Creating and Adapting Monsters for use in Shadowdark RPG

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Added 2/10/2026 13:32:20
Modified 2/10/2026 13:48:20
Completion Status Not Played
Library Itch.io
Source itch.io
Platform Physical
Release Date 3/30/2025
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Monsters, monsters, monsters!

You can never have enough of 'em! There are a million monsters out there from dozens of fantasy roleplaying games, but how could you possibly use them all in Shadowdark? My zine Creating & Adapting Monsters for Use in Shadowdark RPG helps you to Shadowdark-ify any monster you run into!


Adapting monsters can actually be pretty easy, and this zine provides three ways to do it!

Option I: Build by Equivalents

Comparing monsters to existing Shadowdark Monsters.

Option II: Build by Adaptation

Taking existing monsters within Shadowdark and tweaking them to meet your new monster needs.

Option III: Build by Benchmark

The most involved (and my favorite) of the three, this process (11 steps!) is more extensive and really helps you to make your own monsters! 

These techniques can be used to adapt monsters for any roleplaying game! The concepts are exactly the same! So, if you play Old School Essentials, Knave, Cairn, 5e, Basic Fantasy RPG, Swords & Wizardry, B/X, or even non-fantasy systems, you can get something out of the techniques found in this zine!

 Creating and Adapting Monsters on the Lazy RPG Talkshow!

Mike Shea discusses about the project on his talk show!


I've been obsessing over Shadowdark monsters for a while now, so I've included some in this zine as a Mini-Bestiary. Plus, I've paired them with awesome art from great artists like Billy Blue, JeShields, Kim Diaz, Yuri Perkowski, and MORE!


These 46 monsters include 17 wholly new monsters along with others not included in official Shadowdark materials. You can plug these monsters right into your home game or use them as reference for making your own.

There is also a 14 page Shadowdark talent bank! Use this list of talents from the Shadowdark core rules to plug into your own monsters.

And don't forget to print our your own Quick Combat Statistics bookmark licensed from Matt Dietrich!

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Creating and Adapting Monsters for use in Shadowdark RPG 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.