The Threat Clock: Shadowdark
Added 2025-04-03 13:00:13 +0000 UTCLast week I talked about using real time mechanics to help keep your game move forward while keeping a sense of dread and danger in your game. I've been absolutely slammed at work, so I decided to reconfigure my weekly games to focus on playing something fun. I love design and testing, but it's tricky to make everything a playtest.
So, I decided to run a Shadowdark game. But of course, the drive too create and tinker is always strong. I ended up hacking together a threat clock mechanic for my Shadowdark game. I've attached the mechanics below for your use. I'll hack together a version for D&D 5e for next week. Until then, enjoy!
Comments
I'll run the math by hand to make sure it's right - the columns are the number of dice rolled, the rows are the chance of rolling that number of 6s.
Mike Mearls
2025-04-04 14:29:44 +0000 UTCThe main difference is tracking in real time and setting the value to a specific number of dice. It makes the mechanic a part of the environment. I also find that the timer makes it easier for me to track, as I can just forget about it until my alarm goes off.
Mike Mearls
2025-04-04 14:18:01 +0000 UTCThis is a good idea, but I struggled with the chart, so it might be worth representing it differently? What I mean is, I know there's a 50% chance of rolling a 6 on 4d6, and I don't see that in the chart. It's not a big deal, but if it confused me, it will confuse other people.
Jason Juta
2025-04-04 08:05:09 +0000 UTCThis reminds me of Angry GMs tension dice pool. If you looked at that, How would you say it’s significantly better, different, etc, than that?
Justin Underland
2025-04-04 04:17:41 +0000 UTC
