Tenkar's Tavern: 2025-03-02

Sunday, March 2, 2025

Kickstarter - When Dusk Falls (A Shadowdark RPG Hexcrawl)

Rise beyond dusk in this mystical, ever-evolving forest.

Let's see? ShadowDark? Check!

Hexcrawl? Check!

A5 for convenient traveling? Checkity check check!

At about 10 bucks in PDF and 16 in POD (plus cost and shipping) with PDF, I'm in for a physical copy of When Dusk Falls.

Explore a vast forest of wonder and intrigue in When Dusk Falls, a sandbox hexcrawl setting for Shadowdark RPG. A rotting cancer grows in the dreary depths of the forest. Its many factions and woodland denizens interact with this creeping dread as it continues to grow, trying to adapt or fight back. What place will your players find in this continuously evolving world?

Over 140 A5 pages featuring a sandbox hexcrawl setting using an incredibly easy to run spread-based layout.
60 hexes filled with more than 100 wondrous points of interest.
5 diverse factions with evolving weekly progress and goals that impact the dynamics of the Grenin.
Multiple exciting dungeons and adventure sites stuffed with treasure and dangers. Each comes with both GM and player-facing maps.
A brand new alchemy system powered by the unique reagents found in the Grenin. Make potions, elixirs, oils, and salves to aid on your quests.
New themed magic items for all levels of play.
10 enigmatic NPCs and their quest lines.
A creeping rot mechanic that will corrupt your characters as they delve deeper into the dark.

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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Sunday, March 2, 2025

Kickstarter - When Dusk Falls (A Shadowdark RPG Hexcrawl)

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