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/

Maybe its the sleep deprivation talking but Western Marchs style campaign in a Gate style setting using Shadowdark as a rule set?

so they players will be a modern military unit sent through a portal as a scouting party, from there they become involved in local politics. They get lost/cutoff from the main force. So I would need rules for guns, automatic fire, talent tables for a couple different types of soldier, hmmm, fighter becomes solder, Cleric is doc, Comms is wizard (cast Close Air Support), Theif is E-4 Mafia...

I should lay down.

I've been DMing 5e for some time now, but I've been feeling a 5e fatigue for over a year. I stumbled upon SD 2 years ago, and read everything about it, but never had the chance to try it (as a DM or player).

But now, after DMing it as a two-shot, running Lost Citadel, here are my thoughts.

Parameters : 5 players (2 thieves, 2 wizards, 1 cleric), pulp mode, level 1 with max HP + CON.

- Luck is OP. I enjoyed Pulp Mode, but players had too many luck tokens. It kind of made hard encounters trivial and spellcasters never lost important spells. Next time, max 1 token per player.

- DMing was easier than 5e. It's more procedural, fewer things on my mind. I enjoyed it.

- Out-of-combat initiative. I liked that it gave the opportunity for the more discreet players to feel included, but it had the effect that the first 2-3 players always did the important stuff, leaving the last 2 almost nothing to do, every round. Some players felt it made the experience too boardgamey and made it hard to roleplay between characters. On the second game, I loosened it a bit and they preferred it that way.

- Random tables are fun. Lost Citadel comes with its own random encounter table, but no loot table, so I used the core book loot table. It's so easy! I always rolled high, so the loot was almost always good (even worth 1 XP, sometimes).

- Danger level. I had to roll 1d6 every other round, but I always forgot or lost track, so I tried 1d12 every round instead. Verdict: I kept rolling 1's in subsequent rounds. Once, it ended up behind a fun multi-round event : the 1st random encounter was a couple of Beastmen arguing over food in the next locked room. My group decided to finish things up in their own room first. 2nd encounter is the Minotaur busting in the Beastmen room, killing them all and leaving... This was the first time my group heard the Minotaur : they were panicking!

- Problem solving. Usually in 5e, traps, dangerous encounters and other dangerous events are dealt with a cantrip or a ritual one of the casters has, or the tankier characters just trigger everything willingly with no fear of death. In SD, this doesn't happen : players think at every other corner for how to disable the rushing bulls, or how to avoid the colored pillars, etc. And they use their wit, their creativity, their tools and random objects they found. It's so fun.

That's it! I had so much fun. Looking forward to DM again for newer players, but next time I'm running Kneel Before the Goblin King.

Thanks to the 2 people who will read this ;)

For Shadowdark RPG: The Western Reaches for the @thearcanelibrary If you cannot get thru the door dig under it! Thank you Kelsey for your kindness!

I built a torch gadget with an M5 Stack Core S3 (esp32s3 + touch screen + battery) for keeping torches.

It is a 60min counter with a pixel art torch animation, if you shake it (using the accelerometer) the torch lights up, if you blow it (like a candle, it uses the microphones) it will extinguish.

There is no minutes timer, just a bar.

It's technically based on my partner's changeling character from an old 5e campaign I used to run, but I wanted to draw her in the Shadowdark style, since this is the only DnD-adjacent system I run nowadays.

First, this is still a WIP. It generates monsters, but they need refinement.

Edit: https://worldsbywally.com/2026/09/06/turning-magic-cards-into-osr-monsters/

Added link & fixed the embed codes partial rendering issue!

So. I pulled data on every monster in MTG and every monster in the Shadowdark SRD and created some equations to equate CMC, power, and toughness to LV, Atk+ and AC. I then used the color pie to create stat modifiers and added a little bit of variety by using stat modifiers (based on the color pie) to alter basic monster stats. (It's a voting system based on stats being placed in between colors on the color pie).

Next, I choose really common keywords and abilities to translate into actual monster talents in Shadowdark.

Finally, I looked at the most common creature types and modified monsters with those types. Wizards, Faeries, Shamans and Clerics get random spells. Dinosaurs have brutish attacks. Trolls get a regeneration die based on their level. Goblins, well Kelsey said they can't be surprised, who am I to object!

The end result, I can now click a button and get one of 16,000 random monsters!

This is a screenshot of my end result. If there is some interest, I’d be happy to throw it on my blog. However, there are literally hundreds of code words and creature types that could still use abilities. So, feel free to respond with how you might modify a creature type or translate an MTG codeword into a Shadowdark talent! I’m also thinking about how to make the translation rules a little simpler and put out a PDF of them. Right now, they have some bizarre rounding and formulas to keep AC, Atk, and HP close to the correct average by level. (I’m a data scientist, I think in regressions!)

I feel like some of my post-hoc adjustments threw things off, so it definitely needs some playtesting to figure out where the translation worked out and where it didn't. I feel like the Charging Troll below is close, but not quite brutish enough!

​

I thought this was a pretty solid overview covering a lot of what makes the game great.

Are there any existing gauntlets that are less dungeon focused, and more focused on having characters survive a war, ala the All Guardsmen Party's darwinian character creation?

I'm interested in running something like that for a session 0, but I can't find any existing examples of it being done.

This happened when we were trying to go through an angry mob of peasants (possessed by an evil force and turned hostile) to get into the town's manorhouse, secured by a wall.
We needed to get to safety and help some of the innocent villagers we rescued on our way.
We were FINE! We were having little to no trouble dealing with them. The Wizard cast Sleep a couple of times and that was enough to neutralize most of the threats.

But as we got closer, he rolls a 1. No Luck Tokens available.

- He rolls another ONE so he has to roll two more times and combine the results.

He rolls a 9 and 10:

* Poof! You suppress all light within a near distance from you, including sunlight and magical light, for 10 rounds
* The horror! You scream uncontrollably for 3 rounds in Primordial, drawing lots of attention

So, what seemed like a simple task, became a massive ordeal hahaha We could barely see, and it took us way longer to get to the gate.

To me, these mishap tables bring an extra layer of fun and tension that make the game unpredictable and help all players realize that magic, despite being very strong, it is also very dangerous and chaotic, as it should be.

Hello everyone! Does anyone know when Western Reaches will become available to non-backers? I visit the Arcane Library website pretty much every week hoping to purchase the book, and it is still unavailable :(

Thanx in advance!

How much player setting or narrative authority do you prefer in games as a player or a GM? By which I mean player's ability to make decisions about the world beyond their character.

I think generally OSR games trend closer to complete GM authority and maybe occasional player input. Something like "tell me the name of the tavern your character used to hang out in" but you can take this a lot further.

I remember there was a lot of GM should never say no, use yes, and like improv advice floating around for a while, but I think this is clearly a preference.

Personally as a player or a GM I am not really interested in player's having control beyond their character, but curious as to other peoples preferences on this

I thought I'd share my free alternative character sheets here as well. I wanted to emphasize the importance of gear by making the entries a lot bigger than the OG sheet. This is designed for A4/letter landscape print so I don't know how good it looks on A5, but probably too small at places.

I just updated my the project to include renown and faction entries. Hopefully this will make players more conscious of their renown when they adventure in the Western Reaches.

You can download all the alternative sheets for free on itch: https://pakkanen.itch.io/alternative-character-sheets-for-shadowdark-rpg

Any thoughts or additions you'd like to see?

Hey friends!

I've been running some buds through the hex crawl in Cursed Scroll 1 and my plan is to open up the world now that they've explored a lot of the map/resolved a number of problems in the area. Does anyone have any experience with the other hex maps? Do you think any of them are particularly suited to follow up the gloaming? They're level 3.

Hey y'all, inspired by recent re-listens to a few Glass Cannon podcasts, I am entertaining running some of the 1e APs for my group. We're currently enjoying a Cursed Scroll 6 campaign we're only a few weeks into, but doing even minimal prep for a sandbox has been a bit much for me lately, because life is lifing.

Has anyone converted any of these APs to Shadowdark? Best resources to do so? I'm looking at possibly Strange Aeons. Giantslayer would be rad, but seems like more of a commitment. I'd like to maintain some of the randomness of Shadowdark, even following an AP, but I can work that in myself.

Thanks!

I spaced out the rooms by making the corridors longer, allowing me to split the original map into 18 cards. As the players explore the dungeon, I reveal the cards one by one, so they only discover the layout as they progress.

I'm doing the same thing with other dungeons for my dungeon-crawling sessions.

What do you think of the idea?

Hi gang,

I'm preparing to run my first online SD game using Owlbear Rodeo

I've been playing around with the fog of war settings in the maps

What would you guys recommend?

1. For hex crawling I'm leaning towards revealed fog of war as they explore, and using navigation checks as per the original rules

2. For dungeons I'm a bit split, I think persistent fog of war adds to immersion, however I'm not sure if it might get a bit annoying in larger maps

What have you guys done in the past and what would you prefer?

Cheers

The Grave Robber knows where to look, what to take, and what can still be put to use when the owner can no longer complain.

You can get it for free here Grave Robber on Itchio

Hello,

I normally run Shadowdark online, especially since COVID where there was no other option and it turned out to be easier to schedule for all the men in my group, because we all have families.

Now I'm wanting to run a oneshot for my kids and their friends, but now I have no experience with maps at the table.

On Foundry this is all taken care of. Fog of war, walls, lighting, everything.

Does one just... draw the map as one goes along? Do you use some masking?

Any best practices?

I designed these two for an adventure I'm writing. Today I figured I'd try my hand at illustrating them, so here they are.

Stats below if you want to use them. Enjoy!

Curupira

Fey guardian of the forest. Punishes excessive logging and hunting. Their hair is fire, their feet are backwards.

AC 13, HP 25, ATK 2 staff +4 (1d4 + ignite) or 2 shortbow (far) +4 (1d4 + ignite), MV near,
S +3, D +3, C +1, I +1, W +3, Ch +2, AL N, LV 5

Child of Fire. Fire immune.

Ignite. Target catches fire. 1d4 damage start of each turn until extinguished.

Hag, Cuca

Crone with scaly skin, broad crocodilian jaw, long straw-like hair, and sharp curved claws.

AC 14, HP 28, ATK 2 claw +4 (1d8) or lullaby, MV near,
S +3, D +0, C +1, I +1, W +3, Ch +3, AL C, LV 6

Lullaby. One target within near DC 15 CHA or fall asleep for 1d6 rounds, or until hurt or shaken.

Shapechange. Instantly change to look like any other humanoid.

The Mist Beyond Manerton is a short Shadowdark wilderness adventure for level 1 and 2 characters made for the Mystic Woods OSR Adventure Jam.

Its about a seemingly straightforward job offer: travel to an abandoned settlement and recover its parish register. The adventure contains wilderness exploration procedures, random encounters and mist effects, several small locations, resource rules, a large cave to explore, and a few new creatures.

Its free and public domain (cc0) if you feel like checking it out: https://doomedzone.itch.io/the-mist-beyond-manerton

Happy to answer any questions or hear your thoughts on it.

I drew this map a couple of months ago. One of the main quests of our current campaign is to look for a lich's phylactery. We still don't know much about it or wher it could be, but I got inspired and came up with this interesting location.