Shadow of the Demon Lord

Overview

Shadow of the Demon Lord is a grim dark-fantasy tabletop roleplaying game set during the last, doomed years before an apocalypse, designed by Robert J. Schwalb and published by his own studio, Schwalb Entertainment, in 2015 following a Kickstarter campaign.  It builds a d20-based system deliberately stripped of the modifier-stacking common to games in its weight class, replacing most situational bonuses and penalties with a single abstracted mechanic. Schwalb later returned to the same core system for a lighter, more traditional-fantasy spinoff, Shadow of the Weird Wizard, released via Kickstarter in 2023.

Description

Characters begin as ordinary commoners rather than destined heroes, in a world where the Demon Lord's return is already underway and survival - not glory - is the realistic goal of most adventures. The Game Master (GM) runs a setting that leans hard into body horror, corruption, and creeping dread, and the game states its demands plainly.  Characters can and do die, sanity can crack under the weight of what they witness, and doing what's necessary to survive can leave a permanent, mechanical stain on a character's soul. It's built for a table that wants
D&D https://groupmanager.gg/library/dungeons-dragons-5e-2014
-adjacent fantasy combat without D&D's heroic framing - closer in spirit to grimdark fiction than epic fantasy, with character death treated as a real and fairly common outcome rather than an exception.

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Alexandria
Online
The Irritating Pedant
The socialiser Against type
Forever DM since last century looking to play or run a game.  Prefer asynchronous (play-by-post) as I have family and work obligations but a weekend (Friday and Saturday) late evening (9pm US Eastern) time can work. If I'm running a game, my favs are currently Mothership and Ars Magica.  As a player, I can do pretty much anything, but I prefer at least moderate roleplaying between combat.  I am happy with pretty much everything system-wise and genre-wise but I run one 5E game and play in another at home so D&D/Pathfinder isn't my first choice. Still OK with fantasy; good for Torchbearer, Mausritter, Ironsworn, etc.  My hard nos are anything above "R rated" and grimdark/splatter horror played for "isn't it cool" value.
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Burlington
Jesse
Hello adventurers! I'm in the Burlington/Aldershot area (happy to travel to Hamilton, Oakville or maybe a bit further) looking for an in person game as a player. I've been playing D&D for many years, mostly 5e and always online. I've also dabbled in 4e, Spelljammer, PF2e, Shadowrun, Fabula Ultima and soon Shadow of the Demon Lord. Happy to try new systems as long as they aren't too crunchy (Shadowrun 6e even though a simpler edition was a bit combersome at times). I find I'm a better speaker in person than online, and I'd really like to get back to a real table. My only in person game was a short lived one back in university. We had fun but it was too distracting from studies at the time. I'd love to try that again and hopefully find some cool people to hang out with along the way =) I like variety and improv. It's great when the group has good chemistry and there's a mix of strong character dialogue and out of character banter. I like to have a good time and keep the pace flowing. A bit about me: early 30s, male, working an 8-5 engineering job. I train with a club and I'm already in some long running online campaigns, so my schedule is specific but reliable. I'm usually one of the most consistently present players in my games. Sunday to Tuesday evenings work best right now, and Friday nights should open up in March. If you're also looking in the area, let's keep in touch and maybe something will take shape!
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Ian
The storyteller Balanced player
Hello, I've recently been getting into a lot of TTRPGS and would like to play some more! Currently in my World/Chronicles of Darkness hyperfixation, so I'm morso looking for those games. But I'm down to try any of the games I listed! Availability: Thurs, Sat, and Sun, 5 pm - 7 pm PST. Am also somewhat available Mondays and Wednesdays same time but would have to check the date as I have a Bi-weekly game going on those days.
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Sierra Vista
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Dick
Required to write a description, just browsing currently - generically normal hobbyist.
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St. Thomas
Nick
Tone chameleon The storyteller
I enjoy trying new systems, I typically GM but would also like to join games as a player. I often host in-person one-shots where other GMs and I try out new systems, if you're in the area and interested to run or play something let me know! I'm not interested in online or paid games.
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Chris
So, about me, been playing for 11-12 years, started out GMing and probably on the whole find that the more rewarding part of the hobby, but I enjoy playing as well. Played quite a range of systems by this point; did my mandatory few years of D&D and Pathfinder, actually started with Dark Heresy. But I've run Shadowrun briefly, Mutants and Masterminds, dipped my toes in World of Darkness.  I think a benefit of my time behind the screen is that I'm relatively flexible in what I enjoy. I can go for deep and character driven games, but I also appreciate the fun of a good dungeoncrawl or epic combat. I'm absolutely a sucker for intrigue, but I'm not above playing characters dumb as a brick. I'm perhaps overly comfortable playing morally grey grand bastards, but when I think of my favourite recent characters, the Lawful Good Rogue probably ranks as the most compelling.  I'll admit, though I'm by no means someone who can only enjoy hyper-simulationist games, I do occasionally tend to press up against overly artificial system restrictions. In Starfinder, my character did over time trend towards 'why don't we vent the airlock before we go in... soften them up.', and in general, I see a balanced encounter and will often think 'how can rig the deck a bit more in my favour'. Also not a big fan of 'Narrative' games, like Powered by the Apocalypse. For whatever reason, they are the one genre I've never quite meshed with.  But yeah, I am generally open to try different systems, and flexible about my exact role in whatever party I join.
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