If you're a player, how have you been surprised by your random character?  As a referee, what brings you the most joy running the game?

Your emphasis on discovering the character through play cannot be overstated. It’s also a reason I love Traveller so much: the surprise and challenge to play something outside my expectations.

This is tremendously helpful.  My players struggled (at first) with not having a backstory after playing 5e for so many years.

Randomly got a half-orc basilisk warrior that surprised me with how fun it was to play a mud caked orc faced humanoid that was lawful.

I get XP from this channel, because the videos are treasure.

I’m playing in a Shadowdark campaign that started with a funnel (by player choice). My last PC standing was my least favorite choice at the time. But it’s been super fun discovering who Brak the goblin is. Thanks for highlighting an underappreciated part of the game.

Right on. I wish I had this video to send my players two years ago.

Emergent character creation (roll for stats) and growth is a style of play enjoyed by people who love seeing how the adventure evolves over time as the game encourages players to come up with their goals.

Standard array heroic character design tends to be more about telling a story and seeing how your characters respond to an adventure where they are the central characters in the story.

It’s been pretty interesting running through multiple systems and seeing how the players respond to the systems. Showing players the different styles of TTRPGs and helping them change the way they play is a great boost to the hobby.

4:43 That's better than the default 10 that every character gets at a minimum.

I'm glad to find out that you do have players randomly generate characters. I tend to do that for solo, but from the way I think I heard you mention the word "builds" in a different video I was starting to think you had players picking their talents or something.

This is a helpful video for both players and DMs/referees—just good information about concretizing the feel of OSR into a practical understanding of the differences in play. Well done!!

I look forward to your videos. They always have great information and new way to explain how Shadowdark works and plays.

Love the channel and really love Shadowdark.   Thanks for the content.

Great video, John! I lucked out as a 5E player taking my first steps into Shadowdark. I'm playing with an awesome referee and a hilarious group of players! 😉

This is a great video. All my new players get the QuickStart rules, Quick Primer for Old School Gaming and this video.

Pretty much all of them say they love the video.

I like your way of hinting at a secret door, I'm gonna use that!

Very good video. I adopted SD right before the KS and have been using every since then. I think you managed to hit all the points that could ease their way in SD and understand the difference of a heroic fantasy game to a gritty, more lethal game.

Wow!, those ability rolls man....

Been enjoying these videos. Great presentation and oration.

Great stuff.  Very handy for new players.   Thanks!

I'm diggin' your Runehammer dice there bruv.