You have heard of an ancient building that only appears when the fog in the region lifts. Then you can see the outline of an old structure, a terrifying-looking castle that descends straight from the heavenly kingdom.This adventure is intended for level 3-5 characters, and fully compatible with Shadowdark RPG ! It takes large inspiration on 3 classic NES games :  Castlevania / Mega Man / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.The forgotten castle of Niva Celasta is an independent product published under the Shadowdark RPG Third-Party License and is not affiliated with The Arcane Library, LLC. Shadowdark RPG © 2023 The ArcaneLibrary, LLC. This was created for the Shadowdark 8-bit game jam hosted by Dungeon Masterpiece - Baron de Ropp. Hope you find it amusing, oh and be careful of the stairs !

Indiana Ford and the Temple of Trials is an 8-Bit inspired adventure for 4-6 Shadowdark characters of 8th level. This adventure was designed to be run as a one-shot and should take ~4 hours to complete. GM Background The party has just received an urgent message from their old adventuring companion Indiana “Indie” Ford.  Indie’s discovered an ancient Temple of Ord that houses great knowledge and powerful artifacts, but there are Drow Shune worshippers hot on his tail, and if the temple’s secrets were to fall into Shunite hands, it could spell disaster. The Shunites, led by High- Priestess Velissra, seek to awaken the Tarrasque (!) that slumbers beneath the temple. The party must explore the crumbling ruins, defeat or evade its watchful guardians, and pass its dangerous trials to gain access to the temple’s Final Sanctum. There they may try to defeat the Shunites, stop the ritual of awakening, and save Indie’s life, but Ord only knows if they’ll make it in time… 8-Bit Inspired This adventure was designed for Dungeon Masterpiece’s Shadowdark 8-Bit Game Jam. The titles assigned to me were:  The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Rampage Jeopardy 25th Anniversary Edition Those titles inspired this adventure in these ways: Indiana Jones. Major adventure NPC is a clear homage to the titular character Features exploration of ancient ruins/dealing with dangerous trials Rampage. Features colossal, reptilian monster intent only on destruction Features building destruction (monster’s awakening is destroying the temple). Jeopardy. Features a test of lore/ knowledge Answering questions incorrectly has consequences

A Greek Pantheon themed adventure for ShadowDark RPG. Suitable for level 3 characters. Created for the 2026 ShadowDark 8-bit Jam.

Lost in Mortsafe Mire is a Shadowdark adventure presented like a lost NES instruction booklet. It’s a swamp-choked exploration scenario inspired by the NES games Golf, Mario Is Missing!, and The Adventures of Bayou Billy. Background A reclusive doctor vanished in Mortsafe Mire weeks ago while looking for a cure for marsh fever. The crawlers must navigate the hostile wetlands, find the missing doctor, and bring him home before the plague spreads. What’s inside: A complete swamp hexcrawl designed for level 4 to 6 crawlers10 keyed locations connected by a treacherous waterway Fresh random encounters, hazards, and clues for exploration New monsters and environmental threats for swampy settingsA “push-your-luck” navigation method inspired by NES gamesA search-for-clues procedure to track missing NPCs

A Shadowdark adventure for 4th level characters  The archmage Temenor sealed an ancient artifact in his manse before dying. Race against time to claim it, before the lunar eclipse begins. Includes:  New monsters  New items A new wizard spell: leap Created for the Shadowdark 8 bit Game Jam.

Created for the 8-Bit Shadowdark Game Jam hosted by Dungeon Masterpiece, I was assigned randomly 3 Classic NES titles to use as inspiration for a Shadowdark Adventure module.  My classic titles were:  Eliminator Boat Duel (1991)Clu Clu Land (1985)Kung Fu Heroes (1988) So I came up with a boat race1 in a cave, sponsored by pufferfish2 and threw in some new creatures.3

Do you have what it takes to defeat the evil Hand Clan, the Grater and master brain Krung? Explore the sewers of Old Yorke City and find out!No AI used in the making of this adventure.

This is a short adventure and dungeon for player characters lvls. 1-3 made by Jazz Cartographer for the Shadowdark 8 bit Game Jam set up by Dungeonmasterpiece - Baron de Ropp. I made it like a zine, then scanned it for that lo-fi, preservation NES booklet “did their best” scan look I kept finding in my research.

This project was created for the 8-bit Shadowdark Game Jam. Inspired by the classic NES titles Snake’s Revenge, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and Gimmick! (or Mr. Gimmick). A hidden temple of Raxia, the Goddess of Serpents, lies deep within the jungle. A cult of her worshipers, the Rak’Sha, have acquired the ancient gems, the Stars of Raxia, and are converging upon the temple to awaken a long-dormant evil in her name. It is only a matter of time before the Five Eyed Serpent roams these lands once more.  Will your party save the realm from its inevitable ophidian destruction? This is the first dungeon/adventure I’ve ever made so thank you so much for checking it out!

Against the Dark 3: Legend of the Archfiend is a compact, table-ready adventure for Shadowdark RPG, inspired by classic NES action-RPGs and old-school dungeon design. Please don’t forget to rate and review! An evil overlord stirs within a looming dark castle. Monsters roam the land, imposters walk among the people, and the castle’s influence spreads the longer it is left unchallenged. The heroes must decide how prepared they want to be before confronting the Archfiend—and how much risk they are willing to take. The adventure features: Four elemental tombs, each holding a powerful relicA hex-based region with escalating dangerA dangerous Dark Castle filled with traps, enemies, and hazards  A grounded frontier town worth saving The HOTT-est room design this side of the 1980s.

The Capital City of Lyria is under ghostly assault! The Orphan Princess Syrena lay in a coma under the protection of the Holy Temple in the base of the Royal Tower. Her vile younger brother, Prince Murdah and his demonic cabal have usurped the throne in the Tower’s heights.  The Traitor Prince calls forth spirits of the dead to harass the citizenry, while his conspirators in the Royal Guard secure the Tower against reprisal.  The only hope for the Wise Women of the Temple to save the Princess is the Prism of Courage, a magical wand of light held in the top of the Tower. What Heroes will step forth to assail the Tower, cast down these Usurpers, and save the life of the beloved Princess in the City’s dire hour of need!?

Tetromino Brawl A competitive sport for Shadowdark RPG, inspired by NES titles and created as part of the Shadowdark 8-bit Shadowdark Game Jam, hosted by Dungeon Masterpiece - Baron de Ropp.  Tetromino Brawl is an equally beloved and reviled pastime favored by glory hounds and fans with a penchant for violent spectacle. Two rival teams compete to carry the rock into the opponent’s end zone. Brawlers use all gear, weapons, and magic available to them, and both teams manipulate the terrain with basalt blocks called tetrominoes. Colorful, onion-domed towers loom high over the arena. The unseen spectators within want to know:Will you leave it all on the field? If you run it, a dollar and a comment would be greatly appreciated!

About A short point-crawl adventure set in an abandoned dwarven city in a volcano. Inspired by Gyromite, M.C. Kids, and Rampage.  I set out to make exactly the kind of adventure I enjoy at the table: one with a light story framework and plenty of opportunity for chaos and emergent play. I hope you enjoy reading and playing this module. I welcome any and all feedback. I’m happy to revise this adventure and improve as a writer for next time.  This project was an incredible opportunity to hone skills and develop new ones. I enjoyed flexing my writing muscles, and learning to create pixel art for the very first time. I was also brand-new to Affinity, and learned to do layout on the fly.  What’s inside Area and setting descriptionMapKey with mini location mapsBestiary including NPCs and two new monstersRandom encounter and random treasure tables Acknowledgements I leaned heavily on a few resources in the making of this. Michael Putlack’s  Creating and Adapting Monsters for Shadowdark RPG and Sersa Victory’s Cyclic Dungeon Generation, cheers! Thanks to all of the wonderful and supportive people on the Shadowdark Discord. It was great to have all of the positive feedback and encouragement! I also want to thank Baron de Ropp of Dungeon Masterpiece for hosting this jam. As someone who is heavily competition-motivated, having a tight brief and timeline was an amazing motivator to create something! A big thanks to my Editor Heather Grey. Finally thank you to my brother for providing lots of frank feedback and encouragement when I sent him drafts. Human made - no AI was used in this creatuve endeavour.

The perfidious elves have kidnapped the (sort of) beautiful princess Angel-lick-her and taken her to their swamp cleansing facility! As they drain her magic, the marsh is cleansed, making it inhospitable for all battlewugs. The swamp requires your aid, battlewugs. Will you croak, or will you fight! Battlewugs is a Shadowdark gauntlet, intended for four 0-level players, all of whom will be playing the eponymous frogmen, battlewugs. It was designed and created for the Shadowdark 8-bit Game Jam of Jan-Feb 2026. Battlewugs is inspired by 3 legendary 8-bit games; Battletoads, Zeld II: Adventures of Link and Solomon’s Key. A Masters of Evil productionWriting, editing and layout by Charlie & Alfie LintzgyUse of pixel art frog on cover and itch page kindly granted by @crappylizard.bsky.socialBattlewugs is an independent product published under the Shadowdark RPG Third-Party License and is not affiliated with The Arcane Library, LLC. Shadowdark RPG © 2023 The Arcane Library, LLC. Battlewugs was made with the help of the Classic Explorer Template by Explorers Design, which is under CC BY 4.0.Pixel art swamp on back created by Luis Zuno @ansimuz

As the ancient manors of a lost age sink into the bayou, the gargoyles who once prowled their eaves must find new habitats. Many come to Mad City, taking jobs as night watchmen or chasing alleycats for sustenance. On still nights, they can be heard: gurgling, weeping, moaning. Many talk of the proud manor houses they were forced to leave behind. Your party has befriended one such Gargoyle, an ugly wee thing named Firebrand. Godfather Gordon’s gang has seized Firebrand’s former home. They’re slowly demolishing the house as they search for the treasure Firebrand was created to guard: the Gargoyle’s Glove. Firebrand no longer cares to guard the treasure; he just wants to keep it out of Gordon’s hands. If you can retrieve it, you can keep it! It is said that no castle can stand against its power. Firebrand hopes that you wipe out Gordon’s gang in the process. Accept the Gargoyle’s Quest! Enter the bayou and retrieve the Gargoyle’s Glove! Inspirations Adventures of Bayou Billy The source of most NPCs and enemies. We also drew inspiration from the game’s structure: levels are a mix of beat-‘em-ups and rail shooters. These rail shooter segments used the NES Zapper, which inspired our gangsters’ weapon of choice. Mad City, our home base, is inspired by the game’s Japanese title. Gargoyle’s Quest II The inspiration for the Quest Giver, the dungeon’s fiercest monster, the Blacklight random encounter, and the gargoyle-festooned aesthetic. Super Glove Ball The source of our two MacGuffins. We were inspired by both the Breakout-style gameplay, where you navigate a maze by destroying walls, and the PowerGlove peripheral itself. Acknowledgements Writing by Austin HolmLayout and Editing by Gabriel WatcherIllustrations by Ja-Ki Barnes We are so grateful that we get to play and create on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

The lightning strikes. The clouds shift. The faint voices of a choir sound. A city on the edge of psychic disaster cries out for its unlikely saviors. Ninjas? Aliens? Ghosts? Rad dudes with bad ‘tudes? What secrets await you within the walls of Harusame Castle? Tasty megadungeon gameplay compatible with the Shadowdark Entertainment System! Five (5) thrilling levels of hardcore neo-feudal combat! Zillions of items and treasures from the humble town of Fieldspring! Allies with unfamiliar faces, and wild baddies for bustin’! New Hit Count and spooky Ghostly mechanics make it feel like it’s real! Don’t delay, play today, or the bland seasons will pass for so long…                               The Horrible Harusame Castle was created for the 2026 Shadowdark 8-Bit Game Jam. Our assigned inspiration games were The Simpsons: Bart vs the Space Mutants, Ghostbusters, and The Mysterious Murasame Castle. Our toughest constraint in this jam was the page limit, as we felt we had well over 16 pages of juicy material. In our best attempt at refinement, we identified a trio of key retro game essentials: Repeating variations of common enemies Linear progression with required boss encounters Key items, scattered throughout, required to win With these three essentials in mind, we began to isolate unique elements of each game to import into the Shadowdark format. We focused on the silly tone of Bart vs the Space Mutants, as well as the helpful NPC encounters and playful items. From Ghostbusters, we echoed the raw simplicity of retro games, with a singular end point at the top of the scary stairs, and added a dash of different ghost enemies throughout. The Mysterious Murasame Castle is a treasure trove of Japanese mythology and combat, so we attempted to compress the game’s five castles into a single five-level dungeon stuffed to the gills with wave upon wave of the choicest enemies.                                 Written by Peter J. Boyle and Jordy Milano Layout and Cartography by Jordy Milano Art by Adam Dvorak Old Game Consulting by Tyler Newcomb Edited by Peter J. Boyle Playtested by The Slime Lord Sluggers The Horrible Harusame Castle is an independent product published under the Shadowdark RPG Third-Party License and is not affiliated with The Arcane Library, LLC. Shadowdark RPG © 2023 The Arcane Library, LLC. The Horrible Harusame Castle is a parody of retro video gaming made with great respect for the game designers who came before us. As such, no generative AI was used. The Horrible Harusame Castle is a Normal Press Co. production.

Part of the 8 bit Shadowdark Game Jam! This is a 12 page Shadowdark Adventure with 4 caverns to explore, 2 classes, new equipment and more!  For the Jam, we were given 3 random NES games to inspire their adventure from, and this is what I rolled :  Batman - Final Fantasy 1 - Mega Man 5 PART OF THE INVISIBLE CUTS FREE MONTHLY PRODUCT! Every month (or so), on our blog (and here), we will release a free game! Subscribe to the newsletter here.

Savage Orcs, known as Ramlaat’s Roughnecks, have kidnapped Arcanist Plume and used her expertise to build the Overcastinator, a volatile apparatus designed to smother the world in darkness. The Ridge needs heroes to rescue Plume and shut the device down before the darkness spreads. Designed for the 8-Bit Shadowdark Game Jam, Rumble at Ramlaat Ridge is a point-crawl adventure designed for 3rd-level crawlers inspired by the following NES titles: CLASH AT DEMONHEAD This game puts you into a race to rescue a kidnapped scientist and stop his doomsday bomb. Explore a non-linear, point-crawl world, defeat the Governors, seize their medallions, and shut the weapon down. Its quirky NPCs, game structure and overall vibe were a major inspiration. INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM Endless levels of mine carts and lava were a direct inspiration for the world design. Keen-eyed adventurers may uncover some evidence that this famous archaeologist may have visited Ramlaat’s Ridge. DRAGON WARRIOR III Some of the iconic monsters of Dragon Warrior III can be found prowling Ramlaat’s Ridge. Although introduced in later entries to the series, the Mini-Medal system inspired the Hidden Totem hunt.

Cairn Climber is a 3rd level ”hex climb” for the Shadowdark TTRPG. Submitted as part of the Shadowdark 8 bit Game Jam (2026), it contains inspiration and influences from the NES titles: Faxanadu, Ice Climber, and Rad Racer. The hex climb is a scaled down version of a hex crawl, with the goal of reaching the top of an ancient elven memorial spire. At the top is a monastery tended to by the elven monks, descendants of those interred in the spire it rests on. Fast paced action with the reward of safety from the clutches of winter. What’s inside: Tables to generate unique obstacles in every hex10 keyed locations with special encounters6 unique friends and foes, complete with stat blocks5 special new items I hope you enjoy!- Quest For Quests

This Shadowdark RPG adventure was written for the 8-Bit Shadowdark Game Jam. The Wurm Food Tavern is an unfortunate place. Twice now, part of the tavern has collapsed and patrons were lost. Except this time, the townsfolk are upset. The tavern Keeper Strum is hiring adventurers to go down and figure out what happened the townsfolk that fell into the hole. He warns the groups about vampires & snakes, but prays they can find something about this place before the Count or the townsfolk destroy his livelihood completely. He’s even willing to put himself into financial ruin for your assistance. Does your party have what it takes to brave the depths and enter the Crypt underneath the tavern dedicated to a child vampire?  Intended for mid-level groups of 4 people.  —  While this was written and put together in 2 weeks,  I still hope you’ll give it a try and see if you like it. I want to thank Sleepless Seven for his pixel art portrait assets that are used in this adventure. All other writing and art was done by me. No AI. Made by Idle Hands, Not Ugly Robots. No AI.