Playing – Shadowdark (House Rules)

For this Beyond the Broken Veil – Shadowdark adventure, I wanted to create a high action pulp adventure. With that in mind, we’re using a few options from the Shadowdark Modes of Play (pg. 111) and house rules lifted from other games.

Hunter Mode

• Defeated monsters grant XP equal to half their level (round down)

Pulp Mode (Modified)

• Players start every session with d3+1 Luck points (we’re using black poker chips to track these)
• You can use Luck to deal maximum damage (can be spent after rolling)
• You can use Luck to lower damage by 1d6
• You can use Luck to neutralize a Critical Hit or Fumble
• You can use Luck to reroll a d20 test (it was hotly debated if that would affect both dice for advantage / disadvantage – final call was yes, it will affect both dice)
• You can use Luck to force the GM to reroll

Additionally, I’m bringing some some mechanics from other systems.

Staring Characters

• Starting characters start at maximum hit-points, then modified by Constitution (minimum starting hit-points of 1 hp).
• If you roll no characteristics of 14 or better, change one of them to 14.

Pushing an Arcane Spell

• If you cast a spell and fail, you may choose to push that spell to successfully cast it but at the cost of automatically rolling on the appropriate Spell Mishap table. The spell is still considered lost until a rest is completed as per normal rules.

I used a mechanic like this for a Call of Cthulhu campaign I was running, later ported over to a Pirate Borg game. Magic is powerful and it WANTS to be unleashed but it comes at a price. What is the caster willing to risk to make the magic happen?

Divine Spells

• Priest spells and other classes that have no Spell Mishap table are guaranteed one successful casting of a particular spell that day. The spell is otherwise considered to be lost as per normal rules, requiring rest or penance accordingly.

I stole this one from Sly Flourish – the Lazy DM.

Escalation Dice (Fail Dice)

• If you fail a d20 test, you gain a d6 that can be later added to any other die roll (attacks, damage, healing, etc.).
• You may have up to three of these d6 at a time.
• You may spend one or more of these d6 at a time, rolling one die at a time before deciding if you want to roll another one.
• You may spend these dice after you roll but before the results are applied.
• These dice expire at the end of the session.
• A natural 1 on a d20 is still an automatic fail and do not benefit from adding these dice to it.

I heard about this mechanic from Sly Flourish a well, picked up from another system (Tales of the Valiant I believe, though 13th Age also has an escalation mechanic). I tried it for a D&D 5e adventure and a Pirate Borg scenario, and so far I like how it’s been playing out. As someone who rolls poorly, I am a fan of mechanics that all you to have some means to offset a bad run of rolls. It also drives things towards a conclusion, sidestepping encounters when players can’t roll over a 5.

For the first session, we kept forgetting the fail dice, so next session we put a bowl of d6 with a sign to remind players, “When you fail, take a die – Max 3” and that seemed to help.

Tales of the Valiant gives you a single point of adjustment, so I buffed it a bit by making it an entire d6 and allowing it to be used for ANY die roll and it’s been interesting to see how players have been spending them. As the players have started getting use to this mechanic and Luck, the final encounters of a session have had some extra excitement with things like a fighter who kept on missing got to add 3d6 damage when they finally rolled a successful attack.

Currently, I’m debating about introducing additional Mode options. I want the players to get a feel for the system before adding these.

• You can use Luck an extra action this turn
• Damage dice explode. If you roll maximum on a die, roll again and add it to the total. There is no cap.

Customary

A few other bits that are just custom at the table that we discussed.

• No wacky or punishing combat fumbles. A nat 1 is just a fail unless otherwise specified such as spellcasting that has additional effects as per rules as written.
• “Bloodied” (or flavoured equivalents) to indicate when a creature has dropped below half hit-points.

Next Shadowdark reflection – Hex Crawling