I Ran a Shadowdark RPG One-Shot

Our regular DM had to work late and only about half of our group could make it so I ran a Shadowdark RPG one-shot last night. What drew me to ShadowDark were several features:

1) After playing a lot of Shadow of the Demon Lord versus DnD 5, I've come to enjoy rolling damage with few if any modifiers. I think it speeds things up at the table.

2) The Difficulty Classes are clearly given and they map to straight-forward percentage chances and range from 9 to 18.

3) Ability Scores drive the game and "skill" gives a PC Advantage on a Check.

4) It uses Ascending AC and a unified roll high system.

5) Spellcasters have to roll to cast a spell and as long as they succeed they continue to be able to cast that spell until they fail a check and it lost for the rest of the day. This also means that if a "Saving Throw" is required it is merely an Ability check by the targets.

6) Random Class Abilities, called Talents in ShadowDark, are gained as a PC levels on class-specific tables.

7) The game is easy to House Rule.

I think the adventure was a hit and my players, who are most familiar with 5E, grasped the mechanics faster than they did with Hyperborea 3E.

I made a 5th Level Witch, Warlock, & Knight of Ydris regenerated characters from Cursed Scroll 1: Diablerie!. 

My intention was to combine two adventures from Goodman Games' Chained Coffin for Dungeon Crawl Classics however, about three minutes in the PCs threw me a curve ball. They were hired to take the corpse of the son of a powerful member of the local Syndicate to a pool in the middle of the Nightwing Forest to resurrect him. Tancred Locke, however, was a real bastard and the PC's decided they didn't want to help him come back. Luckily, I had a bit of side stuff planned, including a meeting with an anthropomorphic raccoon with bifocals named Theodocious Took, who ended up becoming a forest spirit who could take over the body of any creature that ate his current body or who put on his bifocals. 

A good deal of the adventure, initially, was Theo promising them a place to live while the PCs discovered creatures whom Theo had grifted. We had a small combat that went well and the spellcasting system performed even better than I expected. Since this was a one-shot, the group's Witch ended up using various Forest animals as agents, spies, and assassins to eliminate and take over the Locke Syndicate. It got kind of absurd but the end, but we were all laughing a lot so I consider it a win.

Because our group is so heavily invested in 5E, I have trouble justifying an older version of DnD or its clones because at the end of the day they are all very similar in what they do. While I don't know that I could this group to switch to it over 5E long term, it is a game that I hope to use with some newer players in the future. 

I really like the blend of old school and new school that Shadowdark RPG offers and I look forward to the Kickstarter for it coming in March of 2023.

If you like any of the system choices I cites above I think you will love this game. If you appreciate streamlined designs and don't have a set favorite DnD-Adjacent game I think this game is for you. While I prefer ShadowDark over say B/X DnD, Old School Essentials, or Hyperborea 3E and I do think you could find things to add one of those game, I don't know for sure that you will find it that useful, but since the QuickStart is free and the Cursed Scroll 1 offers a great dungeon you can't really go wrong picking both up.

Halloween Treat: Nicodemus Holyday for Dungeon Crawl Classics

The Woods near the Lieber River are forbidden according to those that live near it. They say that within its canopy are burial mounds made by the elves of Thel'zaag that for generations kept people away. However, just over a century ago, an adventuring group out of Jarslburg made their way to several of the mounds and pillaged the items laid to rest with their owners. Over the next two decades more and more mounds were pillaged and Claw of Thel'zaag, an ancient elf Earthspeaker came to the region and cursed those settlements closest to the Woods. For three whole years, the crops didn't grow, the animals did not provide food or milk, and even the fruit trees did not blossom. Desperate, a group of representatives from the nearby villages and farms was able to gain a meeting with the Claw and sought a reason for their punishment. The Claw of Thel'zaag listened to their questions, pleas, and even threats, and when they were done he stated simply that the only way to gain freedom from his Curse was to select a host for the Sentinel he sought to create. A Sentinel was necessary to keep the remaining mounds safe and whole to protect them. He explained the Sentinel had to come from their ranks as punishment for what had occurred and that it would bind the locals to the Woods and would reverse the Curse.

Fifteen locals sought a meeting with the Claw, and over the course of a night and a day, they ended up choosing Nicodemus Holyday, a widower whose family had succumbed to the Yellow Plague two summers before. Sadly, Nicodemus wasn't privy to that decision, and he was ambushed, gagged, and tied up before being given over to the Claw. 

Though the Claw was not surprised at the decision, it saddened him greatly, and he informed them that their fear would infect the binding, but they cared not. Then they quickly left the Claw with their kidnapped agent.

Nicodemus couldn't talk as the binding began, but as the Claw of Thel'zaag's magic began to infuse him, the only part of the man that was left of the Sentinel was his burning hate for the locals.

Nicodemus Holyday for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +4; Atk axe +8 melee (2d8); AC 15; HD 8d8+8;

MV 60’; Act 1d20, 1d20; SP Invisibility 2 x day; 

SV Fort +6, Ref +1, Wil +2; AL NE

Death Stars & Krayt Dragons: Ice Spiders of of Maldo Kreis for Dungeon Crawl Classics

The spiders ranged in size from very small to starship-sized, and unlike most spiders, their head was in the center of their body, hanging downward and ending in a circular mouth comprised of outer, grasping teeth and inner rows of smaller teeth, presumably to grind up their prey. They could produce and shoot webbing from their mouths and they had green blood. The species laid soft-shelled eggs in which their young would hatch. While larger members of the species were likely immune to blaster fire due to their tough, leathery skin, their young could be killed with most common weapons or even by hand. The larger, mature ice spider had eight legs, while the smaller, younger creatures had only six legs.

Small Ice Spider for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +0; Atk bite +0 melee (1d3); AC 8; HD 1d2;
MV 10’; Act 1d16; SV Fort -2, Ref +0, Will -2; AL N.

Medium Ice Spider for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +2; Atk bite +2 melee (1d4); AC 12; HD 1d8; 
MV 30’; Act 1d20; SV Fort +0, Ref +1, Will -2; AL N.

Large Ice Spider for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +3; Atk bite +5 melee (1d6); AC 14; HD 3d8; 
MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP wallcrawler; SV Fort +1, Ref +3, Will -1;

AL N.

Giant Ice Spider for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +4; Atk bite +7 melee (2d6); AC 15; HD 6d8; 
MV 35’; Act 1d20; SP shoot web (victim must make a DC 14 Ref save or be caught), wallcrawler SV Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +0; AL N.

Huge Ice Spider for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +6; Atk bite +9 melee (4d6); AC 19; HD 11d8; 
MV 50’; Act 1d20; SP shoot web (victim must make a DC 14 Ref save or be caught), wallcrawler SV Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +0; AL N.

Monstrous Monday: Foe'Ton for Dungeon Crawl Classics

 I've recently gotten back into collecting toys, actually, my 19-year-old son got me back in to have a hobby we share. It started with the Masters of the Universe Origins figures, expanded to Masters of the WWE Universe, to a swerve back into Glyos, and has ended up with Super7's ReAction figures.

Heavy Metal's Lord of Light from Super7

Many would be surprised to learn that stars are plasma spheroids held together with gravity and they would be further shocked to discover that stars even die.

But what would turn their blood cold would be the knowledge that they can succumb to Undeath as easily as a common hog farmer. A star's life and death is a powerful event that affects entire astronomical bodies in our night sky. An Undead star, as is often the case, is far more dangerous than it's living counterpart and the truly terrifying question is if an Undead star has a weakness.

Foe'Ton for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +10; Atk burning touch +13 melee (2d8 x 10) or 

solar vision missle fire (2d6 x 10); AC 21; HD 13d12; 

MV 60’; Act 1d30+10, 1d30+10, 1d30+10; 

SP flying; SV Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +8; AL N.

Dungeon Crawl Classics: Shayd, a Magic Dagger

Shayd

Dagger: +1 to attack and damage rolls

Alignment: Neutral

Intelligence: 5

• Obscure surroundings with a 20' globe of darkness.

• Whirlwind strike. Instead of making his normal attack, the wielder can make two attacks in a single round but rolls 1d10 for each attack instead of 1d20. He applies his normal attack bonus. Critical hits are not possible when attacking in this manner.

• Turn invisible. Up to 1d3 times per day, the wielder can turn invisible for a duration of 1d4 turns. The invisibility vanishes immediately if the wielder attacks.

Dungeon Crawl Classics: Dire Wraith Sorceress

 

The Dire Wraiths are an evolutionary offshoot of the Skrulls from the Andromeda Galaxy. Like the Skrulls, the Wraiths are shape-shifters, able to take the forms of other creatures. They are, in fact, Skrullian Deviants engineered by the starfaring Celestials. The Wraiths have both reptilian and mammalian like traits and the females lay eggs and lactate.

   At some point in their history, female Dire Wraiths began to study sorcery. This caused a rift with their parent race, the Skrulls, and they were driven out of the Andromeda Galaxy.

   Dire Wraiths are able to take on the forms of those they encounter, including the appearance of equipment and any clothing the victim is wearing. A Dire Wraith can assume any humanoid form between 4 ft to 8 ft tall, but the creature must first see the victim to be copied. In addition to assuming a victim's form, they may choose to consume the victim's brain and gain all of their memories and knowledge (the victim must make a DC 15 Fortitude Save), which will leave the victim a pool of ectoplasm.

Dire Wraith Sorceress for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init -1; Atk hex +6 (1d7) or tentacle +2 melee (1d4); 

AC 13 HD 3d4; MV 40’; Act 1d20; SP absorb brain 

(DC 15 Fortitude Save), impersonate 90%, prestidigitation,

spellcasting (+6 spell check & know 6 spells); 

SV Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +4; AL N.

Dark Trails: Dances With Ghosts

 

Wind In the Trees' parents were killed by the U.S. Calvary when she was eleven. Her Grandfather, Stalking Cat, was their tribe's shaman and he raised her in the ways of Medicine but he worried about the anger and pain within her and couldn't find any way to quell it.

Her Medicine was strong but he grew increasingly worried as her thirst for vengeance grew as strong as her powers.

Ke-wo-no-tay, a powerful minion of the Elder Gods took notice of her and subtlely tainted the young shaman. Even he was surprised at how deep the waters of hate and revenge lapped at the shores of her soul and he delighted in drinking deeply from it.

Stalking Cat saw the changes she was undergoing too and confronted her, even threatening to stop teaching her Medicine. His granddaughter laughed at him, howling like a terrifying storm as she revealed that her real teacher predicted the old man would say that and revealed to her that she would only finish her lessons by killing her grandfather.

Hoping to protect even a sliver of her soul Stalking Cat spread his arms wide and allowed Wind in the Trees to slay him and consume his Medicine. As the life left her grandfather's eyes Ke-wo-no-tay told her that Wind in the Trees had died with her grandfather and all that remained was Dances with Ghosts.

Dances With Ghosts for Dark Trails

Init +0; Atk obsidian knife +0 melee (1d6) or 

bow +1 missle fire (1d8); AC 15; HD 4d6; MV 30'; Act 1d20;

SP climb sheer surfaces 40%, disguise self 45%, hide in shadows 40%, sneak silently 45%, fly, spellcaster (spell check +7);

SV Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +3; AL C.

Dances with Ghosts knows 7 Occultist or Revelator spells (as well as Wizard or Cleric spells if you have Dungeon Crawl Classics). She can fly at 30' and has been trained as a hunter.

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Dark Trails Pregens: Sin-Eater, Gambler, Tommyknocker, & Revelator

 

Here are four more Pregenerated Characters for Dark Trails based on Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Follow this Link.

Dark Trails Pregens: Luchador & Occultist

 

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I'm going to run a session of Dark Trails via Roll20 tomorrow night and I've worked up a Level 1 Luchador and Occultist thus far. I've included a link to them in Google Docs if you want to check them out.

Click here for the Pregens.

Cross Planes on Facebook

I've been wanting to set up a FB page for quite awhile and I don't know why I didn't or what motivated me to finally do it.

If you get a chance stop by and Like the page for me.

My intention is to post quick thoughts and information about posts I'm working on. 

I'm currently working up pregens for a Dark Trails game I'm running on Roll20.

I get to take the Dungeon Crawl Classics rules out for a spin with gunslingers and luchador!

Monstrous Monday: The Beast of Eloise for Dungeon Crawl Classics

I've set up a Facebook page for Cross Planes and if you get a chance I'd be grateful if you Liked it.

Eloise has been a thriving trading post and village at the crossroads of the Stone Road and the Old Road for close to a century. The Inns, all three of them, are full most nights which are just as busy as the days though the work is often illicit in nature.

However, two months ago, on the three nights of the full moon several heads of cattle and two horses that were put up for the night in their barn were attacked by a vicious wild animal that tore them to pieces while leaving most of the meat. The local Sheriff called in a sage named Barnaby Duncroft from nearby Portent to help investigate but no more attacks occured and Barnaby was uncertain what kind of animal attack it was.

The killings began again one month ago over the three nights of the full moon, but on the third night, something broke into the Faversham farmhouse and slaughtered Ebon, his wife Pearl, all three of their young children, and Pearl's father Emmet Clover. Unfortunately, the bodies weren't discovered until three days later when Clem Nottingham checked in on them. This time Duncroft and several Clerics of Pelor were called in to investigate and people began gossiping about a werewolf which caused was a run on the local blacksmith to melt and shape various silver objects of the villagers into weapons. Unfortunately, Duncroft and the Clerics only found one odd fact about the killings and it was that Ebon had his great-grandfather's long sword set over the hearth and it was now missing. There was some question why the first five attacks were against livestock and the final one was against the Favershams. Ebon, the husband, was a mere farmer and while he was a ruffian in his youth he had settled down to a quiet life with his wife Pearl and their children. Emmet Clover, Pearl's father, was respected and well-liked and had sold his general store to his apprentice Gloria Wulling around a decade ago. 

It's now two nights until the next full moon and the village is terrified and most of its normal business has disappeared. 

The Beast of Eloise for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +6; Atk claw +3 melee (1d6) or bite +2 melee (1d6+3); AC 14; 

SP hide in shadows 60%, move silently 70%, regeneration HD 5d6; MV 30’; Act 3d20; SV Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +4; AL C.

The Beast of Eloise is an old man named James Culver who was given a belt that would allow him to transform into a werepanther in exchange for killing the survivors of the Violet Swords for a stranger named Easop. If he succeeds Easop has promised him eternal youth. Thus far, Easop only has one target left Beur Faversham, the great-grandfather of Ebon. Culver has been in town for three months now but no one suspects a man as old as he is of the killings and he has been very careful in his investigations. When he ran into a dead-end, he sought Beur's sword for any clues, but he has gained such a taste for blood he couldn't keep himself from slaughtering all of the Favershams in the farmhouse. Tomorrow night he has a meeting with Easop, in the forest to the East of the Stone Road and he hopes the strange man can point him where to find his final target. However, Culver has grown to like the power the belt gives him and he savors the next time he will taste blood.

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Putting the I in the OSR

 I love the OSR. I discovered it with James Maliszewski's Grognardia and Chris Gonnerman's Basic Fantasy at roughly the same time. It taught me to love Dungeons and Dragons and articulated to my frustration with DnD 3.X and 4E, especially after discovering Castles and Crusades.

Many of the OSR's core features were elements that I had considered bugs do too bad experiences.

I've been playing DnD 5E for over 8 years now. It is a good game and I like it, but I wouldn't mind a change of pace. My group is fairly flexible but they like 5E and we are all heavily invested in DnD Beyond. What I run into when I think of running an OSR game is that if it is not significantly different from 5E is it worth the learning curve to my players? While I prefer rulings and player involvement vs rules and class abilities am I merely creating extra challenges when we all get together to play?

I've been contemplating that for quite a bit and I feel like I found the answer.

It's Dungeon Crawl Classics. It is rooted in Appendix N but has a time-tested system that is fairly familiar, but it has significant permutations with its use of more types of dice and its mechanics for Clerics and Magic-Users. And in my mind, it is the answer to my internal debates. I don't know when I'll run it and I might run it as Mutant Crawl Classics or Dark Trails, but I plan to run it when a slot opens up and I'm pretty excited about it.

RPGaDAY 2020 Day 8: Shade

   

 

Shade for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +3; Atk sword +6 melee (1d10); AC 12; HD 6d6; MV 30’; 

Act 1d20; SP infravision, invisibility 1/day, regeneration, shadow essence; SV Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +4; AL C.

   Shades have infravision out to 90 feet and they are humanoids who have given themselves over to the Shadowfell itself and are no longer truly human. They bump all of their dice by one step when in dim light and by two steps in darkness, e.g. In darkness, a Shade uses a d30 for their action die. A Shade regenerates 1 hit point per round however, decapitation will kill them.

   "Shades were humanoids who had merged with the essence of shadowstuff. They grew more powerful in areas of darkness or shadows, including gaining the ability to leap from shadow to shadow, to create shadowy duplicates of themselves, and even to become entirely invisible. They could also decrease the amount of light in an area and could see through darkness, even of the magical variety."

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Monstrous Monday: Blast-Ended Skrewt

[Rubeus] Hagrid produced about a hundred Blast-Ended Skrewts for the fourth-year students to study in their Care of Magical Creatures lessons in 1994 but only around 10 lived to adulthood for use in the final task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

Some of the Blast-Ended Skrewts have stingers on them, which Hagrid thinks are the males; the female Skrewts have sucker-like additions on their bellies, which he thinks might be to suck blood.

Adults weigh 6,000 pounds are 10' long.

Male Blast-Ended Skrewt for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +5; Atk stinger +4 melee (1d10+2 plus poison Fort DC 14 or 1d6 Str) or blaster +3 missle fire (2d6); AC 16; HD 5d8; MV 35’; Act 1d20; SV Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +5; AL C.

Female Blast-Ended Skrewt

Init +7; Atk suckers +5 melee (4d4) or blaster +4 missle fire (3d4); AC 15; HD 6d8; MV 35’; Act 1d20; SV Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +3; AL C.

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Dungeon Crawl Classics: Ragnacök

A day or two ago someone posted this image in an OSR Facebook group and wanted to know it's story. Here is my answer.

"It sates itself on the life-blood of fated men, paints red the powers' homes with crimson gore. Black becomes the sun's beams in the summers that follow, weathers all treacherous. Do you still seek to know? And what?"

-- The Poetic Edda

Ragnacök for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +8; Atk laser vision +8 missle fire (3d6+3, range 100'); AC 17; HD 10d8; MV 30’; Act 2d20; SV Fort +6, Ref +9, Will +7; AL C.

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Dungeon Crawl Classics: Lightning Giants

According to Sargoo the Sapient lightning giants were originally storm giants who due to age or illness have their flesh and blood violently and painfully explode around them and only leaving a sentient lighting bolt. Sargoo further postulates that lightning giants only have a matter of hours (2d6) before their form is pulled into the sky, ending their existence.

Giant, Lightning (30' tall, 500 lbs.) for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +6; Atk lightning bolt +26 melee (7d8+12, range 300'); AC 20; HD 18d10; MV 60’; Act 4d20; SP immune to electrical damage, spells (+12 spell check: fly, haste, and lightning bolt , crit on 20-24; SV Fort +15, Ref +10, Will +10; AL C.

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Review: Gunzo! Operation Bug Hunt for Dungeon Crawl Classics

I'm a big fan of Eric Bloat and Bloat Games line of products. He was kind enough to give me an advance PDF copy of Gunzo! Operation: Bug Hunt for Dungeon Crawl Classics for review purposes, it was written by Eric with additional writing by James Spahn.

OBH is a military space setting for DCC that is designed to emulate movies like Aliens, Predator, and  Starship Troopers and comes in at 56 pages.

The art for OBH is well done and channels the setting perfectly.

The PDF opens with some fiction and moves into the five new Classes for the setting.  We are introduced the Combat Medic (healers with the ability to install cybernetics), Engineer (they repair and disable machinery and try to figure out what alien tech does), Grunt (the soldiers with boots on the ground and weapon specialists), Pilot (their piloting skills also cover ranged combat), and Robot (they have packages that they can take that cover combat, diplomacy, mechanical operations, and medical care, additionally they have a self-repair feature).

Next we go over starting cash, and appropriately your rank indicates your pay, except for Robots who don't get paid.

New armor, gear and weapons are presented to and allow the PCs to travel the universe, killing their enemies before they can launch an asteroid at Buenos Aires.  We are given heavy army whose laser reclective plates protect the wearer from all forms of attack to ion whips to grenade launchers. Your players will have plenty to spend their pay on.

The cybernetics chapter opens by letting the GM decide if their is a limit to how many cybernetics a character can have and then covers all the parts necessary to upgrade you to major badass.

The horrors of war are also covered with a section for Pressure and Shell Shock. If you gain too much Pressure you have to roll on the Shell Shock table where you can just start killing any living beings around you to simply losing your next action. I'm glad Eric included this, because it reminds you that your character isn't just a killing machine and all of these operations have long term effects on your psyche.

We are given a random Bug Generator to help the overtaxed GM keep things unique and interesting.  Several of the tables use D16s and d14s so make sure you have your DCC dice handy.

OBH ends with a bestiary of your favorite cinematic horrors and the art is very well done.

Eric gives you everything you need to run the Mobile Infantry or Space Marines (the ones from Aliens) in a tight package.  You could easily hang out watching any of the films that inspired OBH and then make some characters and be playing within a half an hour.  You can't ask for more than that.

The Dungeon Crawl Classics Rulebook is necessary to play Operation: Bug Hunt.

This is another home run for me  I urge you to pick it up when it releases.

Dungeon Crawl Classics: Gorilla Fighter

When I was a wee lad, I remember hearing about "guerilla fighters" on the news. This is what I imagined:

GORILLA FIGHTER  for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +3; Atk gun +4 melee (1d10); AC 14; HD 3d8; MV 30’; 
Act 1d20; SV Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +0; AL C. 

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Dungeon Crawl Classics: Gremlin

GREMLIN  for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +5; Atk claws +1 melee (1d4); AC 17; HD 1d6; MV 40’; 
Act 1d20; SP Infravision 90';SV Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +0; AL C. 

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Dungeon Crawl Classics: Moloids

Moloids for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +0; Atk Fist +2 melee (1d4);
AC 11; HD 1d8; MV 30’; SP Action die is 1d16 in daylight; Act 1d20; SV Fort +1, Ref +1,
Will -1; AL N. 

Moloids are cautious scavengers who live beneath the earth, often serving an aggressive ruler.

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