History TabletopGame / ShadowOfTheDemonLord

* BloodyBowelsOfHell: In some places. Combined with FireAndBrimstoneHell.

* FireAndBrimstoneHell: In some places. In others it's BloodyBowelsOfHell.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Aside from literal Zombies, there are Grave Thralls, Animated Corpses, Barrow Wights...

It is also notable for containing some pretty explicit elements not just in lore and flavour, but actual mechanics. You might not want to play this with your 8-year old cousins. For examples see the NotSafeForWork trope entry below.

* NotSafeForWork: Examples include BlackMagic spells for CripplingCastration and {{Orgasmatron}} and several different [[FantasyCharacterClasses Path talents]] working through or [[SexMagic requiring intercourse or at least sexual intimacy]]. Not to mention the ridiculously varied kinds of BodyHorror that can be inflicted on or by the characters and the {{gorn}} in some of the artwork. It's pretty much what everyone was afraid of during the height of the SatanicPanic.

* KarmaMeter: Committing acts of depravity earn characters points in Corruption, eventually resulting in weird and disfiguring “Marks of Darkness” that reflect their tainted souls.

* OurGeniesAreDifferent: [[spoiler:The Genies were the first creations of the Demiurge, the first creation of the being originally known as God. They created much of the multiverse, but in order to do this, they had to take substance and form from both the Demiurge and from God itself. By the time they were done, the Demiurge had broken into many pieces that became the Demons, with God itself being reduced to a being of madness, hatred and a desire to undo all that had been done by the genies, becoming the Demon Lord. The Genies sealed their creation off from the Void where the demons lived in order to keep the demons from destroying everything, sacrificing a good portion of their number. The demons that remained in creation when it was sealed off from the Void were turned into Faeries, Trolls and mortals by the genies in a bid to de-demonize them and keep them from trying to destroy them and everything else, but doing this drove many of the genies that remained mad due to the use of the Words of Power to do so.]]

* OurGeniesAreDifferent: [[spoiler:The Genies were the first creations of the Demiurge, the first creation of the being originally known as God. They created much of the multiverse, but in order to do this, they had to take substance and form from both the Demiurge and from God itself. By the time they were done, the Demiurge had broken into many pieces that became the Demons, with God itself being reduced to a being of madness, hatred and a desire to undo all that had been done by the genies, becoming the Demon Lord. The Genies sealed their creation off from the Void where the demons lived in order to keep the demons from destroying everything, sacrificing a good portion of their number. The demons that remained in creation when it was sealed off from the Void were turned into Faeries, Trolls and mortals by the genies in a bid to de-demonize them and keep them from trying to destroy them and everything else, but doing this drove many of the genies that remained mad due to the use of the Words of Power to do so.]]

* OurGeniesAreDifferent: [[spoiler:The Genies were the first creations of the Demiurge, the first creation of the being originally known as God. They created much of the multiverse, but in order to do this, they had to take substance and form from both the Demiurge and from God itself. By the time they were done, the Demiurge had broken into many pieces that became the Demons, with God itself being reduced to a being of madness, hatred and a desire to undo all that had been done by the genies, becoming the Demon Lord. The Genies sealed their creation off from the Void where the demons lived in order to keep the demons from destroying everything, sacrificing a good portion of their number. The demons that remained in creation when it was sealed off from the Void were turned into Faeries, Trolls and mortals by the genies in a bid to de-demonize them and keep them from trying to destroy them and everything else, but doing this drove many of the genies that remained mad.]]

* OurGeniesAreDifferent: [[spoiler:The Genies were the first creations of the Demiurge, the first creation of the being originally known as God. They created much of the multiverse, but in order to do this, they had to take substance and form from both the Demiurge and from God itself. By the time they were done, the Demiurge had broken into many pieces that became the Demons, with God itself being reduced to a being of madness, hatred and a desire to undo all that had been done by the genies, becoming the Demon Lord. The Genies sealed their creation off from the Void where the demons lived in order to keep the demons from destroying everything, sacrificing a good portion of their number. The demons that remained in creation were turned into Faeries, Trolls and mortals by the genies in a bid to de-demonize them and keep them from trying to destroy them and everything else, but doing this drove many of the genies that remained mad.]]

* OurGeniesAreDifferent: [[spoiler:The Genies were the first creations of the Demiurge, the first creation of the being originally known as God. They created much of the multiverse, but in order to do this, they had to take substance and form from both the Demiurge and from God itself. By the time they were done, the Demiurge had broken into many pieces that became the Demons, with God itself being reduced to a being of madness, hatred and a desire to undo all that had been done by the genies, becoming the Demon Lord. The Genies also created Faeries, trolls and mortals from the demons that remained in creation when they sealed it off from the Void in a bid to de-demonize them and stop them from trying to destroy them and creation, but doing this drove many genies mad.]]

* OurGeniesAreDifferent: [[spoiler:The Genies were the first creations of the Demiurge, the first creation of the being originally known as God. They created much of the multiverse, but in order to do this, they had to take from both the Demiurge and from God itself. By the time they were done, the Demiurge had broken into many pieces that became the Demons, with God itself being reduced to a being of madness, hatred and a desire to undo all that had been done by the genies, becoming the Demon Lord. The Genies also created Faeries, trolls and mortals from the demons that remained in creation when they sealed it off from the Void in a bid to de-demonize them and stop them from trying to destroy them and creation, but doing this drove many genies mad.]]

* OurGeniesAreDifferent: [[spoiler:The Genies were the first creations of the Demiurge, the first creation of the being originally known as God. They created much of the multiverse, but in order to do this, they had to take from both the Demiurge and from God itself. By the time they were done, the Demiurge had broken into many pieces that became the Demons, with God itself being reduced to a being of madness, hatred and a desire to undo all that had been done by the genies, becoming the Demon Lord. The Genies also created Faeries, trolls and mortals from the demons that remained in creation when they sealed it off from the Void in a bid to de-demonize them and stop them from trying to destroy them and creation, but using the Words of Power to do so drove many genies mad.]]

* ColdIron: Physical contact with iron weakens faeries and can even disrupt some magic cast by them.

* AwfulTruth: So, so many. [[spoiler: All Urth afterlives are terrible, even [[HellOfAHeaven the supposed heavenly ones]]]]; [[spoiler: [[TheFairFolk faeries]] and trolls are actually demons from a previous attempted invasion of reality that were cut off from the Void and transmogrified into less terrible beings by the genies]]; [[spoiler: mortals were originally created from another batch of demons by the genies to fight against the faeries]]; [[spoiler: most of said genies were driven insane by the strain of these acts or are too busy being merged with the barrier between reality and the Void where the Demon Lord dwells to do much to help individual worlds against its Shadow]]; and this is just a sampling. Then again, every single one pales before the truth about the origins of the Demon Lord and its demon hordes...

Shadow of the Demon Lord is the unholy brainspawn of Robert J. Schwalb, co-designer for among many others [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons multiple editions of D&D]], TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay and the TabletopGame/ASongOfIceAndFireRoleplaying game. Aspects of all of these bleed together in this game to create a [[AuthorAppeal moody, dark and brutal atmosphere in a world headed for doom]].

** Diabolus, Lord of Seven Flames
** Ithritonus the Flyfather aka Baalzebul
** Thanatos aka Father Death

** They are representative of the InhumanlyBeautifulRace variety[[note]]The supplement that introduced them as a playable ancestry along with several other Faerie stat blocks was even called "Terrible Beauty"[[/note]]. They live in their [[LandOfFaerie Hidden Kingdoms]], are ruled by a [[FaerieCourt Faerie Queen]], are TheAgeless and can have PointedEars, animal features or be AlienGeometries from certain angles. Due to their innate magic they always appear as alluring or intimidating as they like. However they suffer from the ImmortalProcreationClause and their numbers are still dangerously low due to a devastating war ''thousands of years ago''.

* AwfulTruth: So, so many. [[spoiler: All Urth afterlives are terrible, even [[InfernalParadise the supposed heavenly ones]]]]; [[spoiler: [[TheFairFolk faeries]] and trolls are actually demons from a previous attempted invasion of reality that were cut off from the Void and transmogrified into less terrible beings by the genies]]; [[spoiler: mortals were originally created from another batch of demons by the genies to fight against the faeries]]; [[spoiler: most of said genies were driven insane by the strain of these acts or are too busy being merged with the barrier between reality and the Void where the Demon Lord dwells to do much to help individual worlds against its Shadow]]; and this is just a sampling. Then again, every single one pales before the truth about the origins of the Demon Lord and its demon hordes...

** Minotaurs are a variety of BeastMan, created by the Demon Lord's taint.

* OurOrcsAreDifferent: These were created as SuperSoldiers for the Imperial military by subjecting [[ProudWarriorRace Half Giant]] prisoners of war to horrific BlackMagic experiments.

* NotSafeForWork: Examples include BlackMagic spells for CripplingCastration and {{Orgasmatron}} and several different [[FantasyCharacterClasses Path talents]] working through or [[SexMagic requiring intercourse or at least sexual intimacy]]. Not to mention the ridiculously varied kinds of BodyHorror that can be inflicted on or by the characters. It's pretty much what everyone was afraid of during the height of the SatanicPanic.