Hey, folks! This is Dev Log #2 for my upcoming Shadowdark campaign Reclamation of Dwarfhome. If you’d like additional context, please start with post # 1, which you can find here.
I want to start off by saying, I really like Shadowdark. I think it’s a great game, and it’s currently my TTRPG of choice, but I do have a couple nitpicks with its design.
Today, I’m going to be focusing on my issues with weapon variety/balance in Shadowdark and how I plan to address these perceived issues in my upcoming Reclamation of Dwarfhome campaign. I know many of you don’t really care about balance. That’s totally fine but, if that’s the case, this post probably isn’t for you.
What’s the Problem?
Some similar weapons are not well-balanced against each other.
Dagger vs Staff: Dagger is objectively better. It does the same damage as a staff despite the fact that it’s one-handed, finesse, and can be thrown. The only real advantage the staff has is that it’s cheaper (5sp vs 1gp), but realistically that’s not a meaningful difference, even at level 1.
Crossbow vs. Longbow: Longbow is objectively better (for classes that can use it). It deals more damage, it doesn’t have the loading property, and it costs the same as a crossbow. In this case, I recognize that longbow is reserved for particular martial classes (like fighter and ranger), but for those classes there is no mechanical reason to use a crossbow instead.
There’s a lack of options/damage parity between weapon types (e.g., if we have 1-H, Versatile, and 2-H versions for swords, I’d like to see equivalents for axes and maces/hammers too). Also, if I want my dwarf to use a big 2H hammer, I’d be bummed to find that it (the warhammer) isn’t as good as the 2H sword.
Related to #2, the naming conventions of the weapons can be confusing/aren’t standardized.
Greataxe vs. Greatsword. Greataxe is actually a versatile weapon comparable to a bastard sword, not a 2-H weapon comparable to a Greatsword. Why?
How Would I Fix This?
Here is a list of additional weapons I’ve created for the Dwarfhome campaign. It’s not a perfect fix (and it’s still a work-in-progress) because I want to keep the items/naming conventions from the Core rules intact, but I think it’s a solid start.
Okay, with these new weapons in mind, let’s take another look at some of the issues we called out earlier:
Dagger vs. (Reinforced) Staff The Reinforced Staff deals 1d6 damage instead of the baseline staff’s 1d4. This is to offset the fact that the dagger is 1-H, Finesse, and Thrown. The price has also been raised to be equal to the dagger from the Core Rules (1gp). This creates a reasonable trade-off, and I don’t it think will “overpower” classes that are otherwise limited to 1d4 damage weapons.
Another option that I considered was giving the staff a small bonus to AC (maybe only vs melee attacks?). I think that could work as well, especially given that it occupies both hands (preventing the use of a shield/torch).
Longbow vs. (Heavy) Crossbow. The Heavy Crossbow deals 1d8 damage instead of the baseline crossbow’s 1d6.
Even with this damage buff, the longbow is still objectively better because it doesn’t have the loading property, but I didn’t want to up the damage to 1d10, because I wanted to reserve that for the Blackpowder Rifle also included in the supplement.
If I were making changes to the weapons from the Core Rules, I might even consider making the Longbow take up 2 inventory slots to offset its otherwise insane stats.
Another way to encourage characters to use Crossbow over Longbow, in the Dwarfhome campaign specifically, is to give certain weapon, like the longbow, DISADV, when used in cramped tunnels/corridors.
Lack of options/damage parity between weapon types (e.g, swords vs axes vs hammers) & lack of standardized naming conventions.
As you can see, I’ve added a 1-H, Versatile, and 2-H version for both axes and hammers, as well as a few other supplements to the existing weapon list, and tried to create some sort of standard naming convention, except where it would require changing the names of items from the Core Rules.
Arguably, the light axe, hammer, and spear, are a bit too strong. The scimitar from CS 2 creates a precedent for 1d6 damage finesse weapons, but adding the thrown trait on top of that does result in a bit of power creep. Ultimately, I’m fine with that, because I don’t think it’s game breaking and is a cool bit of flavor.
Ultimately, I would have preferred to call the 2H axe a Greataxe (for consistency), but I didn’t want to create confusion with the Greataxe from the Core Rules.
Gunpowder in MY Fantasy Game!?
In short, yes, there are blackpowder weapons in Reclamation of Dwarfhome, but you can take them out if you want to. Personally, I only like blackpowder weapons in fantasy in very specific circumstances (namely, when they are primarily made and used by dwarves and certain favored allies).
From a balance perspective, blackpowder weapons do more damage than their more traditional counterparts, but also have the loading and blackpowder weapon properties, and will probably only be found a bit later in the campaign.
The blackpowder property states that “If a natural 1 is rolled when attacking with this weapon, it suffers a misfire. Roll on the misfire table (magical and mastercrafted items roll on this table with advantage).”
Here’s my current iteration of the Blackpowder Misfire Table:
What Do You Think?
What do you think about my perceived issues with weapon balance in Shadowdark, as well as my approach to fixing those issues? Be sure to let me know down in the comment section below.
What’s Next for Dwarfhome?
Well, I’m starting my home game campaign of it this coming Thursday (September 4, 2025), so lots of new content should be coming shortly. We’ll be doing an abbreviated version of the campaign, probably 10-12 sessions long, hitting each of the primary adventure locations (aiming for 10 adventures, one for each character level).
I think the next post on this blog will be an overview of the various new classes I have planned for the campaign (with a focus on the ones my players chose to use for our home game).
I’ll probably do a post here recapping our first session or two to see if folks have interest in reading that sort of content.
If any of that sounds interesting to you, and you aren’t already subscribed to this Substack, please consider doing so! It’s totally free, just requiring a valid email address.
Anyway, I think that’s it for now. Thank you so much for reading, and I’ll see you next time.
Sincerely,
William H (Runeforged Tabletop Gaming)
I’d argue that for regular Shadowdark, the granular differentiation for hammers and axes is detrimental, especially to Fighters Weapon Mastery, since now the odds of getting a drop that is “correct” for your mastery is even harder. Imagine having the “WARHAMMER OF THE DWARF LORDS” (pg 320) drop and having specialized in a different hammer type. That being said, for a Dwarven campaign, I’d expect to see swords very rarely.
The other problem is Priests. They are capped at the 1d10 Warhammer to “balance” their use of spells. If there is a 1d12 hammer, is that now a Priest weapon?
Super interesting, looking forward to hearing more of it.