One of the most popular adventures in Shadowdark is the Lost Citadel, which makes sense given that it is in the quick start rules and is for characters level 1-3. I want to do a review to explore what makes it so good & what can be taken from it.

Overarching Structure/Presentation

Generally speaking, it’s a 27 room dungeon that includes the following:

• Background (1 paragraph)
• Factions 3
• Rumors 6
• Entrances 4
• Order of Battle
• Area Key with basic details for every room & 8 random encounters
• 27 area keys
• NPC generator

If adventure design was a check box list, all the parts are there. Some things I like in a dungeon are missing, like omens, but they’re not really part of the Shadowdark system so that’s okay.

Presentation-wise, the dungeon is laid out in a fairly basic trade dress of single column, black header bars, and succinct bullet point descriptors. It’s definitely the Shadowdark style that Kelsey developed, but it doesn’t utilize some of the best practices that can be found in other game systems. Instead, it polishes the practices it does utilize to their finest points. This is design stripped away to highlight the writing, not design to serve the GM running sight unseen. Some GM prep is necessary. That’s perfectly fine.

What do I mean by running sight unseen?

OSE uses callouts (see above) to help you run the monsters as they appear in the adventure. Other adventures give you a rendition of the map on the page so you can see how the rooms connect. Some, like Sepulchre of Seven, color-code things so it’s easy to navigate the book. Lost Citadel does none of that. In fact, the map is the last thing you see in this adventure. You are meant to read it first, run it after. Which makes sense when you look at the layout as minimal & highlighting the writing. It’s Kelsey’s strong suit & she’s showing it off with her design choices (even if she claims she adopted the Shadowdark style from not being comfortable with design & layout).

What makes it good?

Okay, so all the basics of a dungeon structure are accounted for. This is clearly a dungeon-based adventure. I would go so far as to say, it’s a dungeon crawl & not a heroic encounter adventure as well. But it could be heroic with some tweaks. So a dungeon crawl and not just an adventure in a dungeon – meaning the purpose of the adventure is to explore the dungeon, not undertake some sort of other purpose (although those do help).

What is a dungeon crawl?

Gus L of Tomb Robbers of the Crystal Frontier fame describes it as a “mode of RPG play” that is about exploration & discovery that relies on Turn Keeping, Limited Supplies, & Randomized Risk to create tension during the exploration phase of the crawl. As such, crawling rounds, slot inventory, & random encounters from the Shadowdark system handle these aspects for the GM.

How do you make a good dungeon crawl?

That’s sort of the age old question, but there should be variety, interactivity, threats, & wonder. This is something Lost Citadel handles extremely well.

There are 8 Random Encounters and none of them are just “1d4 monster”. Although, I do wish the wind blowing the torch out had a way to prevent the loss, it does prove that resources are important and at 1-in-8, it’s not that likely to occur. Some of the encounters allow for faction involvement. All of them help define the ecology of the citadel before a player even enters. As a GM, you’re well-primed before you even read the first room key description.

Each room description has something in it. There are no empty boxes. There are levers to pull, creatures to engage with, lore to be gleamed, and all of it reinforces this story about a people who used to worship a bull & the minotaur that resulted. The place tells a story. A story that will impact gameplay in some fashion. It’s not just a place where story can happen and the players have to create it. It’s intentional & meaningful.

Is each room perfect? No, but they’re all pretty damn good. Phrases like “gauzy sheets of webbing” and “cavorting dolphins” are succinct & evocative. It’s just enough. Nothing more. If you like a little more detail, there’s enough to build upon during your prep. Bowls you need bleed into to heal create an interesting puzzle to solve & ask a question of whether it’s worth it for the limited heal.

How about treasure? There’s gold, but that’s not all. Some of the treasure are the items people will want to use as their equipment such as a tiger shield. Some of it useful tools, like scrolls. And others that are potential quest hooks, like a locket with a picture inside. Every where you turn, there is something.

And that’s the point. You are never left wanting.

There is wonder.

Sometimes I think adventure writers forget this tiny aspect in pursuit of fun combats or clever traps. But those don’t make good adventures. Those are just bits and baubles to a good adventure. A truly good adventure inspires awe & wonder in the players exploring it. It makes them fret & worry about whether their character can or will survive the challenges that they are at the limit of their capabilities to survive. A group will talk about their near escape from a raging minotaur they saw at the end of the hall or how a jelly jumped out of a mosaic at them for years.

When you read an adventure as a GM, you should be able to identify a few moments that you think are likely to happen. Those moments should excite you & make you enthusiastic to run the adventure. Lost Citadel delivers that in spades.

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As a side note, I recently completed layout on Stingbaats! vol. 0, an Introduction to Torchwick. I’m very proud of the efforts here as we were trying to make the quintessential Shadowdark starting town. One that could be right outside the Lost Citadel in fact. If you don’t have a copy, I highly recommend you go snag it since it is free.

Okay, back to the mines to work on Things Possessed of Power.