I've been enthusiastic about Shadowdark since I first picked it up. Now that I've been playing it for several months across a couple of campaigns, I can write a critique that's not just an academic exercise or armchair quarterbacking. I also updated several home brew adventures to Shadowdark recently and ran them as dungeon crawls at last week's Philly area gaming expo, so I've had experience running Shadowdark for a dozen people new to the system as well as seasoned veterans. My players are loving the system and I see no signs of us putting it aside as long as we're doing old school dungeon crawls.
Shadowdark is an "OSR-adjacent" game that features concise, simple rules using modern mechanics to deliver a 1970's or 1980's gaming experience. That's basically the "elevator pitch" for the game - a 1980's BX vibe with modern mechanics. If you're happy with your AD&D, BX, BECMI, or anything in the first wave of clones, there's potentially not as much here for you unless you want to try out a modern experience. The retro clones and their friends started with old rule sets and streamlined them to improve the presentation and editing. Shadowdark goes in the opposite direction - it starts with 5E mechanics and ideas from other modern games, simplifies them, and adds back in the elements that drive a classic dungeon crawler experience.
For self-amusement I'm grouping these perspectives into Good, Bad, and Ugly, but here's a large caveat about the "ugly" category; beauty is in the eye of the beholder. One person's ugly mechanic will be sublime beauty in the mind of the next referee or game master. I'd hazard that one's perception of these mechanics will depend on how much "fantasy world simulation" you expect in your game. There are a lot of elements in 1970's AD&D, for instance, that are targeted at creating a living, breathing, world-in-motion where the rules of the game are the laws of the simulated fantasy world. I've found that modern games (including 4E and 5E D&D) eschew these "simulationist" elements by giving players more meta-game abilities (like inspiration points in 5E D&D) or elevating the power and abilities of player characters far beyond the other inhabitants of the game world. In modern games, player characters are special and cut from a different cloth from the NPCs and monsters.
Here's an example where Shadowdark parts ways with it's forebears - creating a magic item. AD&D, BECMI, and BX have defined magic research steps involving high level magic users, rare spells, and scads of money, time, and exotic ingredients to create a magic item. NPC wizards can make magic items with enough time, capital, and skill, and high-level player-character wizards can pursue the same if they want to put in the work.
Enter Shadowdark, and modern design. Wouldn't it be cool if leveling up just included a random chance of creating a signature magic item? Thus on the advancement tables for the Shadowdark wizard, any time the wizard is rolling for a new class ability (and yes, class abilities in the game are random - more on that later) there's a 1 in 36 chance (snake eyes) of "Oops, I created a magic wand?" Now both of my wizard players stare in glee when it's time to roll that talent - to them, getting an item this way would be amazing. It's a huge check mark in the column labeled "fun mechanic" for them. But it's a far cry from having to grind out 9+ levels of wizard, hoarding gold pieces like Elon Musk, building a remote tower or redoubt for seclusion, and navigating the arduous magic item creation rules just to be able to say, "I finally created... a humble dagger +1. Woot."
I think it comes down to old and new games are trying to do different things. Shadowdark is laser focused on running great adventures (both dungeons and hex crawls) and less concerned with the fantasy world-building outside of the adventure, which can be so engrossing in AD&D. As I go through the list of "ugly or sublime" design choices below, whether you find them baleful or beneficent probably depends on trade-offs like game experience vs verisimilitude. Maybe it's a traditional vs modern axis as well. I've certainly found myself favoring one viewpoint or another through my referee career.
The Ugly... or Sublime
Random Class Talents
We already covered the "oops I made a magic item" example when leveling up. In fact, the entire character advancement scheme involves random improvements to abilities, including the ability to raise character stats like strength, dexterity, intelligence, etc.
Imagine two fighters with similar modest stats at the start of the game. One of the characters repeatedly rolls stat increases upon advancing, and in a few levels they look like Gregor Clegane the Mountain from Game of Thrones, while his compatriot retained kept his modest physique, while instead becoming deadly with bows, swords, and axes. Perhaps a third fighter ends up as a defensive specialist, with extra hit points and improved skill with armor. There's elegance to the way random advancement can drive diversity among characters of the same class. The more I see the random talents in action, the more I like them.
It's a big difference from older games, where all classes receive the same class abilities at the same levels. Additionally, the core attributes of old school characters like strength and intelligence are mostly set in stone after character creation, barring the odd Manual of Bodily Health, Tome of Leadership and Influence, and similar rarities found in dungeons. Modern designs since 4E allow player characters to significantly improve their character attributes through leveling.
Luck Tokens
Shadowdark includes a mechanic called "luck tokens" which affords the player a re-roll. In older games, I can't think of any common player-controlled instrument of fate that let a player reach into the setting from beyond the world and change their destiny, barring the rare Wish spell. But effectively that's what luck tokens do; a game event has occurred (the player misses a key roll), the player has the power to press the pause and rewind buttons on the game, and the player announces "I'd like to re-roll that with my luck token".
Luck tokens make Shadowdark eminently survivable. Don't believe the hype that Shadowdark is super deadly - luck is a strong mechanic, and those sentiments are likely coming from the 5E crowd. Luck tokens are (and should be) a scarce resource, so they drive interesting discussions as players debate the best use of them. Resource management is an important part of the dungeon crawl experience and luck is a powerful resource that mitigates randomness. There are also new class designs like the Bard and Seer that include the creation or manipulation of luck tokens in their core abilities, so luck tokens are clearly a signature mechanic.
My verdict: they're powerful, but they drive healthy player discussions around resources and mitigate some randomness; I like them in a game like Shadowdark.
The Torch Timer
People online fixate on the torch timer. Here's how it works: the duration of light sources in Shadowdark are not tied to in-game time, they last 1 hour using table time. When a new torch is lit, the referee turns on an egg-timer, flips an hourglass, sets a countdown on their phone, whatever. An hour later, the torch goes out. As a referee, I still track old school turns to know how much "in-game" time is elapsing for purposes of spell durations, wandering monster checks, that kind of stuff. The torch runs on a completely different track.
So what does the real-world torch timer accomplish? First, darkness is scary in the game - no player characters have darkvision or infravision. The game advises the referee to make darkness a constant threat, almost like a survival horror thing. Invariably, players lose track of the real-world timer at some point and the torch goes out in the middle of a combat, plunging an orderly scene into horror and chaos and screams. When they're paying attention to the torch, it incentivizes the players to self-correct (ie, stop talking about football or politics) and get back to advancing the game. I find it minimizes "analysis paralysis" or too much equivocation since the torch counts down whether they're exploring or yapping about their day in the office. Plus, the player characters have limited gear slots so they have a limited supply of light sources with them. Shadowdark is very much an "encumbrance matters" system.
Conclusion: the real-time torch timer is a gimmick, but it puts in some work creating tension. It's great fun for the referee when the players lose track and the light goes out. Muhahahaha.
THE GOOD
Game Mechanics
Shadowdark bring modern mechanics and themes like ascending armor class, bounded accuracy, advantage/disadvantage, limited action economy, simple skill checks, no saving throws, flat hit points, and a focus on theater of the mind (non-tactical movement and ranges) so the game plays very quickly at the table, which I prioritize highly. I'm usually running groups of 5-6 players. Fast moving rounds with simple rules keeps the gaming moving quickly and everyone engaged.
OSR Experience
I love horror games, but for classic dungeon crawls, my heart is with the Tom Moldvay vibe of 1980's modules like Castle Amber or The Lost City. Shadowdark is quite possibly my favorite dungeon crawler / OSR type game to channel that spirit of 1980's D&D and classic adventure modules like The Lost City, Horror on the Hill, In Search of the Unknown, and similar. It uses XP for treasure, no darkvision for player character races, reaction rolls, morale checks, and a fantastic encumbrance system (even simpler in implementation than the LOTFP encumbrance, which is already quite good) that all make this a fine exploration system. It's not the first "encumbrance matters" modern creation, but it does it really well. I've run a lot of OSR and related rules, between the previous section on mechanics and this section on the experience, these are the things that have me regarding the game so well.
Presentation
The rulebook is concise and easy to read, including A5 pages with large text - something I appreciate as my eyes are getting older. Wordy books are just hard to use at the table. There is a free set of quick start rules for both players and the referee that include everything needed to try the game, including a full-size dungeon adventure - if you have any Shadowdark interest, go check out the free rules: Free Quickstart Rules.
Cursed Scrolls
Shadowdark official expansions have been coming through zines called "Cursed Scrolls" - there are 3 now with 3 more coming in early 2025. Each Cursed Scroll includes new classes, spells, and character options; a hex-crawl sandbox setting, and a fully populated dungeon and new monsters. I've made good use of Cursed Scroll 3 (Midnight Sun) as it included Norse themed classes, gear, monsters, and adventures.
Spell Casting
Shadowdark uses a "roll to cast" mechanism which means characters can keep using spells until they fail a check. Once they fail, they can't use that spell again until the following day (and critical failures will lead to a mishap and consequences). A cleric could fail their first cure wounds spell or get to use it multiple times during an adventure, and the complexion of the game changes dramatically between those two poles. In my experience, other players frequently prioritize saving luck tokens to help the casters avoid critical spell failures too early in the adventuring day. Overall it's a novel change from Vancian spell casting - casters aren't as powerful as 5E but significantly more powerful than old school games. This might also be the largest departure from classic OSR games and the biggest swing towards 4E and 5E powered casters.
Character Funnels (Gauntlets)
I'm a convert to using a character funnel to kick off a campaign after using the Shadowdark "gauntlet" rules for both of my campaigns. It's an idea that originated with Dungeon Crawl Classics, and is renamed a gauntlet here (and the implementation is marginally different). If this is new to you - the gauntlet or funnel involves bringing 4 zero-level peasants to a short but dangerous adventure; many of the peasants will die along the way, but survivors will matriculate to being level 1 characters after the gauntlet. It's like a non-boring "session zero" for the campaign, and every group for which I've run a gauntlet has really enjoyed it and came away with memorable survivors.
Magic Items
Shadowdark philosophy assumes magic is unreliable, so there are random tables of drawbacks for magic items. It's a small thing but does differentiate it apart from BX style games.
XP and Carousing
The game uses XP for treasure but abstracts away from the actual gold piece count to use coarse grain numbers - a typical treasure find is 1 XP, a major hoard or magic item is 3XP, and a character may need 10 XP x Level to level up (10 XP required at Level 1, 20 XP at Level 2, etc). It's simple to adjudicate at the table (and the ref needs to record the XP finds in real-time). Shadowdark characters get about 1/10th the treasure of an OSR game. Furthermore, the game has a carousing mechanic for XP during downtime in between adventures, which will act to 'drain the party's coffers' and keep them motivated to go back to the dungeon.
Community
The Shadowdark spaces (reddit, discord, Facebook) are all shockingly drama-free and populated with folks just there to talk about the games. It's remarkable - they seem to be free of politics and controversy while the detractors are on the outside. There's a ton of DIY energy and activity that reminds me of the early OSR some 15 years ago. I don't know if anyone's done a population poll, but I imagine the majority of Shadowdark players are coming home from 5E as opposed to OSR veterans and grognards.
BAD
Your mileage may vary; these are the (relatively minor) quibbles I have with the rules.
Deadliness
Shadowdark combat is fairly forgiving compared to old school games. Characters reduced to zero hit points have a death timer that usually gives the party several rounds to stabilize them, and with the power of casters and the presence of luck tokens, there's a good chance the cleric will have a cure wounds spell. All hit points and ability damage are restored via a long rest, like 5E.
Equipment Abstractions
Because of the limited gear slots, there are some abstractions implicit in the adventuring gear. For instance, a ration represents both food and water in the same encumbrance slot; characters don't carry stand-alone waterskins. You can buy 10 iron spikes but the hammer is 'virtual' and doesn't take up a slot.
Time Definitions
Shadowdark flipped the meaning of rounds and turns. Exploring is done in rounds, combat is done in rounds, and players take turns during a round. Combat rounds and exploring rounds take different amounts of time. The designer changed the exploring rounds (crawling rounds) from 1 turn = 10 minutes (BX D&D style) to 1 exploring round = 6 minutes; 10 rounds in an hour. Spells are measured in rounds, and they don't differentiate between combat or crawling rounds. So a 5 round spell will last 30 minutes if cast during exploration rounds, but will last only 30 seconds if cast during combat. It's curious.
Monster Stats
Monsters are very sparse, focusing on minimalist abilities. Many of them have lost campaign depth. A good example is the Night Hag, which traditionally has ethereal travel and a wide range of spell casting abilities in older games; the SD version can only cast a blindness spell and Change Shape. Boo. Likewise, all NPC's are statted like monsters and don't use equivalent spells as player characters; they're more simplistic befitting their limited time on the stage. It's a much different mindset from older games where monsters populate dungeons but also have campaign roles. I find myself consulting Labyrinth Lord or the Rules Cyclopedia for additional BX-themed monster abilities.
Character Options
There's no "race-as-class" like a BX game, and the races have been retitled "Ancestries" and kept simple and flavorful. I like the change - ancestry is a fine term for me, and doesn't carry weird Sci-Fi baggage like "species". As mentioned, no one has darkvision, which is for the best. Sadly there's no Elven fighter/magic-user style character just yet (so this could appear under the bad, too).
Publishing Aesthetic (3rd parties)
I'm a little tired of all the samey-looking 3rd party supplements with the all black covers and limited B&W art. It's not even a grim-dark game!
*****
So there we go. Obviously I'm in a place with my players where the good and the sublime outweigh the quibbles, but hopefully this gives my readers (who I imagine are mostly grognards) a good sense of what they can expect. The biggest thing I'd recommend is getting the free player's quickstart and referee's quick start: Free Quickstart Rules.; Kelsey Dionne is generous with the free rules, including a good-sized sample dungeon, to be able to give Shadowdark a whirl at your table.
