Quote from: Jam The MF on February 07, 2024, 05:55:33 PM
There is clearly an opportunity here; to release Feydark, the RPG.

BrightLight RPG, a game of high fantasy and low stakes xD

Quote from: 1stLevelWizard on February 07, 2024, 06:41:05 PM

Quote from: Jam The MF on February 07, 2024, 05:55:33 PM
There is clearly an opportunity here; to release Feydark, the RPG.

BrightLight RPG, a game of high fantasy and low stakes xD

Ha, would be a good name for a Cozy RPG. Or it could take a nasty turn when all the characters go to the dentist.

Roll for cavities and don't forget to add your floss bonus!

SD is a great wee game.

Are you weak-willed?  Absolutely.  But that's not my problem.  That's between you and your god or spouse or whomever.

As for the "game," when it was getting all that buzz last year I checked out the preview and some videos and knew it wasn't for me.  At the end of the day, it's really just an amalgamation of house rules.  A lot of 5e (which I despise), some B/X (which I own in both original & OSE versions), and fair amount of DCC (which I own), and a couple other things shoehorned in, with the underwhelming no darkvision and lame "real time" gimmicks thrown in.

But for whatever reasons, some people enjoy it.  Their business, not mine.  So if you like it, enjoy it.

And in the interest of full disclosure, despite holding out initially I pledged late for Greg Gillsepie's Dragonslayer.  Totally don't need it, but I already owned all his megadungeons and will likely grab the next two, so I decided to pull the trigger with the aim of using it to run his "Dwarrowdeep" adventure, which we haven't played yet.  I also really like having a whole system in one book and since I know I'll be passing on the woke revision of Labyrinth Lord, we'll see how "Dragonslayer" plays.

Quote from: Persimmon on February 07, 2024, 06:58:02 PM
Are you weak-willed?  Absolutely.  But that's not my problem.  That's between you and your god or spouse or whomever.

As for the "game," when it was getting all that buzz last year I checked out the preview and some videos and knew it wasn't for me.  At the end of the day, it's really just an amalgamation of house rules.  A lot of 5e (which I despise), some B/X (which I own in both original & OSE versions), and fair amount of DCC (which I own), and a couple other things shoehorned in, with the underwhelming no darkvision and lame "real time" gimmicks thrown in.

But for whatever reasons, some people enjoy it.  Their business, not mine.  So if you like it, enjoy it.

And in the interest of full disclosure, despite holding out initially I pledged late for Greg Gillsepie's Dragonslayer.  Totally don't need it, but I already owned all his megadungeons and will likely grab the next two, so I decided to pull the trigger with the aim of using it to run his "Dwarrowdeep" adventure, which we haven't played yet.  I also really like having a whole system in one book and since I know I'll be passing on the woke revision of Labyrinth Lord, we'll see how "Dragonslayer" plays.

Your description of the various games and house rules duct tapped together to make ShadowDark is pretty spot on.  It's almost exactly how I feel SD is as a game.

It's just that it was really well done. 

Yup, I said it.  ShadowDark is deserving of some of the hype.  It's one of the better OSR games out there. 

The problem is there are still plenty of OSR games that are just as good.  In my case I prefer Olde Swords Reign for class customization reasons. 

If I'm totally honest, I like Dungeons and Delvers Dice Pool or Pocket Fantasy just as much, but those two games are not really OSR. 

Bottom line: ShadowDark is good and worth getting if you are on the fence. 

If the book is something you intend to run games with or you feel there's something in it for you to make your games better, then it was a good purchase.  I feel the price tag on Shadowdark is a little stiff but I've spent more on products I like less.

If you would like to see someone else spending money on games they shouldn't have, go look at my cyberpunk games reviews and know that I paid for each of them. Yeah...  and I still have more of them to cover too.

I had considered getting this game at one point but I got Crown & Skull instead.

Quote from: RebelSky on February 07, 2024, 08:18:20 PM
I had considered getting this game at one point but I got Crown & Skull instead.

Ah, I forgot about that one.  I may have to give it a look.  Right now I am on a bit of a Japanese RPG kick, so Crown and Skull is on the back burner.

Greetings!

I have the Shadowdark game. It is fantastic! Brutal, simple, fast, while also being easy to embrace by 5E players. Definitely an awesome, OSR game.

What's up with you people crying about $30 bucks for a PDF, or $60 bucks for a game book?

No offense intended, my friends, but geesus. I regularly spend $30 dollars to have a fucking *MID* Pizza by Pizza Hut delivered to my house.

Yeah, a fucking pizza. Nothing special, and it is fucking gone in less than 20 minutes.

Fucking grabbing a sandwich at Jersey Mike's is $21 dollars for a sandwich and soda.

Just for some perspective. Honestly, dropping $30 dollars for a PDF is just fine. $60 dollars for a game book? Yeah, that's fine too.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I did the kickstarter for this one. I've read the book, and it's competently done. I have not played it yet, but it seems likely that it's a reasonably playable game. If someone in my circle runs it, I'll play it. But it's not something I would run. The OSR is saturated with high-quality fantasy rpgs, and I prefer the ones I am most familiar with (OSE, S&W, Blueholme, Black Hack).

The central conceit of Shadowdark doesn't make a lot of sense to me: the emphasis on limited light. In an implied setting with as much magic as the Shadowdark rules have, this could be and would be remedied with a relatively low-level spell (something like continual light) or magic items. Shadowdark lacks that particular remedy and advises GMs not to allow this kind of magic in the game precisely because it would undermine the central conceit. It's artificial, arbitrary.

A creative GM could work with this by creating a setting where this makes some kind of sense (a demi-plane of shadow, for example, or a setting in which the sun is dimmed and shadows deepened for some reason, maybe a divine war in the past in which the sun god was struck down and lies in torpor). But Shadowdark doesn't bother to explain. It just is, which is weird because the game is so inexplicable without an in-game justification for the limited light issue, particularly as characters advance and gain access to greater magic and magical items.

My guess is that Shadowdark will not have a lot of staying power. Just a guess though.

Quote from: SHARK on February 07, 2024, 10:19:19 PM
Greetings!

I have the Shadowdark game. It is fantastic! Brutal, simple, fast, while also being easy to embrace by 5E players. Definitely an awesome, OSR game.

What's up with you people crying about $30 bucks for a PDF, or $60 bucks for a game book?

No offense intended, my friends, but geesus. I regularly spend $30 dollars to have a fucking *MID* Pizza by Pizza Hut delivered to my house.

Yeah, a fucking pizza. Nothing special, and it is fucking gone in less than 20 minutes.

Fucking grabbing a sandwich at Jersey Mike's is $21 dollars for a sandwich and soda.

Just for some perspective. Honestly, dropping $30 dollars for a PDF is just fine. $60 dollars for a game book? Yeah, that's fine too.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I don't complain about the price of a game book too much, because there are options out there in many different price ranges.  One of my favorites is $5.00 USD, in softcover.  $50 is about the max I'll pay, for a single volume in hardcover.  More, for a 2 or 3 volume set.  I have purchased a lot of good hardcover RPG books, for $35 to $50 each.

Quote from: dungeonmonkey on February 07, 2024, 10:28:00 PM
I did the kickstarter for this one. I've read the book, and it's competently done. I have not played it yet, but it seems likely that it's a reasonably playable game. If someone in my circle runs it, I'll play it. But it's not something I would run. The OSR is saturated with high-quality fantasy rpgs, and I prefer the ones I am most familiar with (OSE, S&W, Blueholme, Black Hack).

The central conceit of Shadowdark doesn't make a lot of sense to me: the emphasis on limited light. In an implied setting with as much magic as the Shadowdark rules have, this could be and would be remedied with a relatively low-level spell (something like continual light) or magic items. Shadowdark lacks that particular remedy and advises GMs not to allow this kind of magic in the game precisely because it would undermine the central conceit. It's artificial, arbitrary.

A creative GM could work with this by creating a setting where this makes some kind of sense (a demi-plane of shadow, for example, or a setting in which the sun is dimmed and shadows deepened for some reason, maybe a divine war in the past in which the sun god was struck down and lies in torpor). But Shadowdark doesn't bother to explain. It just is, which is weird because the game is so inexplicable without an in-game justification for the limited light issue, particularly as characters advance and gain access to greater magic and magical items.

My guess is that Shadowdark will not have a lot of staying power. Just a guess though.

That sounds a lot like one of the flaws I noted about the game.  Lore.  Or rather the lack of it. 

Having a central plot point revolving around light as a perishable resource does sound interesting as a world building element. 

Right now ShadowDark is just another OSR, with some concession that it's better than average. 

Glowing fungi, lichens, or fire beetles?  Oops, I just broke the whole game.  Sorry, fans....

Quote from: Persimmon on February 08, 2024, 08:28:34 AM
Glowing fungi, lichens, or fire beetles?  Oops, I just broke the whole game.  Sorry, fans....

If the game session last 4 hours, you bring 5 torches.  Thank Daniel from Bandits Keep for that one.