FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY

All adventurers eventually meet their maker at the hands of fickle dice. That does not mean your story should come to an end. The Black Ballad: Second Chances is a full compendium for both high level Shadowdark gameplay and a unique spin on resurrection. Now the Black Ballad fits within Shadowdark’s grim, minimalist tone and adds modes of play to push the boundaries of tragedy and survival. This is a gamer of unraveling. Souls, memories, and even your sense of self will be put to the test as you travel into Purgatory with the slimmest chance of fighting for resurrection.

Time is the essence of The Black Ballad; every decision, every roll, every acxt of survival comes at a cost. Take these tools. Grab your dice…

…and step into the afterlife.

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INCLUDES

BLACK BALLAD: SECOND CHANCES BOOK
SOUNDTRACK BY DIAMORTE
2x CROSSWAY COINS FOR PURGATORY
SETTING NARRATION
…AND A SECOND CHANCE AT YOUR ADVENTURE

What’s Included

Death welcomes every creature with open arms, and the Sunless Crossing is a realm with no unifying element or background among its inhabitants other than the obvious transition. That does not mean there are not changes.

  • Two new Ancestries: The Nyxian Gargoyle and Soul Stitched

  • ​Two new Player Classes: The Godless and The Reaper

  • ​20 New Priest Spells: Including Tiers 1 through 5, themed around concepts such as Wish, Regret, Envy, and Dream

  • A brand new Summon Nightmare spell

  • Conversion Rules for converting 5E spells into Shadowdark

  • Over 20 fully described treasures

  • 2 New Modes of Play: Conviction Mode and Sovereign Mode

  • 17 new monsters and NPCs redesigned for Shadowdark and compatible with the original Black Ballad campaign.

  • The Second Chance Adventures: Death of Oaths

For more information or to follow the campaign, click the button below

The Black Ballad: Second Chances

The Team

Black Ballad: Second Chances was written and designed by Erik Frankhouse, with Death of Oaths being written and designed by Rick Heinz. The Black Ballad core writing team and artwork can be found via the button below.

Christian Birkett is the layout artist and designer of the visual assets for this project and the whole thing is being supported by the Storytellers Forge Team.

Christian Birkett

Erik Frankhouse

Rick Heinz

James Mosingo

The Full Black Ballad Team
ShadowDark Black Ballad: Second Chances spread. Open book displaying a priest spell list and spell notes for players and STs, with black, white, and blue illustrations of a monstrous face and claws.
ShadowDark Black Ballad: Second Chances Spread. Close-up of a label on a red container with the text 'Soul Stitched' and a description about a pathway person of unraveling hobbies and memories, along with a chain on the left side.
ShadowDark Second Chances Spread, titled 'Godless Class', with sections on weapons, armor, hit points, languages, divine wrath, talents, and a divine wrath table. The pages feature black, red, and white artwork.
Black Ballad Crossway Coins: Close-up of two red coins placed on a wooden surface with a laptop nearby, slightly out of focus.
ShadowDark Black Ballad: Second Chances. Open book with text and black-and-white images about the 'Death of Oaths.' Two pages visible, with a large black-and-white photo of a building on the right page and smaller images at the bottom of both pages.
ShadowDark Black Ballad: Second Chances Spread. Close-up of a red product label featuring an illustration of a woman with long hair, sitting with her arm resting on her knee, with text about languages, common and primordial.
ShadowDark Black Ballad: Second Chances Spread. Open book displaying tips and information about game modes called 'Modes of Play', with sections on Conviction Mode and Memory Loss, featuring green and black highlighted text.
ShadowDark Black Ballad: Second Chances. Close-up of a sticker on a black background, featuring skull and crossbones imagery, with text indicating adjacency to a second chance package, and technical details about the music genre and soundtrack.