Letters from the Dark - 3 New Exciting Zines for Shadowdark RPG

In which I cover the first three issues of the Letters from the Dark zine series by Chris Powell. They're for Shadowdark, and they're all awesome!
Here's where you can get them:
Letters from the Dark, Vol. I: Out of Time -
preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/p...
Letters from the Dark, Vol. II: Slayer's Moon -
preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/p...
Letters from the Dark, Vol. III: Tales of the Fey -
preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/p...
Music from two great games (HK and StS).

[@ShinyMissingno97]

Hi! Thanks for this review! I’m really glad to see such a positive response. I liked that you commented about the tonal inconsistency in #2 because that was something I tried to explain in a page that was cut for length. Slayer’s Moon was meant to be an homage to medieval Romanian folklore, not just Count Dracula (which was a created by an Irish author in the late 19th century and diverged greatly from the actual Romanian tradition). While it includes some of the same references that are also present in Ravenloft, LFTD2 is not meant to be just be a Shadowdark version of that story, so the tone is less gothic horror and more like a creepy medieval fairytale. The smey, martinet, muma, and others are my interpretations of traditional Romanian fairytales, which is why some elements of the hex crawl (like the farmer who can talk to sheep) might seem a bit wacky. I appreciate all the support from your community, and I can tell you that #4 is complete and scheduled to come out April 1st! It’s the longest zine yet, and it’s especially designed for new players and new GMs. As you surmised, it’s an homage to Keep on the Borderlands with elements of Pathfinder Kingmaker as well. I’m also in the process of adding full-color VTT maps to the previous zines (#2s are already available), so anyone who has downloaded one so far should be on the lookout for a free update.

[@RedMageGM]

That makes a ton of sense! Thanks for the rundown! I'm really looking forward to issue #4!

[@AmazingAaxor]

I definitely do not need more Shadowdark stuff. I definitely do not need more Shadowdark stuff. I definitely do need more Shadowdark stuff. I most definitely need more Shadowdark zines.

[@RedMageGM]

:D :D :D Oh man...I feel that...

[@DevilsTheatre]

I feel that...

[@michaelmullenfiddler]

Lol

[@NightNoonGames]

I love seeing more third-party Shadowdark stuff! I'm not sure how I have missed these three until now!

[@RedMageGM]

I was super surprised to run across them myself! I hadn't heard of them before I saw them on DTRPG.

[@jollyrogerquill]

Wow! You're the DnD curator, top 3 favorite channels in KZbin for me! Along side Dungeon Craft and Agranak Studios. Hope you do an actual play of one of this modules some time :D

[@RedMageGM]

Thank you!! That means a lot! I don't know if I'll ever do an actual play, though who knows! It might be interesting at some point! :)

[@PetesDracolich]

Oh how I love zines! The perfect amount of drop in content! The tiny spark needed to inspire a raging inferno! The underground free spirit artists uncensored by mainstream media! Support third party game designers & third party content!

[@RedMageGM]

Hear, hear!

[@CrowHollow]

Thank you for all you do. I enjoy your videos and please keep it up!

[@merethif]

Those zines really went under my radar - I'm glad youtube has recommended me your video. Third issue is least interesting for me since I'm not a huge fun of whimsical... I mean I used to be but perhaps I've overdosed whimsy and need a rehab ;-) Issue 1 & 2 seems very solid. The only thing that bothers me is a Tactician talent of Slayer class. I hate with passion features that enable using another stats then STR for melee attacks (I don't like Finesse for the same reason, but luckily SD only allows DEX for daggers so I can live with that ;-D ). But it's personal preference, so not a real critique. Apart from that It's great class and it feels to me more like a "real" ranger then official SD ranger (sounds like a blasphemy I know). Evoker and Trickster seems like a well thought through and interesting classes as well. And I simply love addition of new spells! I'd rather have more spells for existing classes then too many new classes.

[@stanleybarnes8756]

People should stop apologizing for expressing themselves. It is the writer's prerogative to inspire, uplift, challenge, or even offend others with his works. Other than that rant, a great review. I especially like the last zine. Once again, you really inspire me to look for alternative materials beyond the mainstream. It is like the "Grunge of Literature"! :)

[@RedMageGM]

Thanks man! I appreciate it! :)

[@stanleybarnes8756]

@@RedMageGMOnly a pleasure, RedMageGM. Eddie would be proud. :)

[@chriscooper7962]

Fantastic stuff.

[@RedMageGM]

Totally agree - these are great!

[@DG-pm6ou]

Another great review, but it killed me that you missed the Sesame Street reference!! 🤣🤣 It may just be me but the background music was a bit distracting on this one.

[@RedMageGM]

Aw man! What was it?! Actually, I totally agree. I was listening back to part of it and I was like "woah, it's too loud"!

[@DevilsTheatre]

Just looked it up; Smey are a Romanian/Slavic folklore dragon, which makes sense since the hex crawl bills itself not strictly as horror, but Romanian folklore inspired. So I think it fits that vibe still.

[@DevilsTheatre]

Although in Romania it's apparently spelled "Zmeu"?

[@RedMageGM]

Oh interesting! That makes a lot of sense!

[@ElShowDeJason]

Great video

[@RedMageGM]

Thanks!

[@gommechops]

Where do they find all this cool public domain art like the Glatisant?

[@ShinyMissingno97]

Wikimedia Commons! If you search for “*subject* illustration” you’re likely to find a ton of high res scans of public domain art of the subject. The glatisant is my name for the Questing Beast from King Arthur, based on its French name bête glatissante.

[@TheWizard10008]

👍👍👍

[@DanielEastland]

I like the evoker class, but the progression table doesn't say when you get talents

[@RedMageGM]

Do you mean the regular talents? That's in the main Shadowdark book. The evoker spells happen at first level and each odd level. At even levels you gain the innate spells.

[@DanielEastland]

@@RedMageGM Ah. I see what you're talking about. All classes get talents at the same levels. Thanks!

[@BrentARJ]

1:57 Your parents named you rawpixel too?? That IS weird!

[@RedMageGM]

They were cruel people! :D

[@spaceranger7683]

Monster Monday 3. What's this? Or, should I say, where do I find this?

[@RedMageGM]

During the development of Shadowdark, Kelsey would release special monsters on Mondays throughout the year. I'm not sure where you can get them now...I think there might be posts on the Arcane Library twitter. If you join the Arcane Library's Discord channel, I know that someone on there would be able to get them to you.

[@ShinyMissingno97]

Hi! This is Chris Powell. The PDF of Letters from the Dark 1 includes a hyperlink to Monster Monday 3 on the page that it’s referenced.

[@spaceranger7683]

@@ShinyMissingno97 Hey, Chris. Thanks very much for personally responding to this and letting me know. Especially since I'm usually a .pdf's purchaser.

[@DevilsTheatre]

Also, I'm glad you normally promote Free and PWYW items, because if you start promoting a lot of these or even bigger ticket items I'm going to feel it in my wallet...

[@RedMageGM]

haha yeah, I try to focus on the free things, for pretty much the same reason. Plus, there's so much amazing free or PWYW content out there that I think people are buying things they really don't need to much of the time. There's probably a free adventure that will do exactly what you want!

[@DevilsTheatre]

@@RedMageGM You should work in "The Count, the Curse, and the Castle" and give a shoutout to Defficient Master when you do, it's awesome!

[@RedMageGM]

I actually already reviewed that one! :) I agree - it's amazing!

[@DevilsTheatre]

@@RedMageGM How did I miss that one?!

[@RedMageGM]

It was awhile ago - back in November. :)