AV Shadowdark Conversion Devlog #2

There are two types of GM's: those who prepare and those who "make it up as they go". Improv GM's hate prepper GM's. There is a strong belief that one way is right and one way is wrong.

When an improv GM gets ready to run a pre-published adventure, they pick up the book, casually flip through a few pages, then yawn and toss the book in the trash. We don't need that book where we're going! Reading is for chumps! We'll just make it up as we go! Whoo!

But I like prepping. I enjoy reading the books I bought. I like going through the material, reorganizing it, and adding my own stuff to it. It's my own private sandbox. Forget about any theoretical game that might happen. This right here is fun. 

I find that my games are better when I prepare. It's obvious to me when a GM doesn't prep their game. Their world feels shallow. No one else ever notices but me, which I find strange. 

When I tell improv GMs that I'm going to read the whole adventure before running it, they get really, really upset. They tell me, "You can't do that!" They get red in the face. When I patiently explain to them that my brain doesn't work like theirs, they get disappointed in me. They say things like, "I feel sad for you."

I think there's a great diversity in brain types amongst the human population. And there's not a lot of tolerance for it. Just like there are many different styles of play, there are many different types of people. What works for you might not work for others. 

So, why the hell am I doing this "Arden Vul Shadowdark Conversion"? What does that even mean? Aren't you supposed to to just "make everything up as you go" because "it doesn't matter"?

Well, let me explain why I'm different than 90% of you.

When I see a stat block like this, my brain freezes up. I can't parse this information. I imagine five players are in my living room. They are all staring at me, expecting me to tell them what happens in our shared imaginary world. I glance down at this stat block. 

What does a ring of wizardry do? I have no idea. I have to look that up. What does a staff of the magi do? I have no idea. I have to open the book for that. Please wait just a few minutes! Why didn't I obsessively memorize all these spells yesterday so I'd know what they do? Hang on, this spell uses a mechanic that doesn't exist in Shadowdark. How do I handle it? Now, I have to fire up the logic part of my brain to rewrite the mechanics. This shuts off power to the creative part of my brain. Now, the game is just numbers. There is no more creativity or imagination, because I can't do both at the same time. It totally changes the tone of the session. 

I would speculate that perhaps a "make it up as you go" GM would not care what the magic items or spells do. They would just make something up. But I want it to be true to the material. I want the players to be able to share what happened in their game with other people and be understood. I imagine two D&D players are having lunch together, excitedly sharing stories of running into the infamous Kel Bormol, and what their characters did. If the GM just makes everything up, it's not quite as exciting sharing these stories. 

Let's look at a Shadowdark version of this stat block. 

How is it different? Is it better? We still have the condensed AD&D stat block. But the special abilities and magic items are broken out onto their own lines. This means you don't have to page flip as much. You probably already read the full description of these things in the book, but the condensed version serves as a quick reminder. 

We see ability score bonuses instead of the flat scores.  I don't want to look at "DEX 15" and have to remember that it means "+2". Doing this shuts of the creative, imaginative part of my brain. I like being able to glance at the stat block and see the bonuses. During the game, I want to be in a shared, imaginative world, not doing calculations. 

I removed the long list of spells he has memorized. When I run Kel Bormol, I'll just flip through the book and pick whatever spells I want. Having a super long list there just stresses me out. It makes me think I need to memorize them all. 

I removed any references to spells that don't make any sense in Shadowdark or are too much of a pain to convert. If I have to think of new mechanics for a spell in the middle of a game, I'll get stressed out. It's better for me to just handle that ahead of time.

The Staff of the Magi is an interesting one. It kind of sticks out here with so many spells. Shadowdark is minimalist in design. Its magic items aren't supposed to have such long lists of things they can do. But I just converted it as straight as I could from AD&D, because I have a lot of other stuff to get to. I even left some powers off. It's interesting how much of a combination of new and old styles Shadowdark actually is. 

The Shadowdark stat block, to me, is designed to be glanced at during a session when you only have 1% of your brain power left. 

So, here I am, converting hundreds of stat blocks while other people don't bother and just run it straight from the book.  But I enjoy it. It is crazy, but I like how this gets me familiar with the material. And the material is good! Why wouldn't you want to read about the Flooded Vaults or the Obsidian Gates? I would encourage you all to open the books and read them! You might just have a good time.

For this update, I have all the NPCs in level 3 finished. I've also completed sublevels 1-3. I'm having fun. I hope you are, wherever you are and however you choose to build your sandcastles!