In October 2018 we presented two offers featuring Shadow of the Demon Lord, Robert J. Schwalb‘s dark fantasy RPG of of grim heroism against a cosmic destroyer. The first offer revived the very successful May 2017 Shadow of the Demon Lord Bundle, with the core rulebook and early supplements. The all-new companion offer, Demon Lord Victims, presented recent supplements and sourcebooks that further explore the Lands in Shadow.
In this fast-playing, low-prep March 2015 Kickstarter triumph, desperate heroes battle strange magic, unhinged cultists, and roaming mobs of undead while humanity’s last great empire slides toward oblivion. If you love Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, the Ravenloft and Midnight settings, Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law novels, or heavy metal music, get these collections of DRM-free .PDF ebooks and confront the Void That Hungers — or, as star designer Kenneth Hite describes it, “Pure Spikey Caustic Red-Hot Squirming Deliquescing Rugose Gonna-Bite-Your-Fingers-Off Horned Fetid Monstrous EVIL.”
1. Shadow of the Demon Lord [revived from May 2017]
This Shadow of the Demon Lord Bundle, originally presented in May 2017, prompted glowing writeups like The Dread Gazebo’s “10 Great Reasons Why You Should Give Shadow of the Demon Lord a Try,” and extravagant praise on Reddit’s /r/rpg subreddit and the RPG.net forums. This bundle was unusual for the large number of customers who initially bought just the Starter Collection, then inquired whether they could upgrade their purchase to the full collection. (We don’t currently have that ability — but we’re always happy to process quick refunds so you can spring for the whole offer!)
As before, there were five titles in this offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $42), including the complete 278-page Shadow of the Demon Lord corebook, the Demon Lord’s Companion, the Uncertain Faith sourcebook of divine magic, and the fine introductory adventure Dark Deeds in Last Hope.
Those who paid more than this offer’s threshold (average) price also got this offer’s entire Bonus Collection with seven more delicious gobbets of evil worth an additional $55. What’s in these sourcebooks? The titles speak for themselves: Hunger in the Void, Tombs of the Desolation, A Glorious Death, Terrible Beauty, and Exquisite Agony. Plus, Tales of the Demon Lord is a collection of 11 low-prep adventures across the Northern Reach, and the Demon Lord Screen gives you all the charts you need.
2. Demon Lord Victims [all-new]
This new companion offer extended your reach across the Lands in Shadow. There were nine titles in this offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $38.50):
- Beyond the World’s Edge, a travelogue of the strange places and stranger denizens beyond the map in the core Shadow rulebook.
- Five gazetteers in the Lands in Shadow series: Borderlands of Tear, Caecras (crumbling capital of the Empire of Rûl), City of Death (Azl, northernmost city of the Confederacy), Kingdom of God (the Holy Kingdom), and A Land Divided (Old Edene).
- Three Victims of the Demon Lord race sourcebooks: For Gold and Glory (dwarves), Only Human, and Uncommon Courage (halflings).
This offer’s Bonus Collection added seven more titles worth an additional $42:
- Demon Lord’s Companion 2 and Forbidden Rules: New character options, combat rules, and interesting ways to reshape your campaign.
- Godless: A World in Fire and Blood: A complete alternate setting for Shadow of the Demon Lord, a post-apocalypse version of our own Earth where desperate survivors pick their way through the rubble of civilization and fight bloodthirsty warlords, degenerate mutants, rapacious biker gangs, horrid monsters, and of course, demons.
- Four more Victims of the Demon Lord installments: Between Two Worlds (fauns), Born to Kill (orcs), Ghosts in Machines (clockworks), and Stolen Lives (changelings).
Ten percent of each payment (after payment gateway fees) for these two Shadow of the Demon Lord offers was donated to the charity designated by Demon Lord designer Robert J. Schwalb, the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Demon Lord resources
- Schwalb Entertainment’s Shadow of the Demon Lord page
- BEDLAM, the official community for Shadow of the Demon Lord
- Pregenerated SotDL characters (World Builder Blog)
- Reddit/r/rpg advice to new Shadow of the Demon Lord gamemasters
- “Shadow of the Demon Lord experiences and pitfalls?” (January 2017 RPG.net forum thread with lots of good starting advice)
