part of the fun. Nothing is scripted, and we’re not performers, just regular people enjoying games together and letting the dice and the story take us where they will. /images/general-media/1774008789_ZfvlFW0K.png We stream live on Twitch three times a week and upload the sessions to YouTube afterwards. Real people playing games. Links twitch.tv - Twitch channel youtube.com - Youtube channel instagram.com - Instagram page

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