ran this one shot the other day, it went fantastic. only two people died. they killed the dusk queen and were slain by her basilisk.(i may have made some small changes). The survivors took to the door in the well and ended in a vast cavern underdark with their fate unknown.
I do agree that the “core gameplay loop” is crucial to have in one session - this is in fact a rule of good computer game design too, if I recall, that this concept is crucial for the game tutorials among game designers. You can actually think of a “starter player” TTRPG session similar to a video game tutorial - they have similar goals.
Looks so cool! I ran a short campaign for a party of 4 based on the tristram cathedral from diablo 1, ending with the butcher. this is a solid system, and for me as a forever dm is soo easy to prep and create stuff on the fly, which of course allows me to go with any weird idea a pc can come up with. Lots of fun
nit: I may have missed it but on the adventure overview it might be good to give a super quick description of the plot. You mentioned it as a dungeon delve but perhaps say what is the dungeon theme, or what sort of monster is in the dungeon. Dunno, this may as well be a spoiler you are intentionally avoiding to give away but it might help situate the listeners and differentiate each adventure reviewed
I was trying to avoid spoilers, but I think you’re right I could have included more on the premise and major enemies of the adventure. Thanks for your feedback!
Hey there - been loving your channel (as a new Shadowdark convert). I’m in the process of trying to gently draw some of the group from the 5e game I’m playing in to try a Shadowdark campaign and with that perspective in mind I totally agree with your take on the high potential lethality of this as a lvl 1 opener - the high potential for the first encounter to a TPK for lvl 1 characters would be something that might just shut down any interest for players used to 5e especially. I did get some of them to do the Count/Castle/ Curse as a Halloween one shot and that worked great, but even then I think only because I had them start at level 3 to give them a reasonable chance. The task of converting 5e players is difficult - I think it’s good to meet them a little closer to where they are than chuck them in at the deep end 😂
Awesome! Congrats on getting your group to try Count Castle and Curse. Great first taste of Shadowdark. Yep, definitely difficult to get 5e players to make the jump. I was able to get my group to agree to a Shadowdark campaign, but it did take a couple house rules to make the characters a bit more powerful. Thanks for watching and best of luck with your group!
I ran this tonight, not in shadowdark but in whitebox fmag of all things. It wasn't actually as hard as I thought, but the damage and hp got reduced to scale with whiteboxes power level.
At the end in the comparison section you mentioned that you prefer a one shot that can actually be finished in one session for new players - and i agree! - but you didn't specify which adventure is the one that can be finished in one go. Is it this one or the Scarlet Minotaur?
You're right - I wasn't explicit! Depending on how quick your group is, you should (might?) be able to finish Tomb of the Dusk Queen in one sitting. Scarlet Minotaur is much longer. It took my group 2 sessions to kill the Minotaur and would have taken another session or 2 after to explore the whole thing.
ran this one shot the other day, it went fantastic. only two people died. they killed the dusk queen and were slain by her basilisk.(i may have made some small changes). The survivors took to the door in the well and ended in a vast cavern underdark with their fate unknown.
That’s awesome! Sounds like a great time. I’m looking forward to running this.
I do agree that the “core gameplay loop” is crucial to have in one session - this is in fact a rule of good computer game design too, if I recall, that this concept is crucial for the game tutorials among game designers. You can actually think of a “starter player” TTRPG session similar to a video game tutorial - they have similar goals.
Great insight about session 1 also being a tutorial mission for new players. 100% agree. Thank for watching - always enjoy seeing your comments!
Looks so cool! I ran a short campaign for a party of 4 based on the tristram cathedral from diablo 1, ending with the butcher. this is a solid system, and for me as a forever dm is soo easy to prep and create stuff on the fly, which of course allows me to go with any weird idea a pc can come up with. Lots of fun
That’s awesome! I’ve been thinking about running something similar. Thanks for watching!
That's a great idea! Gonna steal that lol
@@jakynth its a lot of fun!
Saying a lot while avoiding being verbose is a fading art. A few well chosen words should be everyone's goal.
Cheers!
An earlier version of this adventure said it was designed for 3rd level characters, not 1st level characters. Maybe that's why the lethality is high.
I saw that. Definitely could be. Thanks for watching!
Awesome!
Thanks for watching!
The power of an item glowing when near secrets probably depends upon how your table runs secrets.
For sure.
Well, not secrets, but secret/hidden doors.
nit: I may have missed it but on the adventure overview it might be good to give a super quick description of the plot. You mentioned it as a dungeon delve but perhaps say what is the dungeon theme, or what sort of monster is in the dungeon. Dunno, this may as well be a spoiler you are intentionally avoiding to give away but it might help situate the listeners and differentiate each adventure reviewed
I was trying to avoid spoilers, but I think you’re right I could have included more on the premise and major enemies of the adventure. Thanks for your feedback!
Hey there - been loving your channel (as a new Shadowdark convert).
I’m in the process of trying to gently draw some of the group from the 5e game I’m playing in to try a Shadowdark campaign and with that perspective in mind I totally agree with your take on the high potential lethality of this as a lvl 1 opener - the high potential for the first encounter to a TPK for lvl 1 characters would be something that might just shut down any interest for players used to 5e especially.
I did get some of them to do the Count/Castle/ Curse as a Halloween one shot and that worked great, but even then I think only because I had them start at level 3 to give them a reasonable chance. The task of converting 5e players is difficult - I think it’s good to meet them a little closer to where they are than chuck them in at the deep end 😂
Awesome! Congrats on getting your group to try Count Castle and Curse. Great first taste of Shadowdark.
Yep, definitely difficult to get 5e players to make the jump. I was able to get my group to agree to a Shadowdark campaign, but it did take a couple house rules to make the characters a bit more powerful.
Thanks for watching and best of luck with your group!
I ran this tonight, not in shadowdark but in whitebox fmag of all things. It wasn't actually as hard as I thought, but the damage and hp got reduced to scale with whiteboxes power level.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing your experience. Looking forward to running this.
At the end in the comparison section you mentioned that you prefer a one shot that can actually be finished in one session for new players - and i agree! - but you didn't specify which adventure is the one that can be finished in one go. Is it this one or the Scarlet Minotaur?
You're right - I wasn't explicit! Depending on how quick your group is, you should (might?) be able to finish Tomb of the Dusk Queen in one sitting. Scarlet Minotaur is much longer.
It took my group 2 sessions to kill the Minotaur and would have taken another session or 2 after to explore the whole thing.
I'd be curious to know your opinion about the adventure after running it. Was it as lethal as you thought it would be?
I haven't played it yet, but it's on my short list. Will probably get to it in the next couple weeks.
I'll let you know how it went!
@RuneforgedTabletopGaming Great. Do you plan on using the same characters as your first adventure ?
I would prefer it for testing purposes, but I’ll let my players decide if they want to use new or old characters.
How is pedantry limited by ones physical prowess?
It’s not, I flubbed my words. Talking is hard 🤣
Sorry I couldn't resist
Understandable 🤣