Being Positive

If Shadowdark wins, then my OSR game loses!

I get this vibe on many YouTube comments on this game's coverage, and it feels silly. Me? I love the game. This is my "5E replacement" in a B/X style of game. I have Level Up A5E as my full-rules 5E game (and there is always ToV, which is getting better by the day).

I refuse to play Wizards games. I don't support their business practices.

Shadowdark is more than just another game in the market. It's a revolution, much like the original iPhone. It doesn't have to 'compete' with OSE, Swords & Wizardry, DCC, Hyperborea, WWN, or any other old-school game. It doesn't have to 'prove it does something new.' The original iPhone did 'nothing new' either, but it revolutionized how we use phones. Similarly, Shadowdark is a game-changer in the gaming community.

D&D is the Blackberry phone with the keyboard.

Shadowdark is the iPhone.

Someone could come out with a "high magic" mod for Shadowdark and compete with the main D&D game, and I bet to do a better job and be more successful in making the game easy to play while capturing what makes "high magic superheroes" fun and appealing. D&D is the "high magic superheroes game" by accident; they are not designing the game to drill in on the fun parts of this experience. It stumbles into the genre and says it owns it.

A focused "Shadowdark Fantasy Heroes" game focused on "what makes the genre fun" would be a backstab the industry needs. You can't "mistake your way" into a market and expect to be the market leader forever; people will focus on what the customers want and out-design you. MCDM RPG is a prime example, and from what I see, they are taking D&D's un-fun weaknesses and attacking the leader there.

Shadowdark already won the "old-school 5E" crowd over.

Nimble 5E and MCDM are coming.

That high-magic replacement game is coming, and D&D will seem like another fallen monopoly that could never be defeated. The high costs of their VTT mean they need to make a lot of money fast, or they will fail just as fast. It is a big gamble, and competing games only need to take a tiny slice of the market away for them to fail or a few slices together.

Many 5E players would not touch an OSR game, but they will consider Shadowdark. If anything, this is a failure of the OSR to innovate and to sit too comfortably on imitating the past, flaws and all. Many OSR creators fail to ignore the 5E market and adopt a "better than thou" attitude toward newer gamers and their fans. Many 5E players have the same attitude. Elitism is a turn-off for many, and both sides are guilty.

Shadowdark bridges the gap.

It allows the massive crowd of 5E players to experience the old-school style. It also offers older players a chance to see a streamlined, focused, modern set of rules driving the gameplay style we are used to.

5E players who take the first step into Shadowdark will discover a wonderful world of other old-school games waiting for them. And the players of old-school games should welcome everyone into our communities with open arms. Nobody should "diss a game and its players."

Everyone gets to play.

Everyone has a favorite game.

But being positive is the key to happier gaming. Nobody has to "lose" here. With every player who tries a new game, and gets out of the D&D mind monopoly, we all win.