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Idols of the Shadow Dark: The Charcoal Passage

Idols of the Shadow Dark: The Charcoal Passage

An OSR adventure through a deadly underworld, guided by a missing mage’s charcoal sketches.

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Idols of the Shadow Dark: The Charcoal Passage

user avatar image for Dan Thut
3 Followers
8 projects fulfilled since 2022

Launching

February 2027

The Emperor is dying. His only friend, the mage Septimus, vanished decades ago while tracking the Ashrose: a 200-foot dragon whose rampage tore through the underground wilds. 

Warriors, rangers, wizards, and priests have searched the depths. Some returned with fragments of Septimus’s charcoal sketches. Many disappeared forever. None found Septimus. None saw the dragon. 

Finally, the Emperor has turned to you. 

Guided by those recovered sketches, your expedition must follow the dragon’s trail and discover what truly happened.

Book cover not final



Idols of the Shadow Dark
is an OSR-first supplement with bespoke rulesets for the Shadowdark RPG.

Trace the path of a missing mage who left clues in his drawings. Put these physical artefacts in your players’ hands to study, interpret, and find their way through the dangers ahead. A sketch of a broken crossing could reveal a route that a first glance across the ravine would miss.


The Ashrose Dragon in flight



Build your map as you explore, adding discoveries with physical stickers or drawing your own landmarks directly on the sheet. Record crossings, settlements and dangers to plan your next steps in the search for the missing mage.

Delve and discover the Underlands


But you’re doing more than following a dragon through the dark. You can also play the all-new Idol class, ritual keepers and spiritualists who preserve their people’s living memory and turn collective Harmony into power, with variations supporting different party roles. Dedicated Shadowdark mechanics support the adventure, alongside guidance for other OSR systems and an included 5E conversion guide.


Septimus: insane or misunderstood, lost or hiding?


We’re building on the success of Idols of the Neon Dark and its K-Pop Demon Hunters inspired world, this time creating new OSR experiences for DMs and new options for players. Idols of the Shadow Dark is laced with a love of wider Korean history, myth, and culture. It’s being written especially for OSR in general and the Shadowdark RPG specifically, but there will also be support for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition rules (focussing on the 2024 edition, with limited 2014 side-bars). We’ll have a hardcover book, PDFs with every order, and a whole range of extras yet to be revealed.

We’ll have a play test sample when the campaign goes live.

Follow us today to get updates before anyone else.


Clues penned by in-game NPCs, for your Characters to follow



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