Shadowdark: Tight Gameplay Loop

Shadowdark's gameplay loop is a shining example of design done right. It's hard to find a better and tighter gameplay loop in tabletop gaming today. In contrast, D&D often leaves players feeling confused as they spend 30 minutes sorting through combinations of actions, burning bonus actions, and dealing with conditional 'this doesn't count as action X, so I can do Y afterward' situations.

The 5E gameplay loop of D&D is not just in need of fixes, it's in dire need of major overhauls. From the damage per round to monster hit points, these issues are deeply ingrained in the rules and demand immediate attention. Only a new edition could effectively address them, and the time for that is passed when D&D had the chance to introduce a new edition.

Some 5E clones do a little better and clean things up, while some of the 2024 D&D decisions make it worse. The 30-minute turn needs to die, that is, one-sixth of a 3-hour session for one player on one turn. Even 5 minutes is too much. And this gets worse as the characters' level increases.

Shadowdark makes exploration turn-by-turn, limits actions per turn, and puts a real-time ticking clock on the action. You don't need to spend a lot of time on a turn deciding, nor should you want to. The "best thing to do" is based on the player's imagination and will mainly be apparent given the situation on the table.

I still play 5E, but that tight gameplay loop with the timer solves many problems.

This tight gameplay loop also enhances accessibility. A new player will be on an equal footing with a more experienced player. D&D has this "hidden knowledge" where new players will feel like they will "suck" next to players who know all the tricks. Shadowdark's tighter gameplay loop levels the playing field and puts imagination before rules and book knowledge. There is still "experienced player knowledge," but it leans closer to practical "in-game wisdom" than knowing a rule or exploitable combo.

The gameplay loop is more straightforward to describe to new players. People understand, "move and do an action," and when it is their turn, they know they can do these things. No other player at the table will try to marginalize them or push them to the back because they are more talkative or outgoing. I have seen this happen, especially in the theater of the mind games! Some of the more shy players get "pushed to the back of the party" by the louder and more aggressive players at the table, and neither side knows they are doing it. Shy players carry backpacks and torches, while the more outspoken players are in the front, having all the fun and solving problems.

As a referee, I had to constantly fight that and ensure everyone had a chance to play, but table dynamics tended to return the game to that state after a while. Shadowdark fixes the problem by making the combat and exploration turn structure the same. It is your chance to go, outgoing or shy player, what will you do?

The clock is still running; choose wisely and choose quickly.

Why Do I Need All This Stuff?

I have a nice 5E collection based around the fantastic Level Up Advanced 5E set of rules from EN World, and I am forever ignoring 2014 and 2024 D&D. I can't stand the drama and associated YouTube noise around that blasted game anymore; every week, new drama and clickbait is feeding off of it.

You get a free "+2 ring of drama protection" with either Level Up or Tales of the Valiant. You are out of that market. I don't worry about "class changes" or "power levels," if something is broken over here, I house rule and fix it. I do not subscribe to the YouTube "What did Wizards do this week?" crowd. I needed to walk away to keep optimistic about gaming.

Unlike many, I don't rely on D&D Beyond for character creation. I cherish the freedom and personal touch of crafting my characters by hand. For Tales of the Valiant, I use Hero Lab. I steer clear of the D&D Beyond system, as I believe the data could be used to train AI, potentially compromising the privacy of our characters. Do you really want your character's backstory used to train AI models?

Also, 90% of the third-party books I use for characters do not exist on the D&D Beyond system. If I am stuck in that service, it is a waste of money, and I will never get to use it. I know you can input user data, but ...why?

What often turns me away from 5E are these unconventional old-school games. OSE, DCC, Shadowdark, C&C, and others offer a similar experience to 5E - and in some cases, even better. If I'm in the mood for a classic 'dungeon crawl,' any old-school games deliver it faster, with less complexity, and without the extensive knowledge required by 5E. They offer a new world of discovery and exploration.

Some of them sacrifice the 5E complexity and wisely put it in areas that deliver more fun per page, like the DCC spell system. This balance and efficiency in game design keep me engaged and satisfied.

Others boil the game down to the "essential concepts" and rebuild every aspect of the game for a "table experience" like Shadowdark.

5E has far too many rules. The character sheets are too complicated. Too many "fiddly bits" to a character do not matter unless a specific situation happens. If something happens "once every few sessions," - it is not worth making special rules for it or keeping it on a character sheet.

Sometimes, I like the depth 5E, so I have Level Up (and Tales) and my older books. I don't need to pay $200 for a new set; this works amazingly well to "get my money's worth" from my 5E gaming investment.

But if I do not want that fiddly, complicated depth, much of which is suspect in terms of "work to fun" effort, I will go gonzo old-school any day of the week. DCC does more in terms of "dangerous magic" and "gonzo heroism" than 5E ever could dream of doing, and 5E is not modular enough to support a system like that. When you get a flavor of 5E, it is like buying a video game console, and some things are just too hard to play on the system.

If I want to play 5E and save time sorting through choices and building a character, I will either play Shadowdark or Tales of the Valiant. But even ToV, with Hero Lab, is woefully short of options, and I miss all my 3rd party book content. Online character builders just "ain't it."

OSE, DCC, C&C, or any other "pre-5E" game works amazingly well for anything else. Do I want a "special character ability?" Talk to the referee! Adopt a disadvantage for that power so it balances out. This is old-school gaming; you can throw any temporary or permanent change, remarkable power, or condition on a character anytime!

Did your character touch an ancient statue and gain a once-per-day Charm power?

It is there!

You don't need a rule for that!

Did you rule a character gets a +1 permanent STR adjustment for knocking down an evil temple by rolling a natural 20 on pushing a giant stone pillar down?

Done!

I just ruled it!

Wow, this game is fantastic! It lets you do what you want!

You do not need to worry about 'character validation' in old-school games; it does not exist. You can do this in 5E (and Shadowdark), but I feel too many feel "legal characters" should be the only ones played. Many frown upon doing this sort of "freeform character design" and updating a character during play.

If I want a free-form play and do not want complicated characters, 5E falls flat for me. There are times when "I just don't have the time or mental energy" to do a full session of 5E, and it does not really matter.

That is when I ask, "Do I really need all this stuff?"

Castles & Crusades Added

This isn't in the gonzo genre, but it can be. I love this game so much that I put it away for a while to focus on other games; it just tends to "take over" every other fantasy game in my thinking and play.

It is that amazing.

I felt it wasn't "gonzo" enough, that deadly mix of tension and old-school difficulty that defines the genre. C&C has always been more of an AD&D 2nd Edition style "story game" to me that is compatible with the classics but feels more suited for stories like Dragonlance and the other classics of the 1980s and 1990s.

It is one of my "best of all time" games.

I felt that removing it would help me focus on this blog better. Well, I was wrong about that. I tend to do better with a more narrow focus, but in light of people trying to divide the old-school community, we should not reject any old-school game from any space.

C&C can be a "gonzo" game if you play it that way. It takes adopting that gonzo look and feel, but it can be done. I always felt this was one of the more "serious" retro-games, so it did not feel in this genre, at least not to me.

But let's give it as chance.

In light of the dumb comments many are making about Shadowdark and trying to split the old-school community, I am adding C&C coverage here. We can't be divided. It is funny, when big companies release updates to their games (and try to signing players up for live services), lots of trouble is stirred up in the old-school gaming sphere.

Many troublemakers are trying to stir up anger and division, but we should not let them drive us away from this fantastic place with amazing fans. The value of the old-school community is far greater than the drama they are trying to create.

All old-school games belong together.

I am sorry, I am unsubscribing from any YouTube channel that feeds into this division. I am also tired of the "D&D Beyond and Wizards" drama clickbait channels too; they are going on my unsub lists. I never used D&D Beyond, and I don't care. The last time I used an electronic character sheet was in D&D 4 days, and I learned back then that those online character services are only supported for longer than 5-10 years, and you will lose it all someday.

I still have 40-year-old index cards with characters that are still playable for dozens of games. They are yellowed, but "data retention" on a hand-made character sheet beats many media formats and cloud services.

I still need to find shelves to commit to C&C.

And I need to do a better job balancing all these amazing games.

It is a nice problem to have.