History TabletopGame / RangersOfShadowDeep

''Rangers of Shadow Deep'' is a skirmish-level single-player[=/=]cooperative {{fantasy|Tabletop Games}}-themed {{Wargam|ing}}e by Joseph A. [=McCullough=], creator of ''TabletopGame/{{Frostgrave}}'' and its spinoff ''TabletopGame/GhostArchipelago''. The game uses a variant of those games' rules system for its basic mechanics, coupled with a simple set of rules to govern the behavior of enemy characters and a number of random event mechanics to keep the players from growing complacent. Gameplay is divided into missions, which are further divided into scenarios. Each player builds a primary character (the titular "ranger") to serve as their representative in the game; depending on how many rangers are playing in a given scenario, the players also receive a certain number of Recruitment Points that can be spent on other fighters and support characters ("companions"). The intent is for the game to be played as an ongoing campaign, with each player's ranger and companions growing in skill and power as they progress through the story.

''Rangers of Shadow Deep'' is a skirmish-level single-player[=/=]cooperative {{fantasy|Tabletop Games}}-themed {{Wargam|ing}}es by Joseph A. [=McCullough=], creator of ''TabletopGame/{{Frostgrave}}'' and its spinoff ''TabletopGame/GhostArchipelago''. The game uses a variant of those games' rules system for its basic mechanics, coupled with a simple set of rules to govern the behavior of enemy characters and a number of random event mechanics to keep the players from growing complacent. Gameplay is divided into missions, which are further divided into scenarios. Each player builds a primary character (the titular "ranger") to serve as their representative in the game; depending on how many rangers are playing in a given scenario, the players also receive a certain number of Recruitment Points that can be spent on other fighters and support characters ("companions"). The intent is for the game to be played as an ongoing campaign, with each player's ranger and companions growing in skill and power as they progress through the story.

''Rangers of Shadow Deep'' is a skirmish-level single-player[=/=]cooperative {{Fantasy Tabletop Game|s}} by Joseph A. [=McCullough=], creator of ''TabletopGame/{{Frostgrave}}'' and its spinoff ''TabletopGame/GhostArchipelago''. The game uses a variant of those games' rules system for its basic mechanics, coupled with a simple set of rules to govern the behavior of enemy characters and a number of random event mechanics to keep the players from growing complacent. Gameplay is divided into missions, which are further divided into scenarios. Each player builds a primary character (the titular "ranger") to serve as their representative in the game; depending on how many rangers are playing in a given scenario, the players also receive a certain number of Recruitment Points that can be spent on other fighters and support characters ("companions"). The intent is for the game to be played as an ongoing campaign, with each player's ranger and companions growing in skill and power as they progress through the story.

* MartialArtsStaff: Staffs are a piece of equipment available to rangers and companions. They deal less damage in melee combat, but thanks to their defensive abilities, opponents ''also'' deal less damage in melee combat to the staff wielder. Spellcasting rangers can take an upgraded MagicStaff that lets them CastFromHitPoints to boost Will rolls or deal magical damage in melee.

* SimpleStaff: Staffs are a piece of equipment available to rangers and companions. They deal less damage in melee combat, but their defensive abilities cause opponents to ''also'' deal less damage in melee combat to the staff wielder. Spellcasting rangers can take an upgraded MagicStaff that lets them CastFromHitPoints to boost Will rolls or deal magical damage in melee.

TheGoodKingdom of Alladore has enjoyed a long period of relative peace since its most recent major conflict, a war with the neighboring kingdom of Lorenthia, was resolved nearly a century ago. Maintaining this peace are the rangers, an elite cadre of professional adventurers who wander the lands righting wrongs and rooting out threats to the kingdom. All of that changes, however, when Lorenthia is swallowed overnight by the Shadow Deep: [[FogOfDoom an all-consuming black fog]] from which emerges a seemingly endless horde of hideous monsters, shambling corpses, and the occasional demon. The Shadow Deep has destroyed countless kingdoms in the past, and it seems clear that it's only a matter of time before Alladore falls as well. It now falls to the rangers to fight a delaying action against the Shadow Deep, performing scouting missions and raids into its territory to gather information, rescue survivors, and disrupt the enemy's supply lines. With every victory, they buy more time for Alladore to rally its defenders, call upon its allies for aid, evacuate civilians... and maybe, just maybe, find a way to defeat the Shadow Deep once and for all.

* BarbarianHero: The barbarian and savage companion types are "born and bred beyond the bounds of civilized regions" and and bring high Fight scores, an exceptional Strength skill rating, and the highest baseline health of any companion (to help make up for their lack of armor).

* UtilityPartyMember: Arcanist and thief companions don't bring much to the table in terms of combat prowess or firepower, but they have an array of useful skills that can go a long way towards helping the company achieve its objectives.

* BarbarianHero: The barbarian and savage companion types.

%%* TheSneakyGuy: The rogue companion type.

%%* SquishyWizard: The conjuror companion type.

* TheSneakyGuy: The rogue companion type.

* SquishyWizard: The conjuror companion type.
* StandardStatusEffects:

* CriticalHit: Rangers or companions who roll a 20 on the dice when making a Fight or Shoot roll automatically win the fight / hit their target and deal an additional 5 damage. There are a couple of Heroic Abilities that increase the critical threat range to 18-20 for a single roll. Enemy models will also win the fight / hit their target automatically on a roll of 20, although mercifully they don't deal any extra damage when they do.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Unless the scenario specifies otherwise, a ranger or companion may move off the map at any point and will not return that game. The primary reasons to do this are: 1) the model is carrying treasure that the player doesn't want to risk losing; 2) the model grants experience if it survives the scenario (and most such models are poor fighters with low health totals); or 3) the model is in immediate danger of being taken out of action and the player doesn't want to chance rolling on the post-game injury table.

* TechnicolorFire: A line of watchtowers equipped with beacon fires lines the border between Alladore and what was once Lorenthia. The forces of Alladore have managed to hold onto some of these towers, whose beacons are lit with ordinary orange flames; the majority, however, have been taken by the forces of the Shadow Deep, and their beacons now blaze with unnatural green light. One scenario in the core rulebook allows the players to discover what goes into producing these eldritch green flames, and it's... not pleasant, to say the least.

** Certain enemies and environmental effects can inflict the Poisoned condition, which is handled similarly to how other games use the Slow condition: if a ranger or companion is poisoned, they only receive one action when they activate (as opposed to the usual two) until they either heal back up to full health or cure the poison in some other manner. This makes poisonous enemies disproportionately dangerous, as healing is rare and action economy is ''very'' important in this game.

* SuperDrowningSkills: A ranger or companion attempting to traverse deep water must make a Swim skill check in order to make any progress; on a failure, they lose their actions and take damage based on how badly they fail. An unarmored, untrained hero has an 80% chance of passing this check. However, wearing armor (especially heavy armor) or carrying a shield or treasure penalizes the roll, to the point that a fully-armored knight laden down with treasure has only a 40% chance of making the check and can drown in a single turn if the player rolls badly enough.

* {{Ranger}}: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin You don't say.]] Given their status as members of an elite military unit that focuses primarily on covert operations, as well as their status as in-universe {{Memetic Badass}}es that's largely backed up by their abilities on the tabletop, the titular rangers definitely qualify for this trope.

** Other enemies and conditions can inflict the Disease condition, which has no effect in the current scenario, but imposes a MaximumHPReduction and a penalty to all rolls in the ''following'' scenario, if it's part of the same mission (otherwise it's assumed the diseased character has a chance to recover between missions).

* ArmorIsUseless: Downplayed. Rangers and companions can be equipped with light or heavy armor, which reduces incoming damage by 1 or 2 points respectively, and can also [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe take a shield]] to further reduce damage by another point. Because of the way combat works, any enemy who rolls well enough to beat a ranger in a fight is also likely to punch straight through any armor they might be wearing; however, those 1-3 points of mitigated damage per attack can add up over the course of a game, especially for companions, who generally have fewer HitPoints than rangers do. That said, if the ranger or companion has to do any swimming, armor (especially heavy armor) and shields go well past useless and become actively ''[[SuperDrowningSkills crippling]]''.

* UselessUsefulSpell: A number of spells in the game are highly useful in very specific circumstances, and serve no purpose outside those circumstances -- for example, spells that can only deal damage against certain enemies, or that interact with skill checks or terrain rolls that only show up in certain missions. Given how limited and precious a ranger's Heroic Ability / spell slots are, it's a much better idea for them to take abilities and spells that have more general use. This is one reason why the conjuror companion is so useful: unlike rangers, conjurors can swap out their spell selection before every scenario, ensuring that [[NotCompletelyUseless they always have access to those situationally-useful spells precisely when they are needed, and aren't burdened by them otherwise]].

* UselessUsefulSpell: A number of spells in the game are highly useful in very specific circumstances, and serve no purpose outside those circumstances -- for example, spells that can only deal damage against certain enemies, or that interact with skill checks or terrain rolls that only show up in certain missions. Given how limited and precious a ranger's Heroic Ability / spell slots are, it's a much better idea for them to take abilities and spells that have more general use. This is one reason why the conjuror companion is so useful: unlike rangers, conjurors can swap out their spell selection before every scenario, ensuring that [[NotSoUseless they always have access to those situationally-useful spells precisely when they are needed, and aren't burdened by them otherwise]].