Shadow of the Demon lord, Review

For some time now I have been ranting and raving about Shadow of the demon lord. And every time I do someone asks me "what makes this game stand out" or "what makes Shadow of the demon lord different than game X". Which is exactly the questions I would wonder in their shoes, so I am going to attempt an actual review-ish.

First off, let me try to answer those questions because I think most people looking for a review are really looking for that. Anything else is akin to the "what is an RPG" section everyone skips.

Shadow of the demon lord has a very nimble core mechanic. It's simple, streamlined, and consistent. You roll a d20, for most tasks rolling a 10 ( or opponent's ability score) is a success (except for combat which is a roll against defense score). Ability scores and a few things will give you small bonuses. Rules, class abilities, and situations can give you boons and banes,
Which are d6s you roll and either add or subtract from the roll. Boons and banes cancel eachother out so you will never roll both together. When rolling multiple boons or banes you add or subtract only the highest die. That is the entire system in a nutshell.

Next thing that stands out is the sheer number of options for the players. There are 6 races in the core and more scattered throughout supplements, which include very 'non-standard' races like clockworks, Changelings, goblins, orcs, dwarves, and humans.

When leveling to level 1 (yes you start as 0 and have to earn level 1) you choose one of 4 novice classes. Which are pretty straight forward fantasy classes of magician, priest, rogue, and warrior.

Reaching level 3 players get to choose an expert class. There are 16 expert classes. Expert classes include paladins, rangers, witch, Druid and more.

At reaching level 7 players can choose from one of 64 master classes. Master classes include assassins, avengers, cavalier, destroyer, defender, exorcist, executioner, hexer and many more. Another option is instead of taking a master class players can choose instead to take a second expert class at level 7.

Although expert paths are grouped as paths of faith, power, trickery, and war. And master paths are grouped as paths of either magic or skill and character can take any class, there are no restrictions.

Players have 30 traditions of magic to choose from. Spell casting is as simple as the rest of the system. Spells often have a 20+ effect that triggers if the player rolls over a 20. One nice touch is sacrificing spells to cast other spells giving some spells more than one way to be used.

There are only 10 levels of advancement in Shadow of the demon lord. And you get something at every single level.

At level 0 characters get ancestry abilities.
At level 1 characters get a novice path ability. At level 2 characters get a novice path ability. At level 3 characters get an expert path ability. At level 4 characters get an ancestry ability. At level 5 characters get a novice path ability.
At level 6 characters get an expert path ability. At level 7 characters get a master path ability. At level 8 characters get a novice path ability. At level 9 characters get an expert path ability. At level 10 characters get a master path ability.

The setting is reminiscent of the Diablo video game and Warhammer fantasy turned up a notch and rated R.
The game has a system for both sanity and corruption. The setting has snippets of technology that really doesn't feel shoehorned in, things like firearms and even technomancy magic.

As far as the products are concerned these books and PDFs are beautiful. Layout, art, and style are gorgeous. The core book has everything you need to play. Rules, character options, monsters, and setting. Supplements add more options and setting info as well as adventures. This week was the release of the 100th product for Shadow of the demon lord. Congrats to Schwalb entertainment!!

The Turned

Some don't fall to the power of corruption. Some give themselves over to corruption willingly.

Drug to the infernal realm, hardened and forged into weapons for their demon masters.

Being from the plane of man means the power needed to summon them is less than that of their masters. Once on the other side their main goal is to find a way to bring their masters over.

Size: 1 Human/Demon
Perception: 12(+2) truesight
Defense: 15 Health: 15
Str:+4, Agi:+2, Int:+1, Will:+4
Speed:18

Immune: disease, poison, insanity, fatigue, frightening, slowed, and stunned.

Spell defense, make all spell defense rolls with 1 bane.

Natural weapon, or weapon carried. +4 (1d6).

Frenzied attack: can make attacks against two different targets, both with 1 bane. 

Void step: can use an action or triggered action to teleport to a medium range space he can see. Roll a d6, on a 1 or 2 he can't use void step again for 1 minute.

Yes, technically this is a watered down small demon, but i needed it to fill a nitch.

Reaping blade (shadow of the demon lord)

The Reaping blades are relics of a lost past. Legends tell of 13 priestly knights who traveled the lands along the border of the desolation long before the empire built it's walls and outposts. Known for their ability to root out corruption and undead, laying the undead to final rest.

Legends go on to tell of the day the knights banded together and road together into the desolation on an epic quest ....never to be seen again.

A few of the blades have resurfaced over the years, but always seem to fade again into legend.

A reaping blade has all the attributes of a normal sword. With the exception of being priceless and Exotic.

When within 100' of an undead being or a corrupted soul the blade vibrates soflty, often only noticeable to the carrier of reaping blade. All attacks against undead gain one boon. On a 20+ attack roll against undead treat any one d6 damage die as a 6 instead of rolling it.

Shotguns for Shadow of the demon lord

Since shotguns don't exist in the official books, I figured I would do them myself.

Shotguns come in both single or double barrel configuration. Single barrel will fire once before needing reloaded. While double barrel can fire twice before reloading, or fire off both barrels in a single action. Both configurations require a turn to reload.

1 barrel. Dmg: 2d6, 2H, Range:M, 8gc, Av:E

2 barrel. Dmg: 2d6, 2H, Range:M, 12gc, Av:E

Misfire, reload, uses shells.

* Shotguns get a boon to hit at short, and bane at long. +1d6 damage at short, -1d6 damage at long.

Shadow of the demon Lord (impressions) review

(Disclaimer-ish) This is not a review, it's me getting to know the game and writting my thoughts down. As I'm still taking it all in I may sound like the blabbering fan boy that I am.

I'm really late to the party on this game. Not just did I miss the kickstarter I missed the retail release as well. I had seen it, even folks raving about it. I didn't think I needed another fantasy game. Come to find out, Shadow of the demon Lord is not just another fantasy system.

Of all the things I find appealing about Shadow of the demon lord, The things I feel most fitting to my taste is the quick playing core rules mixed with the huge amount of character opinions.

Shadow of the demon Lord is definitely geared tword fast play, one might even call it 'casual play'. Seems like a game you can just sit down, roll up a character, and play. The system has enough depth to not seem boring or limited, but not so much to it as to overwhelm new players.

On the subject of character options I'm still stunned at the number of options available to players. Players start as 0 level and earn (through survival) the ability to choose one of 4 novice classes at level 1. If they live long enough they will be able to pick one of 16 expert classes. Then again later one of 64 master classes. I'm not sure how many possible combinations that is......I know it's a lot though.

The ancestries (races) are very interesting. Human, Changeling, Clockwork, Dwarf, Goblin and Orc. Each ancestry has 5-7 charts to roll on to make totally unique example. Not even getting into random profession tables. Again, players have a lot to work with here. All without even mentioning (even though I'm going to) 30 tradions of magic....

Some games go their whole lives (edition cycle) without having this many options spread out over many splat books. So for Shadow to feel 'easy to run' or even rules lite is a real feat.

The setting of the game is grim, with rules for both sanity and corruption. With a lot of wiggle room as to how dark, grim, and grindhouse you want to run your game. Even the exact nature of the 'demon Lord' seems to be left purposeful vague to GMs to fill in the blank.

I've got so many ideas floating between my ears right now I'm filling up a notebook  already. My players are in for a bumpy (and probably gruesome) ride.