Shadow Of The Demon Lord (RPG - 2015)

[Nefaro]

Picked up the Shadow Of The Demon Lord rpg, after reading glowing reviews across the 'net.

Saw it compared to the style of the old Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay as far as it's interesting character advancement system and the dark fantasy setting.  Even the author makes a direct nod to it in the Preface.  Probably has a less unwieldy ability system than ye olde WFRP had.  It's actually been plugged as a fairly easy and fluid game system, good for the less experienced RPG'er, but still retaining much character customization.

I wanted a relatively easy fantasy RPG system which can progress quickly, and with minimal preparation.  But one which still had plenty of character options without a rigid and/or simplistic Class-based system (Freeedom!).  Savage Worlds could be an option but none of it's traditional-style Fantasy settings looked enticing.  Caught wiff of Shadow and was even happier to find out it had an interestingly dark setting.

So here I am, and some quick skimming shows that I'll probably agree with all those good reviews.  Will probably drop my own little review after consuming the book, and possibly running a session or two before long.  :)


http://schwalbentertainment.com/shadow-of-the-demon-lord/

[Dammit Carl!]

The use of the same artist (or someone who at least copied their style) who did tons of art for WHFRPG 2nd edition - and the sale price it had at that point in time - was a lock for me to pick this game up not long after it hit DriveThru RPG.

Grim-n-gritty fantasy?  Welp...don't mind if I do!

[bbmike]

The use of the same artist (or someone who at least copied their style) who did tons of art for WHFRPG 2nd edition - and the sale price it had at that point in time - was a lock for me to pick this game up not long after it hit DriveThru RPG.

Grim-n-gritty fantasy?  Welp...don't mind if I do!

Wait, weren't you complaining about too RPG inventory in another thread?  ;D

[Dammit Carl!]

Physical copies, man...hand-held stuff is so last century and thats what needs to skeedaddle from said domicile. 

Pdfs (and similar electronic ephemera)  are like dreams of angels and one cannot have too many of those on all the sundry hard drives and flash drives and cloud based places available  >:D

[Nefaro]

Meh.

While PDFs can have their uses, I still want physical copies first & foremost.  Big ass hardbound books ftw.   

[Nefaro]

Thus far it is definitely reminding me of the old 80s era Warhammer FRP with the varied "Path" options as you level. 

It certainly has a similarly dark setting, too, along with a little weirdness.  The (anti-?)heroes aren't necessarily some fancypants do-gooders.  They're just as likely to be brigands or cruel casters of forbidden magic.  Even more so than WFRP.

The Ancestries (aka Races) are also peppered with some magical construct types.  Whether it be souls pulled from the underworld and put into Clockwork Men by a mage or a Changeling made of dirt, straw, and sticks, and animated by fae magic which was switched out with a stolen child early on.  Yes, faeries (including the non-playable Elves) are of the mythical Irish/British type; whimsical and wicked in their odd selfish pursuits. 

There are also Goblins (of aforementioned Faerie types), Orcs, Humans, and Dwarves.  Despite the fairly simple basic mechanics of the game, they each have a different flavor to them, along with some random tables for generating various odd backgrounds and trappings.

The base mechanics are just a simple d20 system with one of the four Attributes modifying.  You need a 10 or higher on checks, or the target's related defending Attribute as a target number on attacks.  Banes and Boons are d6 rolls which add/subtract the roll from it, with more than one working as a die pool & taking only the highest number of the lot.

It's like a cut down amalgamation of a few different systems, some old some new.  There are no skill ranks to modify the base stats.  Instead characters get Professions.  Which basically describe what they're good at doing, so they tend to automatically succeed at related endeavors when having plenty of time or they gain one Boon die (or more?) if doing a roll under pressure. 

The meat of the characters, aside from the typical Ability rolls, are the special abilities & spells gained from Ancestry & Paths.  Generally special Actions that describe what they do.  From the bit I browsed, they're more spell-like than a jumble of modifiers to other stuff so there isn't quite the heap of situational DRMs you had to dig through, as in the Warhammer RPGs (especially the new 40k stuff.. ugh!).   They can still be situational but it's more like "roll an Int vs Dex attack to do this".   O0

While there are more deep & detailed RPGs out there, this looks like an easy one to get into, especially with restricted time & preparation required, but still provides good variety for the characters.  Seems relatively easy to begin GM'ing with, having easy rules to explain, small stat blocks for monsters, the option to ease in with 0-level characters with minimal specials, etc.  Seems like it could be rather deadly at times, though, especially starting off with new characters.