Shadowdark – The Joy of Randomness

I’ve been running some Shadowdark games lately. I did a couple of one shots and now I’ve got an ongoing game using the Lost Citadel of the Scarlet Minotaur.

Usually as part of prep, I do a bunch of random rolls for the traps / obstacles and variations of the monsters and a couple of loot tables. I make a list and drop the details in as the moment arrives. Last session I started rolling up details in the heat of the moment from the Something Happens table for inspiration as the party explored the sunken halls.

• A roll of “The sudden sound of rushing water crashes towards you” as the party listened at the door became not only the sound of water heard, now the room was decorated in frescoes of triremes and sea battles.

• A roll of “A mound in the earth quickly burrows towards you” appeared not as a moving threat but as a suspicious item in a bare room, leading to a very cautious investigation with pointy sticks and theories of who made the mound and why it was there while I jotted down these suggestions.

In other randomness, I borrowed a random action table from Dragonbane for the minotaur and I plan on using it for the eventual confrontation. More recently, I did something similar for boss monsters in a D&D camp, rolling a d4 to determine the next action. It was surprising how much mental load was tied into making these decisions for the ‘best move’. The random roll moved the action that much quicker into play. I’m eager to see how that’s going to work for the minotaur encounter.

Overall, I’m challenging myself to do more randomness in the moment for encounters, details, and treasure. It’s a good skill to hone. As much as I love the numerous tables in Shadowdark, there are a lot of them to have at hand so for the moment I’m tabbing the appropriate pages as part of prep.