Seasons in Shadow for Shadowdark RPG by Gaffer Games

We use Seasons of Shadow in our Shadowdark West Marches campaign as an alternative to carousing after adventures. So far, several good storylines have come from the supplement. It is available as pay what you want (PWYW) on Itch.io.

Play Time: Takes about 5-10 minutes, used in approx. 50% of sessions, depending on whether the players want to carouse or town-build post-adventure.

General Thoughts: Good supplement, useful for replacing carousing and/or building up a town or fortress, ala Forbidden Lands. I’ve only used the first few pages, we don’t use the point-based reputation system or regional events tables.

In our open world Shadowdark game, the adventurers came into possession of an abandoned wizard’s tower, called the Opaline Tower. True to adventurer form, some PCs wanted to build up a trade fort and town around their new base of operations, which was quickly dubbed Fort Opaline.

I replaced carousing (post-adventure) with “town-building” using Seasons of Shadow. While Gaffer Games’s supplement includes a point-based reputation system and regional events, I’ve only ever used the replacement carousing table.

This table ended up organically adding several major storylines to our campaign, such as when goblin refugees started flowing into Fort Opaline, a stonemason’s guild established a trade post, several dwarven families built an inn and brewhall, and the local thieves’ guild sent some representatives to do business with the new outpost.

While I see the merit in the reputation system, my general axiom is “the adventure is outside the town.” I don’t run social-heavy or intrigue games in Shadowdark, my major focus is on adventure, risk, and reward – which is where Shadowdark excels.

Additionally, since we’re an open table, the regional events don’t really come into play. I appreciate a random regional events table, but I have enough going as GM without trying to remember the regional event I rolled a week ago, at the end of our last session.

Available on Itch.io (PWYW): https://gaffer-games.itch.io/season-in-shadow-for-shadowdark-rpg