Quick Tip: Using Shadowdark RPG for Sword & Sorcery gaming

[xoth.publishing]

I have recently been reading through Shadowdark RPG, published by The Arcane Library last year. Shadowdark is a rules-lite blend of OD&D and 5E. The main rulebook defaults to the standard D&D fantasy setting with elves and orcs. But since power levels are limited (character levels only go from 1-10) and the overall tone is grim and gritty, I think it should also work very well as the basis for sword and sorcery adventures!

There are three quick fixes to reflavor Shadowdark for sword and sorcery: 1) Change the “ancestries” for player characters from demi-humans (elves, dwarves, halflings, etc) into variant human species, and 2) Change the goblinoid monsters (orcs, goblins, kobolds, etc) into more genre-appropriate foes, and 3) Ignore alignment.

The nice thing is that we don’t need to change any rules at all, just change some names and leave the mechanics as-is.

1) Reflavor the Ancestries from demi-humans to variant humans

From our own Earth we know that multiple human species existed at the same time (and some even interbred with each other), so we’ll use that as inspiration for some sword and sorcery-flavored ancestries. So for a “generic” sword and sorcery setting we could use the following ancestries:

• The Primals, aka the First People (cave paintings, great mother worship, mostly wiped out by volcanic eruption or glacier growth). Based on Cro-Magnon. Stout: Start with +2 HP. Roll hit points per level with advantage. (Dwarf)
• The Far-Walkers, aka the Wanderers. Based on Denisovans. Keen Senses: You can’t be surprised. (Goblin)
• The Atlanteans, aka the People of the Old Kingdoms. Based on myths of a sunken land. Farsight: You get a +1 bonus to attack rolls with ranged weapons or a +1 bonus to spellcasting checks. (Elf)
• The Wildlings, aka the People of Nod, the Sons of Ka-In. Based on Neanderthals. Mighty: You have a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls with melee weapons. (Half-Orc)
• The Whisperers, aka the Islanders, the Children of the Land. Based on Homo Floresiensis. Stealthy: Once per day, you can become invisible for 3 rounds. (Halfling)
• The Lumians, aka the Light-Bearers, aka the People of the Young Kingdoms. Based on Homo Sapiens. Ambitious: You gain one additional talent roll at 1st level. (Human)

If using the World of Xoth, we can instead reflavor based on the cultural archetypes:

• Savage (Dwarf)
• Nomadic (Goblin)
• Civilized (Human)
• Enlightened (Elf)
• Decadent (Halfling)
• Degenerate (Half-Orc)

2) Reflavor the goblinoid monsters, for example as follows:

• Cave-Man (Orc)
• Hairy Cannibal (Bugbear)
• Savage Hill-Man (Ogre)
• Cave Pygmy (Goblin)
• Mercenary or Slaver (Hobgoblin)
• Little People, People of the Dark, Children of the Night, Worms of the Earth (Kobold)

3) Ignore alignment

This is easy enough, does not really affect gameplay.


Classes can be used as-is (possibly excluding the Priest). Also don’t forget that the Cursed Scroll supplements contain additional classes that work really well for swords and sorcery gaming, including the Warlock and the Witch (issue #1), the Desert Rider, Pit Fighter and Ras-Godai (issue #2), and the Sea Wolf and Seer (issue #3).

Now, the big question is what to call this variant… Swords & Shadows? S&Shadowdark? Sorcerydark? What do you think?

 

[xoth.publishing]

I forgot to mention that this reflavoring from high fantasy to swords and sorcery also works well for regular D&D, such as OD&D and even 5E (but the latter requires more restrictions and rework on available classes and magic, so you might instead want to check out the free Player's Guide to the World of Xoth where all that work has been done for you...!).

 

[paradisebunny]

This is great! Giving me ideas for a new camapaign! Thanks!

 

[CapnZapp]

Hi Xoth,

Just a suggestion: at least to me it was far from obvious you're talking about a brand new rpg, and not, say, the Shadowfell campaign world of regular D&D. After all, there's a lot of existing things with shadow and dark in their names!

I understand if you don't want to include commercial links since this isn't in the promo subforum, but perhaps just rephrasing slightly? I only understood the gist of the post because I know you from earlier S&S threads.

Compare

Shadowdark is a rules-lite blend of OD&D and 5E. The main rulebook assumes ... it also works well as the basis for sword and sorcery adventures.

I found Shadowdark, a new game from Arcane Library, that is a rules-lite blend of OD&D and 5E. While it defaults to a standard D&D fantasy with elves and orcs, I recommend its use for a humanocentric Sword & Sorcery campaign.

I find the latter to be much more to the point of what I assume you want this thread to discuss

 

[CapnZapp]

And yes, it is a very good point and I will be checking it out!

 

[CapnZapp]

A quick tip right back at you!

I stumbled over

ShadowDark Character Generator

A character generator for the ShadowDark roleplaying game

shadowdarklings.net

...and I immediately thought of Purple Sorcerer's excellent tools for another OSR game: Dungeon Crawl Classics.

You should really think about submitting your ideas above as a "Xoth" generator to Shadowdarkling's site. Purple Sorcerer provided support for Marzio Muscedere's excellent S&S module "Death Slaves of Eternity" set in a world much more Xothian than DCC's regular fantasy fare.

It would really help your case if it was super easy to create human S&S Shadowdark characters like that!

 

[xoth.publishing]

Hi Xoth,

Just a suggestion: at least to me it was far from obvious you're talking about a brand new rpg, and not, say, the Shadowfell campaign world of regular D&D. After all, there's a lot of existing things with shadow and dark in their names!

I understand if you don't want to include commercial links since this isn't in the promo subforum, but perhaps just rephrasing slightly? I only understood the gist of the post because I know you from earlier S&S threads.

Compare





I find the latter to be much more to the point of what I assume you want this thread to discuss

Are you sure you are Zapp and not a helpful AI chatbot?

Yes, I agree it could be clearer. Since the Kickstarter for Shadowdark pulled in a cool 1 million USD, I kinda assumed that most folks here on EN World would be familiar with it...! I've edited the title and first paragraph slightly to avoid possible confusion.

 

[CapnZapp]

Regarding AI, I wonder if those Denisovans above haven't been interbreeding with their Mammoths... the facial expressions are suspiciously similar...

And just to be clear: neither the original game nor your tweaks are about a Neolithic campaign, right?

 

[xoth.publishing]

And just to be clear: neither the original game nor your tweaks are about a Neolithic campaign, right?

The suggested ancestries would make an awesome Stone Age campaign.

But the typical sword and sorcery setting is more Bronze Age (ziggurats, temples, cults, etc) plus some pockets of Medieval tech level. "Regular" humans (ie Homo Sapiens) will be the most common for player characters, but the other human variants are there for variety's sake. There are few of them, and they dwell on the outskirts of civilization.

 

[Autumnal]

I’m one of those dissenters who thinks S&S is just fine with multiple alien/vigorously nonhuman species (Your Honor, I call Grimjack to the stand). But I like different than usual ones, and I love the other human species. So we can imagine Sisyphus happy. Ditto for the reskinned monsters.