Shadowdark in the Lost City - Session 1, Pt. 1

After months of preparation, session one of Shadowdark in the Lost City was held last week! It consisted of rolling up characters, introducing a few house rules, and then jumping right into the adventure. Our core group started playing Shadowdark a few months ago with another member running two of the adventures published in Cursed Scroll zines published by The Arcane Library. Along the way, it was fun for everyone to adjust to a more OSR-style of play and for us to get a good handle on the ruleset. 

In terms of creating characters, each of our five players rolled up two 1st level characters. Each player selected one of their two characters with which to begin the adventure. The remaining five characters fill a pool of replacement characters from which players will select as character deaths occur. I also introduced the below character creation house rules. 

• Bias toward human ancestry. Roll d6 for each character. On a 1-2, player may choose a non-human ancestry.
• No goblin ancestry allowed.
• Human, Half-Orc, and Halfling ancestries follow a monotheistic religion centered on Marduk, Father of Storms.
• Dwarf and Elf ancestries engage in ancestor worship.

Why the house rules? In part, to satisfy a personal preference to make non-human ancestries feel more special. For this adventure and its setting, I envisioned a human-centric society in which non-human ancestries were seen as exotic ... encountering an Elf or Dwarf in particular should be memorable. I chose to exclude the Goblin ancestry as it had the potential to muddy the plot waters of the adventure. In terms of religion, I saw an interesting opportunity for a fun and thought-provoking tie-in with the ancient Cynidicean gods. More on that later.

Players also rolled on a background table that I developed specifically for this setting which is based on ancient Assyria. Dwarf and Elf characters had the choice of selecting a background or rolling on the table. Players also purchased weapons and armor from a custom table I developed for this setting. Lastly, I also provided a list of suggested but totally optional character names that helped reinforce the feeling of the Assyrian-themed setting.

Our initial band of adventurers included:

• Samira, Elf, Thief
• Dagon, Human, Thief
• Belit, Human, Fighter
• Uras, Human, Priest 
• Zippo, Human, Wizard

I kicked off the adventure by reading the below slightly modified Player Introduction written by Tom Moldvay:

“Nearly a week ago in the city of Parsa, you joined a caravan embarking on a journey across the Alasiyan Desert. An agent of the Emir had been recruiting adventurers to investigate rumors of a mysterious new leader of the desert nomads.

The agent paid the fee for your passage as well as for supplies. The caravan was filled with colorful characters - merchants, performers, craftspeople, and mystics as well as other adventurers.

Halfway across the desert, a terrible sandstorm struck, separating you and a group of fellow adventurers from the rest of the caravan. Hours later as the winds died down, the caravan was nowhere in sight. The desert was unrecognizable, as the dunes had been blown into new patterns. You were lost.

You headed east, the same way the caravan was headed before the storm. Days passed and you soon drank the last of your water. Not much later, your food was gone.

The second day after your supplies ran out, you stumbled upon a number of stone blocks sticking out of a sand dune. Investigation showed that the sand covered the remains of a tall stone wall. On the other side of the wall stretched a ruined city. 

The stone blocks of the city had toppled and cracked with the passing of time. Sand had covered most of the buildings. The stones that remained uncovered had been scoured smooth by the blowing sand. 

In the center of the city towered a step-pyramid. It had five step-like tiers, each 20’ high. The lower tiers were almost completely covered with sand. On top of the highest tier were three 30’ tall statues.

The statue on the left was of a strong, bearded man holding a balance in one hand a lightning bolt in the other. The middle statue was of a winged child with two snakes twined about its body. The child held a wand in one hand and a rolled up scroll in the other. The statue on the right was of a stoic-faced woman. In one hand she held a sheaf of wheat and in the other, a human skull.

On the south side of the pyramid, a ramp with stairs led from the ground to the top of the highest tier. A quick search of the ruins revealed no source of food or water, so you decided to climb the pyramid. In the side of the ramp, level with the floor of the top tier, you found a secret door ...”

Read Shadowdark in the Lost City - Session 1, Pt. 2 to learn about the player’s experience as they begin their exploration of the pyramid!