Shadowdark Fixes Everything Wrong with D&D 5e 

Bonus xp for "pedantic." BTW--I have a humanities degree and that joke was funny.

Wait is this Dungeon Masterpiece or Dungeoncraft? I can't tell.

Deathbringer cameo FTW!

I like that you guest starred deathbringer. I love Professor DM!

I've found Shadowdark fun to play and even more fun to GM! The best part for me is how it seems to take the player's attention away from their character sheet and focuses it on the story, where it should be!

I use Shadowdark to adapt an easier to play version of AD&D. Once I got the gist of where Kelsey was going, it was easy to adapt the rest of AD&D classes. Converting classics from that edition are easy to convert and it has been fun introducing a new generation to the adventures that made me fall in love with D&D.

running two Shadowdark games with two very different groups and they both love it, and as a GM it has been a blast and super easy to run and create scenarios on the fly with

There is one thing from 5e death saves worth porting to Shadowdark: rolling a natural 1 on a d20 brings you closer to death. 5e saving throws are boring, until someone rolls a 1 and is suddenly one failure away from death, sparking a desperate scramble to save them.

IMO the reason 5e was ever “easy” to learn was due to the plethora of videos online that spoon feed you how to play. So when dms or players actually read the books, they find way more info on how to play

I love collecting RPG books, but often I find them hard to read. Run on Sentences. Rules hidden in text blocks. Long Intro's. You name it. Reading Shadowdark made me acutely aware of this as it was so easy to read. Often I though this was my problem if I couldn't get through a rulebook. But I realized that that wasn't the case. accessibility is important, Y'all.

So glad I backed this! I can't wait for the dead tree version to land in my grubby nasty little claws!

I had a very different idea for what was wrong with 5e.

This is the most accurate , articulate and concise explanation of the problems that so many (including myself) have with 5E.

I recently ran a one-shot with Shadowdark for my group and everyone had a good time. Overall we prefer magic to be more reliable, so the next game I run in it will have the casting house ruled (most likely something along the lines of only forgetting a spell if you roll the spell's tier or less on the d20 on the casting check). When I started playing 5e (during its playtest), I found it "easy" compared to D&D 3/3.5 and Pathfinder 1e which I had been playing for years. After comparing it to more systems (such as Shadowdark, Mausritter, and FATE) I've realized there's definitely elegance to simpler rules sets, and most nuance that the more complex games try to capture just aren't felt in actual play.

I really love 1d4 rounds 'till death, similar to ICRPG. I like make my players roll in secret too - really throws a wrench in the encounter when the party has to stabilize the downed PC RIGHT NOW.

It doesn’t “fix” 5e because it isn’t trying to fix it. Instead, it’s an excellently crafted set of rules pulling on a deep wealth of mechanics and rules simplification from OSR (clone and new interpretation) and the result is a game that for the most part is clear and concise. The trade-off of course is complexity in choice and mechanic interaction ) which is pretty much zero), 4 classes - no subclasses; races are essentially fluff with a single trait for in game advantage; backgrounds one line description; short spell lists, simple description. The real star of the book is for teaching new DMs how to run a game - it’s simply spectacular - feels the player rules were boiled down to their most basic level for this reason. Great execution

Being a father of two, still a little too young for role-playing, but not too much longer…I have found Shadowdark to be a great compromise as a GM. D&D 3.5 has always been my favorite because it was “crunchy” and it would take two sessions for everyone to complete their chars. It was fun when I had the time. I am starting a campaign for college friends who I am still close with but have never played D&D. I love what SD brings because it pulls from a little bit of all of the editions. The dungeon crawling and torch mechanic reminds of my AD&D 1st edition days. The rules are clear and easy to grasp and char creation is simple while still making sure you babe something unique. I love that mom/maxing is off the table as well. It has been great fun and having one book is such a novel concept these days.

I ran Shadowdark for 8 kids (most of whom had never played before) and they LOVED it! The Torch mechanic made for some entertaining scenarios.

The GM's section makes the 5e DM guide in the dust! No useless CR calculations and blah blah blah. Succinct and to the point.

After one session my group voted to switch to shadow dark. Fantastic system

Not that it’s a surprise, but it’s always good to hear you singing praises of Shadowdark!

After playing for a few months, it really is a great game, and the community and third-party support have been awesome. The spell system really grabs me, with risk at every cast. Do we use Cure Wounds now, what if we lose it and need it later? It's led to some real gambles and tense moments at the table.

Hey! My pre-17th century BA has helped me immensely - as a D&D DM, world-building!

Those dice are looking sweet! Nicely done.

Deathbringer's favorite book being Pride and Prejudice may be may favorite thing ever today.

I especially like your intro. I have introduced a few tables of educated, working adults to 5e and eyes glaze over after 30 min ( out of several hours) explaining concepts and systems. Shadowdark rules take a fraction of time to onboard. And the QuickStarts are free.

I'm playing ShadowDark with a variety of groups and they're all really enjoying it. However, as a frequent DM I will caution one small thing. In the brevity of the rules, I've found a lot of small "rulings" I have to make for common types of activities or questions. This certainly isn't a deal breaker, but common questions like what happens when encumbrance is exceeded, what happens when a character picks up a dagger in their off hand, when should XP be assigned, and how does the interaction between your "backpack" (an abstraction in the game) and gear "slots" work? Many little core concepts are not addressed by the rules in order to (presumably) keep things brief. As with any system there is a give and take between simulation and abstraction, but in order to maintain brevity there are points where SD goes a bit too far. The DM section frequently points out that the DM should make "rulings over rules", but that can be frustrating during a session, especially earl on, when it's common issues that are unique to some of the system quirks of SD. Again, I really enjoy the system I just wish a FEW more words in a FEW key place had been used to help prevent having to "make rulings" for these common issues.

Hey, a humanities degree isn't worthless! You want whole milk or soy in your latte?

Deathbringer cameo made me laugh. I really like Shadowdark quite a bit. When I first started to have a nostalgic urge to play D&D, I picked up my old Rules Cyclopedia, but found I couldn't really get into it. Some time later, I heard about Old School Essentials, picked it up, and really liked it. I almost feel guilty that I like Shadowdark even more... There are a lot of great games out there but my game time is limited, so I think I ma going to focus on Shadowdark for the time being.

Nice game system, as a 5e DM, you've got me thinking about adding to my home brew list 😊

Yep! Couldn't agree more. I've been saying the same thign to everyone that will listen. Everything I love about 5e, none of the cruft.

fabulous game design . . . have been hoping to see videos of actual game play, and your "Game Jam" looks like a great idea

Hell yeah! Independent TTRPG Month!

Shadowdark does some good stuff. I'm not a huge fan of some of the class design choices, but I can see why they did what they did. The spellcasting simplifications are probably my favorite thing in the game.

A nice distillation of why my 2 year campaign dropped 5e like a hot rock after a single session playing Shadowdark. Easier rules; Better combat; Simple but exciting characters and an Actual Sense of Danger and Drama. Please continue to cover Shadowdark RPG even after July. It has vibrant and growing community.

"Deathbringer here, level up your game by going the old school way and bring back the shadow in the dark, so that you neber miss an episode!"

I ran a Shadowdark gauntlet with players rolling random 0 level characters. Hilarious and dangerous and they loved it!

When I heard 'carousing' my mind immediately jumped to the D&D parody system Hackmaster. And its carousing tables.

"In 5e gold is about as meaningless as a humanities degree." 😂 Ow my career

You nailed this so hard my guy!!!!

Thank you for explaining the spell tier system! I'm halfway through an adventure and I've been playing it as 'spell slots' still. I need to tell my wizard players that they can still use their un-flubbed spells.

I am just waiting for my copy

Dunno why, but now I want to run the "Kingmaker" campaign with Shadowdark rather than PF1 or 2

What the hell? Deathbringer is freelancing? Are we not going to get a Deathbringer song?

🤭 just like to give a big shout out to the Baron-thanks buddy for your gifts , of well ,YOU KNOW:) lol ! Ah,yea thanks for letting me in on It-its so easy to miss this type of play,for years..and so simply put... But if it had been a snake -it would have bit me! Right before my eyes.

Can’t wait to get my copy!

It's hilarious that most of the magic changes are exactly what I threw in my 5e hack. My players love the simplicity and flexibility it gives them. Removing spell lists outside of a few spellcasting classes really lets them run wild with how they express their characters

I still think it makes the most sense for a "Tier 1" spell to be for first level characters and the spells for a third level character to be Tier 3. Seems pretty obvious. No one will miss the Tier 2 and we have plenty of numbers to spare.

This showed up on my feed again. The cameo by Deathbringer is still hilarious.

The game sounds pretty good. Most of the things listed I have been enjoying in Dungeon Crawl Classics for years though. Im still going to pick up a copy and give it a go to see if it feels any different.

Deathbrigner started is campaign of conquest on to other TRPG channels .

The spellcasting check alone makes this book huge for me. I love that idea because I'm still not the biggest fan of the Vancian casting system. THAT CAROUSING SYSTEM THOUGH. OH MY GOD WHAT.

at 2:07 where did you find this image? that book on the character's lap doesn't make sense.

it seems a great way to merge a lot of good aspects of the OSR movement with the few good things of the 5e

Shadowdark makes for a great little one-shot and the artwork is awesome.

Thank you for this information. I appreciate it. I have a 5e group that is hitting 4tn and 5th levels. This will give me some new tools to use as I want to continue and make it to 20th level.

Thanks for the review. Definitely gonna order me a shadowdark book now.

I am very much looking forward to getting my hardcover copy of the Shadowdark rules sometime soon! Question to other Kickstarter backers: have you received your hardcover yet, or know when they expect to ship them? Any insight is appreciated!

Very nice. Sounds good. Will take a look

Thanks for another great video. I'll never get my players to change games but I'll must likely get Shadow Dark to read for myself.

I think Baron describes my exact experience with Shadowdark in this very video, more or less to the letter.

In addition to all the fine points made in this video, I'd add one more. Simplified mechanics are also simple to modify. With a game like Shadowdark, you can change what you don't like and there is a good chance that you can correctly predict how it will alter the game. Adding or deleting a single sentence may be all that is required.

Im so glad you're talking about this! Love this system!

Well, this is awkward, but funny. I never moved from 3.5 to 5e because I tough 5e was an extremely simplified and streamlined version of 3.5! To each its own, ofc.

I KNEW IT! Deathbringer is a fellow Janeite!

Hey Baron, could you do a video/series on the duties and responsibilities of the different nobel ranks, and what kind of achievements would be required for each to be promoted to a higher rank.

In a few months I will be starting the next 5e campaign with my group. Another member is running their own campaign at the moment. I would love a video on large scale tactical combat. Especially large scale "theater" or "regional wide tactical naval combat. The rules do not have to be from 5e or even the same style as it is going to be somewhat separate. But I think this is going to be tons of fun.

Baron - you are the MAN! I would LOVE to learn how to convert 1e adventures to Shadowdark playable stats!

+1 for the Deathbringer guest cameo :)

I love shadowdark

HAa!! DEATHBRINGERRrr!!

Oh man I am so interested in that! Since I want to try my hand at DMing this video really got me raring to go play haha

Thanks for the overview! A man who likes Pride & Prejudice AND Conan? A most worthy gentleman.

The title excited me, because I think 5e is a game ripe for a rewrite, but Shadowdark is clearly not trying to replace it.

This might be exactly what i have been looking for. I hate the number crunching of dnd but I'm too lazy to switch systems completely; this seems like it could be the solution, as I'm also going to start a new game with some newbie players.

When it comes to gold in game I always liked ensuring players had to pay for level training. This used up gold (1k * level) and sometimes the players had to hold off on getting that bump till a later session or other party members would chip in burning gold across entire party.

I can't wait for my copy to come in!

Same type of character advancement first seen on Zak Smith's blog years ago. Always thought that was a cool way to level up

How do you count spells known on each level when the player keeps rolling the 10-11 result to learn additional spells? Is it the number of spells in the table plus one, or is it the number of spells in the table plus however many times they rolled the 'learn additional spell' result? Or is the table cumulative, i.e will a 2nd level wizard know 7 (+1) spells?

Just bought Shadowdark and look forward to using this system.

I backed Shadowdark on Kickstarter, but haven't had a chance to run it yet. This makes me even more excited to do so! P.S. I completely lost it at the "special guest cameo". ;-)

I have been waiting for the physical books before reading it. It's been torture seeing the pdf on my computer. Lol.

Love the coma/0 hp system in Shadowdark! Great new way to do the 2nd Ed mechanic.

I started RPGs as an adult, I entirely agree with the issue of 5e's approachability. It took me several months to understand almost anything that was happening, even with online resources and the help of other players.

Looks fun. I'm tempted to check out a few of these new wave of osr games, as I'd definitely like a lightweight alternative to 5e for introducing new players. Has anyone made a Skill and point buy version ala one role engine and storyteller? Most of the lighter games I've seen seem very focused on class and level (which is the first thing I'd scrap to improve d&d for my table), or else lean right into pbta move based game design? I guess i want a "middle school revival" taking the best of early 2000s game design rather than looking back to the old school al the time!

Hey, Humanities decrees catching strays here! :p

+1 for Deathbringer cameo.

I expected a set of mods or house rules, this imo is another game. But fun for new players and nice for experienced ones to draw inspiration from.

Looks like an ICRPG mod of 5e which I'm all for

Modern DnD feels way to casual in my opinion. I couldn't really pinpoint my feeling of unease until i watched another video recently. There it was said, you didn't act afraid because of some failed fear aura effect, you were actually afraid for your character because on a hit you just lost character levels. And yes, I have to agree with that. In addition in 5e the short- and long rest system makes characters heal way to fast and way to effortlessly.

I've incorporated several rules from Shadowdark into my Old School Essentials campaign. Especially the death mechanic. Much more fun for my players. (also Dungeon Crawl Classics' spellcasting tables, but I handle all that behind the screen, just instructing the Mage player to tell me which spell they're casting and to roll, I do all the work for them). Excellent flow.

I am not satisfied with 5e, but a lot of the things you mentioned as improvements are not really what I am looking for. Still, I ordered a book some time ago and am still looking forward to it, all the same.

1d20 add your proficiency bonus if proficient and then add your ability score modifier. How hard can it be. I say that 20 times a game

As far as excessive gold in AD&D 1st edition, you might want to look at the page 86 of the Dungeon Masters Guide to see the the costs to train up to a new level. It was so expensive that certain classes would constantly be behind in leveling up because they didn't have enough gold once they earned enough XP to level up, especially for the first few levels.

@1:01 Deathbringer! crossover!

I've been playing 5e almost since it came out, and my record for character creation time is *still* half an hour.

We’d love for you to check out Alloyed RPG!

Question about the rules. It says 8 pages of A4. Is this physical pages or PDF pages? Because if we are talking physical, then double sided is an option and that means room for things that are much more ambitious.

just got my physical books in the mail!

In ttrpgs, I'm learning less is more in character creation options. New players especially begin to see what is on their character sheet as how they interact with the world, and forget that they can do just about anything. They forget about using simple tools, or that their environment can respond in interesting ways, because instead they think only about how a specific spell or ability works.