The Minoans and their amazing works are so inspiring! I'm not sure I did them proper justice at all, but I can say that it's impossible to avoid inspiration when reading about them.
I ran this last night for my players and uhhh... It was quite interesting. The Party split and almost died, one half having ran into the minotaur. So they decided to climb in through the court yard and got the drop on the BBG. He tries scaling the wall, the dwarf fighter leaps and attracts the attention of the beast. The Minotaur leapt off the wall to attack the fighter and rolled a Nat 1, hurting himself for 9 damage, which was exactly his remaining health, and died...
As another crotchety, increasingly curmudgeon Gen-Xer, it really warms my heart to see the old-school vibe getting love from the younger generation. Kelsey, you've created something very special. I've been playing since 1979 and running or playing in 5e for a while now. Like a lot of old gamers, I dislike how nerfed everything is in 5e, how everyone can see in the dark, how resource management, exploration focus, and real risk have practically vanished from the game, the recourse to rules vs. rulings, etc., etc. Which is not to say I'm a 5e hater. I'm not. There are a lot of things that I like quite a bit about 5e. Combining the best of the old and the new....yes....I'm Very Excited about Shadowdark! I've read the rules and this is the game I'll be running for my group. Sidebar--it's also wonderful to see young *female players not only enjoying the game, but as deeply skilled designers. It was a long time coming. It's a great time to be a gamer!
As a crotchety, increasingly curmudgeon Gen-X'r, this *'damn well designed* (( fascinating and exciting )) dungeon brings a bona fide smile to my face... ☺️ _You're brilliant, and as soon as it's possible, I'll purchase this _*_must-have_*_ of an adventure!!_
I love old school adventures and this captures the feeling of those perfectly. Shadowdark is the perfect cure to all the unnecessary bloat and crunch of certain (ahem!) other games. Truly, you've created something special here. Bravo!
I've been to Knossos so this especially appeals to me! Backed the Kickstarter, have downloaded the free version... now to convince my regular players to try something other than 5e...
I heard about Shadowdark first through Sly Floruish and saw a Facebook ad for it the other day. Now I've fallen down the rabbit hole and I feel this is the game for me and my old high school friends. We started with 3rd back in the early 2000's and while I've enjoyed running 5e for them, they've regularly remarked that they've wanted playstyles closer to this. Each of us (especially me as GM) have chafed under the excessive rules of 3rd/4th/5th, but carried on because we know it as "D&D". After this video I am certain that after I finish running my current Avernus game that I'll surprise them with Scarlet Minotaur. Thanks for creating stuff like this for the modern day and congrats on the Kickstarter success.
This is so wonderful to hear! Sly Flourish is awesome, a huge inspiration. I'm honored he gave the game a mention. I hope Shadowdark fits the bill if you're able to give it a chance after your Avernus game wraps up! :D
Kelsey, you are a true inspiration to gamers and game masters everywhere. I've been playing TTRPGs for 45 years and it amazes me to see this community continue to grow with players and game masters of all ages! Congratulations on your 4 Ennies! WOW! This video is inspiring me to take my post-apocalyptic campaign setting off the shelf. Time to get to work! 😃
Just learned about shadowdark after the awards. Ran this dungeon with some friends last night and was a lot of fun. Going to run again next weekend and found this awesome overview. Thank you.
Knossos is amazing. I think it really says a lot about your thought process choosing it as an inspiration for this adventure. I'm really impressed by what I've seen and heard about Shadowdark thus far.
As someone raised on 1E/2E and getting burned out after years of running 5E, I'm really looking forward to Shadowdark. Started reading this adventure today and loving it.
I'm really glad to hear you like the look of Shadowdark so far! :) I'm hoping it finds that right blend between 1E/2E ideas and some game design innovations from the 5E era. Thanks so much for checking it out!
@@TheArcaneLibrary Absolutely! I was curious after reading through the quick start rules, do you have plans to incorporate any other classes in the core book when its ready to publish? Or are you sticking with the four base classes?
@@DireTribble I'm planning to keep the core book as the four "base" classes, and then release more specialized classes in future Cursed Scroll zines! For instance, I already have three new official classes in Cursed Scroll 1 (witch, warlock, and a dark knight called a Knight of St. Ydris) that went with the theme of the zine. I'm also hoping those four will serve as tentpole examples and that people will want to come up with/publish their own classes and material! :)
Very nice!!! I discovered Shadowdark via the HouseDM channel. I loved it, because I'm developing my own O5R rules and there are a lot of similarities, like checks for magic (from DCC, FTD and Deathbringer), using background to justify some skills and all of this with the simplicity outlined by 5e. I'm gonna read carefully the quickstart. Thanks for that!
Thanks for the downloads! The price is great! You should feel proud of yourself for creating the game that you want to play! Also, good job keeping the adventure 1-3 level. Also thanks for keeping the Old School (OS) style of game and play alive. I was there when it all started, and the OS style of play has plenty to recommend itself to players of 2022!
I just discovered The Arcane Library and I must say, I am super psyched to check out the Shadowdark RPG! It sounds like an excellent way to introduce my group, most of whom started with 5e, into some more old-school style roleplaying. Plus most of us are really into Greek mythology so this adventure would be perfect for my group. Can't wait to try it out!
I'm so happy to hear that! :D I think Shadowdark RPG would be a great bridge from 5E into the OSR. I hope the adventure is a lot of fun if you get the opportunity to run it for your group!
The adventure sounds really exciting. I don't typically use a lot of traps because they tend to be too campy for my tastes, but the one you described with the pillars sounds like a lot of fun. I'll definitely check this out. I have a soft spot for minotaurs, and I'm planning a Greek epic campaign soon, so I may squeeze this into that campaign.
I downloaded the pdf and I was amazed at the detail and quality of the material. Great job! I don't usually expect much from free samples but this is thorough. There is enough material here to run some great adventures both in the included adventure and beyond. It's a great starter pack. I am seriously curious how the paid material could be better!
We started this last night and I had a blast running it, more fun than I have had in a while running a game. The very first thing they did was go into the courtyard and kill the minotaur! When it came back (since it is immortal) now they are convinced that there has to be a way to defeat it permanently, so will come up with a way for them to do that. Looking forward to next week
I just finished reading through this adventure after watching your video. It is really very good. I'd love to see more Old School style adventures from you!
Thank you so much! Well, it was a Star Wars shirt I got from the youth boys section at Target many years ago. It's the Periodic Table of Star Wars Villains! Not sure if it's available anywhere these days.
struggled with 5E and wanted to make it cleaner and faster and fun. Saw DCC and enjoyed it but slow too. Shadowdark seems the goldilocks of perfection~!
You absolutely could! You'd want to make sure the players understood the minotaur was a significant threat (most 1st-level groups would not want to risk fighting it). But other than that "mentality shift" from the 5E gameplay style, you could run it with a 5th edition group as written. :)
@@TheArcaneLibrary Thanks a Lot! You know, over the past couple years, I've always think about your tips in my mind when I prepare a session/campaign. The way you separate parts of the session into scenes, cutting off the slow parts, and also, motivating your character with "questions" so that they don't feel lost in a sea of choices. Makes it dynamic, fun, cinematic. Anyhoo, keep up the good work!
This is really cool, I've already thought up a way to fit it into a 5e campaign I'm going to run. I do have a few questions though; ettercaps aren't normally intelligent, they aren't capable of speech but these to be able to. Is that just a change in your setting? Also the beastmen seem similar to gnolls so I will probably swap those. Also in room 3, there is a scroll of Hold Portal, what 5e spell would be closest to this?
Awesome, glad this will make its way into your game! :) Yes, ettercaps are a bit more intelligent and sinister in this world, though not more than your average goblin. And switching the beastment to gnolls is a great idea! Finally, I'd turn that hold portal spell scroll into an arcane lock scroll for 5E. I hope you have fun with the adventure if you're able to give it a run! :)
@@TheArcaneLibrary thank you so much for replying! Running ettercaps like goblins is a really cool idea, I like that a lot; especially because I've been tossing around the idea of goblins being more of a noble warrior race in my setting. Arcane lock is an interesting one, it's a spell I've never really messed with but I like giving my players a scroll of it and just seeing what how they use it!
@@partyrocket859 Sweet! :) Maybe that scroll will help them avoid the minotaur at a critical moment... it really is fun to see how the players will use oddball stuff!
That's an excellent question! I've pondered this one, and while Shadowdark does use a unified d20 system (roll high always the goal) and advantage/disadvantage, I think that's about where the similarity with 5E ends. While those are *big* core elements of the game, I think Shadowdark might be more of an "OSR-like," since its gameplay and lethality is much more like Basic/Expert edition.
Thank you so much, Andrew! :) I'm super excited for the full book, it's a daily project that keeps getting closer to reality. There is already a really awesome setting book for Shadowdark out right now called Soulblight by Laurin-David Weggen, and I too will be adding to the overall library of stuff out there over time with Cursed Scroll zines and potentially a setting book (though no super concrete plans for that quite yet... more adventures are probably coming first).
Thank you so much! I did draw it with pencil and pen on a pad of grid paper, then scanned it and cleaned it up a bit in Photoshop (as well as adding all the labeling). There's something really relaxing and inspiring about drawing on paper!
Yes! :) Definitely want to do that in the near future. I was going to do a few, including an overview, how to make a character, and some gameplay tips!
Is this something I can play through with a group in about 5 hours? Did not read it yet but I am looking for something for 3-4 players (1st level) for one afternoon. Want to get them into shadowdark.
This sounds awesome and I plan on running in but I’m a little confused on the stats for the Scarlet Minotaur? Like am I just supposed to use the Minotaur stats and add the special axe it mentions or is there a specific stat block for him that I’m just not seeing? Any help would be greatly appreciated
Hey there! The scarlet minotaur uses the normal minotaur stats, and in most cases in my own games, I did bump up his attack and damage to reflect the magic axe. I actually forgot to do that once or twice, but it didn't really affect the outcome in any way. :) Do you can do that or not and it should be totally okay!
Hey there! :) Of the adventures I've written, lots of folks tend to start with Masque of the Worms (a 1st-level one-shot for 5E inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's writing). That's probably my most popular intro to horror!
Are the Scarlet Minotaur's stats in the quickstart guide somewhere? I looked through all the docs and I couldn't find a "statblock" or equivalent for the minotaur.
I have a question, I noticed the room descriptions say the value of treasure in gp, but not in XP, how should I award the corresponding XP for each treasure found?
Hey Kelsey! I see that the free digital Shadowdark RPG Quickstart guides are shown as "sold out". I am a backer on KS for the Shadowdark RPG, Complete pledge. Are there any PDFs we can download to get a taste of the game and check out this Minotaur adventure? Thanks!!
Hey there!! The digital ones should hopefully be freely available (the physical print ones are currently sold out). You can grab it here: www.dropbox.com/s/ab1x94p7h4v39w7/Shadowdark%20RPG%20Quickstart%20Set.zip?dl=0
Quick Question: how many characters is this adventure intended for? I've read all the books and the adventure, but I'm not sure how many PCs it is designed for. Anyone know?
It was a very carefully tested design choice, so I promise it wasn’t me being lazy! ;) But some excellent third party folks have been writing supplements that let you progress as your ancestry. Check out Expanded Talents on DTRPG by James Mishler (he’s a friend and mentor of mine, and he’s a very vetted designer going way back).
Then you should be safe to download this one! I didn't pay anyone for a positive review. I did pay Questing Beast for an honest review, though. He's the only person who was paid for anything. (Edit: because that's how he does stuff, by the way. Also, this adventure is free, so you don't have to buy it.)
KELSEY DRINKING GAME NOTES TAKE A SHOT AFTER EVERY HAIR FLIP 1 AT APPROX 2 MINUTES 2 AT 457 3 AT 1334 4 AT 1446 Enjoy an awesome Video and get Drunk After
