Lair Of Secrets

When is a monster not a monster? We’re talking about those classic threats known as oozes, cubes, and puddings. These creatures appear as puddles, cubes, and rolling masses of ick ... and they're sure to challenge your players. Want more Shadowdark? Check out our episode “d12 Reasons Shadowdark is Awesome!” Watch our Shadowdark actual play: Raiders of the Lost Temple New to Shadowdark? Get the free Shadowdark RPG Quickstart Set from the Arcane Library. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Oozes and Puddings00:08 Grey Ooze05:50 Zomblob11:32 Gelatinous Cube16:35 Cran Gelatinous Cube22:18 Black Pudding23:39 Heal Cube22:45 Are Slimes a kind of Ooze? Listen to the Episode Watch to the Episode Watch d6 Oozes , Cubes, and Puddings on YouTube. Show Notes Grey Ooze Source: Core Rulebook, p. 223 Description: Slick puddles the color of stone Monster Level: 2 Notes: This ooze dissolves metal, so using swords, spears, and other metal weapons against it is risky: At the table: In Ken’s game, he had a gray ooze lurking in a cave, appearing to be part of the floor. He foreshadowed the ooze’s appearance by having a pseudopod lash out and snag one of the PCs’ allies. In game play, the ooze went down quickly because the PCs had help - their “allies” were cultists of the Rat-King, and they convinced them (via a charm spell) that they were also servants of the Rat-King. Foreshadowing - puddle of wet stone that lurks on the cavern floor … and attacks when players walk over them. Zomblob Source: Monthly monster - The Zomblob Description: A sickly purple carpet of rolling sludge. Eyeballs, organs, and partially dissolved bones bubble up before being reabsorbed. Monster Level: 3 Notes: An zombie ooze that regenerates every round. At the table: The players are summoned by the City Guard to deal with an undead infestation in the town’s catacombs, but when the PCs arrive … the catacombs are silent. There’s no sign of the undead … or even the dead. All the corpses are missing. And then the ooze appears… Gelatinous Cube Source: Core Rulebook, p. 217 Description: A translucent cube of slime that silently mows through tunnels. Monster Level: 5 Notes: An Old School classic, which inevitably has some sort of skeleton floating in its innards. At the table: In Ken’s game, he had a skeleton “floating” up a vertical shaft in a dungeon, surrounded by a halo of daggers and coins. The PCs assumed it was some sort of telekinetic threat … until they threw a barrel at it and hit the edge of the cube. The PCs then rain away. :) In David’s game, a skeleton appeared out of the darkness at the edge of the torch, a sword floating near it’s hand. Magic? Nope, gelatinous cube Cran Gelatinous Cube Source: Monthly monster - Cran Gelatinous Cube Description: In the darkest bogs and chilliest swamps, a blood-red cube slurps along the muddy earth. Glistening cranberry juice beads from its sides, and leathery corpses swirl around within its towering bulk. Monster Level: 9 At the table: It’s the holidays, so why not work something beloved (and horrible) into your game? The Night Before Yuletide It’s the night before Christmas (or your equivalent fantasy holiday) and a contingent of the Sewermen Guild have gone missing. One of their children begs the PCs to save their missing parent. Venturing into the sewers, the PCs come across strange, caustic puddles of fermenting red liquid. Zombies, soaked in the weird liquid, attack unexpectedly. And somewhere, a Mad Wizard is searching for his favorite monstrous side dish. OR attack PCs while they venture into the bogs for fixings for the holiday? Black Pudding Source: Core Rulebook p. 199 Description: A black, ice-cold mass of sludge Monster Level: 6 Notes: Dissolves wood AND metal, so it’s a double threat to PC weapons and armor. At the table: Ice Cave Denizen: The pudding lurks, Predator-like, at the back of an ice cave. When creatures/PCs take refuge in the cave, it detects the heat, and creeps forward … but only after watches have been set. Variant Mechanics: Traditionally, black puddings split when hit (in 5e, lightning and slashing attacks do this). What happens in ShadowDark? Heal Cube Source: Monthly monster - Heal Cube Description: A massive cube of clear slime with a faint, pink color. Plump mice and centipedes drift around inside. Monster Level: 5 At the Table: Noble Healing Chamber The town’s local noble acquired a Heal Cube as a hedge against death. The PCs come across it during a night of carousing that ends at the noble’s estate. The Cube is keeping the noble alive … but what’s fueling the cube? Side Note Conversation Massive cube of clear slime? Wait … are slimes actually a kind of ooze? What the heck is an ooze anyway? Featured Image Meta Black-and-white art of a skeleton-filled gelatinous cube devouring a new victim from the Ooze Cubes monthly monster release.

The Lair Crew takes on Shadowdark as they play Kelsey Dionne's free Raiders of the Hidden Temple adventure. In the first actual play episode, they venture into a snake-infested dungeon, discovering dangerous monsters and potential allies. Get the dungeon: EnWorld - Kelsey Dionne publishes two new free Shadowdark adventures New to Shadowdark? Get the free Shadowdark RPG Quickstart Set from the Arcane Library. The quickstart set includes example characters, essential rules, and a ready-to-play dungeon. Want to know more about Shadowdark? Check out our episode "d12 Reasons Shadowdark is Awesome!" Check out Part 2 of the actual play. Chapters 0:00 Intro & Setup – Welcome to Shadowdark in Foundry VTT 6:30 The Temple Doors & Snake Trap Puzzle 14:10 The Hypnotic Pool & The Emerald Dive 22:40 Meeting the Snakefolk & The Cursed Dilemma 31:15 Bloodthirsty Prisoner & Party Tensions Rise 39:50 Enter the Chapel & Alessa's Mission 48:00 Ambush! The Vampirodile Attacks 59:45 Blood, Magic & Betrayal – Combat Escalates 1:16:00 The Final Blow & Tactical Retreat 1:29:00 Aftermath, Drumbeats & What Comes Next Cast of Characters Zorax the Unready (Chris) – Wizard A classically trained wizard with a spell book full of utility and a knack for casting magic missile, Zorax is more scholar than adventurer—often pondering the mystical while his party dives headlong into danger. Ever curious but slightly aloof, he has a cautious presence, offering magical firepower and insightful observations from the back line. Rilmorn (Josh) – Thief Impulsive, chaotic, and famously unlucky, Rilmorn dives into danger with zero hesitation—whether it’s belly-crawling ahead of the group, swallowing a gem, or stabbing a snake-person mid-negotiation. He embodies the archetypal rogue with a wild streak, equal parts comic relief and terrifying wild card. Anders (Ken) – Fighter (Sea Wolf) A spear-wielding berserker blessed by old gods, Anders charges headfirst into combat with bravado, charisma, and minimal regard for tactics or consequences. He’s a blend of Conan the Barbarian and Thor with a concussion—smiling as he stabs and only asking questions after the bodies hit the floor. Lila (Erin) – Priest Wise and pragmatic, Lila serves as the moral compass and healing backbone of the group, unafraid to challenge poor decisions or channel divine wrath when undead monstrosities strike. Calm under pressure but quick to act when needed, she blesses weapons, turns the undead, and debates with bloodthirsty prisoners without flinching. Listen to the Episode Watch to the Episode Watch Raiders of the Lost Temple, Part 1/3 on YouTube. Show Notes The setting is a jungle temple with Indiana Jones vibes. The ruleset is Shadowdark. Major events in the episode Party decrypts a reptilian phrase: “A snake shall always find safe passage” First major trap revealed—players must crawl under or face slicing spears Mysterious pool hypnotizes players with serpent-like reflections Rogue Rilmorn dives in, swallows a gem, and later becomes a one-man blood detector Players encounter snake-headed humanoids claiming to be cursed by a wizard named Gorgoroth Trust issues spike as Rilmorn executes a cold-blooded backstab, using the corpse as bait A massive undead crocodile (vampirodile) attacks, draining HP and Constitution Intense combat ensues—players burn luck points and divine smites to survive Final blow delivered by Anders wielding a newly-blessed spear Featured Image Meta Black-and-white artwork from the Raiders of the Lost Temple module.

With help from the Lair community, we collected eight house rules for Shadowdark. On this episode, we run through these rule hacks, offering our thoughts on how they might impact the game. Most of these are not rules we've tried ourselves, so we'd love some more field reports! And yep, we're looking for even more rules variants. Leave your feedback and/or house rules in the comments, or email us at podcast@lairofsecrets.com. Want more house rules? Check out d8 Shadowdark House Rules Chapters 0:00 Intro & Updates from the Lair0:42 House Rule #1 - DM Scotty’s Luck Dice (via Matthew McGugin)3:20 House Rule #2 - Dice Instead of Luck Tokens (via BrentNorton1602)5:43 House Rule #3 - Priest Miscast Tables (via BrentNorton1602)9:40 House Rule #4 - Session-Based XP (via BrentNorton1602)14:11 House Rule #5 - Max HP at First Level (via BrentNorton1602)17:24 House Rule #6 - Magical Tattoos and Moonstones (via BrentNorton1602)21:14 House Rule #7 - Don’t Lose Spell Until Success (via Sly Flourish)23:30 House Rule #8 - Removing Luck-Generating Classes30:03 Obligatory Rambling - Hades II, American Arcadia & Games from the Lair38:13 BattleZoo, More Shadowdark & Outro Listen to the Episode Watch to the Episode Watch d8 ShadowDark Hacks on YouTube. Show Notes 1. DM Scottie’s house rule for luck dice Details: https://youtu.be/x13wXuszkLA?si=6B2P4DQjArcXLrOP Provided by Matthew McGuigan Our thoughts: David - Getting luck or luck dice for failure is interesting. It gives you something for losing a turn in combat. It will change how Shadowdark plays though. You can’t give dice to others like you can with luck. You can accumulate a lot of dice, making it nearly impossible to fail. It can tilt Shadowdark back to superheroic fantasy like 5e is. Nothing wrong with this. Be aware if you use this house rule, it will change the game a bit more in the player success direction. 2. Dice instead of Luck Tokens Details: Use d6 per level (level 1 gets 1, level 2 gets 2). Can be used to add or subtract from rolls at the table and can be shared with others, but can only spend an amount equal to their level. Provided by BrentNorton1602 Our thoughts: David - I think this sounds like a good idea. This gives you the ability to push you just over the edge, but at low level you can tell if spending luck would be worthwhile or not. You do lose the chance for a big swing from a 1 to a 20. At low levels you may not have a chance to succeed like you would with a luck token. It’s a lot less of an impact than DM Scottie’s house rule. 3. Clerics have miscast tables like wizards Details The gods are fickle, plus it’s easier if the system is the same for all casters. Provided by BrentNorton1602 Our thoughts: Hmmmm. Kind of like the arbitrary nature of needing to atone. Cleric chart vs. Wizard chart. All wine turns to vinegar until you atone. A plague of frogs. :) Enemies of the deity send someone after you. Elite warriors of your faith come to beat the crap out of you. 4. Experience per session, not per monster or treasure. Details: 1 xp per session. 2nd lvl you need 3xp. At 3rd you need 4 new sessions. Easier to keep track of. Is the number of xp needed equal to the level you are going toward? Provided by BrentNorton1602 Our thoughts: David - It would be easier to keep track of. I see two issues with it: What about carousing and downtime? Does that XP go away? There’s a knock on effect to the game economy if you get rid of carousing, and remove a reason to go out and get treasure. This would mean that getting to 5th level would take a very long time/# of sessions. It also takes away the need to gain treasure or do things in the game that would gain you XP. 5. Max hit points at first level Details Provided by BrentNorton1602 Our thoughts: David - If you want a less deadly game at first level, I think this is a good option. It doesn’t lead to a great party cohesion if characters die right off the bat. 6. Magical Tattoos Details: We have a magic tattoo system and use warp stone, moon stone. Spell casters need to find or buy moonstone and have it turn in ink and tattooed on to their bodies. 1 pound per tier of spell. Provided by BrentNorton1602 Our thoughts: We’d like to know more! 7. Don't Lose a Spell Until You've Succeeded At Least Once Details: SlyFlourish: ShadowDark House Rules Our thoughts: Avoids the “you failed. So sorry” 8. Removing character classes that generate luck Classes like the Bard and Seer generate too much luck during games (or so I have heard) Having luck easily at hand removes a lot of the risk in Shadowdark Things like spellcasting become easier and more certain Luck is sometimes hoarded for spellcasters so they don’t fail Maybe this should be: Don’t allow more than one luck to be spend for spellcasting? “You *must* use the new result” could be interpreted as only a single luck can be spent on a roll Do you allow multiple luck to be spent on a single roll? Obligatory Banter Hades 2 American Arcadia Slime Rancher 2 Three New Battlezoo Secret Tomes for Shadowdark! Featured Image Meta Black-and-white artwork from the Shadowdark core rule book.

We're back for Season 5 of Lair of Secrets! On this episode, we take a look back at our favorite episodes of Season 4 including: the actual play episodes for Cyberpunk RED and Fallout GM advice episodes on modern maps and building cities our cozy Saturday morning show "Campaigns & Coffee" We also look ahead into Season 5, which will include: New seasons of Fallout 2d20 and Cyberpunk RED as well as a new Shadowdark actual play. Delving into Cyberpunk 2077 and Cyberpunk RED Single Player Mode Shadowdark house rules and advice Chapters 0:00 Welcome Back to the Lair – Season 5 Kicks Off0:30 Cyberpunk Red Recap – Flipping the Switch & Hera Awakens1:57 Modern Maps & Mothership’s Corporate Horror3:25 Building Better Cities – Real World Inspirations8:30 Fallout 2d20 Finale – Lasers, Zones & Tailspire Maps6:58 Shadowdark Fails – Mistakes & GM Reflections10:27 Unboxings – Fallout, Electric State & Savage Worlds15:39 Season 5 Preview – Fallout, Cyberpunk & Shadowdark Actual Play24:40 Geek Archaeology – Star Frontiers, Dragonbone, Timex Sinclair & Rockets27:28 Future Features – Craft Projects, How-Tos & Call for Ideas Listen to the Episode Watch to the Episode Watch "Back to the Lair: Shadowdark, Cyberpunk Red, & GM Advice" on YouTube. Show Notes Looking back at Season 4 Favorite Episodes? Ken Regular episodes Cyberpunk Chapter 9: Flip the Switch d8 ShadowDark Mistakes We Made Fallout 2d20 Chapter 5: Thriftway Throwdown Campaigns & Coffee Build Better Cities One-offs Unboxing Fallout 2d20 Starter Set (such a goofy, disastrous video). David Regular Episodes Modern Maps We got to talk about Ken’s best worst map for his Mothership convention game So corporate, it’s perfect, just not for the people living in it Campaigns & Coffee Dave likes the Campaigns and Coffee as a series. It’s a way to relax and talk as a group about different gaming topics that we are interested in One-offs Unboxing the Electric State Even though I haven’t played it yet, it’s a gorgeous book and has been a depressing but creative read Looking ahead to Season 5 Whats coming next? Actual Plays Fallout 2d20 Season 2 Cyberpunk Red Season 3 Shadowdark Actual Play Episode Ideas Why we love Cyberpunk 2077 Geeking out about Single Player Mode (Cyberpunk RED) Fallout Series as inspiration for your game Features Geek Archeology - what tech/geeky stuff would you dig up? Fixing my old Dragon Bone? How-Tos - what do you want to see?

We unbox the GM Companion for Shadowdark, a supplemental rulebook designed to make the game master's life easier. Written by Chubby Funster, it's got a ton of random charts for the world above and the world below, plus monsters, treasure, and much more. Get the GM's Companion for Shadowdark at DriveThruRPG. Chapters 0:00 Intro & GM Needs for Shadowdark0:07 Unboxing the Book & Initial Impressions1:15 Exploring the World Above: Hex Crawling, Biomes & Hazards3:43 Cities, Settlements, Shops & Taverns5:30 Class-Based Carousing & Downtime Options7:13 The World Below: Dungeon Generation, Rivals & Traps9:52 Monsters, Treasure & Magic Items12:08 Final Thoughts Listen to the Episode Watch to the Episode Watch Unboxing GM Companion for Shadowdark on YouTube. Venture Deeper for more Shadowdark! What more ShadowDark? We’ve got more ShadowDark! d8 ShadowDark Mistakes We Made (S4E19) d12 Ways ShadowDark is Awesome! (S4E15) Shadowdark Impressions (Campaigns & Coffee) Unboxing Cursed Scrolls 3: Midnight Sun for ShadowDark Featured Image Meta Cavern artwork from the GM's Companion for Shadowdark. Credit: Chubby Funster.

With help from the Lair community, we collected eight house rules for Shadowdark. On this episode, we run through them, offering our thoughts on how they might impact the game (most of these are not rules we've tried ourselves, so we'd love some more field reports!) Leave them in the comments, or email us at podcast@lairofsecrets.com. Want more ShadowDark? We've got more ShadowDark! d8 ShadowDark Mistakes We Made (S4E19) d12 Ways ShadowDark is Awesome! (S4E15) Shadowdark Impressions (Campaigns & Coffee) Unboxing Cursed Scrolls 3: Midnight Sun for ShadowDark Chapters 00:00 Introduction00:54 Monster 2403:02 VALHOLL!04:21 Shadowfinder Complete Bestiary05:24 Creating and Adapting Monsters for ShadowDark14:16 The Monster Overhaul15:12 Ruincairn Bestiary17:20 ShadowDark Monster Tools19:34 Conclusion and Future Discussions Listen to the Episode Watch to the Episode Watch d8 ShadowDark Monster Resources on YouTube. Show Notes ShadowDark specific Monster Resources Monster 24 Cost: $2 (pay what you want) 250 monsters by Tom Phillips, who spent 2024 creating monsters and publishing them to Reddit. This compiles his various critters into one document. Includes gaggles of hags (forest hags, tomb hags, venom hags), plenty of plants (carnivorous cave moss, blood orchid, vampire grass), and oodles of oozes and slimes (chaos pudding, green slime, umber jelly) VALHOLL! Nashcraeft #1 Cost: $6.99 A fanzine that builds on Cursed Scrolls #3: Midnight Sun. Introduces a bunch of monsters as well as a “lot system” as alternative to carousing, new magic items, new blessings, and 4 classes. Shadowfinder Complete Bestiary Cost: $25 (PDF) $29 (POD+PDF) as part of the Kickstarter Every PF 1E bestiary, #1-6, converted for Shadowdark RPG. The kickstarter is over; hopefully they’ll release this for sale when the Kickstarter-created book releases in October 2025. Creating and Adapting Monsters for ShadowDark Cost: $5 (pay what you want) Very handy, fan-created rules for making your own monsters (or converting them from other systems). Advice on creating monsters including “VIBES OVER COMPLEXITY”, “USE NATURAL LANGUAGE”, “MONSTER SPELLS ARE WEIRD”, and “RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN” Options include: BUILD BY EQUIVALENTS If your monster is like a knight, bugbear, or zombie … just use the stat block as is. BUILD BY ADAPTATION Say you want to recreate the 5e Bandit Captain, you take the ShadowDark bandit, and beef it up. BUILD BY BENCHMARK E.g. converting Yakfolk warrior. Look at the CR (in this case, CR 3, compare it to CR3 monsters in ShadowDark, and start building. It has a talent bank describing all kinds of monster capabilities and a big list of monster spells. It includes a bunch of horrors as well, including blink dogs, ettins, pseudodragons, unique horrors like the “Eyeball Wall”, and a number of NPCs (pyromancer, cultist, etc.). ShadowDark adjacent Resources Runecairn Bestiary Cost: $13.49 100 Norse-inspired monsters for Runecairn, an Old School Renaissance RPG. The OSR stat blocks are close enough to ShadowDark to make conversion pretty easy. Includes sabertooth cats, grave newts, ogres, and giant octopi. The Monster Overhaul Cost: $30.00 (PDF) $60 (PDF+Print) Come for the 200+ monsters, stay for the ecology and random table pieces. Uniformly praised online. It’s got entries for NPCs (adventurers, barbarians) each with d100 names and character traits. For monsters, it delves beyond the stat block. Goblins get the same d100 names and traits PLUS physical descriptions, motivations, mounts, elite weapons, and loot. Plus there are random tables like “50 mercenary jobs” and generic maps of locations like a wizard tower and a village. ShadowDark Monster Tools ShadowDark Tools: Monster Reference Filter monsters from the ShadowDark core rules + the first three Cursed Scrolls. Criteria include monster level, environment, type (e.g. angel, aberration), movement type (burrow, climb, fly), attack (blood drain, petrify, venom), effect (blindness, charm), and trait (corrosive, damage reduction, immune non-silvered weapons) Ken the DM’s Shadowdark RPG Monsters By Level A PDF index of ShadowDark core monsters by level. It includes each monster's special abilities and its page number. Featured Image Meta A list of monster stat blocks generated using ShadowDark Tools.