The first ShadowDark zine from the Arcane Library, this one focuses on some nasty elements.  There are some new classes, backgrounds, spells, and monsters, as well as a map for a hex-crawl and an adventure to plug into it.  Like with the core book, the layout is designed for ease of use, the line-art has a nice old-school RPG vibe, and a lot of stuff is done in one or two page layouts (except the hex-crawl & adventure).

For new classes, we’ve got the Knight of St. Ydris, which is sort of a dark paladin.  Then there’s the Warlock, which I think is kinda like a creepy cleric.  And finally there’s the Witch, another spellcaster with some twists.  The Knight of St. Ydris is tied pretty directly to the hex-crawl region of The Gloaming, and I’m not sure it would be super useful if you weren’t planning on playing within that setting.  The Warlock and Witch, however, should be nice additions.  I’m kicking around using a video game element if I run ShadowDark.  If I understand things correctly, a “RogueLike” game includes a system where you as a player gain more options and abilities, even if your character dies in a “permadeath” situation.  I’m not a video game guy, so apologies for my clumsy translation.  But what I’m thinking is that, as players reach certain levels with the core character classes, they “unlock” new classes.  So, if they’re playing a Priest and reach Level 3, maybe Warlocks, Witches, and the Pit-Fighter (from Cursed Scroll #2) can be chosen (at level 1) for a new character.  That’s what I’m thinking.  We’ll see if it works, or seems like a good idea in play.  Some classes, I may simply not allow unless we play in a specific setting, like the Knight of St. Ydris or the Desert Rider (also from Cursed Scroll #2).

The hex-crawl is interesting.  It’s keyed with some specific locations, though the descriptions of those are brief and evocative, leaving the development to you.  But there’s also a LOT of open hexes for you to fill as you might wish.  It’s really more of a canvas with just the hints of an image, meant for you and your players to make your own.  Then one specific hex is fleshed out with a full adventure, The Hideous Halls of Mugdulblub.  Though again, this adventure is written in the way Kelsey Dionne does, with some basic descriptions and bullet points, but with room for you to make it your own.

I’m not sure how much interest I have in running this particular setting, but there are definitely bits and pieces of it that I’d love to work into something else.  I can certainly imagine using Into the Wyrd and Wild to enhance the creepiness of the surroundings.  I gather that this zine is the beginning of The Arcane Library’s home setting, which has recently been expanded upon into its own book that they’ve crowdfunded.  Like a lot of early D&D stuff, it’s weird but familiar.  Twists on traditional Medieval Fantasy stuff.  It’s generic enough that you can plug it into other semi-generic worlds, like Greyhawk the Forgotten Realms, or vice versa.  It shouldn’t take much effort at all to take a module like Quagmire and plug it into the Gloaming. 

See my unboxing of Cursed Scroll #1 here.

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