SKULLAZURE - Dario De Sio

Design: Dario De Sio - skullazure.com

Artwork: Gustave Doré (Cover), Charles Perrault, Gottlieb Friedrich, Herman
Müller
Layout Template: Sersa Victory(https://linktr.ee/sersavictory)
Special Thanks: Carla Daly & The Darkrose Co.

Originally published during the July 2023 Shadowdark Independent Game

Jam hosted by Baron de Ropp (https://www.youtube.com/
@DungeonMasterpiece)

War in the Dark 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.
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 CREWS & ARMIES

CREWS UNITS
A crew is a group of at least 10 Units are trained and loyal Crews,
peasants that works for the party armed with proper equipment that
out of monetary retribution or determines their Type.
devotion. They will not perform
Multiple Units form Armies and will
dangerous jobs or delve into
fight Battles against other armies.
dungeons.
Each month you must pay each Unit
An ill-treated or endangered crew half its Price to keep them in your
makes a DC 13 Morale Check, army. In Battle, Units are
adding one of the hiring character’s represented by different Dice.
Charisma Modifier. On a failure, it
abandons the task.

Hiring a Crew costs 50gp for a single

job, like manning a ship toward a
known destination, catering at a
party, or spreading rumors.

UNITS

Unit Die Price Tactical Rules

Can't Move. Explodes on
Siege Weapon d4 300gp
Fortifications Objectives.
Infantry d6 100gp -
Always rolls 1 if ally Infantry
Archers d8 100gp is not on the same
Objective.
Before you take an action
Cavalry d10 400gp that involves this Unit, you
can move it one time.

Special d12 - -

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 RECRUITING

You can muster an army by taking

the Recruiting Downtime Activity.

It represents at least five days of

spreading the word, arming the
troops, and judging their morale.

Roll a Recruiting Event (d8), the

result is modified by the community
Size and its Attitude towards the
party and the current conflict.

After the roll, you can spend gold to

hire Crews (50g) and Units (price by
Type).

COMMUNITY SIZE
Village +0
Town +1

City +2

Metropolis +3

COMMUNITY ATTITUDE
Neutral -2
Fearful of
+0
Enemy
Under the
Party’s +1
Authority
Grateful to the
+3
Party

4
2
 RECRUITING RESULT
d8 Outcome Effect
1 Nobody is risking their lives. Hiring costs double.
1:6 that each unit recruited runs
2 These folks are not dying for you. away at the start of the next
battle.
Some have seen too many Infantry units always reroll 6s next
3
winters, others too few. battle.
Infantry units always reroll 1s next
Fanatics join your ranks with a battle, but you make Intelligence
4
taste for violence. and Wisdom command actions
with disadvantage.
Paesants take arms to defend 2 free units of Infantry join next
5
their home. battle.
An old veteran warns you about Gain a Luck Token at the start of
6
the dangers of conflict. the next battle.
A local monk is a surprisingly Next battle, you can once reroll a 1
7
good sniper with the bow. or 2 from an archers unit.
The masses are moved by the
8 Infantry units cost half.
cause.
Enemy lieutenants have
The enemy ruler is mockingly
disadvantage on command
9 depicted on your soldiers' target
actions during the first round of
practice.
the next battle.
The units understand your
You can choose whether to go
10 tactical plans and set up an
first or second next battle.
ambush
Carpenters and artisans pull an
11 all-nighter enamored with their You gain a free Siege Weapon.
engineering.
A local order of knights swears A free unit of Cavalry joins the
12
revenge on the party's enemies. next battle.
The party gets a chance to
A secret figure takes interest in
13 convince a Special Unit to join the
the conflict.
fight.
A distant ruler shows up to +3 free Units from an unusual
14
honor an ancient alliance. ancestry.

5
3
 BATTLE

QUICK RESOLUTION After taking a turn with their

character, like in normal combat,
When two armies clash in the each player must take a Battle
background, far away from the Action. After a player has taken a
party, or it is not the focus, you can Battle Action, the GM immediately
determine the outcome by simply takes one as well, then the next
rolling each army’s Unit’s Dice. The player clockwise goes.
greater sum is the victor. Ties go to
the defender. At the start of the GM’s turn check
for End of Battle. An army cannot
The GM may add a d12 to a side if a take another Battle Action before
tactical advantage is provided by the other side has as well.
planning, terrain, or weather.

Units that roll a 1 or a 2 are BATTLE ACTIONS

disbanded and lost.
At the end of their turn, a player,
and then the GM, must control their
TACTICAL army by taking one of these actions:
RESOLUTION
• Move. Move any number of
If you want to play out the battle Units’ Dice from one objective to
you can visualize the battlefield by another adjacent objective, or
dividing it into five zones: 3 from your reserves to any
Objectives and the two sides’ objective.
Reserves. Place all the units’ dice in
their corresponding Reserve, then • Attack. Choose an objective,
the battle starts, just like combat. both sides roll the dice of the
units positioned at that
objective. The side that rolls the
BATTLE TURNS lowest total must remove any
units that have rolled the least.
If the enemy’s army is attacking, the
Removed Units are fleeing.
GM goes first, otherwise, the player
to their left goes. • Retreat. End Battle now.

6
4
END OF BATTLE CHARACTERS IN
An Objective is controlled by a side BATTLE
if only that side has Units on it.
Characters that are present during
When the round is over, the side the battle can make the difference
with fewer objectives must roll a with their actions.
DC13 Battle Morale Check. This roll
If the enemy’s army has some
has no modifiers but gains
evident threat (like a hydra, gigantic
advantage if one side controls
siege weapon, or an arcane bomb)
exactly 1 more objective than the
the party will probably engage it in
other. An army that fails this roll
the parallel combat, while the battle
loses the Battle and all of their units
plays out at the end of their turns.
flee.
Characters can also directly engage
CASUALTIES by using their turn’s action to
attempt a Command Action,
After a winner is determined, each succeeding a DC13 check. Enemy
side rolls each fleeing Unit’s dice. generals and lieutenants may take
Units that roll a 1 or 2 are disbanded Command Actions as well.
and lost.

COMMAND ACTION
Command
SPELLS IN
Stat
Action
Effect BATTLE
Reroll your Infantry's 1s and 2s A spell of a
STR Charge!
next Attack. reasonable area of
Reroll your Archer's 1s and 2s effect can target
DEX Fire! and damage all of
next Attack.
one side’s units at
CON Hold! Skip your next Combat Action.
a particular
Move one Unit to an adjacent Objective.
INT Deploy! objective or from your
Reserves to any Objective. Roll all of those
Next Move, you can move your units’ dice, all 1s
WIS Fall Back! are removed and
Units to your Reserves.
fleeing.
Roll each fleeing unit's dice.
CHA Rally! On max result, they go back to
your Reserves.

7
5
 OBJECTIVES TABLES FORTIFICATION

When determining the battlefield, 1 Temple (Chapel, Altar, Grove)

choose key features of the scene, 2 Walls (East, High, Great)
then represent them with index or
3 Palace (Red, Ivory, Golden)
poker cards.
4 Tower (North, White, Arcane)
One Objective is adjacent to both
the others, while the other two are 5 Ships (Raiders, Navy, Pirates)
adjacent only to the central one.
Massive battles could even use 5 or 6 Plaza (Inner, West, Royal)
7 objectives.

FIELD RELIC
1 Drawbridge 1 Captured NPC
2 Grass 2 Saint's Bones
3 Cliff 3 Golden Idol

4 Moat 4 Holy Sword

5 Farmland 5 Fallen Meteorite

6 Trench 6 Arcane Tome

ANCESTRY UNITS

Type HUMAN ELF DWARF HALFLING ORC GOBLIN

Reroll max
Infantry has a On max result
Archers result, Infantry
Special Rally on a 1:6 of not remove this unit
ignore their Infantry and Units' dice
Rule 2 as well. being and the enemy's
special effect. Archers cost explode.
removed. lowest result.
half.

Siege Phoenix Pumpkin Huge

Trebuchet Stonetosser Goblin-on-Kites
Weapon Ballista Catapult Rocks

Men-at- Jaw-
Infantry Blades Shieldwall Farmers Pointy-Sticks
Arms Splitters

Falcon- Black
Archers Rangers Crossbowers Guerrillas Blowgunners
Wings Arrows

Pony-
Cavalry Knights Dragoons Goat-Heads Wolves Jumpers
Ranchers

Red
Special Eagles Iron Moles Bessy Giant Great Wurm
Dragon