Shadowdark RPG Rules FAQ

Greetings, crawler!

In this FAQ, Shadowdark RPG's creator, Kelsey Dionne, answers bunch of great rules questions the Arcane Library Discord Server asked her a few weeks ago.

Without further ado, here are the questions and answers!

Is it right that you do not add STR/DEX mods to damage, only to the attack roll? Damage mods come from Talents or specific magic items only, yes?

That’s correct! STR and DEX mod only add to your attack roll, not damage.

Do torches (and other light sources) still burn in real time during combat? For example, if real time combat took 30 minutes but only covered 2 minutes of in-game time, did the torches still burn for 30 minutes?

Yes, torches burn in real time during combat. The passage of time expands and contracts a bit in Shadowdark depending on what the characters are doing, but the torch is always there to add time pressure and encourage fast play. 

It might be helpful to note that Shadowdark does not have any in-game mechanics expressed as minutes of time; everything at the “happening now” level is expressed in rounds. So the gameplay itself is tracked purely in rounds while exploring, in combat, or during an encounter. A simple move + action takes a round rather than a set number of seconds or minutes.

Is there a GEM BAG; if so does it hold up to 10 gems worth of slots for “free?”

There is no official gem bag, but it’s a cool idea! I’d allow a character to carry either 10 gems for free, or else up to 100 coins (but not both).

If the highest initiative was a player and went clockwise around the table. Is the GM considered to be part of the clockwise order, or would all players go then GM? If the GM is part of the clockwise order, how would you handle it if a player chose to not go when his turn came up?

The GM is considered part of that clockwise order and takes their turn after the player to their immediate right. If a player decides to skip their turn, that’s fine – initiative order just moves on to the next person.

Although it’s not officially in the rules, some GMs allow players to “delay” their action, which would allow the player to jump into the turn order if a situation they specified comes up. Then initiative picks back up with the player whose turn it would have been.

CON bonuses do not apply to HP per level, yes? Does it apply to first level?

Characters add their CON bonus to the HP at first level only (with a minimum final total of 1 HP, if it would take their character below 1).

If a character’s CON bonus changes at any point, that change should also be applied to the character’s total HP once per change.

Does lighting a torch in the dark require a roll?

Just like with any situation, lighting a torch in the darkness should require a roll if the three conditions for “When To Roll?” are true (see Shadowdark RPG pg. 81). To recap, that’s when there is time pressure, skill is required, and failure would have a negative consequence.

In the gameplay example on pg. 99, Ralina the thief has to roll to light a torch because the party is in a dangerous combat and she is working by feel. There is time pressure, skill required, and failure would be disastrous.

However, if the party was simply walking down an empty hallway when the torch goes out, I don’t personally feel a roll would be required.

How does trap detection generally work and how does it work with the thief's advantage on trap detection?

Here's the TL;DR on this one: All characters can find traps if they take the right steps, but only thieves can do so automatically. Thieves do not always need to roll, but they do if the situation has time pressure, requires skill, and there is a consequence for failure. When rolling, thieves have advantage because of their training.

There are some details on this on Shadowdark RPG pg. 114 (Traps), but it merits a longer explanation and examples because this question can be challenging to adjudicate. Finding traps makes use of the “When To Roll” rules on pg. 81, which may not be immediately obvious.

It’s first important to note that a thief is the only one of the four core character classes trained in finding traps. That means a thief automatically succeeds at this task if given enough time. Other character classes are not trained in such a way, and so they can’t just walk into a room and find a trap given enough time (although I’d allow them to find traps if they use clever gameplay, such as specifying where and how they look and correctly sussing out a trap the hard and dangerous way).

Trap detection generally has two scenarios. 1. The searching character has plenty of time, or 2. The searching character is in a rush.

In the first scenario, the character has plenty of time. If we’re using “When To Roll?” from Shadowdark RPG pg. 81, it’s safe to say there is no real time pressure and that a thief would not need to roll. If the thief spends enough time looking or they guess very well at where the trap is hidden, they find it. In my opinion, this would prompt a random encounter check or even a use of the “Time Passes” rule (Shadowdark RPG pg. 82).

The risk vs. reward calculation here is the time spent and the risk of a random encounter, not necessarily the danger of the trap itself.

If the characters don’t want to spend the time needed to search the room, then I would allow the thief to spend one round in a cursory search and make a check to find a potential trap. The thief has advantage on this roll because they are trained. Other classes are not trained, so I would either disallow it entirely or allow them to roll with disadvantage if they had special knowledge that would help them locate the trap, such as seeing this exact sort of trap previously in the dungeon.

Note that rolling introduces the chance of failure; even critical failure. Failure could potentially set off the trap or, at best, give bad information. This can be riskier than simply spending the time to look.

(Also note that I wouldn’t allow a character to spam checks; they get one chance, and the result is the result.)

If the character finds a trap, then what? Will they try to avoid it, or disable it? Just like in the above situation, the GM should weigh whether to ask for a check using the “When To Roll?” rules.

In scenario 2, the character is in a rushed situation, such as during combat or when fleeing from an enemy. The stakes have changed. Now we meet the requirements of “When To Roll?” because, 1. There is time pressure, 2. Swiftly finding a trap requires skill, and 3. There are consequences for failing to find a potential trap.

In this scenario, the character has to pray for good luck and roll to find the potential trap. This is where the thief character truly shines – they have advantage on the roll due to their training and Thievery talent. They are the best emergency trap finders! Conversely, a non-thief character is untrained at this special sort of task and should either not be able to do this or else have disadvantage. In both cases, rolling also introduces the chance of failure or critical failure. Rolling is always risky.

The key to all of this is for the GM to filter the situation through “When To Roll?” and to give the thief advantage (or give a non-thief a penalty) when relevant. This helps protect the thief’s niche as the best trap-finder.

What happens when a character at zero hit points takes damage?

Currently in the rules as written, nothing. However, you could remove one round from the character’s death timer each time this happens.

For longer campaigns, should new characters come in at 1 or come in at the level of the characters? What options exist?

Any option is on the table because the right answer depends on the group and campaign style. In some cases, such as a West Marches open-world campaign, it’s common for the group to have characters of various levels and even for players to have several characters each. In this situation, it’d make more sense for new characters to start at level 1.

However, some campaigns are more story-driven or narratively focused, and having a character come in at level 1 amidst an otherwise high-level group would be jarring and unfun. In that case, the GM might want to start that character at the same average party level as the rest of the group. 

How often should thieves be able to sneak up and backstab a creature?

Usually at least once per combat, and potentially more times if the thief invests the effort in hiding out of sight and sneaking around to an unaware creature. I don’t feel this should be given as readily as in a system like 5E D&D – it really requires the thief to go fully out of sight and then sneak around, undetected, into a surprising new position.

What do you do with a stabilized character at zero hit points when there's no other way to heal them to 1 hit point?

That character needs to rest to recover fully (that includes eating a ration, and it’s not necessarily clear if an unconscious character can do that; however, the design intent is that an unconscious character can be administered consumables such as potions and rations).

Do the effects of a potion end if the character who drank it is reduced to 0 hit points? 

I would usually rule that the potion’s effects continue even when a character is unconscious. There might be corner cases where this simply doesn’t make sense, so the GM will need to be the final arbiter.

Does a non-focus spell end if the character who cast it is killed? (e.g. Priest cast holy weapon on the Fighter's Greataxe and is subsequently slain before the spell expires)

I typically rule that spells with a duration end when the spellcaster dies. Related to that, I usually rule that a spellcaster can end a spell’s effect before the duration ends if the spellcaster is in “control” of the spell (i.e. it was not a miscast due to a critical failure or the spellcaster was forced to cast it by a compulsion effect). 

Can the Round Shield from Cursed Scroll 3 be made mithril? (the implication seems to be that it is made of wood, and the shattering ability is a consequences of its being wooden)

I don’t see why not! :)

Are walls of force bendable into a cylinder so one can entrap a foe on all sides?

In theory, yes. I would rule that awall of force can create a cylinder that has about 10’-15’ of interior space. Someone who wants to calculate the interior space of a 30’ line when turned into a hollow cylinder should be penalized with XP loss for doing geometry at the table (I’m kidding, of course)!

In terms of close, near, far, that would be about enough space to include one spellcaster and all immediately adjacent enemies (although I’m guessing that’s not typically what a spellcaster would do).

The height of the cylinder would be up to a near distance, so some foes could fly or leap over that shape.

My players encounter a trio of skeletons (Level 2). Do I roll once on the 0-3 treasure table for EACH skeleton or just once for the entire trio? I know in the end it's up to me based upon how generous I want to be, but what was the intent when you created the treasure tables?

The intent is for you to roll once for the entire encounter. Some encounters are better to avoid if the risk vs. reward ratio is bad!

Are negative stat bonuses added to death timers (CON), first-level HP (CON) and armor class (such as DEX with leather armor)?

Yes, they are. Note that many of these have a minimum of 1 after totalling everything.