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Adventure Layout
▲ 21 r/shadowdark+1 crossposts

Adventure Layout

I think I've found my new layout for my Shadowdark adventures. I’m calling it the GM Spread : a two-page layout meant to keep everything the GM needs for a section of the dungeon visible at once.

The idea is simple: local map, keyed rooms, traps, treasure, monster stats, and relevant procedures all on the same spread—less flipping back and forth during play.

I’d be interested to hear whether this kind of layout would be useful at your table.

Art © William McAusland, used with permission.
Map created with Dungeon Scrawl.

u/ExchangeWide — 13 days ago
▲ 40 r/shadowdark

When Players Decide a Random Detail Matters

Something I was thinking about after a recent game:

What’s one random or throwaway detail your players absolutely clamped onto?

I once gave a bartender a nervous tic. That was it. My players became convinced he was secretly connected to the cult operating out of an abandoned temple outside town.

They tailed him for about three days.
Every mundane thing he did became evidence.

He owned a cat. Clearly a familiar.
He regularly stopped at a roadside shrine. Obviously a dead drop.
Meanwhile, the actual cultists had plenty of time to fortify their position at the temple while the party conducted an increasingly elaborate surveillance operation on an innocent bartender.

If you’re a GM, what throwaway detail did your players decide absolutely had to matter?

If you’re a player, what completely innocent detail have you ever become convinced was important?

Bonus points if the GM eventually had to make it important because nobody would let it go.

reddit.com
u/ExchangeWide — 1 month ago
▲ 35 r/shadowdark

Save the Peasants

Does anyone else play funnels/gauntlets with the completely unreasonable goal of keeping every single peasant alive?

I understand that these folks have 1–4 HP, questionable equipment, terrible stats, and absolutely no business being anywhere near the horrible place they’re forced to escape. But the moment I roll up four peasants, something changes.

That’s not Peasant #3. That’s Carl, the cooper with a sack, a 9 Strength, and dreams of someday owning his own cooperage. I’ll be damned if Carl is dying in Room 2.

(Oh, he did? Okay, who’s next?)

That’s not Peasant #1. That’s Sheila, the fortuneteller with penalties to every stat except Charisma, who dreams of earning enough coin to buy back her grandmother’s tarot deck. Sheila is not dying in Room 3 either.

(Her too?!)

And now I’m emotionally invested in Ned the ditch-digger because he found a helmet and half a ration.

When my 1 HP nobodies somehow survive three encounters, they stop being disposable very quickly. By the end, I’m not hoping to discover ONE which survivor becomes my character. I want a healthy stable of characters.

The gauntlet says, “Survive your first adventure and become an adventurer.”

I hear, “Get these fools home safely.”

Anyone else approach funnels this way, or have I completely misunderstood the sacred tradition of feeding peasants to the dungeon?

reddit.com
u/ExchangeWide — 1 month ago
▲ 53 r/rpgpromo+1 crossposts

Freebies

[Self Promo] Here’s some material to use in your game: memorable pets, adventure hooks, companion magic items, and a few tables for giving animal companions more personality.

If you’d rather have it all as a single PDF, Joker’s Wild: Companion Extras is available free on DriveThruRPG and itch.io.

Use, steal, alter, or ignore; whatever works for your game.

u/ExchangeWide — 1 month ago
▲ 22 r/shadowdark

A Few Free Companion Extras

I posted a handful of companion-themed extras on Joker & Thief’s socials this week and thought I’d collect them here for anyone who missed them.

There are companion personalities, adventure hooks, a d6 table for how you found your pet, and a magic item. Use, steal, alter, or ignore; whatever works for your game.

Which one would you use at the table?

u/ExchangeWide — 2 months ago
▲ 14 r/shadowdark+1 crossposts

One Hour to Go!

Final hour for my Shadowdark Kickstarter.

Thanks to everyone here who offered feedback, encouragement, and ideas over the last month. The project is over 600% funded, everything is finished, and fulfillment is ready to go.

If you were planning to back it, the deadline is nearly upon us.

Thanks again for making the Shadowdark community such a welcoming place.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jokerandthief/the-netherwood-and-the-verdant-vault

reddit.com
u/ExchangeWide — 3 months ago
▲ 19 r/shadowdark+1 crossposts

The Blind King's Blade

One line (of many) in The Player's Guide to the Western Reaches stuck with me: "Even touching a magic sword has half a chance of cursing you blind!" I couldn't stop thinking about what kind of blade would inspire that warning. So I designed the Blind King's Blade. Enjoy!

https://preview.redd.it/ttzb6dgns1dh1.png?width=295&format=png&auto=webp&s=c704101eabd34ff6c53aecf18af6e34d55a015eb

EDIT. 1. Tightened up some prose for better clarity.
2. Added a history for the Blind King with a historical nod to King John of Bohemia (Johan Bohmar). Thanks to Nicholas Montegriffo over on FB.

reddit.com
u/ExchangeWide — 3 months ago
▲ 25 r/shadowdark+1 crossposts

The Hollent

One of my favorite monsters from The Netherwood is the Hollent, a towering undead tree filled with the whispering voices of its victims.

Its call lures prey close. Its hollow trunk swallows the unfortunate. Those who die within rise moments later as Resonants, their own voices becoming part of the creature's haunting chorus.

Adventure Hooks

  • The Silent Grove. Lumberjacks report hearing the voices of their missing companions calling for help from deep within an ancient stand of dead trees.
  • The Last Pilgrimage. Every spring, mourners visit a forgotten shrine. This year, the dead have begun answering them.
  • The Whispering Road. Travelers vanish along an old forest trail. At dusk, their voices beg passing strangers to come closer.

If your group crosses paths with a Hollent, I'd love to hear how they survived... or didn't.

u/ExchangeWide — 3 months ago
▲ 37 r/shadowdark+1 crossposts

The Verdant Vault & Netherwood Now Live!

The Netherwood & The Verdant Vault is now live on Kickstarter.

Nearly 100 pages of Shadowdark content featuring a complete dungeon adventure, a wilderness hexcrawl, new monsters, factions, and the strange influence of the Primordial Seep. Fully written, laid out, and proofed. The forest is waiting.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jokerandthief/the-netherwood-and-the-verdant-vault

UPDATE: Funded in under 8 hours and Stretch Goal #1 (Frontier Engines PDF) has been unlocked.

u/ExchangeWide — 4 months ago
▲ 15 r/shadowdark+1 crossposts

The Verdant Vault & Netherwood

I have finally taken the plunge with Joker & Thief Publishing and created my first Kickstarter.

With nearly 100 pages of content for Shadowdark, The Netherwood & The Verdant Vault brings together a complete dungeon adventure and the ancient wilderness that surrounds it. Strange factions, forgotten ruins, monster, pilgrims, wilderness exploration, and the Primordial Seep await.

Launching Monday on Kickstarter..

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jokerandthief/the-netherwood-and-the-verdant-vault

reddit.com
u/ExchangeWide — 4 months ago
▲ 16 r/shadowdark+1 crossposts

Combat as War

It's been awhile, but I'm back at the blog. After rereading the PRINCIPIA APOCRYPHA, the ideas of "Combat as War" and the, oft given, advice (warning) that combat is a "fail state" in OSR kept nagging me. I mean, sometimes, players want heroic combat situations. And it's not always "new players" or "power gamers" looking for the fight; it's the veteran old schoolers. I know my players do, and they're friggin' old like me!

https://jokerandthief72.wordpress.com/2026/06/02/combat-as-war-starts-before-initiative/

u/ExchangeWide — 3 months ago
▲ 9 r/shadowdark

[Promo] The Crooked Fen

In anticipation of the launch of my first Kickstarter, The Netherwood & The Verdant Vault, here's a free supplement that will fit right in.

Mother Murk, an ancient Bog Mother, watches from the reeds. She rules the Crooked Fen with a brood of pale-eyed Boglights, lurking Mire Toads, and the restless Drowned Dead. Strange lights flicker through the fog, travelers vanish without a trace, and those who return never look too long into torchlight.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/569494/the-crooked-fen-bog-mother

u/ExchangeWide — 5 months ago