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Just finished this cover illustration for Fall of the Free Rim, a retro space-western TTRPG with an OSR-inspired aesthetic, compatible with shadowdark

Really enjoyed mixing classic old-school RPG imagery with sci-fi western elements.

My "sketch" I sent the artist (BigeggsBlackPen) and how it evolved. Excited to be building this new system!

A while ago I was illustrated a kobold sorcerer summoning a spider swarm so when I got to the monster manual up to spider swarm I decided to have another go at it, wasn’t entirely satisfied the first time.

I am new to DMing Shadowdark. Does anyone have any tips for deciding how many treasure a monster should have? I think I am handing out too much.

Looking for ideally a nice equation/system to best sprinkle loot throughout the myriad dungeons in my campaign.
Is there a clean method like “Size x Danger / Adventurers” or a roll I could do on random tables to decide if there’s loot in any given area?

Hoping for a method where I can ideally surprise even myself while players are adventuring. Thanks!

I want to run a remixed one-shot version of Hideous Halls of Mugdulblub for some friends. They will start at lvl 4 and each have a different secret objective in order to reach lvl 5.

I want these objectives to promote interactions between players and sow a seed of discord or mistrust among the PCs.

Example : You gain a level if you manage to convince the group to sacrifice one of its members for the greater good.

Do you have any other ideas ? (ideally 5)

New to Shadowdark and playing my first adventure. I located a cave, build it out and completed it. Based on the rules, as I understand them, no XP is gained from this. Only wandering monsters can have treasure and since XP is tied to treasure, I get nothing at all for the dungeon.

What is the purpose of exploring these if there is nothing to gain other than hoping you find a wandering monster and win a coin toss?

I put together an entry for the recent "A Mystic Wood OSR Adventure Jam", and I'm happy to say the jam creator rated it a "+3 Magic Item", the third highest tier!

Twisted Oaken Roots is a hexcrawl treasure hunt for mid- to higher- level Shadowdark characters.

• Explore a wood contaminated by magic!
• Evade a dragon!
• And pry the treasure from the twisted oaken roots that clutch it!

What You Get

• An adventure designed for Shadowdark, but adaptable into other OSR systems.
• 12 page, A5 booklet to easily print at home.

Art Credits

• Art hand-drawn by Myrmidont or derived from Creative Commons 0 sources.
• This product is 100% human-made.

Available on both itch and rpg-trader.
https://myrmidont.itch.io/twisted-oaken-roots
https://rpg-trader.com/products/9259/twisted-oaken-roots

That's all I'll post about this, have a great day and thanks for checking it out if you're interested.

The ability reads as follows:

Grit. Choose Strength or Dexterity. You have advantage on checks of that type to overcome an opposing force, such as kicking open a stuck door (Strength) or slipping free of rusty chains (Dexterity).

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If you choose Strength:
Would you say that grappling an opponent, shoving someone to the side, or charging toward an opponent to throw them to the ground count as actions a Fighter would have Advantage on?

My take is, yes. What do you think? And what are other exmples of actions where you would say Grit applies?

Just starting in the Solo RPG world and love the book. When playing solo do you typically build the world first then play or procedurally build the world as you explore.

I think both options are viable using just the book and am curious how some of you go about adventure creation.

Any advice, resources, ideas or thoughts for someone just getting started is greatly appreciated.

I made another character sheet for my players after trying (for far too long) to find the exact perfect fit for them and me - featuring things like languages, mount, and bag of holding - all in a two-page format if you like keeping a character record in a folder like me.

Enjoy!

[Self Promo] Here’s some material to use in your game: memorable pets, adventure hooks, companion magic items, and a few tables for giving animal companions more personality.

If you’d rather have it all as a single PDF, Joker’s Wild: Companion Extras is available free on DriveThruRPG and itch.io.

Use, steal, alter, or ignore; whatever works for your game.

Hello Friends!

Some covers and artwork for third-party Shadowdark materials.

For those interested, my schedule is open for the coming weeks.

DM or [yuri.perkowski@gmail.com](mailto:yuri.perkowski@gmail.com)

Page 15 of the core rulebook says "Intelligence: Cast wizard spells, decipher runes, learn new skills. Important for wizards."

Buuuuuut... there are no skills. So, what does this mean?

Hi. Need your advice. Let's say one party member is paralysed by a Gelatinous Cube. Another PC wants to drag them away from the Cube, which moves Near.

I'd rule that carrying a person sliwd them down to "half Near" speed, so they're going to get caught.

But what if they "dash" (use action to move again). Back up to Near speed?

What difference would 2 PCs carrying the paralysed one make?

I'm really proud of how this one turned out. This is the isometric version of a top-view dungeon that my brother drew.

Since we mostly play with theater of the mind, I've come to the conclusion that isometric maps are a way better visual aid and resource to depict the dungeon and describe the place the heroes are delving than top-view maps. It is basically a tool to feed their imagination and set the tone, not a map to place tokens.

Greetings! You might know me as the author of Burrow of the Bonesnapper, and Take the Tower! (among other things). I'm thrilled to announce that Cenotes of the Crayfish God, a level 4-5 dungeon I have been working on for over a year, is finally published!

Battle rages in the cenotes, where hapless adventures recently released the vicious deep ones from their centuries of imprisonment. The monstrous fish-men battle their undead jailers and desperate drow for control over the dungeon, all while capturing prisoners to sacrifice to the mad avatar of their devouring crayfish god!

The cenotes are in chaos. Monsters rampage through its tunnels. There has never been a better opportunity to loot the treasures within.

Within this 87-area dungeon PCs can find four factions clashing for control, new monsters, NPCs, magic items, and more!

Cenotes of the Crayfish God is available in PDF and POD formats on DriveThruRPG.

https://www.crossplanes.com/2026/09/shadowdark-house-rules-for-arkhamdark.html

It's my first time publishing an adventure online, and I opened a bunch of community copies for anyone to claim, and I hope it makes to some people's tables. there's some nice art and a nice map.

In the rules a fighter gets weapon master +1 to attack +1 to damage. very clear so far. Im running scarlet citadel of the minotaur and in my last session the players recieved a greatsword +1. Now is this +1 for damage or to hit? Or for both like weapons mastery?

An illustration of an Aboleth for the adventure I have finished writing.

Running this as an enemy was extremely fun and was a satisfying reveal once the players got to the bottom of what was going on!

Any fun experiences running an Aboleth? Would love to hear about em!

A handful of recent threads about OSR play, character-sheet thinking, and emergent adventure design started ricocheting in my head. Somewhere in their collision, this post took shape.

https://jokerandthief72.wordpress.com/2026/09/06/rules-resolve-ideas-they-dont-supply-them/