Anyone playing this?
What do you think of it?
>>48059988
It is good, but the PCs feel a little weak.
>>48060420
I know what you mean, I've personally DM'd about 5-ish sessions and my PCs are almost constantly near death.
Not sure how much is me putting them through too much difficulty, or if they're just making stupid decisions and going in unprepared.
I only played a single session, but it made me wish we could've kept playing. Our DM must have been pretty generous as we handled a lot of the challenges pretty handily. Or maybe we were just good at planning.
It was kind of weird to start off as a zero-level character though, with no clear-cut strengths or weaknesses to guide my decisions.
Somebody haves the pdf?
>>48061107
you can find it online pretty easily
>>48059988
I've been game mastering this for a few months now, although I haven't used any official published adventures so the balance of the adventures I've been running may be different from what Schwalb intended.
It's a blend of a D&D style fight and kill things and take there stuff game with a survival horror game, so characters die more often than in a traditional dungeon crawler because those tend to be balanced in a way that favors the players. Obviously your experience will vary based on the inclinations of your own game master.
There are a lot of interesting rules systems in the game that help facilitate more organic play and make it relatively robust against inexperienced players and game masters, so I recommend anyone who likes game design to give it a read for that reason alone. At this moment I'm thinking specifically of the boon/bane, class path, initiative and the magic systems. It's a familiar Vancian magic system, but characters are very limited in both the schools and number of spells they have access to which leads both to a huge variety of spellcaster builds and a very harsh resource management game that some of my players really enjoy.
Unfortunately there are a few weird decisions that prevent me from giving it an unqualified recommendation. For example, the Ranger Path gets most of it's hp in the first level and over the course of the next two has a slower progression that brings it in line with the fighter, but every other class gets the same amount of hitpoints at every level. The rules for combat feels like D&D with fewer small modifiers to lose track of, but nothing else is any more complicated than it strickly has to be. There are no stealth or crafting systems for example and because I have character who utilize both of these extensive, I've had to house rule entire systems for them.
>>48064306
The official setting is a bit schizophrenic. I haven't read the official setting book, but based on the setting chapter and art of the core book, steam trains and warforged exist side by side with the "steal your baby for shits and giggles" sort of fairies and a collapsing civilization reminiscent of the fall of the roman empire. None of those things directly contradict each other, but the prevalence of high fantasy elements hurts the dark, low fantasy tone the game is nominally going for.
As far as supplements go, there's a lot of great stuff in the Demon Lord's companion, but as a game master be wary of bombs and the potions introduced in that book. Nothing else is glaringly game breaking. Terrible Beauty is pretty good as well, assuming you want the fey to play a greater role in your game (imo they're one of the better parts of the setting). Tombs of the Desolation is practically half unfinished. I'd only use it if one of your players desperately wants to play an undead character and even then make them pay for it.
Overall it's a mixed bag but the good parts are worth playing around the bad parts so I'd recommend anyone who likes the idea of a skirmish combat based RPG to give it a try, but be ready to write a lot of house rules based on what's important in your game.
>>48059988
>Art Direction and Graphic Design: Hal Mangold
What a top-notch, masculine name. I will read this game book just because of this MANGOLD.
>>48065111
There's some pretty neat art in there.
>>48059988
I was reading over it, and decided to show one of my players the character creation tables, just to point out how grimderp the backgrounds could be.
He then came across the clockwork ancestry, and resolved to role one up right then and there. The rest of the group got roped in, and now there's a campaign that needs writing. My group loves it.
I personally really dig the class system and the opportunity to creativity it brings to building a character.
>>48060420
I just started GMing the game finally and I noticed that too.
Also, in practice I don't love the game as much as I did on paper. It's still pretty good, but I'm no longer infatuated with it and I'm ready to go back to my usual system after this campaign.
>>48065803
>>48060420
This is honestly a selling point for me. Having my players always on their toes is way better than them feeling invincible (which was my main problem with 5E)
>>48065884
It's not just that they're squishy. It just doesn't seem like they can do a whole lot in combat. Maybe that's just me or my players though. Oh well.
It's still worth checking out though, I glad you find that to be a plus.
Why would you play Shadow of the Demon Lord? It's one of the most poorly designed games ever published. It's fundamentally broken on a number of different levels.
If you want to play in the setting, I'd advise using GURPS to do it.
>>48065977
>babby-tier bait
nigga are you even trying.
>>48059988
A lot of fun, can be super lethal, especially if your players are used to being able to just charge into an encounter without any preparation or thought.
Healing magic/potions are a must.
Anybody got a PDF for Exquisite Agony?
>>48060736
What's the source of this art?
>>48069483
https://artlords.com/u/artmage/images/shadow_of_the_demon_lord_2
Page 129 of the Core book, amongst the Forbidden spells
>>48059988
What's the core mechanic?
>>48070018
Roll high or die.
>>48070139
That's not a real mechanic.
>>48070238
Well-spotted.
>>48060736
Is...is that guy on the right ripping off his own junk!?
>>48070300
No.YES.don't say it.
>>48070238
It's a d20 clone, trying to emulate the Diablo video games. Does a pretty good job of it.
>>48070300
It's some dark magic spell that makes 'em burst from inside
>>48070583
>D20 clone
Oh?
Similar enough for cross compatibility?
How does it compare to the official d20 Diablo RPG?
>>48070583
That seems like something 4e would be really good at.
>>48071015
It's written by one of the 4E designers, IIRC. Very similar to 4E.
>>48060420
you know, dealing with the literal invincibility that is fucking pathfinder for my players i'm entirely down for that, it means traps actually do shit that matters overall.
its not like the players suck, they've been overconfident lately, i mean god damn, they need a peg taken down
>>48071052
Neat. I'd like to read it. Got a trove link?
>>48070972
Not really compatible; the game takes place at a smaller scale. IMO calling it a d20 clone is underselling it. It uses the core mechanic of roll a d20 and try to beat a target number, but to call it a clone would to imply that it doesn't have it's own identity which it certainly does.
>>48071052
You must have had a very different 4th ed experience than I did. The games of 4e I've played. 4e doesn't handle player action outside of the ridged predefined abilities very well and tends to balance encounters so that death is very low risk. SotDL feels like much less of a curated experience to me, which I suppose is a nice way of saying that the mechanics aren't as finely tuned. The game cares much more about having cool abilities than having balanced one which contributes to the general "beta" feel of the game.
>>48071518
There's a trove in the archives.
>>48065977
Honest question: What's wrong with it?
I just downloaded it and have yet to have time to pick through it.
I'd be interested in hearing what its issues are from someone who has played it.
>>48072354
It's copypasta, ignore it.
>>48059988
This threads pops up regularly despite always having a very small poster count and not getting much attention and there's always one guy trying to start an argument with anyone who criticizes it.
I suddenly understand the anons who see shills everywhere.
Now, to actually address the question What do you think of it?
People say that it does D&D better than D&D, and that's absolutely true, IF the thing you like the most about D&D is how you can make it feel like a videogame that doesn't really care about immersion or role-playing.
I think that SotDL is a weird product because it's made specifically for people who would enjoy a videogame more anyway.
>Choose if you're doing knockback damage or normal damage! Wooo, crazy combos!
>>48072647
I'm trying to think of hack and slash games with this degree of character customization, multiplayer, and a campaign editor.
The *only* game I can think of that comes close (and even then, not really) is neverwinter nights 1.
Amazing game, too.
>>48059988
Dungeon crawling boardgames with depth still sound pretty fun, but this is probably a bit too complex for that.
