Shadowdark House Rules
Shadowdark House Rules
These are the seven house rules I have been using for Shadowdark games during 2025. I could see making changes to the death timer for the second campaign but I am really happy with how the other six performed.
After rolling your six stats in order you may swap one pair of numbers. As normal if none of your stats are 14 or higher, you may roll a new set of six numbers.
Rational: This is an old rule from our Basic D&D Game to allow players to play their preferred Class. Given Stats are random anyway it is not really changing much while giving Players more choice (always a good thing).
2 COMBAT INITIATIVE!
Simultaneous Initiative. All Players announce what their Character is going to do and then roll any dice for their actions. All Monsters then perform their actions. At the end of the combat round any Character or Monster who has gone to 0 HP or less falls unconscious and is dying.
Rational: Initiative tends to slow the game down especially when players wait to see the results of other characters actions before thinking about their own. Shadowdark's system of going clockwise encourages the Player who has the best Dex to sit to the left of the GM and all the monsters act on the same turn anyway. This way everyone who is not surprised gets to act in a round. Characters cannot metagame to gain an advantage.
3 Critical Hits.
You deal a critical hit if you roll a natural 20 or beat the target number by 10 or more on an attack roll or spellcasting check. For a weapon, double its damage dice on the attack. For a spell, you may double one of its numerical effects (see pg. 45) but not its restrictions.
Rational: Only natural 20's are 5% of rolls. Using the Pathfinder Critical Hit rule means they happen more often which I like.
4 Damage dice explode.
If you roll maximum damage on a die, roll again and add it to the total. There is no cap. Each dice on a Critical Hit can explode separately.
Rational: This is one of the "modes of play" options from page 111 and a rule from the old WFRP. It means anyone can die to a lucky hit.
5 DEATH
A character who goes to 0 HP falls unconscious and is dying. A character who goes above 0 HP wakes up and is no longer dying. Characters die at -10 HP unless healed or stabilized.
Death Timer. At the start of each round a dying character rolls a DC 15 CON Save and loses a number of HP's to bleeding based on the result.
Critical (25+): The character rises with 1 hit point.
Success (15-24): Bleed 1 Hit Point.
Fail (6-14): Bleed 1d4 Hit Points.
Fumble (0-5): Bleed 2d4 Hit Points.
Rational: The Shadowdark Death Timer is fine but it is another resource that Players have to track and it gives everyone above the table knowledge of how long before a character dies. By using the old -10 HP from AD&D combined with a random bleeding rate it brings back peril for dying characters.
6 Luck Tokens
Players start every session with 1d4 luck tokens.
When a Player fails an Attack roll or Saving Throw that no luck tokens were spent on they gain a Luck token to a maximum of Five.
- You can cash in 3 luck token to reroll any D20 Test you just made. You must use the new result.
- Alternatively one or more Luck tokens can be spent to add +1d4 per token to a D20 Test.
Rational: Some of this is Pulp Mode from page 111 and the rest being based on Inspiration from Tales of the Valiant and Deathbringer Dice. There are a lot of variations on the Hero Point idea but most of them, including Shadowdark rely on the GM remembering to give the points out. By swapping the emphasis over to Character actions it is one less thing for the GM to remember. Skill rolls are excluded to stop Players accumulates lots of Luck tokens for just trying to search a room.
7 Magic Item Attunement.
Most magical items are not lifeless constructions. The energies imbued within their forms provide them a glimmer of pseudo-sentience. Many magical artefacts will have their own self-interest in mind. Characters will need to master an item to harness its magical abilities - or sometimes even to carry it at all. To master a magical item, you must meditate while wearing or holding it (as befits the item) for 10 minutes then perform a CHR Test against the items Attunement value.
Success: You have mastered the item, becoming its true owner until you are killed or the object is taken and mastered by another.
Failure: Nothing in particular happens. You may carry the item and attempt to master it again in d6 days/sessions* time.
Fumble: If you fail the D20 Test by 10 or more you are afflicted with a Minor Curse which usually prevents you from ever attuning to the item but might have other effects.
Rational: This is another rule adapted from WFRP. It helps spread items around the group and stops players from handing around items with ease. It also makes Charisma more relevant.
* I was going to do this as Sessions but with a monthly game that could be quite long so I change it to days
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