Shadowdark RPG (2023)

Overview

Shadowdark RPG is a modern masterpiece of old school fantasy tabletop gaming, created by Kelsey Dionne and published by The Arcane Library in 2023. It blends the lethal, dungeon crawling spirit of the
Old School Renaissance https://groupfinder.eu/library/old-school-renaissance-osr-2000
with streamlined, modernized mechanics inspired by the
fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons https://groupfinder.eu/library/dungeons-dragons-5e-2014
. Description In Shadowdark, players are adventurers delving into tombs and ancient underground cities in search of gold and glory. The game is highly lethal, emphasizing player skill, resource management and creative problem solving over character sheet abilities. The dark is a physical, terrifying presence and making sure keeping the light on, is beyond vital to survival. System Overview & Key Features
Real Time Torches Torches last exactly one hour of real time. The Game Master sets a physical timer at the table. When the timer runs out, the light goes out, and the characters are plunged into total darkness where deadly monsters thrive.
Familiar d20 Mechanics The core system uses a standard 20 sided die (d20) with advantage and disadvantage, making it incredibly easy for modern players to pick up. However, modifiers are kept extremely low to maintain a grounded feel.
Randomized Character Growth Instead of picking from a massive list of feats or skills when leveling up, players roll a random talent on their class table. This speeds up character creation and forces players to adapt to the unique strengths of their adventurer.
Slot Based Inventory Encumbrance is simple and strict. Characters have a number of inventory slots equal to their Strength score or a minimum of ten. Every item, from a sword to a torch, takes up exactly one slot, making resource management important.
Additional links thearcanelibrary.com/pages/shadowdark https://thearcanelibrary.com/pages/shadowdark - Official The Arcane Library website shadowdarklings.net https://shadowdarklings.net - Shadowdarklings (An excellent online character creator)

Active games and players

Shadowdark
Shadowdark
Online
Campaign
Shadowdark - The Gloaming
Players
2/5
GM
1/1
Shadowdark
en English

Shadowdark - The Gloaming

Newbie friendly Newbie friendly
Adult Adult
The Gloaming is an ancient forest where black trees tower over mossy standing stones and mist-addled bogs. Here, fragile bastions of mankind cluster behind torchlit palisades and pray for deliverance from the demons that hatch from the forest's cursed marrow trees. The Knights of St. Ydris range out of their deepwood conclave to wage a losing war against these demons and their servants. I am looking for 1-3 more players to join 2 others. We will be playing on Roll20. The time for the game is most likely going to be Sunday evenings, 7pm to 10pm  eastern US. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer.

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Shadowdark
Shadowdark
Portland
Campaign
Crawl Breakers: Shadowdark Adventures in the OSR
Players
0/4
GM
1/1
Shadowdark
en English

Crawl Breakers: Shadowdark Adventures in the OSR

Newbie friendly Newbie friendly
Crawl Breakers will take you to places dark and dangerous where glory and death stand side by side. CRAWL BREAKERS CLASSICS Summer Series with ANDREW P. MAYER Delve deeper as we explore classic DCC Adventures with Shadowdark rules and Crawl Breakers unique "GrimWyrd" flavor Existing experiences and a strong dose of genuine 1979 OSR flavor. Things will get exciting and wild while maintaining a classic dungeon-crawling feel! Join us every Tuesday, 6-9pm, @ BLACKWATER BAR (Portland, OR, 5115 Sandy Blvd.) Sign up on Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/oregon-sorcerous-realms-osr/events/314553353/

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en English
Homebrew
Homebrew
BitD
Blades in the Dark
...
Online
Michelle
TTRPG Table Fit Profile I am looking for a cooperative, consent-based, story-focused TTRPG table with about 50% roleplay, 30% combat, and 20% exploration. I enjoy character-driven storytelling, party relationships, meaningful combat, exploration, mystery, downtime, and emotional moments that feel earned rather than forced. I like games that are sincere without being too serious, and funny without becoming constant jokes or bits. Consent and boundaries are important to me. Heavy themes, major trauma themes, intense character conflict, PvP, romance/flirting, sexual content, or anything that could strongly affect another player’s character should be discussed first. Lines and veils should be respected. I fit best with people who want to tell an awesome story together, share spotlight, cooperate, listen to each other, and make sure everyone’s character matters. I am not a good fit for bigotry, discriminatory humor, main character syndrome, edgelord behavior, disruptive rules-lawyering, non-cooperative play, PvP/romance/sexual content without consent, trauma dumping, or using RPGs as therapy. As a player, I appreciate clear, fair, cooperative DMs who respect boundaries and care about character arcs. As a DM, I value respectful players who compromise, share spotlight, and care about the party and shared story.
en English sr Serbian
AD&D2E
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (2E)
OSRIC
OSRIC
...
Online
Gabbs
Hello, I've been playing TTRPGs on and off for about 10 years now. Played with different systems and on different platforms over the years (mostly Pathfinder 2e recently). Don't have a favorite system but hoping to play and learn AD&D, willing to learn and try new games (have a preference for fantasy settings). Timezone is CET and should be free on almost everyday of the week in the evening. Thanks.
en English
AD&D1E
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1E)
AD&D2E
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (2E)
...
Online
Tamu
I've been playing D&D since my childhood in the early 80's and try my best to re-engage the board game/improv troupe I associate with the best expressions of role playing games.  I like voice acting, playing in-character and making sessions a mix of gameplay, making friends and holding spance to let their imaginations run free with safety and advocacy.   I'm happy to run games for your group in 5E/5.5E.  I'm proficient with D&D Beyond, and will include music/sfx in our games and also make maps with Inkarnate. I'm interested to play games in Foundry/Forge and Roll20 where the use of dynamic lighting and other api features are highlighted.  I would like to learn other RPG systems like Shadowdark and Daggerheart.  I'm also interested in playing more Starfinder/Pathfinder and Star Wars!

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Crow's Corner
Blogs

Crow's Corner

TTRPG
English
Guides
Crow's Corner is a blog filled with hands-on reviews, practical play advice and exploration of indie and indie-adjacent roleplaying games. Links Crow's Corner

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Update log - 10.04.2026 "Visit the library"
Update log

Update log - 10.04.2026 "Visit the library"

Another month, another big update. Happy April everyone.  We have been busy in the background improving Groupfinder to make it an even better place to find players or groups. But in addition to your finding journey, we have also finalized our current version of the library, which will help you all with discovering old and new tools and platforms, content creators, communities and will introduce you to various game systems.  For those, who might be interested - we recently published an article where we examined the statistics and listed the most popular systems according to your posts and groups. The library This is a big one. The library is a comprehensive collection of various tabletop gaming related resources. Whether you are looking for a virtual tabletop to run your games on, or need help creating a map for your campaigns. If you want to learn more about the hobby and discover various content creators, whether a Youtube channel for second-monitor viewing, blogs to read up on various news, guides, tips or other ideas, artists to hire to commission your character's unique artwork, or even podcasts to listen to - the library is the place to find those. Game systems You know Dungeons & Dragons, but do you know about the other systems that exist? Some more specialized in combat, others with more story-driven focus. Or do you want to run a vampire-themed game? Or something set in the space? Take a look at the various game systems, read about them and perhaps you will head back to your own player profile and add some additional systems that you would like to try out. Tools & Platforms The hobby-space is filled with creative people creating various tools for various purposes: mapbuilding, character creation, virtual tabletops, music and sounds, generators, worldbuilding and more. See if there are tools to make your or your group's life easier. Creators Whether you like to watch Youtube videos, listen to podcasts or read blog articles - this is your place to learn more about the nitty-gritty of the hobby. Whether to keep up with the news regarding the TTRPG hobby, follow along someone else's actual play journey or read about the ins and outs of the hobby. Or if you are looking for an artist to commission for an artwork - we have some of those as well. Communities & Events Hosting a public tabletop-related event and want people to discover and join it? Spread the word. Or if you are running a Discord or other type of a community, whether online or offline - this is the place to get the word out. Gather people and grow with the hobby. /images/general-media/1775848937_OGEqvwGB.jpgThe library is evergrowing. Submit your own projects or entries. All the library entries are sorted by recommended first. The more recommendations the entry has, the better it's position will be in their category. If you are interested in featuring your entry, you can get in touch with us and we'll tell you more about how you can get your post to be discovered by more people. As you can currently see, the library in some categories is quite empty. We invite everyone to submit their entry to it. Read more about how to submit here. And visit the library Layout changes In addition, during the past month we have slightly updated the way player and group posts look. Hopefully this will help you introduce yourself or your group a bit better. If you are curious about how to improve your profile even more - go ahead and read this guide article here. In addition to the post layout, you can see our updated footer, providing a better navigation to various bits and pieces of the platform. Also the creator spotlight section has been updated to provide a more clear layout to learn more about various projects in the hobby space. If you have a project you would like to spotlight, you can read more about the whole process here. These spotlighted projects are what help us keep working on the platform, cover our running costs and help us keep it free forever. We polished the chat with a few visual and functional improvements. Users can now @mention someone in the group chat. You can also react to a post, to show support or your feelings towards whatever thing they said. Wide As you can see, the whole platform is now wider (Or if you are on mobile, you can't see. But take our word for it). This improvement will help us provide a better user experience, as our interface is less busy now. The header has been updated and now includes the link to the library. On mobile, you have a brand new menu - again to provide a clearer visual experience and help you navigate the platform even better. Notifications Want to stay updated when someone contacts you? Or a game/player is added that might be interesting to you? You can head over to the Account page and adjust your notifications there. Notifications in the mobile app provide a better preview of what the notification is all about, so you can either swipe it away or open it, should it be important. /images/general-media/1775849670_l0NrsMZa.jpgDon't let yourself get overwhelmed with notifications or e-mails. Choose what is relevant to you and stay in the loop. Unofficial iOS app If you are an iPhone user, you can now see a message at the bottom of the page, that will guide you towards adding our unofficial Groupfinder app on your phone. It will send you relevant notifications and help you keep up with all the important bits. That wraps it up for now Thank you to all who have found their way to Groupfinder. If you have any feedback regarding the platform, please let us know, it doesn't have to be a long in-depth commentary or structured letter. Just get in touch with us or send me a mail (holger@groupfinder.eu) and I promise to read all of your mails.  Whether to praise us, or to let us know of a feature the platform is missing, we welcome both. And as a final note - if you have found Groupfinder to be helpful to you so far. Or you want to help it become even more popular (so you have more players/games to choose from) - spread the word. Tell people on Reddit, Facebook, X, Bluesky, Discord or any other channel about Groupfinder. We will love you to bits. Till next time.

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Crispy's Tavern: Tales and Tea
Video

Crispy's Tavern: Tales and Tea

TTRPG
English
Discussions
I'm a simple tavern keeper who spends their time spilling the hottest tea. Crispy's Tavern is a drama YouTuber who covers stories both inside and outside the TTRPG space. On the side, Crispy gives advice to aspiring GMs on Crispy's Academy: RPG Tips and posts cosplay photos on their social media. Links youtube.com  - Youtube channel patreon.com  - Patreon page

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