Witchcraft Wednesday: The Witch Book of Shadows for the ShadowDark RPG

 What have I been doing? Well this last Gary Con (back in April) I was talking with my Elf Lair Game co-conspirators about future projects. Of course our plans revolved mostly around the recently released Thirteen Parsecs. But I also began flipping through the "new to me" physical copy of the ShadowDark RPG. I had picked up the Quickstart and the Curse Scroll #1 zine at a previous Gary Con, so it seemed right to grab it then too. Originally my plan was only to use it as a supplement for my Old School Essentials games. But others encouraged me to try it out on it's own merits. 

It finally clicked with me one evening this past summer while making dinner what ShadowDark actually is and not what I thought it was. Granted, it is exactly what the video creator Kelsey Dionne has been saying for two years. So I sat down that night during my writing time and put together an outline. I gave myself one week. Well...that week went on, and on, as I really grew to like this project. So now I am ready to reveal the fruits of those efforts. Or at least reveal that I am revealing it.

Coming soon (next month or so), The Witch Book of Shadows for the ShadowDark RPG!

From the upcoming DriveThruRPG page:

Included here is the Witch Class.

- Six new ancestries
- New occult backgrounds
- Basic, Expert, and Advanced witch talents that grow as you level up.
- Thirteen Witch Patrons, from Baba Yaga to Xthluhu the Horror of the Deep! Each with boons and spells.
- 160+ new occult spells for ShadowDark, including special Patron Spells and Ritual Magic spells.
- 60+ Witch-related monsters for your ShadowDark adventures
- 40 new magic items. 
-124 pages A5 size to fit with your current ShadowDark RPG books

Compatible with ShadowDark and other ShadowDark products.

The biggest selling point for this book are all the new spells. Plus every witch takes a patron which opens new and unique spells to them. Add ritual spells and no two witches are ever the same.  There are thirteen new witch patrons as well.

For the monsters, well, many of these came from my recent Horror movie marathon. Going back to the roots of AD&D monsters and then rebuilding them from the ground up, or at least getting a head start from horror movies, gave me plenty of new ideas—so many that a few didn't make the cut and will be featured on a few Monstrous Mondays. 

Right now I am just waiting on the print proofs. Once I have those in hand (expected by Dec 1) then I will figure out what needs to happen next. 

As always, I had a blast working on this one, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did putting it together. 

Special thanks to Kelsey Dionne for not just making such a fun game, but building a great community and a sense of community involvement with this game. That might be her best achievement yet.

Do It (Yourself) in the Dark

 I am continuing my exploration of the Shadowdark RPG.  I grabbed the PDF a while back and have balked on getting the hardcover. Well, after spending so much time with it on my iPad (BTW it works great on an iPad) I decided to grab the hardcover.  While I am waiting on my FLGS to get it back into stock (and I need to go pick it up) I wanted a copy I could use and abuse. 

So I made a spiral bound copy.

This works out really well since the layout of Shadowdark really favors laying it flat.  I also picked up some super cheap dice to go with it.

I got the idea a while back with OSE and it has been a great table copy.

Both games utilize similar layout and design and play quite nicely together. So nice, I might have to do a "Plays Well With Others" post on them.

This fits with my original ideas of what I was going to use Shadowdark for; as a supplement to OSE. I mean yes, it is it's own game, but I have been invested in OSE for a bit now and wanted to keep on going. So I was "Shadowdarking" it, which I now learn might have different connotations to the OSR movement at large. Whatever, they are not in my games.

In my previous post on Shadowdark, I stated, "I have gone from really enjoying it, to being very confused over the hype, to not liking it, to being amused by it, back to enjoying it again." I suppose that merits some details.

When I grabbed the Quick Starts at Gary Con a while back I liked it. Sure there was a witch and it was, ok, but hey it was a start and looked fun. So I played for a bit, not a lot, but a bit. Here I began to get my ideas that it would work better for me as an OSE supplement.

Then the Kickstarter happened, and the game took off. My confusion (then) was due to me not knowing anything about the massive community Kelsey Dionne had worked very hard to build. 

When I got the PDF I honestly didn't care for it. I was still viewing it as an Old-School Game from Old-School roots, and frankly, I was just plain wrong about that. I nearly picked up a copy at Gary Con 2024, but didn't since I was spending money on other things and I knew if I really wanted it my FLGS would have it.

As the summer went on I got very amused at all the Sturm und Drang about it online. I watched and read with amusement all these people lashing out at it getting angry. I knew if they hated it so much that there had to be more to it than my initial read-throughs. Sure enough there was. 

I am back to enjoying it now because now I think I "get it."  This is not an Old-School Game from Old-School roots. It is an Old-School Game from New-School Roots. Though Kelsey Dionne has impressed me with her old-school knowledge and experiences, she cut her publishing teeth on 5e. She brought her experiences back to old-school design principles. 

I am STILL not 100% sure what I am going to do with this game. But I do plan on having some fun.

In the Dark: Shadowdark RPG

 I have been flirting with this game for a while now. I have gone from really enjoying it, to being very confused over the hype, to not liking it, to being amused by it, back to enjoying it again. I guess that is a testament of some sort to be honest. But I think the final extremely positive selling point for this game has been the community around it.

I have been lurking on many of the major Shadowdark fan forums (Discord, Facebook) for the better part of the last year or so. The community is overwhelming positive, and none more so than creator  Kelsey Dionne herself. Seriously, every post of hers seems like it is "wow, that is so cool! I love what people are making for this game." I have to give her a ton of credit for creating a great, vibrant and inviting community. 

Both the old-school and new-school communities can learn a lot from this one.

So while I am very deep into my celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, I am still playing a lot of games. I just wrapped up a great Blue Rose game and I'd love to port over one of the NPCs who really shined at the end. I just need to figure out how I want to do that.

Will I do a witch for this? Yeah, there are some things I'd like to see in this game. Yeah, there is a witch in Cursed Scroll Zine #1, but I can certainly do more than that.

Maybe eventually I'll go back to my plan to mix Shadowdark and OSE-Advanced, they have a good vibe together.  Both are approaching the same sort game style from very different ends of the gaming spectrum, and honestly I think they both have a lot to offer each other. But for now, I'll play some Shadowdark proper and see what I think.