SPECIAL NOTICE
Malicious code was found on the site, which has been removed, but would have been able to access files and the database, revealing email addresses, posts, and encoded passwords (which would need to be decoded). However, there is no direct evidence that any such activity occurred. REGARDLESS, BE SURE TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS. And as is good practice, remember to never use the same password on more than one site. While performing housekeeping, we also decided to upgrade the forums.
This is a site for discussing roleplaying games. Have fun doing so, but there is one major rule: do not discuss political issues that aren't directly and uniquely related to the subject of the thread and about gaming. While this site is dedicated to free speech, the following will not be tolerated: devolving a thread into unrelated political discussion, sockpuppeting (using multiple and/or bogus accounts), disrupting topics without contributing to them, and posting images that could get someone fired in the workplace (an external link is OK, but clearly mark it as Not Safe For Work, or NSFW). If you receive a warning, please take it seriously and either move on to another topic or steer the discussion back to its original RPG-related theme.

[The Scholomance] Shadowdark RPG by Kelsey Dionne - 6/10

Started by Scholarch, January 17, 2024, 06:21:43 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Scholarch

Link here.

Normally I would copy and paste it here for people to read. However, it is about 8,000 words with a lot of special formatting.

Instead, I will just do the Final World section. Obviously if Pundit decides this is unacceptable, he is more than welcome to delete it.

Final Word
I wanted to like Shadowdark. Kelsey Dionne seems like a genuinely good person, and deserves success.

In reality, my biggest point of frustration is that you can tell some things about Kelsey from reading the book:
- She is excellent at descriptive writing and setting tone.
- She is certainly a good GM, and the advice given in the Game Master section shows that.
- She definitely understands the OSR ethos and gives good advice on adhering to it.

However, the rules seem inconsistent, and the natural language in which they are written is somehow made worse by randomly inserted keywords.

This is exacerbated by the fact that this is not a rules-light release. Shadowdark is over 300 pages long and around 180 pages of that is just rules. Moldvay Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons is 130 pages including rules and monster statistics.

I am giving Shadowdark a 6/10.

Shadowdark has definitely had a proof-reader because there are no obvious errors in grammar or spelling, but the lack of a listed editor suggests that the book has not had the editing pass it desperately needs.

There are good ideas throughout, but they never come to a cohesive whole. Experienced GMs can probably carve out components to be used for their own houserules.

In my opinion, this is a very solid first ruleset release from Kelsey. She has had experience in writing adventures for 5th edition, but they require completely different styles of writing.

Partway through writing this, I realised that I would have quite liked a book of Kelsey's DMing advice and managing game feel. I think she would have done an absolutely brilliant job of that.

On the other hand, she made ten times my yearly salary in a month with Shadowdark, so maybe she should not take my advice.

Ruprecht

When you think Rules Light, do you think character creation + core rules + Spells + Monsters + GM Advice?
I tend to just think core rules primarily but I may be alone in that.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing. ~Robert E. Howard

VengerSatanis


Yeah, the fact that ShadowDark has been so successful kind of makes it impossible for those gazing at it from the periphery to criticize it effectively.  Will the hype and fandom eventually dissipate?  Who knows?  It's not for me, and I assume it's not for you, either, but apparently, it's for thousands of people who aren't us.  Strange and a bit frustrating...

As for rules-light, my expectations are thus... everything you need to play the game should be less than 60 pages.  That means abstraction, streamlining, and systems to handle gray areas that will inevitably crop-up.