05/30/2025

Happy Friday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts!

Today, we return to looking at the Shadowdark Supplement, Unnatural Selection. Today, we will examine the Magic section and the Gameplay section.

The Magic section contains some new rules for Chanting/drumming for the Shaman as well as some new tables for Grave Warden Mishaps. The best part is the inclusion of new spells for the classes in the supplement. If you don’t want to include the new classes in your campaign, you could give the Grave Warden spells to a wizard and the Ovate spells to the Priest. Again, the artwork in this supplement is very good.

The Shaman class I see as a member of an outlander society. If you want to include them, there is a listing for their chants as well.

The Gameplay section has new rules for Ceremonies, which are like the carousing rules in the core rules. You spend money getting ingredients for the ritual, then spend time communing with the spirits. I would gladly add these to a campaign that had druids and other nature classes as a different way for them to connect to the land and their ancestors to gain experience and become better.

Another new idea is Curiosities. Several tables allow you to roll up some wondrous items that you can drop into the game. It could be part of a great treasure or something found in an abandoned ruin. These tables can be used to create something in the moment or used in prep to inspire more hooks and possibilities for the player. This is A+ material!

I also released a companion video to this post where I go through the book and talk about the sections. I also talk about timekeeping in the game.

Keep on gaming!