Greetings, brave crawlers! Whether you’re charging into battle, making daring escapes, or simply looking for a reliable way to haul your hard-earned loot, mounts are an essential part of any fantasy adventurer’s toolkit. They add a thrilling dimension to gameplay, especially during overland adventures where a simple yet engaging mounted combat system can elevate the excitement of your Shadowdark game.
There’s a common misconception floating around that narrative roleplaying in tabletop games is a relatively modern invention, something that only came into focus with the later editions of Dungeons & Dragons and other game systems like Blades in the Dark. This belief, while understandable, couldn’t be further from the truth. From its earliest days, DnD was designed with roleplaying at its core—a distinction that set it apart from the wargames that preceded it. Sure, early DnD had its share of combat (often brutal and unforgiving), but if you think it was all about kicking down doors and hacking away at monsters, you’ve missed the point, and probably rolled a lot of new characters. The truth is, combat was risky, and survival often depended on players being more thoughtful, more cunning. Roleplaying wasn’t an option; it was a necessity, at least in the way early DnD framed it but more on that later. Many of the early modules assumed players would be talking, negotiating, and thinking their way out of danger as often than they’d be fighting.
Foraging for herbs has long been a cherished aspect of the Old-School Renaissance (OSR) gaming experience, offering players the chance to interact with their environment in meaningful ways. In the spirit of this tradition, these Herb Foraging rules for Shadowdark aim to add an option for strategic play and enhance the immersive nature of your campaigns.
Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition has long been criticized for having bland or poor monster design, and people have had high hopes that D&D 2024 would resolve that. The Challenge Rating system has been unhelpful in building encounters, or creating challenging encounters, particularly at high level. The lack of variety in monster abilities and tactics has led to a bland and repetitive feeling in combat. Additionally, monsters lack a dynamic and interactive feeling that evokes a sense of adventure. Nothing demonstrates this so much as the success of the “Flee Mortals” supplement from MCDM, that reworked or added monsters in the game in a way that builds very exciting adventures.
I’ve always been drawn to systems that offer depth and engagement. Runequest, with its skills-based approach, certainly fits the bill. It encourages players to think creatively about their characters’ abilities in every situation, rather than waiting for the perfect moment to use a class-specific power as in D&D. However, even the most beloved systems can have their quirks, and for me, Runequest’s handling of criticals has always been a sticking point.
A few weeks ago, a great thread was floating around on X (formerly known as Twitter and largely still called that but… oh, nevermind) lamenting the lack of meaningful Player Guides on TTRPG blogs. We have a plethora of guides on how to be a great Game Master but few on how to be a great player. Okay, that’s not entirely true - there are plenty of YouTube videos by DungeonCraft or Seth Skorkowsky offering great player advice, and a few blog posts on the topic, but they’re drowned out by the volume of DM advice content.
The Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition ruleset is being revised and rereleased this year. Termed DnD 2024, there have been a series of videos on DnDBeyond, announcing and summarizing some of the changes in the latest revision. While each of those videos have a nice corresponding blog summary of changes, I couldn’t find one after the recent Spell change video. So I am summarizing the changes discussed below for easier reference, and so you don’t have to watch the 25 minute video just for 5 minutes of vague content. Enjoy.
As we eagerly await the release of the updated version of revised 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons in 2024, it’s an opportune time to re-examine some of the core systems that make our beloved TTRPG tick. One such system that often sparks debate among players and Dungeon Masters alike is the method of character advancement. In light of the recent surge in views on my previous articles discussing the benefits of using experience points (XP) in D&D, I thought it would be valuable to delve deeper into this topic and explore how XP-based advancement can enhance your gaming experience.
Why do some Dungeons & Dragons groups struggle so hard to cooperate and enjoy a game together? Even well-meaning players can have spotty outcomes and TTRPG groups can have a hard time staying together for more than a few sessions. Particularly in an era of safety tools, and assertions of the importance of inclusive play, we seem to be struggling harder now than any other time in the hobby. Many take the position that this is because we are clearing the toxicity of one culture or another from the gaming space, but I would suggest this is wrong-minded. As a community, too many people have given up on the idea that collaboration or real tolerance of different opinions has any value at all. Some may blame an inherent cultural evil for this division but I am not convinced. I suggest the TTRPG community doesn’t have a good set of frameworks or tools to promote collaboration. Yes we have safety tools and, while those can be useful, safety and collaboration are completely different things.
In Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition, the introduction of lasting injuries and effects promises to revitalize the way players approach the game. By infusing combat with the possibility of enduring consequences, this elevates the significance of each skirmish beyond the individual encounter. Health is no longer just hit points to be replenished with the wave of a hand or a nap; it becomes a strategic element of play managed through clever player choices. This shift introduces a layer of tactical depth missing in the vanilla game, requiring players to think critically about their characters actions and their potential long-term impacts on how the adventure plays out.