Against the Darkmaster

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I was just coming here to post this.
 
Has anyone in the US who backed this received any kind of shipping notice or received their book yet?

The last update was that the US books were working through customs. I guess there should be a scheduled update in a few days.
 
Has anyone in the US who backed this received any kind of shipping notice or received their book yet?

The last update was that the US books were working through customs. I guess there should be a scheduled update in a few days.

No, nothing as of yet.
 
I've hear nothing either. I was just thinking about the game earlier this morning to boot.
 
I don't think copies have arrived in the UK yet either. My copy hasn't at least.
 
I'm definitely gonna buy this but I also find the name awkward and unfortunate. "Darkmaster" sounds like a low budget sword & sorcery flick that would have played 6 times a day on HBO during the 80s. Even "Dark Master" would have been an improvement but "Dark Lord" would have been best.

“Dark Master” Sounds like some dude in a leather bondage outfit.
 
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My copy arrived here in Brisbane about a month ago, I'm stoked - this book is beautiful, full of old school classic fantasy artwork.
It's a huge tome however, don't drop this book on your foot!
Very happy! :thumbsup:
 
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Arrived in Australia a month ago!?! I'm in NA and it still hasn't arrived for me.

Hasn't arrived for me either, so NA is apparently low on the totem pole with this release.
 
According to the KS comments section (as of yesterday) the books are all shipped in the UK now and in the US they have cleared customs and are en route to the fulfillment centres.
 
I just took a look at Kickstarter and there was a msg from the Creator from Dec 9th? I think about the NA books being stuck in customs.

Thanks! I don't follow KS projects closely, because I don't want to be one of the assholes that don't have understanding of problems that come up. Of course, this means I miss things sometimes, but I've never been dinged for missing something and going back, especially when I explain why I missed it. I think they'd rather go back to something than have the furor of impatient backers in the comments.
 
Just finished reading through the rulebook (hardcopy).

I haven't felt this excited to run a RPG since reading Mythras.

I really, really like this game. I'm usually worried about MATHS but honestly you just want to see if your roll will get to the target number of 100 (ie, eyeball the 10s of the skill + roll result).

I can see some of my players being a bit wary about Kin (aka Race) mechanical imbalance, but there are workarounds and rationale for that.

Not sure what campaign setting I'd run with this. Perhaps some Mythic "near Earth" generic Fantasy world inspired by Dragonlance? Definitely a feel from the 1970s-1980s over the more rated-PG "clean" world that WoTC puts out right now for a more general audience.

Anyway, d100 games have definitely usurped the d20 throne for me, officially.
 
Not sure what campaign setting I'd run with this. Perhaps some Mythic "near Earth" generic Fantasy world inspired by Dragonlance? Definitely a feel from the 1970s-1980s over the more rated-PG "clean" world that WoTC puts out right now for a more general audience.
I have a few ideas for settings that would work well with VsDM. Two of them really stand out to me.

1. The Lands of Legend from Dragon Warriors. Dragon Warriors is a game where the setting has always excited me far more than the rules. The default setting of Ellesland is one of my favorite "Mythic Earth" settings. It's a version of the British Isles in the 11th-12th century that's only a few steps removed from our reality. It feels very authentically British in many ways. For starters it has a Fantasy version of Wales: Cornumbria. Wales has a fascinating history and culture all its own that never gets enough love in RPGs. I also like that it doesn't try to have its cake and eat it to WRT Christianity. I quite enjoy these more folkloric settings where the Old Ways are still half-remembered in folklore by the peasantry. DW has the benefit of having lots of adventures and campaigns to convert and use as well as a dedicated fan community that produces some very nice looking artwork and maps.

2. In a similar vein, I love what I have seen of the Middarmark setting from Torchbearer. As I said above, the sort of standard "Medieval Trappings but many gods" default DnD setting kind of leaves me cold. Middarmark is fun because it really leans into the Norse Sagas. The world is a post-apocalyptic, hostile wilderness reminiscent of Norteast Europe. It's not as well supported as Dragon Warriors, but if you prefer a more Pagan infused setting.
 
Does anyone have the VsDM ruleset for Fantasy Grounds and if so what do you think of it?
 
Just finished reading through the rulebook (hardcopy).

I haven't felt this excited to run a RPG since reading Mythras.

I really, really like this game. I'm usually worried about MATHS but honestly you just want to see if your roll will get to the target number of 100 (ie, eyeball the 10s of the skill + roll result).

I can see some of my players being a bit wary about Kin (aka Race) mechanical imbalance, but there are workarounds and rationale for that.

Not sure what campaign setting I'd run with this. Perhaps some Mythic "near Earth" generic Fantasy world inspired by Dragonlance? Definitely a feel from the 1970s-1980s over the more rated-PG "clean" world that WoTC puts out right now for a more general audience.

Anyway, d100 games have definitely usurped the d20 throne for me, officially.

There are so many to pick from. Here are some that would fit pretty well:
  • Hârn
  • Greyhawk
  • Wilderlands of High Fantasy
  • Age of Shadow
 
Yep I agree Shadow World is close to a perfect fit for VsDM, and I am considering getting the Shadow World books from DrivethruRPG for this.

Shadow World used Rolemaster, but NPC stat blocks between MERP and RM were always easy to handwave at the table, so that would be pretty much the same with VsDM - they are all part of the ICE family of games, and share alot of DNA in the game mechanics.

Shadow Worldis was a very detailed classic fantasy setting - predominantly High Fantasy flavour (with some Sword & Sorcery elements around the edges)

Unless designing a home brew setting, then Shadow World would definately be the one I would buy for this if it is still in print. I need to check DrivethruRPG to confirm if it is.

(MERP was also great as well, and every bit as detailed. An even closer fit for the NPC stat blocks as well, however I don't think I could go with that portrayal of Middle Earth again, not after how good they have done Middle Earth with TOR/AiME)

So regarding a pre-made setting for VsDM, it's a big vote for Shadow World from me.
 
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I think that a lot of Shadow World is too "high powered" for Against the Darkmaster. Given that VsD only goes up to level 10, and its spell lists also only go up to level 10, there's a problem with a lot of what's in SW, given that many key NPCs in SW are at level 30+. In addition, there are incredibly powerful world-spanning organizations (the Navigators, Loremasters), etc.

It's not an insurmountable problem. If I were to use Shadow World with VsD I'd focus on Jaiman, and use the Green Gryphon adventure book (which provides adventures in the 1-10 level range). The material for Jaiman in general seems less over-the-top than the material for Emer (and elsewhere).

I'd probably treat Jaiman as a more-or-less self-contained setting, remove the Navigators and Loremasters (or radically "power down" those organizations), and the like.

With respect to Jaiman, Lorgalis would make an excellent "Darkmaster" (perhaps with the dragon lord as a less aggressive one as well).
 
The ICE modules for southern Middle-earth could easily be reworked into a non-ME setting for Against the Darkmaster.

The Court of Ardor
in particular is an amazing setting, and not very Tolkien-esque at all (although it's expensive to get on eBay these days, but perhaps PDFs are available ... somewhere). The other modules in southern ME are a mixed bag (iirc, Greater Harad is pretty cool), but provide material to build upon, as well as gorgeous maps that are not obviously part of Middle-earth.
 
I don't think the high level stuff like Navigators etc is an issue for Shadow World, as it can just be background canvas.

However I don't remember our own RM characters going much beyond Level 10, so I don't recollect if the Shadow World scenarios have a lot of content for higher levels or not

I agree pretty much with everything that Akrasia Akrasia just wrote, about using the Jaiman content and frontier regions, qnd retrapping some of the non-Eriador MERP content

Back in the 1980s the ICE setting books were excellent detail, and are well worth having.
 
Does anybody have any opinions, experiences, impressions, good or bad, about the VsDarkGuy modules/scenarios?
 
Does anybody have any opinions, experiences, impressions, good or bad, about the VsDarkGuy modules/scenarios?

The mini-campaign that comes with the core book, "Shadows of the Northern Woods," looks quite good (but I haven't run it myself yet).
 
Does anybody have any opinions, experiences, impressions, good or bad, about the VsDarkGuy modules/scenarios?
Yeah, the intro scenario is good. There are things happening in the background that will become the foreground, etc. I ran the it for an evening, and it worked quite well. There is a YouTube actual play that uses it. Lots of opportunities for the PCs to trip over their own feet, etc. I'd advise going through it and doing an outline of the main points and page numbers. Because I ran it on short notice, I was often wondering where a particular fact could be found (entirely my fault). Overall very enjoyable. A quick scan of the other offerings made me think the rest were of similar quality.
 
It sounds good, does anyone know if anywhere in the UK or Europe is selling printed copies? The company website only ships to the US.

DrivethruRPG has the Players' Book avalable for PoD, but not the whole thing.
 
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It sounds good, does anyone know if anywhere in the UK or Europe is selling printed copies? The company website only ships to the US.

DrivethruRPG has the Players' Book avalable for PoD, but not the whole thing.
I've sometimes found that messaging them and giving them an idea where you are works. Sometimes- not all the time.
 
I’ve got my campaign pitch!

So on the official discord, a user posted this:

I just finished watching Over the Garden Wall, and it dawned on me just how perfect the Beast would be as a Darkmaster.
While it is a children's show, it does have enough mature themes and imagery to be spooky and compelling for adults, as I feel the themes are fairly universal.
As for rhe Beast, he could be a minion of , or the titular, Darkmaster. He already Carrie's many of the traits of a good villain. He's suitably mysterious, but he clearly plays by a logically fantastical set of rules that can be discovered slowly. He has a unique set of powers and dark offerings, in the form of his boons and gifts he can bestow upon people for a steep price. He's a delightfully conniving villain who gains power by making dark bargains with people.
The Beast even has his own goal, place of power, and weakness. He wishes to expand his dark forest (his place of power and partial goal) by converting more lost souls into the gnarled trees (the other part of his goal) to feed the Dark Lantern (his item of power) whose flame is the only thing keeping him alive.
To which I replied:
That’s actually a great setup for a campaign. The heroes are travellers, lost in the Great Woods. The Beast is the Darkmaster, his minions various strange creatures and peoples, some actively hostile (possessed animals and cruel highwaymen) others manipulative (witches and undead pumpkin folk).
I can work with this. A group of heroes lost in a Ravenloft-esque Wicker-horror fantasy forest. A few benign settlements (some slightly treacherous Fey villages) to restock and rest. Some forest ruins and abandoned cabin settlements…

I am definitely setting this up.
 
I was having trouble looking into handling injuries from out-of-combat situations.

Basically I tried to locate some example traps (hinted by the Locks & Traps skill) but there aren’t any.

So looked at the Hazard tables, which occasionally lists “Injury” as a complication… but no texts explaining what that means.

Now there’s a Wounds and Recovery table which sort of helps. Triangulation of this with the Max HP of each Kin table and the attack tables SORT OF KInD Of gives me a ballpark figure on how to handle damage out of combat.

But seriously for a 500+ page tome there aren’t ANY rules for non-combat damage? You have a rogue skill for traps but not a single trap in the rules?

For a game with so much detail and crunch I admit some disappointment that the general advice is “just wing it”.
 
To clarify, I love this game, but any system that has some gaps like this… as a DM I need to feel comfortable about handling just about any common situation that the PCs might trigger. I’m not feeling that confidence here.

Similarly, while I know that this game isn’t about dungeon crawling, but some underground / evil castle hazards would have been nice. I can make up my own, but it’s a fucking 500 page rulebook LOL
 
To clarify, I love this game, but any system that has some gaps like this… as a DM I need to feel comfortable about handling just about any common situation that the PCs might trigger. I’m not feeling that confidence here.

Similarly, while I know that this game isn’t about dungeon crawling, but some underground / evil castle hazards would have been nice. I can make up my own, but it’s a fucking 500 page rulebook LOL
Wow, not even falling damage?? That's classic non-combat damage.
 
It has falling rules/damage...

1664110673621.png

There's also information on poisons for traps...

1664110766703.png

A table of example hazard traps (ie, their difficulty and 'attack' values) would be nice though but you can easily draw that from the standard level attack tables and the guidance in the skill section for disabling traps. I guess its where peeps draw the line on things; can certainly appreciate the opinion that a 500 page rulebook where you need biceps the size of Bournemouth just to lift the bloody thing could at least have a page of mechanical traps!
 
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It has falling rules/damage has that...

View attachment 49966

There's also information on poisons for traps...

View attachment 49967

A table of example hazard traps (ie, their difficulty and 'attack' values) would be nice though but you can easily draw that from the standard level attack tables and the guidance in the skill section for disabling traps.
So one could use that falling table to make arrow traps and swinging blade traps, just by changing the Crit table type. That looks like it could work splendidly.

Basically you use the attack / crit tables for everything. Just max out the crit level as a form of “potency” or lethality.
 
It would be nice if they had a table for “generic foes” with level, CMB, HP etc. I’ve tried reverse engineering the Bestiary entries but I’m not getting anywhere.

edit: they do kind of have this. Not just one table, but, again, triangulation of various other ones. You could say that a trap’s “attack value “ equals the Relevant skill of the being who set it up. Example, use a Redcap’s appropriate skill or CMB for their dart trap.
 
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