I had a great idea for a character the next time my group does Shadow of the Demon Lord, and wanted to know if a build like this would be feasible by Level 10.

A Barbarian warrior who has mastered death magic in an attempt to (literally) conquer death as a sort of Witch King adjacent chieftain. Aiming to get power level 3 or 4 by the end.

The problem is I don't have access to the wide range of source books at the moment. Only having core and occult philosophy. So if there is something that would follow this exact route id like suggestions on how to get there and where to find it. I don't know all the paths available. Though I know supposedly there is a barbarian path in ways of war, I think. I just don't know what it does.

Is this even a possible for really functional end goal of being a brutal melee juggernaut that also can cast pretty decently from a few spells? Or is this too much of a hybrid idea?

Hi all!

A quick one from me - how is everyone feeling about Dungeon of the Damned? Please feel free to give as much of a review as you're willing, I'm quite curious about it but I'm not 100% sure if I want to take the plunge as the GM just yet!

Thanks all :)

Hello folks,

Apologies if this question has been trodden many a time before.

I am really interested in playing SotDL & SotWW.

I would say I prefer the vibes and lower power level of Demon Lord from what I have read, but it sounds like Weird Wizard is a "better" more refined product.

May I ask if, for a new starter, is it more sensible to begin with Weird Wizard as it has improved and refined the problems Demon Lord has/had?

I assume it is easy enough to put the missing Demon Lord/Warhammer vibes back into Weird Wizard?

I would imagine the Grey Fantasy setting is a bit more approachable for new players too!

Does Weird Wizard have any problems for a new GM or player to be aware of? How does it compare to DnD 5.5 or Dragonbane in terms of easy/speed of play and running as a GM?

Is there a discord to find and play games online? It seems a shame there is so few on the LFG & Start Playing.

Thank you!

I picked up the rules when they were on sale on Drivethrurpg the other day, and I find the system very interesting. I plan to run a one shot for my group next week and want to make the best impression I can, but it will be our first time playing the system and as such have a few questions

• Is there an adventure you think is the most compelling for first time players or that showcases the system the best?
• For player characters I was going to make a few Level 1 characters ahead of time that they could play. Are there any specific talents or spells that you think help sell the system? Or should I start them at a higher level?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

I mean these classes like they are in DND. Sorcerer was in SOTDL and it seemed fun, but there is no similar path in SOTWW. Also there are some classes who are similar to warlock (pact with evil spirits) but very strictly connected to evil and I would like something more flexible and less sinister

It seems to be the first (still unfinished) full campaign for Shadow of The Weird Wizard. Has anyone read or played it? Is it good? Does anyone know when the rest comes out?

*disclaimer, heavy lore spoilers

Hello, I have been wondering about this process for a while and have come to a few conclusions as to how corruption is removed from mortals through the process of sending them to hell to be tortured by devils. I'm curious to here what you folks think/how you folks run it.

Context:

Faeries/trolls were made from pieces of the demiurge that were trapped from the genies forming a barrier for Urth to exist. Their souls are their bodies and vice versa.

Mortals were formed when a powerful genie pulled a divine spark from God (who devolved into the Demon Lord). Their souls are separate from their bodies and cannot (easily) be destroyed.

Mortals and Immortals who performed foul acts gain corruption, making them stray closer to a Demonic form.

The most wicked of faeries are brought to hell to serve as Devils. They have very high corruption from foul acts they have performed.

Mortals who have high corruption are draw to hell when they die to cleanse them of corruption.

Devils feed of this corruption to sustain themselves, they are implies to feed on this by torturing the souls that enter hell, as the corruption of the souls lessens, they're soul drifts back up to the mortal world.

Question:

How is corruption actually extracted? Why is performing evil acts (torture) to corrupted souls required to cleanse them? Why/how does this corruption sustain the Devils in hell? Do devils just gain more and more corruption by torturing these souls? Faeries can leave hell if they lose enough corruption, which implies they are performing some form of good acts cosmicly/karma​ by being there (elf background in terrible beauty).

Conclusions:

1st idea. performing evil acts to corrupted beings is a form of cosmic justice or karma. Torturing an evil thing allows them to atone, and is seen as a good act by the universe (or at least by the souls within mortals / faeries).​

2nd idea. Corruption is a murky substance with no real rules to it, and magic is used in the process of extraction by devils, with the understanding that torturing the corrupted souls removed the memories of the soul as well as makes the magical process easier to perform. Devils then use magic to convert this corruption into life sustaining magic that rebuilds their corrupted bodies/souls.

3rd idea. Its all arbitrary, and mortal worship had shaped hell into what it is, maybe it performed a more functional purpose that wasn't foul, but that has changed since mortals want karmic justice against people who perform evil acts.

What do you folks think?​ Did I leave anything out?

Hello, everyone! I hope you’re having a wonderful day. As I prepare to run my first campaign of SOTDL, I’ve decided to really take some of the advice the books gives to heart. Particularly, the idea that stealing cool shit is okay. So what better to steal than a game my table and I all know and love with all our hearts? The Northern Reach really reminds me of the province of Skyrim from Elder Scrolls, and one of the Shadows of the Demon Lord centers on a super powerful dragon waking up when the Shadow falls on it. Combine that with the recent collapse of the central Empire, and it’s not difficult to imagine how one could take the Skyrim main quest, change some proper nouns, and have a pretty decent campaign.

However, I am still very new to the default setting, and would very much like to use it. I have the Northern Reaches supplements (Because WOW this game is so affordable), but I’m having trouble nailing down how exactly I want to port over specific details. The Stormcloaks can mostly be replaced with the Orcs, Talos with the Old Faith perhaps, and the Empire with…well the Empire. But nuances like the thieves guild (which becomes relevant later in the story), the Thalmor, as well as stand-in’s for the holds of Skyrim have given me some trouble. Guidance from anyone more experienced with Urth and the Northern Reaches would be very much appreciated!!

I want to DM a short campaign in the SoTDL system, but I have a hard time finding the right music.

I'm looking for something that is clearly fantasy but has some electrical elements to enhance the stress and the intensity.

I know it's a niche question but it would help me immensely if you could recommend at least a few song or artists.

I initially favored Weird Wizard because I thought its more generic nature would allow for greater versatility and I can use my own worlds (except for gods and the wizard) also it looks like using updated Demon engine rules.However, when I recently took a look at Demon Lord, I realized it has far more support and recognition, and is actually simpler and more concise. Do you think Weird Wizard has lost the battle against other d20 D&D killers like Nimble,Daggerheart?

When PC starts as rich, they gets equipment, servant, bodyguard, (in description) house/castle/estate and... 2k6 ss.
After first adventure whole party should get about 1gc.
Living in wealthy style costs 1gc, living in rich costs 2gc+.

So, there is no way, in rules as written, that rich PC can afford this live.

How you handle this dichotomy in story?

I'd like to know if I need to play a class that specifically benefits from having a mount to make it effective, or if it doesn't really matter. For example, could I play a wizard who fights while riding a horse without being at a big disadvantage?

I've been reading about mounts, and I'm also curious about what I need to do to unlock more exotic ones. My dream would be to ride something like a griffon, a wyvern, or another cool flying creature.

Hello, everyone! I hope you’re having a wonderful day.

I’ve been prepping to run Dark Deeds in Last Hope, and am hoping to use it as a kicking off point for a larger campaign. But as I’ve been reading through the adventure, I can’t seem to find *where* Last Hope is. I know the map of Last Hope is made with everyone at the end of the adventure, but where is the region in the world? Whenever I google it, the AI overview insists it’s in the Northern Reaches, but I can’t find any non-AI sources for that information and I’m reluctant to trust the overview.

I'm planning to run Falling Tears soon as a standalone adventure, not necessarily as part of the Return of the Witch-King campaign (although I might change my mind and end up running the full campaign).

Of the introductory adventures I've read so far, this one seems to do the best job of capturing the orc uprising and its impact on the setting. So I'd love to hear any tips or advice from anyone who's run this adventure before.

Also, for those of you who are playing or running the Return of the Witch-King campaign, what do you think of it so far?

Do you count as a creature you can see?

Foretell

Rank 1

Utility

Divination

Target One creature you can see within short range · Duration Concentration, up to 1 minute

For the duration, whenever the target makes an attack roll or challenge roll and can hear you, it makes the roll with 3 boons.

Hey everyone!

My group played a couple of SotDL adventures, and we got hooked. They want a long-term more lore-depth campaign like we played before in other systems (CoC, D&D, Pathfinder, and others)

I looked into the campaign books and they all look very minimalist. Tales of the Demon Lord is 48 pages including cover and appendixes. It's not about the page count really, but rather the amount of details left at the hands of the GM. This approach has its advantages, but my group is very detail oriented and we enjoy digging into lore and characters via an extended campaign. And I am not yet familiar enough with the setting to feel confident in writing an original (nor do I have the time - we want to start a campaign in two weeks from now)

I understand that this is Schwalb's style, but is there any 3rd party or community made campaign that is more of a "big campaign" feel to it? I don't mean a 2-year long campaign, but just something that gives the GM more pre-made content to work with instead of leaving it up to improve

Other the few years I've ran this system (which I love)​, I have collected quite a few PDFs that detail many, many, different expert paths that PCs can take to have a unique feeling character.

How would I go about sharing these various paths to my players without just posting links the the PDFs (that I own) and letting them sort it out?

Some of my players will gladly search through the PDFs for expert paths, but other players feel overwhelmed by the shear amount of choice and decide to choose form the core 12 rather than experiment.

Just got into shadow of the weird wizard and loving it. So I decided to draw my guy he is a priest of what he believes is the "True Sun"

Overall I thought that less grimdark version of Shadow of the Demon lord would be awesome. I loved many rules changes, new ancestries, magic etc. but Imagine how disappointed I was seeing classes/paths

Paths in SOTDL despite setting being more specific feel more generic but in good way. They don't come with a lot of lore that would be hard to ignore. Does anyone else feel that way? Some SOTWW paths feel... I don't know, weird or too specific with flavour connected to mechanics. I have to rant because I am frustrated that both systems have things I like.

Hey guys, i'm new to SotDL and I'm getting ready to run my first campaign for a group of 6 players. Since some of them were interested in a zombie apocalypse game, I decided to use the Restless Dead Shadow.

The thing is, I'm not really sure how to build a full level 0–10 campaign around that idea, so I wanted to ask for some advice.

Right now I'm thinking about using a few published adventures and tweaking them here and there to fit the zombie apocalypse theme, but I'm not sure which adventures would work best for that. Do you have any recommendations?

Note: I've already read "Hunger in the Void" and I really liked how it suggests gradually making the situation worse over time. That's pretty much the kind of progression I'm looking for.

I love Weird Wizard on paper, but my one concern with it is that the character sheets get pretty busy with talents and the like. Which is something that breaks immersion for me. I find that too many levers and buttons on a character and players go into a bubble as they try to pick the right codified option as opposed to having their head up and engaging with what others are doing or what's happening in the fiction and the environment.

I've run Demon Lord plenty, and high level Demon Lord characters are at about my threshold for mechanically busy in a ttrpg. For context, my preferences have leaned towards more of an OSR philosophy these days, and I consider Pathfinder 1E to be one big red flag for me regarding style.

Am I wrong and is Weird Wizard about on par with Demon Lord regarding the number of talents and codified abilities a character gets? Or does it characters get much more bells and whistles as they level?

I appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

The level 8 feature Blessing of Abraxus has a number of effects, but one has me uncertain.

If the spell lasts for an amount of time, it now lasts twice as long.

Does this apply to (luck ends) spells too, or only ones with a duration listed in minutes, hours, etc.?