Why You Should Play Shadow of the Demon Lord!

Рет қаралды 5,259

Күн бұрын

I talk about why you should play Shadow of the Demon Lord, a great game for telling stories and making awesome builds.
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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
03:51 The Basics
07:17 Player Builds
15:54 Magic
20:25 Combat
25:00 Playing The Game

Пікірлер: 70

@Jeromy1986 3 ай бұрын

As soon as I saw the title of this on my KZfaq front page I exclaimed, "Fuck yeah!" so loudly I startled the dogs.

@windmark8040 3 ай бұрын

LOVE Demon Lord! I toned down the "grim-dark" a bit and used Kobold Press' Midgard Campaign Setting, along with a loose translation of the old D&D Scourge of the Slave Lords modules. A few 5e players didn't like the "feel" of the system/classes and dropped, but the other players had a fun time with it. Weird Wizard was NOT what I was expecting, but I'm hoping it shapes up asap.

@stevespidey 3 ай бұрын

I've played a ton of 5e and I genuinely like this better.

@Acmegamer 3 ай бұрын

Yep, I'll have to agree that Weird Wizard wasn't what I was expecting and honestly I'm passing on it. I prefer to adapt other campaign settings with SotDL instead, like you've done.

@unholywarrior9007 3 ай бұрын

Call of cthulu everything you and even cthulu are all part of a greater seams dream so nothing matters. And so players will kill you because it dosnt matter . Just a dream . It's bad writing. Be prepared for the other people at the travel to betray you because it dosnt matter

@Runehammer1 3 ай бұрын

great vid

@medugenusblub7256 3 ай бұрын

A 10 or 11 Session game with my group is an epic 1-2 year campaign, because of scheduling ^^

@m4rcLs 3 ай бұрын

What a great video about one of my favorite TTRPG systems. You said everything about the system that makes it so special for me. I especially like your tips and overall comments throughout the video, as they give a good perspective on what this system can do for you. I ran it also for different settings and never used the more gritty horror stuff. Probably because I always forgot to apply the Horrifying and Frightening trait. :D You can easily cut out Insanity and Corruption and don't allow Forbidden Traditions and have a great system for high fantasy. With that being said I really like that Weird Wizard is lighter on theme as it makes it much easier to pitch to other people. But if you love SotDL for its bleak and grim setting and the horror it brings then Weird Wizard could be a bit disappointing (even though the rules have some great improvements) PS: I had a lot of great moments with SotDL. From a Treeperson who morphed into a Boar that was as big as a house, to Mushroomfolk that try to reanimate every corpse they cause or a floating time mage that one shotted a whole cult in their lair while time was stopped with a force wave. There is lots of fun to be had and more people should try out SotDL or SotWW. :)

@wasabiburger3047 3 ай бұрын

Thank you for the kind words! And I love your last paragraph, that sounds insane! :D

@m4rcLs 3 ай бұрын

@@wasabiburger3047 I really like SotDL and SotWW as they made me a GM, and it does not feel as restraining too me as 5e or Pathfinder. I also do not hate those systems but GMing Shadow games is just so smooth

@tjmorrisiv 3 ай бұрын

Great game, I've run 4 campaigns and looking forward to more. This also let me run the best campaign I have ever run, 6 months during corona online. Appreciate you promoting something that doesn't get near the attention it should. If anyone is fleeing 5e you could do a helluva lot worse than Demon Lord! Hail Satan!

@mykediemart 3 ай бұрын

SotDL is a great game, sadly too few people play it and it is hard to get converts. One campaign had a character who was a middle age healer who obtained a flesh bound book the whispered to her, of paths to great power. She had been treated poorly so was tempted down the dark path. she would often play out the book mentoring her. Another was running a game for my boys, who played 5e, Pathfinder, and other systems get trounced and one slain my simple bandits. Its also easy to port in D&D monsters (or OSR, Shadowdark ect) Great review

@Cantankerous-Bees 23 күн бұрын

Ran Dead By Dawn last night with the intention of leading the survivng characters into a tweaked Curse of Strahd Campaign using this system. One of my players made the excellent point that the setting feels very much like the Old Diablo games.

@wasabiburger3047 23 күн бұрын

Damn, that sounds amazing. I would love to hear how that tweaked Curse of Strahd game goes with SotDL!

@promethr3us 3 ай бұрын

Love to see more content and love for Robert Schwalb and Shadow of the Demon Lord! I've been running this system for years, and while I have seen several cracks in the mechanics at times, it is still the one I come back to even when I want to try something new. The curious should absolutely give it a look and I cannot recommend playing it enough.

@Robofussin23 3 ай бұрын

Need to get this game. Keep hearing good things about

@deusvault5732 3 ай бұрын

i have played a full campaign of this and loved it and am trying to play curse of strahd on it and im having a blast

@SamanthaVimes177 2 ай бұрын

Literally came here because my DM is thinking of running a curse of strahd-esque campaign and thought the grim dark aspects might be good additions to his campaign

@deusvault5732 2 ай бұрын

@@SamanthaVimes177 a lot of the grim dark aspects are specifically because of text but its worked perfectly.

@ShadyDaisy 3 ай бұрын

Well said man. I still feel fondly, but yeah, problems that don't go away until you stop trying to make the game work for everything was my experience.

@sequoyahwright 3 ай бұрын

Good video, Wasabi! Thanks for giving an excellent game proper attention. I run Demon Lord whenever people who have outgrown 5e but don't want a learning curve while learning a new game.

@iPwnedMSCS 3 ай бұрын

I have the mat that you showed at the start of the combat section. It's pretty nice. It has flat top hexes on the other side

@verityverri6506 3 ай бұрын

I feel like the difficulty ratting is more of a gide to the gm to know what they're putting in front if their players than really a "this is how you balance stuff"

@Lord_Framebreak Ай бұрын

I started the hobby with DnD 3.5. We ran with it for years but my players prefer 5e for convenience, despite me building a custom playset for 3.5 with a reference sheet. Lately we got experimental and started different ttrpgs like Vampire, Lancer, and Pathfinder. I'm eager to try this one out as well.

@wasabiburger3047 Ай бұрын

Oh nice! I was looking at Lancer about 2 months ago and it felt like just a crunchier SotDL since the rule core was so similar. I hope you enjoy SotDL if you end up trying it out :)

@optionsgoat9432 3 ай бұрын

I'm convinced to check it out, thanks for another great video WB!

@mittelz5976 3 ай бұрын

Great work on the editing and presentation of the material!

@KingofBlades113 3 ай бұрын

Another great video. I have heard of Shadows of the Demon Lord before, but I didn't know much about it. Thank you for the excellent discussion of it. I think I might pick it up as the 16th/17th century guns and armour needs to be used in more games

@MonocleTopHats 3 ай бұрын

Would love to hear your thoughts about worlds without number vs SOTDL! I was super into SOTDL conceptually as my brain likes the character build/narrative play style but found that demon lord's non-combat side super anemic.

@m4rcLs 3 ай бұрын

I think the comparison between Worlds Without Number and SotDL falls kind of flat. For me they are totally different systems. WWW has a skill system where you can progress in particular skills to improve your chance on success while Demon Lord uses professions to grant boons from the narrative character background if they are trying to achieve something their profession usually is good at. (e. g. a Hunter tracking an enemy) I really like the more free form nature of professions instead of Skills, but if you really want Skills to enhance characters in non-combat situation you can have a look at Forbidden Rules (an official rules supplement for more optional rules)

@malynym 3 ай бұрын

Awesome! So glad to see Demon Lord love!

@pickpocketpressrpgvideos6655 3 ай бұрын

Great review and agree with most of your views!

@the_beast_among_sheep 3 ай бұрын

Dragon Awakens sounds fucking AWESOME!!

@therocketboost Ай бұрын

I got tired of 5e for a lot of the reasons you highlighted and love the stripped down functionality of SotDL. It's a sports car compared to the bulky 5e SUV. The most obvious design improvement for me is boons/banes VS advantage/disadvantage, which allows actual degrees of improved/reduced performance based on a situation's context. Anyway, great summary. Subscribed.

@user-vy1jo5nt2x Ай бұрын

Great video! Heard about Shadow of the Demon Lord, never tried it though. But after watching this I'm really excited to give it a try! The whole paths thing, easy to read book sections and interesting magic system seems very good and interesting to play. Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts.

@Lakoda26 3 ай бұрын

Seems worth checking out. Love the dig at alignment!! I stopped using alignment across the board around 2004. I think you are conflating peoples disgust with 5e play and their perception of the system. The game is not the system, its what happens at the table. I won't get into it beyond this. There is a reason there is a GM shortage (and its not the rules) yet there are plenty of DMs, Judges, and referees.

@wasabiburger3047 3 ай бұрын

Yeah I'll be fully honest, I had a much more in-depth and scathing take for both sides of the argument but I realized it was 15 minutes long and just decided I think that may be best for another video instead of coming out of the gate talking about a completely different topic than what the thumbnail advertised.

@Lakoda26 3 ай бұрын

@@wasabiburger3047 I could have written pages on why I think 5e is in decline but to what purpose. I am having more fun playing games I enjoy then punching of dnd. Anyways, I try to stay away from channels that do, so I appreciate your approach here. Discovery in the not-dnd space is difficult.

@DaVeO52 3 ай бұрын

It's my main system after leaving D&D. I also love their simple to run pre-made adventures.

@Acmegamer 3 ай бұрын

SotDL Rpg truly is one of the best d20 based rpgs out there. Good review and happy to see someone talking about it!

@ericzeiger5929 3 күн бұрын

You should. It’s so much fun!

@delightedtim 3 ай бұрын

You hate star wars? :(

@ialvarez6294 3 ай бұрын

Great work!!!.. I was sitting on the fence for a year on this one..I like what you said.. time to play!!!... P.S. what song is the one playing right at the beginning?

@wasabiburger3047 3 ай бұрын

I'm glad you liked it! and the song is: "Daisuke Teiko Beats 12"

@verityverri6506 3 ай бұрын

Demon Lord is currently my favorite game, although Weird Wizzard seems to improve on every aspect.

@charlessmith491 3 ай бұрын

Are you going to run some games for SofDL? There is a criminally small amount of actual plays on TY for this.

@wasabiburger3047 3 ай бұрын

Eventually I would love to! I am currently working on a different AP now slated to come out in a few months so if I do get around to an SotDL AP, it won't be for a while but I think SotDL is really well suited for great APs.

@charlessmith491 3 ай бұрын

@@wasabiburger3047 I've had it for a while but haven't gotten to it. My group can only play once a month and the shorter campaigns seems perfectly suited for this system. I'm wrestling between doing SotDL or using your Hexcrawl video with WWN.

@wasabiburger3047 3 ай бұрын

@@charlessmith491 Depending on what your group is like, doing a hexcrawl/sandbox game might not be the worst idea. I sometimes get frustrated with story/plot driven games because in a month a lot of my players tend to forget what happened last time and especially what happened before that. So at least with a sandbox game, you can focus more on just fun things session to session that might grow into larger things but overall have less worry about driving a character or plot driven story and can just ransack dungeons and do small jobs. Though, I guess you could also do that with SotDL with them having a home base and going on short missions out in the borderlands that's connected to a greater story. But anyway, I'll stop rambling now haha

@malynym 3 ай бұрын

I've been trying to remedy that!

@twistedturns65 3 ай бұрын

I still need to pick up SotDL. I have some of the PDF's, but I need to have a physical copy if I hope to read it in earnest.

@Thenarratorofsecrets 3 ай бұрын

giving me some stuff to think about

@the_beast_among_sheep 3 ай бұрын

Have you ever played Star Wars D20 System RPG? It was made in the 3rd Edition/3.5 era. Out-of print now but can be found on ScribD. I never knew it existed until recently & it blew my mind. I like to make Star Wars I to a Grimdark srtting using Grimdark(Half-Off) as a starting reference

@the_beast_among_sheep 3 ай бұрын

Steal everything. I always have. Everything in inspiration

@mikko272 3 ай бұрын

Have you seen the new shadow of the weird wisard?

@GateKeeperPat Ай бұрын

Did you run any of the published adventures or homebrew all your quests/adventures?

@wasabiburger3047 Ай бұрын

So far I just run my own content going off of what I am in the mood for. I bought several SotDL campaigns but they didn't really get my neurons firing when I read them. Funnily, I was actually thinking of running a few to make a video on them to review a few since I like actually running stuff before reviewing it. But from the ones I grabbed none of them really made me go "Oh I need to run this right away" over my own creative ideas.

@GateKeeperPat Ай бұрын

@@wasabiburger3047 Nice insight! Did you use any of the tables in the Core book for the campaign? Or just used prior experience as a DM to bring it all to life?

@MrHoleinthevoid 3 ай бұрын

I already do, I already do.

@armorclasshero2103 3 ай бұрын

You could easily modify this system to omit the d20 entirely.

@the_beast_among_sheep 3 ай бұрын

Think I'll just stick with Metal Gods of UrHadad

@the_beast_among_sheep 3 ай бұрын

Demon Lord caught my eye. Paths lost me

@the_beast_among_sheep 3 ай бұрын

Man! I'M FRAGGIN' PSYCHED! I have the Limited Edition cover of Hubris coming thru the mail! I'm psyched! Going to hex out the world of Hubris to play in it for years

@knotsbygordion 3 ай бұрын

Forgive me, but this whole recommendation is far too interested in crunch and mechanics. Not enough looking into the setting and roleplaying hooks.

@wasabiburger3047 3 ай бұрын

I go into more roleplaying stuff in the last section of the video but also I am not really sure what you're looking for. The setting is a fairly generic Warhammer Fantasy grimdark one so there isn't much to talk about. As for roleplaying hooks, it is a game based off of D&D, so it's all the same roleplaying hooks you'll find in other games. It's a fantasy RPG in a hobby choked with them and it is a video aimed at people who are already in the hobby. The main separation is mechanics, especially when that is the main selling point of this mid-crunch game. When I talk about Trophy Dark, I'll be talking a lot more about narrative, roleplaying and atmosphere.

@vehemetipolygoniae2197 3 ай бұрын

It's a game, i'm interested in the mechanics. If i wanted to just roleplay, i would go take theatre classes!

@knotsbygordion 3 ай бұрын

@vehemetipolygoniae2197 crunch is just framework that supports the game ideas for me. Good fluff on bad mechanics is irritating but workable. Bad fluff on good mechanics just turns into an exercise in futile frustration.