Shadow of the Weird Wizard — Bright heroic fantasy from the Demon Lord designer

"The Wizard is gone. His monsters are not."

Diced20 + boons/banes (d6)

Players3–5

Prep~30 min

Foundry VTTCommunity

Complexity

What is this system

The brighter sibling of Shadow of the Demon Lord: the same fast d20 engine with d6 boons and banes, minus the apocalypse and the gross-out. Characters are real heroes who start competent and grow quest by quest. Three paths stack into a class of your own, and a whole campaign fits into about ten short quests.

Is it for your table?

Pick it if

you want Demon Lord's fast d20 engine without the apocalypse and gore
you want competent heroes taming a monster-haunted frontier
your group likes stacking three paths into a class of their own

Skip it if

you want horror, corruption and a world on the brink — try Shadow of the Demon Lord
you want an endless campaign rather than about ten quests

Setting

The Old Country has collapsed into war and chaos, and refugees are pouring into the borderlands — lands ruled by the mysterious Weird Wizard until he vanished. Now the monsters he released roam free, cruel faeries haunt the shadows and the dead drag themselves out of their tombs. The heroes make the frontier safe for settlers, deal with the city-states on the Sea of Fear, and maybe learn what became of the Wizard himself.

What it looks like at the table

An ambush on the wagon train. The Sage's creatures (the Sage is this game's GM) act first: goblins burst from a gully and tangle your mage in a slowing net that lasts until a successful luck roll. Now it's your side's turn, and the players pick their own order. Your *Fighter* hacks at the nearest goblin: the d20 shows 9, plus a +2 Strength modifier. You have 2 boons, so you roll 2d6 and keep the highest: 2 and 5, so +5. Total 16 against Defense 14 — a hit! At the end of the round the mage makes a luck roll: a plain d20 with no modifier, needing 10. It's a 12, and the net falls away.

Playstyle

Combat Exploration Tactical Fantasy

Key mechanics

Boons and banes on d6

Roll d20 plus an attribute modifier against 10 (or the foe's Defense). Boons and banes cancel one for one, the rest are rolled as d6s and only the highest counts. No modifier bookkeeping.

Three paths, one hero

A novice path (*Fighter*, *Mage*, *Priest* or *Rogue*), then an expert and a master path in any combination. A priest can become a gunslinger, a warrior a battle mage. Your class takes shape as the story unfolds.

Monsters go first

No initiative rolls: the Sage's creatures act first, then the players in any order they like. A reaction lets you jump in ahead of the enemy. Many effects last until you pass a luck roll — a plain d20 against 10.

Quests, not endless campaigns

A campaign runs about ten quests of a few hours each, with a level gained after every one. A full arc from novice to legend fits in a sensible stretch of play, and ready-made quests already exist for it.

What people say

Shadow of the Weird Wizard offers a fantastic d20 based system for fantasy adventure that makes it easy for players to plan ahead for their characters or build them through play.— Rob Wieland, EN World

Art & materials