[Closed] Shadowdome Thunderdark (Shadowdark)

UPDATE - Looks like there is not enough interest for 2 competing parties, so I'm updating this to reflect a one-party game.

First off: This is an experiment. I hope it will go well, but it could crash and burn. You have been warned.

THE PITCH: TWO PARTIES ENTER. ONE PARTY LEAVES... with the prize.

The Shadowdark RPG has a free zine called "Shadowdome Thunderdark" that is intended to create a "random megadungeon". Actually, it stocks a random megadungeon with themed encounters, bosses, and treasures. It was used at GarcyCon XVI for a delving competition: two parties entered the dungeon seeking a prize. First one to get out with the prize won.

I would like to try running this. Anyone want to play?

THE DETAILS
* One PC party will compete against one (simulated) NPC party. Two parties will compete. Each has their own entrance to the dungeon.
* No direct party-vs-party violence (indirect interference ok)
* Each dungeon level is a Donjon random dungeon.
* Multiple levels, with the prize on a lower level.
* The dungeon is randomly stocked using Shadowdome Thunderdark
* Light sources will be tracked
* Will mostly use structured "crawling rounds" outside of combat. (GM posts > Each player posts > round ends. Repeat.) Not 100% enforced, but the structure will be needed to keep the two parties from getting wildly out of sync.
* In-dungeon time will be "squishy", so that time passes at roughly the same rate for each party. Still figuring this out, but I have ideas.
* PLAYER MAPPING - I won't give you any maps. Keeping track of your location will be up to the party. This is both old-school AND reduces my GM load.
* Exploration and combat heavy. Probably not much roleplaying with NPCs
* DEADLY. The zine spits out encounters at a variety of difficulties, with no consideration for the party's level.
* Mostly random character generation. 3d6 down-the-line stats. Will probably start everyone at 2nd or 3rd level.
* Parties will be required to exit the dungeon and return "to town" each game day. This will be a multi-delve competition.

THE CAVEATS
* GM post rate will probably be medium-to-slow - 3-4/week.
* If a player doesn't keep up, their PC will take a standard action of some kind (posted by me) to keep things moving.
* New players welcome
* I will lean heavily towards recruiting players with an established post history on GP. Drop-outs will be more disruptive than usual, so I want to hedge my bets.

Are you interested?
If so, post in this thread. Accepting up to 6 players. If there is enough interest (at least 8 people - 4 for each party), then I will start building the game. There will be a small delay between when I finalize recruitment and when I get the game started. If there are 6 or less people interested, I might still run the game, but with one player party vs an NPC party.

WHO RUN SHADOWTOWN?!

Put me in, coach. I'm intrigued.

Sounds interesting. I'm willing to give it a try.

Toss me in the ring

I'd like to give Shadowdark a whirl, count me in!

There is now enough interest for one party, I'm going to leave this up through the weekend. Then I'll run the one-party version if I don't get enough players for a second party.

If you don't want to play with only one party, let me know.

@MaJunior , @Dmbrainiac , @RageRed , and @Balthazar : You are all in. I need to set up the game, then I will send invites.

Still accepting up to 2 more players.

One quick question (because I know my luck) regarding character creation:

I know we roll stats straight down the line, my question is, if the stat rolls are bad enough, can we discard and reroll?

I'm not looking for mega-stats. I just know my history with our dice roller.

The rules state that if you don't roll a single 14+, you reroll the whole set. That's just the book, and not including whatever Tim might plausibly rule.

Shadowdark has a rule that allows you to reroll a new set of 6 stats if you don't have one stat of at leat 14 or higher. You can do this as many times as required to get a set of stats with at least one 14+.

I am also going to let everyone roll 2 sets of stats and pick the one they like best (rerolling as needed so that both your choices have at least one 14+).

As another tidbit: I'll be using a few extra classes beyond the basic 4 in the core rules: the semi-official Ranger and Bard, as well as the witch and warlock from cursed scroll zine 1.

Thank you! That's fantastic to know. I was really worried I'd end up dragging the team down.

Is there room for one more, if so I'd like to join.

This has me intrigued. I own but have never played Shadowdark. If you are taking additional players I'd be thrilled to give this a go.

We've got 6 by my count, so I'm closing recruitment. More info to come.

Finally a Shadowdark game on this site