As a player & DM who started out with a mash-up of B/X and a few photocopied pages from the 1e PHB, Shadowdark has scratched my itch for easy-to-run, high-peril play. Of all the OSR variants that have sprung up from the OGL over the last couple of decades, this is the first that "feels" like the D&D I used to play.

I ran a Shadowdark game for the first time recently, and it played really well. Its fast, light, smooth, and intuitive. Which is exactly what I want in a game. Everyone at my table was an old school AD&D player, and we all loved it. I can definitely see this as being the go-to system for alot of people. And Kelsey always comes across as nice and kind, which is great to see.

Shadowdark has taken over the convention scene!

Shadowdark was in the pipeline before the OGL debacle so it had a leg up over the "reactionary" games. Layout, editing and presentation are top tier. Its also easy to pick up and play.

Shadowdark has great tables for rolling up game worlds. What Shadowdark needs is a book of Character Classes all in 1 book. Going by your criteria: yes Shadowdark won 2024 OGL. I still like using Shadowdark with D100 Dungeon mapping game. Maybe Arcane Library can come up with its own tile mapping system for overland and underdark crawls also.

I have converted all my D&D 5E to ShadowDark, I approve of this video 💜💜

Catching up on videos. First, I am impressed with this creator. She had good timing, but even more, she showed a real understanding of the type of product that TTRPG customers want. And she does it all without the annoying bits you see in Critical Role or the ego/self absorption and love of 4e of Matthew Colville. Not necessarily related to the video, but I have to ask, would you play Shadowdark in addition to (or in place of) Castles & Crusades? It looks like a better alternative to 5e (for sure), but for my group, C&C is their favorite of all time. I already have insane amounts of TSR edition D&D materials (reprints and original books), Swords and Wizardry, OSE, OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, Dragonbane, Blueholme, Basic Fantasy, White Box, and others I can't even remember. I've also given serious consideration to purchasing Dragonslayer (as well as Shadowdark). (Maybe I have a problem?) So, the one question I ask before making another purchase is: Would we use this as much as C&C. With the Gygax world building materials I just signed up for, and the Amazing Adventure redux I'm still waiting on, I have more C&C materials than any other system (outside of TSR D&D), and it's definitely my personal favorite up to this point--especially when combined with books from previous editions of D&D.

Hey cool! You got my Mystmoor showing - thanks :) - great video!!!!!

Shadowdark has some robust support via Foundry VTT, as well as on Fantasy Grounds. Both great VTT systems.

I'm running this for youths at the library where I work, all the kids are super into it.

100% ! Shadowdark has reinvigorated my gaming groups pension for old school dungeon crawling mixed with barebone but in depth role-playing and world building. It has lit a fire!

I love SD. It came out right when I wanted to play an OSR game. The art sold me on backing it on KS and I never back projects on there. I joined the discord and have been playing with people on there ever since. My next goal is to have an in person game and finally use the DM screen.

Shadowdark is def the winner of the OGL wars. Kelsey had perfect timing with its release. I am hoping to get to play in a SD adventure soon. I may even GM a session or two as well. Right now, I am running Vaesen and two different C&C campaigns.

It's a very strong system. Any fantasy setting or module can be used practically right out of the box. I like that I can take something that I could never get anyone to play, and plug it into Shadowdark system and almost anyone can understand how to play without needing a doctorate to learn the rules. There is a Roll 20 character sheet available and it works well enough.

I was questioning if I needed another OSR game when I heard about Shadowdark. I was thinking I would just be throwing money at something that is the same as every other OSR game that I had bought before, I could not have been more wrong. The game simplifies all the bloat I have seen in the game (D&D) from it's origin, are simplified and easy to understand due to the wonderful layout. I cannot wait for Shadowpunk (Cyberpunk), Shadowspace (Sci-fi) or any other worlds that will use this system, the community is wonderful with creators putting out plenty of new content. If the momentum holds, this could be the game people think of when you say "Do you play roleplaying games?" .

Shadowdark is the best D&D one can experience right now. However, I think it could use a character class book. I don't think it needs a setting book becuase any of the old settings work really well with it as do all the basic/ad&d modules. We do Shadowdark in Mystara and its glorious

Hi Dm Bludsworth -- Tales of the Valiant PDFs came out about week ago with the hardcover books slates to ship this June. Already starting to see reviews for it. Would be great if you could review! Although not sure if it's your style of a game. Power level is around the same as 5Ed. Very customizable game with lots of Kobold Press goodness. People are already saying that Tales of the Valiant is to D&D 5e, what Pathfinder 1Ed was to D&D 3Ed. Now that ToV is out will be interesting to see how well it does. From what I've seen its a great option for those that want to move away from WoTC and stay with a game that is very close to 5Ed. There is a conversion guide that I've been studying and the level of compatibility between 5Ed and ToV is amazing - 5Ed content is super easy to use with ToV.

I want to get a chance to play it soon.

I definitely love Shadowdark, but I'm still hooked on Hyperborea and I'm fairly excited for Shadow of the Weird Wizard and 13th Age 2 edition. Definitely see those as being big contenders this year

Where can we get hard copies of slumbering city? Drivethru only has pdf and I can’t read those.

Shadowdark was a great success and a close call but hard pass. After buying Castles and Crusades , Hyperboria 3e and ACKS and ACKS II Kickstarter I sort of filled up on Fantasy rpg's in the last 12 months. All of these were also in their way a success and covered here on Unscripted and Unchained , thanks again DM Bludworth!!

Have never played but really want to!

Any love for Low Fantasy Gaming?

It’s possible.

If you're sleeping on Shadowdark, don't. One of the easiest playing systems I've ran in a long time. I'll be 46 this year and haven't had this much fun gaming since I was a teenager.

I liked your video -- however your claim IMO is a strange one. "What does Winner of the OGL Wars even mean?". I would argue that D&D will still be king and some loss in market share due to the OGL debacle will be spread out to a variety of players with the biggest winner probably being Paizo, and I would not -- even -- claim Paizo as the winner -- the winner is still D&D -- they've mucked it up a lot recently (yeah some serious muckers) -- but that IP is so dominant -- I don't see anyone unseating D&D no matter how much they muck it up (and yeah the OGL debacle was a doozy). Some market share loss yes -- being unseated no. I like Shadowdark -- but really fail to see any significant difference between SD and all kinds of OGL games -- the only real difference IMO is Shadowdark is based off of 5Ed (with a bunch of OGL goodness thrown in). I still much prefer games like Labyrinth Lord, Basic Fantasy, OSE, Lamentations, and Castles & Crusades. And when I ask someone who plays SD - no one can tell me in any objective way why SD is better than OSE (other than lots of subjective reasons -- like well -- it just feels better). I think SD will do well for a small company - Arcane Library has certainly done really good marketing -- and it's definitely trendy right now -- but yeah... Re: play -- I see Pathfinder easily being the second most played TTRPG after D&D, and currently easily has #2 market share after D&D. btw: to put this into perspective -- but a little bit of research will show that WotC has 1000+ employees (although yes WotC also has Magic the Gathering to manage) in 2020 and Paizo is estimated to have around 150-180 employees (hard to tell for sure as it is a private company), but we have this rough range from people that work there. That should put things in perspective. I guess what you might be saying is that ShadowDark is #1 among OGL in 2024 (although I classify SD as NuGL) -- so yes - maybe take games like Call of Cthulhu, Pathfinder, Starfinder, Star Wars from FFG, etc. out of the equation, although even then I'd still argue that OSE is maybe doing better than SD (although this is anecdotal like your claim), with Shadowdark maybe running at #2 in OGL/NuGL land? Yes, hard to tell as there is no real market share data -- just surveys and observations.

I bought it and wasn't really impressed... I've moved to ACKs and LotFP (OSR style games) and am working to kick off a Warlock! RPG game (which is like OSR Fantasy Warhammer)... THAT SAID, I am glad the game is successful and gathering momentum.

People are still playing Shadowdull? I guess some folks are simply too dumb or lazy to design their own house rules since that's all it is.