D&D has Spelljammer, which allows sailships to fly through outer space. Now Micah Abresch, a repeat creator at Kickstarter, is bringing aethereal ships to Shadowdark.
The Kickstarter runs until May 20th, but is already several times over the funding goal and with several hundred backers. You can see progress on the pitch page.
Curious? There are free quickstart rules (PDF link). However, you will need the core Shadowdark rules to play and the physical rulebook keeps selling out.
Aetherdark also contains the Ring campaign setting, and there’s a free preview for that (PDF link) too. The Ring will be a 150-page book that details seven worlds, conflicts, maps and random tables.
More? The Kickstarter also funds The Syndicate, a campaig,n and there’s a free preview (PDF link) as well.
There’s still plenty for the core Aetherdark rule expansion as it brings;
- Crew management & levelling rules.
- Crew-vs-crew combat rules.
- Rules for purchasing, modifying, and upgrading ships.
- Siege weaponry & ship-to-ship combat rules.
- Pursuit, ramming, and boarding-action rules.
- 30 pages of random events and astral phenomena, so space doesn’t feel empty.
- 40 pages of random tables to generate new worlds to visit.
- Random tables and guidelines for hidden treasure, shipwrecks, and bounty hunting.
- Rules for long journeys, astral exploration, and trade missions, for when your campaign expands beyond simple adventuring.
- Five general types of enemy crews, with stats for 24 individual enemies.
- 23 enemy ships, all with maps of their layout to support exploration and combat.
- 18 new monsters of the aether, ranging from the massive congealed nebula to the pesky star-mite.
Backers at $20 get the PDF of all three books plus 12 in-setting zines!
Then, those backers who can step up to $50 get the hardcover of the Aetherdark core rules, plus all the PDFs.
There’s a $90 tier in which those in-setting travel zines are printed, so you get to hand them out to players, and it comes with all the PDFs. Also at $90, an alternative tier offers Aetherdark core rules, The Ring and The Syndicate campaign setting.
Finally, a pledge due for January 2026 and set at $160 offers hardcovers and staple-bound editions for physical copies of all the books and the digital editions with them.
