I spent this past weekend at EGG Con, back in the birthplace of D&D, Lake Geneva. And while I was there, one of the most interesting sessions that I was able to be a part of was a playtest session for a forthcoming game called Superdark. As you might guess from the name, Superdark is a superhero-themed hack of Shadowdark being designed by Dungeon Damsels. But what sparked the idea for today's article was a discussion that took place after the session.
Now, I went into this play session a little skeptical; when I think of "heroic" style play, my mind immediately goes to trad-style games like 5e. Where you know the characters are really mighty, and combat is more performance than challenge. Admittedly, the description of the event referred to the characters as "enhanced vigilantes who hit hard, [and] die easy," so I gave it a shot, especially because I love Shadowdark and I was intrigued.
By the end of the session, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I loved the session and the system being created. The play was highly rooted in Shadowdark's core system, which meant it was something I already enjoyed playing, and the change of setting and abilities was refreshing. I don't want to reveal too much, since the game is in development, but there were just as many deaths as you might find in your standard low-level OSR-style session. These were not nigh-indestructible superheroes, but they did have superpowers — which brings me back to the post-session discussion where the creators asked for feedback.
One of my fellow playtesters commented that they didn't feel that their character was exactly "super," which I believe was a fair assessment if your definition of that is epic battles with world-ending threats. I, however, thought our powers were more in alignment with something like The Boys, which also asks critical questions about what makes a super a super. But I've been thinking about this discussion for a while now, and I am left wondering if it even matters.
I'm not going to make the typical assertion "if your table is having fun, you are doing it right"; instead, I think it's more about whether your table shares the same mindset toward play, then you are doing it right. Taking that a level higher, by making this a hack of Shadowdark, aren't the designers signaling that it is a system that is inherently rooted in the play culture of that system? For a hack, do expectations of play reside more with the system than the setting?
I've been pondering these thoughts for a while now, and I've come to the conclusion that the answer is yes. If you are going to hack a system, you can't deviate from the core elements that are established in the play culture of the game. Yes, you can bend them, but if you go too far and break the experience of the core game, you are almost certain to annoy the audience. Making a Superdark character close to invincible would not make it a Shadowdark experience. In this case, that may mean that the creators are not making the truest representation of a superhero game, but they certainly can be making the truest representation of a Shadowdark superhero game. And doing anything else risks outright rejection by the main audience of the game, the people who enjoy the core system.
I think making a game that has to conform to the needs of the play culture is just fine and may even be a benefit. It also answers the #1 question of any system: "why should I play this game?" The answer is: it's superheroes for lovers of Shadowdark. I think that's probably a large enough audience based on the size of the game; in fact, they may even benefit from people like myself who are lovers of Shadowdark, but only sort of enjoy superheros as a theme. I was actually more likely to play this game because of the system, rather than the setting. The system implied the play culture and style, so I was more open to the idea of the game. This baked-in expectation could be viewed as baggage to a designer, but it must certainly aid in the marketing.
In the end, even though I went in a skeptic, I ended up leaving a fan, and I can't wait to pick up a copy once it makes its way out into the world. I may have even learned a lesson about system design along the way.
