What do icy waterfalls, greasy floors, and light stealing smoke have in common? They’re all hazards!
Welcome to Lair of Secrets. In this episode we're talking about Shadowdark hazards. The things that drown you, crush you, blind you, steal your memories, and more!
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Shadowdark Hazards02:33 Types of Hazards in Shadowdark04:50 (Spoiler Warning!) Examples of Hazards in Gameplay07:25 Creating Hazard Charts09:57 Combining Hazards for Greater Challenges12:38 Future Adventures and Hazards15:01 Conclusion and Call to Action
Listen to the Episode
Watch the Episode
Watch Shadowdark Hazards 101 on YouTube.
Show Notes
What is a hazard? Hazards are often environmental effects like quicksand, rushing water, and falling debris. They're things you might be able to mitigate or evade, but per the rules, there's often no way to "defeat or permanently disable them". The core rulebook defines them on page 115.
Hazards are divided into three types:
Movement: Slow or stop movement.
Examples: Caltops, tar fields, steep incline
Damage: Ongoing damage that characters suffer while exposed to the hazard
Examples: Acid pools, lava, pummeling hail
Weaken: Saps the character's physical capabilities, mental grit, or resources.
Examples: blinding smoke, memory stealing, snuffs light sources,
The rules note that you can combine these to create particularly dangerous threats.
Movement + Damage
Exploding Rocks (Damage) + Loose Debris (Movement)
Movement + Weaken
Grasping Vines (Movement) + Sleep-inducing Spores (Weaken)
Damage + Weaken
Icy Water (Damage) + Snuffs Light Sources (Weaken)
What the rules don't do is give you specific stats or mechanics for the example hazards, which hurt my brain, which grew used to having things stated out under the various editions of Dungeons & Dragons.
While the core rules don’t give any written mechanics for hazards, the Arcane Library's published adventures *do* give us a few examples of how they're used in adventures.
Hazards Chart: Published Examples, Sample DCs & Damage, and Homegrown Hazards
Check out our "Shadowdark Hazards Chart" post for the hazards chart we reference in the episode, as well as example hazards quoted from Lost Citadel of the Scarlet Minotaur and Cursed Scroll #3: Midnight Sun.
Featured Image Meta
Cover artwork from the Shadowdark RPG game master screen. Credit: Arcane Library.
