In Short

Conspiracy of Shadows provides a dark fantasy game of conspiracy and horror where the players take on the role of investigators working to defeat a powerful, evil organization. With a simple resolution system, flavorful implementation of weapons and magic, and an interesting trust mechanic, Conspiracy of Shadows focuses on delivering group oriented adventure and horror.

The Good:While the system is very simple the implementation of the weapon rules provides some strategy in gearing up your character. The GMing advice is well done and serves the goals of the game well. The Destiny Pool mechanic allows for a good deal of player authorship while reinforcing core game themes.

The Bad: Some readers may not care for how freeform the magic system is, often amounting to little more than opposed rolls. The setting isn’t particularly inspiring, especially when compared to the already familiar backdrop of medieval Europe.

The Physical Thing

This 154 page 6x9 black and white softcover showcases average production values for its $20.00 price tag. The artwork is very atmospheric, providing stark black and white images that mesh well with the horror feel. On the down side, while most RPGs have some editing problems Conspiracy of Shadows has quite a few.

Under the Cover

The core mechanic is the height of simplicity. Take the result of a 2d6 roll, add either Attribute + Skill or Attribute + Attribute, and compare that to either a static difficulty or an opposed roll. If you beat it then you succeed!

Sometimes actions are a little more complicated, most notably in combat. In this case initiative is rolled and characters take turns attacking or otherwise maneuvering. There are a few things here that make this more than just a simple resolution system, and I’d like to touch on them. In addition to a standard initiative rolling injury tracking battle we have Momentum, Modifiers, and Equipment. Momentum allows a character to continue taking actions (up to 4) until they fail at a task. This makes a good degree of cinematic sense and I definitely like the idea of one character pressing her opponent until she slips up.

Maneuvers allow for special attacks like Bind, which keeps an opponent from effectively using their weapon. When combined with the Equipment, which has a variety of different bonuses and penalties depending on what it’s being used against (Ex: Sabers are better against soft armor), the player ends up with a surprisingly robust combat system in a small number of pages. Note that combat doesn’t have to be physical in nature. A character could use her Church Authority, which is a type of equipment, in order to Bind an opponent’s Legal Authority and thus force a penalty on them.

Character creation is group based and results in a mixed band of heroes who have all made it their life’s goal to oppose an evil conspiracy. With a strong feudal theme and much attention to social class, characters can be as diverse or similar in background as the game demands. The big difference is that characters with more status have significantly more resources to bring to the anti-conspiracy cell while those with lower status have fewer obligations and can more easily engage in the sort of unusual and dangerous behavior that maybe necessary to thwart the conspiracy.

All characters have four Attributes – Fortitude, Reflex, Knowledge, and Temperament – as well as Piety (gives a bonus when following religion), a Doom (character’s ultimate dark fate), and a smattering of Skills. A very few characters may also have dark magical powers, though these come with the price of making the character more susceptible to Taint (a madness and corruption mechanic). All Attributes and Skills are also accompanied with a Descriptor which can provide a bonus or penalty die whenever the Descriptor applies to what’s going on.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, though. Characters have Destiny points that give them an advantage when they need it, Descriptors for Faith, Ethnicity, and Drive that can all grant an advantage. Creating a character for Conspiracy of Shadows is different from other games because you’re imagining the complete story for your character. Descriptors do an excellent job of building a character history, and the Doom forces you to ask how you see this character ultimately succumbing to fate.

My favorite mechanic in the game is the Trust pool. This is a pool of bonus dice that any player may make use of at any time. The pool is never refreshed, but more dice can be added when the characters engage in self sacrifice and otherwise increase their trust in one another. Similarly, dice may be lost when characters behave in a selfish manner. For a game of dark conspiracy it’s a fascinating idea and one I’d really like to observe in play.

Magical powers, found in the form of Witchblood bloodlines, are quite varied and cover everything from freezing objects to seeing into the past. Ritual magic is also included. In both cases using magic often amounts to an opposed roll with the potential cost of gaining additional Taint (which pushes a character towards evil and madness). On the plus side, the powers do make it easy to quickly construct a demon or other villain. They provide a very clear idea of what sorts of magical abilities people in the Conspiracy of Shadows world are likely to encounter.

While the first half of the game focuses on character generation and combat, the second half focuses on how to run Conspiracy of Shadows. The GMing advice is well done and clearly supports the goal of the game – challenging an evil conspiracy. The setting, however, is a little bland for my taste. The author says he drew on medieval Poland and Slavic / Middle Asian states in constructing the world and culture. Whether that has resulted in a disconnect for me or the sparse detail just doesn’t fire up my imagination I can’t say. The setting will work well for groups that want a quick setting backdrop, and it certainly does present a good variety of different cultures for players to work with in play. On the plus side, if the setting doesn’t work for your group it wouldn’t be difficult to use any other quasi-medieval setting that strikes your fancy.

My Take

Conspiracy of Shadows is a narrowly focused game, and that’s what makes it great. The Trust mechanic is a wonderful idea, and the system manages to be simple while still allowing for a lot of description and even some fun mirroring of reality (in the form of equipment). The Descriptors further develop characters and in the simple process of PC generation a character will appear with some background and personal detail no matter what, which is a nice touch.

If you like the idea of character driven investigation in a medieval world of horror then give Conspiracy of Shadows a try.