We sat down with GM Assistant user, William Murakami-Brundage, to discuss their Shadowdark supplement "Hyborian Adventures," which is currently being crowdfunded here: Hyborian Adventures for Shadowdark RPG.
1. For those who might be new to either Shadowdark RPG or Robert E. Howard's work, could you give us a brief overview of what Hyborian Adventures brings?Shadowdark is a popular, approachable, quick-to-learn system that uses the best features of D&D 5E. It combines these with an intense role-playing game experience where you, as the player, determine your actions. With a focus on getting into the action and focusing on play, not rules, Shadowdark won four industry awards, including Best Game 2024.
Hyborian Adventures converts five of Robert E. Howard's public-domain Conan stories into RPG adventures. We did our best to retain the spirit and story beats of those stories while making them playable in an RPG format.
2. What first drew you to Howard's stories, and what made you think "this would make an amazing RPG supplement"?Howard's stories are iconic. In many ways, Conan, Kull, and other characters are the foundations of sword and sorcery. Weird Tales was a seminal publication way ahead of its time. Hyborian Adventures makes a great series for role-playing. Players can either play their characters, treading the dark halls of the Monkey-God's temple anew, or a GM could create their version of Conan and his motley crew for extra fun.
3. Could you tell us about Menagerie Press and your journey in the TTRPG space?Menagerie Press started around 2016 with Careless Adventurer's Guide to Hazards and then Descent Into Mirefen. Before that, my friends and I wrote about 20 Adventurers League adventures for D&D 5E's official Organized Play system. After some significant, unpleasant Organized Play rules changes (and weird adventure design mandates), I decided to "roll my own," as we say here in Oregon, and started Menagerie Press as an outlet for my adventures.
4. The Hyborian Age is a fascinating setting between prehistoric times and recorded history. How would you describe its appeal to modern gamers?I'd place the Hyborian Age in an almost post-apocalyptic milieu. The Atlanteans have come and gone. The world is just barely entering a new Iron Age. Unlike the more sanitized, commercial worlds you find from major established publishers, there's room to explore and tell a story. And, even outside of Hyborian Adventures, hopefully, this inspires the RPG community to sharpen their Argosian blades a little more.
5. Could you share a favorite moment or scene from these adventures that captures what players can expect?Without too many spoilers, there's the classic story "People of the Black Circle," one of Howard's strongest short stories of this genre. In the story are the servants of Yimsha, these black-robed man-monsters who flicker to and fro, doing the Master's bidding. In Hyborian Adventures, the adventurers likely meet and kill these Black Seers. Still, there's a bit of a horror motif because, like Jason or Freddy Kreuger, these Black Seers reconstitute themselves until their hidden hearts are destroyed - it's almost like the lich's phylactery.
6. How did you modernize these classic tales while maintaining their sword & sorcery essence? Were there specific elements you felt were crucial to preserve?First, there was a close reading and study of the stories themselves. I read each one several times, listened to the available audiobooks, and did a lot of background research. I wanted to understand the point in time these stories were published and written to get the context of the creative intent. The audiobooks (more audio stories) were helpful for pronunciation and tempo - knowing where the pacing quickens was helpful when designing encounters.
It was crucial to preserve the significant villains and treasure or iconic traps. Beyond that, there was a lot of adaptation - I was given a basket of ingredients and a sketch of what the final product should look like, but the steps in between were left wide open.
7. The collection features five distinct adventures, from the mountain fortress of Yimsha to the black river of Zarkheba. Which one proved most challenging to adapt, and what unique gameplay experiences can players expect from each?The House of Aram Baksh was the hardest to convert, from Shadows of Zamboula. In the short story, Conan stays the night at Baksh's hostel because he's broke and needs a place to rest after gambling away his coin. I needed a story hook and place that players (and thus, characters) would accept as in-game fiction, so I made Aram Baksh's house more of a brothel, gambling hall, and house of ill repute. I stuck to the original story beat of Baksh being a vile, wretched toad of a man. Given how things unfold in RPG sessions, I'd wager that some gaming tables will mow down Baksh and his entire operation while others will be more discrete.
8. For game masters excited to run these adventures, what advice would you give for capturing that classic sword & sorcery feel at their table?- Make your campaign human-centric. PCs should be only humans; and demi-humans remain obscure, rare encounters.
- Embrace the gritty nature of survival. Coin is scarce and fleeting, while adventure is plentiful.
- No permanently safe space - roving and traveling are essential.
- Magical items are rare, dangerous, and often cursed. Magic is corrupting and treacherous.
- There's no universal good versus evil; if there is, good isn't guaranteed victory.
9. On a different note, you've been using GM Assistant in your gaming. Could you tell us about your experience with it as a game master?
I saw an ad for an assistant and took a chance; I'm glad I did. I've heard that AI is pretty good at transcription and summarizing, and I figured an RPG session would be less complex than a medical appointment. It's been great for capturing high- and medium-level notes about our sessions. At the start of each session, I turn on my phone's audio memo and record the table's audio, then upload it to GMassistant that evening.
I run in-person games, so there's a ton of background noise - Battletech players cheering exploding mechs, D&D tables saving against dragon fire, tons of Magic players dueling for prizes. It's not a quiet environment, but GMassistant has no issues getting critical story points specific to our games. After generating the summary, I export it to Markup and create a blog post on my RPG blog, Dubious Heroes. Takes me about 15 minutes, including 5-10 for audio processing.
10. For GMs who might be considering GM Assistant, could you share a memorable moment where it enhanced your game?I run three West Marches/open-world games - each is every other week, and all three games share an in-game universe and region. So there's a lot to keep track of, and the outcome of an adventure ripples down across every other group. GMAssistant has been fantastic for keeping organized, thorough notes - and instead of having to recap each session or taking notes while GMing, I can record the audio and have a complete summary ready in 10 minutes. Now, when my players ask, "What happened last session?" I can drop the blog post.
11. Many GMs are curious about incorporating AI tools into their prep workflow. How has GM Assistant changed the way you prepare for and run your games?A big part of GMAssistant is that I'm offloading the extra work. I didn't keep notes before, and told my players, "Events can and will change from session to session because I don't remember everything, and I'll be too busy GMing to note down everything." Now, I have a history that is incredibly useful for building a region and world. GMAssistant lets me take my world-building to the next level by notating our sessions, so I don't miss things.
I am 100% an AI skeptic when it comes to RPGs. I wouldn't use AI to GM a game. The purpose of AI is to do the work that nobody wants to do, not replace the best parts of being human. Computers are great for video games and data crunching, not creating art. GMAssistant is filling that niche - doing the RPG work that nobody did at my games.
Don't forget to read more about their project on Backerkit! Hyborian Adventures