Today we’re looking at Race for the Crown, a Shadowdark RPG adventure written by Alan Tucker and published by Jeff Stevens Games. This is an adventure for levels 4-7 and takes place in a 4-room dungeon. Hey that’s like 20% more efficient than your standard 5-room dungeon. 

Sometimes, a picture truly is worth a thousand words.

There’s a lot to unpack here. This first thing is that this adventure has been published for five different systems. I’ve never run Zweihänder or Heroes and Hardships but I’ve run a fair bit of 5e, PF2e and Shadowdark, and as I’ve said in the past, they are all very different games. There are two ways we usually see authors get around this – design primarily for one system (usually 5e because that’s where the volume is) and every other system just gets squished into the 5e mold, or make something generic enough that it doesn’t matter. Both options result in a lower quality product. But maybe someone has actually put in the effort to properly design for each different system?

The second thing I noticed is that the Shadowdark version is the only one that isn’t in color. Deep sigh. I thought we were moving past this. Color is welcome in Shadowdark. I encourage it. Join the cult of Chromadark ESPECIALLY IF YOUR ARTWORK IS IN COLOR ANYWAYS. Black and white certainly has its advantages – it’s usually less expensive and faster to produce, and it fits the grim and old-school vibes that Shadowdark espouses. But if you’ve gone to the trouble of sourcing color art for your project, turning down the saturation all the way to try and fit what you think the community expects is unctuous and looks like shit.

Finally, why the hell does the Shadowdark version cost a buck more than all the other versions? You’re taking our color away and charging us more for the privilege? We’re not off to a great start.

The setup is that long ago a demon named Kazzlezan was doing demon stuff no one could stop it, although there was a prophecy that orcs and humans would band together in the future to finally defeat it. So it was trapped in a crown and the crown was split into three pieces; one was buried in a tomb, one was given to humans and another was given to orcs. Now many years each side believes that reforming the crown is the key to defeating the other so everyone’s after it. What they don’t know is that reforming the crown will release Kazzlezan. 

They also don’t know that there are three pieces of the crown, and instead believe that there are only two. Each side believes that they hold the only key needed to unlock the final piece.

We get a few hooks that all amount to getting the piece of the crown from the tomb for gold or glory and we’re off to the races. Things kick off with an exposition dump in town and the promise of a reward: “50 gp, a Scroll of Floating Flare, and a minor magic item of the GM’s choice”. For PCs of level 4-7. Don’t spend it all in one place.

Once they’re at the tomb entrance, they will discover that orcs are already here and the party will be faced with branching paths. Passing a skill check will show them that the left side says “combat” and the right side says “wit”. They may deduce that two different challenges face them depending on which direction they choose, and depending on their various abilities or preferences they may want to choose combat. Well that’s too bad because the left tunnel is “completely impassable without major excavation efforts.” Except that this is an adventure for levels 4-7, and by level 7 (or sooner, if they get lucky) any party with a wizard might have access to the spell Passwall, or they may have some other means of overcoming this rather simple obstacle.

Well I hope you’ve been polishing up your improv skills, dear GM, because the author of Race for the Crown couldn’t be bothered to even write a room key for what lies down this path. There’s a room on the map but it’s blank. It’s the kind of thing that makes you wonder if the person that designed this adventure has ever run a TTRPG of any kind. There are a dozen ways the party could end up in this room and the fact that they don’t support this outcome – I’m not sure if that’s lack of imagination, sheer laziness, or both.

So the party is funneled into the right side where they face a test of “wits”. There are four pillars with letters on the side, and the locked door opens when the letters spell “open”. There are various traps that are triggered if they instead choose to spell words like “rock” or “fall”. It’s the kind of puzzle that requires no roleplaying per se and doesn’t interact with the mechanics of the game at all (especially since there are no random encounters or other time pressure besides torch time). We are also told that magic items and spells don’t work in this room, lest those pesky players try to solve the puzzle in a way the designer didn’t intend. So solving it becomes an activity that occurs outside of the game itself, unless the party foolishly triggers a trap. 

In the next area, the party will race their orc rivals across a pair of parallel bridges to reach the final room. We don’t get much room for talk: “As soon as any PCs are visible, or the PCs take action, roll for initiative” and then, we are told, the orcs start launching arrows, javelins and spells.

I don’t know how combat works in your game, but in my game it usually ends when one side is either dead or runs away. And the former outcome is much more common than the latter. Doubly so when the PCs are fighting a group well below their own level. In this case it’s a completely fresh party of level 4-7 PCs against 5 orcs of levels 1-4. A single Fireball could end this encounter in one round. Even though we’re told one of the orcs will try to sneak away with their piece of the crown, there’s no guarantee she’ll succeed and, barring GM fiat, I would say that it’s very likely that she does not.

This is a serious design flaw in the adventure because the description and just about everything about the final room assumes she’s present. And the best outcome occurs when the party cooperates with the orcs, but there is no reason and barely any opportunity to do this. Assuming she does get across the bridge, the party is likely to shoot first and ask questions after taking advantage of their overwhelming odds and turning her into a green, greasy smear. 

At this point the party is faced with a large ruby that is the third piece of the crown. At this point, we are told, “It should be clear to the orcs and PCs that something is off about the story they were told about their piece of the crown being the key to unlock the other.” I think we may be overestimating how much the players will care about this particular plot point, but we can play along. It will be clear that the party needs the orcs’ piece of the crown (assuming that any are still alive). The orcs that just attacked them. The orcs that they could easily defeat. What I’m saying is that there’s no good reason for the party to negotiate or cooperate here. 

Once the party reunites the three pieces of the crown, the demon Kazzlezan is released. Kazzlezan is level 10. Referring to the old “How Many Monsters” table on page 193 of the core rules (if you’ve been reading this blog, this should be seared into your brain) tells us that an average encounter for levels 4-6 should have 3 monster levels per PC. Assuming a party size of at least 4, that would mean the encounter should have at least 12 monster levels. The same section also warns “a solo monster can be too easy (even with a high level) if the characters swarm it.” So this is hardly the unstoppable evil force described in the adventure background. It takes only half damage from non-magical sources but a party at this level will probably be equipped with magic weapons. 

The demon also has this attribute “United Vulnerability. When Kazzlezan takes damage from both a human and an orc in the same round, it becomes vulnerable to all subsequent damage until the beginning of its next turn, even nonmagical.” Vulnerability means something very specific in 5e – the enemy would take double damage. But it doesn’t mean anything like that in Shadowdark. So the whole background of the adventure, and the prophecy of orcs and humans working together, and all the contrivances to make that happen amount to nothing. The demon, like all living things, dies when you stab it enough times. The advantage of cooperating with the orcs is somewhere between minimal to nonexistent. 

It’s obvious the designer had a very specific idea of how this adventure would go. The party shows up at the tomb, solves the puzzle, races across the bridge rather than dealing with the immediate threat of the orcs, and then somehow realizes they should work together with the orcs. Finally they defeat the demon with the power of friendship and bring about a golden age of peace between the two factions.

What is much more likely to happen is this: the party shows up at the tomb, solves the puzzle, kills most or all of the orcs on the bridge, kills any remaining orcs in the final room, puts together the crown, and then kills the demon without the thought of working together ever crossing their minds. The idea that the party has to cooperate with their rivals for the best outcome is a good one, but the designer didn’t put the work in to make it happen organically. It’s not earned.

I should also point out that Race for the Crown has no treasure besides the meager reward from town, worth maybe 3xp from a generous GM.

A cynical person might call this a shovelware, designed to return maximum revenue for minimal effort. The whole thing boils down to one rather simple puzzle and a couple of easy combat encounters. Maybe a social encounter if things play out a certain way. Referring to my earlier comments about different approaches to multi-system adventures, Race is both generic and has a bias towards 5e. It has nothing to recommend it, and there are countless better ways to spend your time and money in this hobby.

On a scale of 2-12, Race for the Crown gets 3 stingbats.   

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/563764/race-for-the-crown-shadowdark-adventure