GenCon 2026 - My GM Debt
This was my third year at GenCon, but my first time running games. I was super anxious about it to the point of neglecting my prep until the last minute, though I think/hope my players didn't notice! I got a lot of compliments on the set up, and almost everyone had a good time. I'll know more once I get the survey data back after Lurking Fears, the group I worked with, processes it. Overall, it was a positive experience, and I learned a bunch of things about my GMing style and what I like/dislike about Shadowdark.
Lurking Fears
Last year at GenCon, I played in a Shadowdark funnel where the GM ran Trial of the Slime Lord. It was awesome, and each person at the table had 4 characters to start. At the end, everyone had 1. I knew Lurking Fears comped badges and rooms for GMs, so when the time came, I applied and here I am. They asked what systems I was comfortable running, and I gave them a decent list. They asked me to do Shadowdark which I agreed to. The dungeons I ran were Eclipse Dial, Basilisk Cult, and Grotto of the Golden Swan. The first two are from Cursed Scroll 4 (CS4), while the last is a new mini adventure from the upcoming Western Reaches setting.
Lurking Fears provided the rules and dungeons I needed to run the content. However, the context of the content, which is super helpful in running a dungeon well, was not provided. When I realized both Eclipse Dial and Basilisk Cult were from CS4, I went through and read some of it to better understand where and why players are exploring these spaces and the motives behind the Void Beings in the first place.
When events for GenCon were released and people could sign up, all my sessions sold out immediately. I was shocked and excited. I was going to have 42 players if everyone showed up which felt daunting to do in 4 days. It was time to prepare...sort of.
Lurking Fears took care of my badge and eventually told me the hotel I was staying at. I had to run games for a minimum number of hours to qualify. It was 20-something, but my schedule ended up looking like this:
This made for 26 hours of running Shadowdark over 4 days. People kept saying I was crazy for running this many sessions, but it was fine, right?
You may notice the 8 PM - 12 AM time slot on Friday promptly followed by a 9 AM Saturday slot. Let me tell you, that was not fun! All my games were located in the JW Marriott, famously on the far end of the convention center. Meanwhile, on the opposite side where I parked was the stadium where all the food trucks were. Getting lunch each day took a full hour, 30 minutes to walk in each direction. On the bright side, the bathrooms our rooms were near had almost no one in them so were very clean all throughout and had a Starbucks nearby. Still, I thought I would have time to squeeze in sessions of fun stuff, but I didn't attend a single event during all my time. Part of that was due to finishing my Appendix N game jam entry, Revenants of Europa, which I forced myself to finish after spending a ridiculous amount of time on the cover design.
Table Prep
Even though my schedule wasn't fully in my control, how I prepped my table was. I wasn't sure if a map would be provided to me. I found out after a day of running games there were maps which people loved. We were also instructed and required to use Safety Tools, specifically the Deck of Player Safety, that was provided to all GMs.
Aside from the rulebook and standard GM stuff like a GM screen, dice, etc, I brought the following:
- Index cards: I asked players to fold index cards in half and write their name, pronouns, and character name to prop up in front of them.
- Colored meeples: Each player took 2 colored meeples where 1 sat on the map for their location, and the other sat next to their name card.
- Tokens: I couldn't find my luck tokens, so I used tiny dice to represent them at first until I was able to get some Devil's Tokens from Limithron.
- LED Torches: After introductions, safety tools, and a brief on Shadowdark rules, I started every session with initiative. Once it was established, players lit a torch, and I set an LED light with a 1-hour timer in front of them. Players loved this detail and thought it was super cool. More experienced dungeoneers still kept a timer so they weren't blindsided when the light dramatically turned off at the table mid-combat.
- Magic Items: Since 5 of the 7 sessions I was running was with Level 7 characters, I opted to have every character pick from a list of index cards to have a magic item with them. I figured at Level 7, the party has found some pretty neat stuff to distribute among the group. Players liked this too. Plus, the creatures inside Eclipse Dial are only damaged by silver or magic, and having only a couple party members who can do damage feels pretty lame.
Overall, I was super proud of my in-person setup and got multiple compliments about it. Many experienced GMs said they'd be taking some of the elements I used into their home games which was awesome. All my online GM'ing of one-shots translated super well into in-person games.
Shadowdark
Now that I've run 10+ sessions of Shadowdark and have a deep familiarity with its ruleset, I feel confident in making a semi-review of the system. It has some interesting things going on, but moving forward, I don't think I will ever use it for my own games. Still, I'm grateful I was able to run the sessions at GenCon and had some incredible player moments, mainly with kids.
On a layout and readability level, the book needs an index. This should be standard in our industry, especially rulebooks that are 100+ pages. It was extremely difficult to find some rule information. The table of contents is strong and clear but not enough to dismiss having an index.
That aside, the rules are straightforward until you get into interesting situations like Conditions or can I light a torch and still take my action? Sure, there's a brief paragraph on Conditions, but it basically says use common sense. It was a bit frustrating to have some situations be very detailed on its rules like Movement while others got little to nothing. Another thing that falls to the GM and not the rulebook is when players delay/hold/ready on their turn. When the clockwise initiative is critical to design, I believe this should be explained more in depth with examples.
While no rulebook can cover every edge case, these vague rulings where GM discretion is the rule make it difficult to onboard players, especially when they're learning the game at a convention. In my rulings, I did confer with both the official Shadowdark RPG FAQ online as well as the Shadowdark Discord server thread "Common Shadowdark RPG Rules Questions."
Of course, my GM discretion will not be the same as another, and a few times GMs wanted to "correct" or modify my ruling on these matters. One player even searched online about the rule for death timers, arguing it was a d6, not a d20 that was rolled when it came to the player's turn. The AI search result told the player it was a d6, and I had to point to the book's inside cover where it clearly says a d20.
Cursed Scroll #4
As I said, I ran 3 different dungeons during GenCon, mainly Eclipse Dial. While running Eclipse Dial, I didn't encounter many issues content-wise, but the one time I ran Basilisk Cult something caught my eye. In room #5, there's a chatty, helpful Skeleton which is fun and intresting. He'll tell you things about the dungeon as long as you don't attack them. We love some whimsy in our dungeons. Then, you get to the description of this character, Yuru, which states the Skeleton is in a tattered feathered headdress.
I thought that was odd, because this is a temple about snakes and stone statues. I didn't really think about how the people in this region dressesd, because there wasn't much of a description provided in the zine its self. Once home, I looked through the zine with a keen eye and found many things I disliked. I'm no expert in these cultures or histories, but the way the content is written feels like it sways from tropes into stereotypes in the worst way. It expects GMs to carry the bulk of how to interpret the way a group behaves and dresses, something I'm calling GM Debt. At a nearby table, I heard one GM describe the characters inside Basilisk Cult as "Native American Styled". A sensitivity reader and/or more research could have been done to improve the zine.
Topics like this have been brought up before, so I will point folks to read those works as they are articulate and well informed, a thing I want to be in navigating these waters. I suggest readers read through DECOLONISING D&D by Zedeck Siew, the default dungeon is colonial by Habeeb, and Anti-colonial Dungeon by Isaac. My personal goal is to support designers who put thought and care into their dungeon design and worldbuilding.
Final Thoughts
Criticism aside, the experience was educational, fun, and eye-opening. I think some players had a very memorable time at the table. Here are some choice quotes I wrote down throughout play:
"This is a good fight."
"Sludge, a dialect of Slime."
"How are you touching it?" "...Inappropriately."
"How important are my children? I have a spaceship now."
"Just let me die."
"I went to discount magic school."
The last thing I'll say is that I went by the Arcane Library booth and shared I was running games. I asked to borrow some Luck Tokens as I couldn't find mine at home. They said they didn't pack any and didn't thank me for running games. Instead, they sent me to the Limithron booth to get some Devil's Tokens which work similarly where I was charged $21 for metal coins in a game I'll never run. I ended up giving the coins to a friend who did run some Pirate Borg at GenCon and appreciated them, so it all worked out.
Still, no one from the Arcane Library came to the JW Marriot to say hello or offer anything additional. I know Kelsey, the creator of Shadowdark, could not attend GenCon which was a real bummer, but I am surprised no one from her staff thought to thank the handful of GMs who spent 25+ hours running her system at the largest gaming convention in North America.