StartPlaying, the major online platform for connecting players with professional Game Masters for roleplaying games, launched an unusual site-wide update today. Instead of a highly anticipated “Dark Mode,” desktop visitors are being plunged into “Shadowdark Mode,” a gamified browsing ordeal triggered by a supposed internal miscommunication.
The feature, which went live on the 1st of April, transforms the user’s cursor into a literal torch. Rather than simply swapping out the site’s colour palette for easier nighttime reading, the screen is enveloped in a dark vignette. Users must navigate the platform using a slowly dimming cone of light to hunt down three hidden torches scattered across the interface, armed only with cryptic hints.
The initiative pays homage to Shadowdark, the award-winning tabletop roleplaying game designed by Kelsey Dionne and published by The Arcane Library. According to StartPlaying, the entire event stems from a clerical error where an engineering ticket for a standard dark mode was logged as “Shadowdark Mode,” and the development team simply executed the brief without asking follow-up questions.
“Our users have been asking for dark mode for years,” StartPlaying CEO Devon stated, seemingly oblivious to the dungeon-crawling tension now required to book a session. “We’re excited to finally build that for them.”
For those who survive the digital darkness, and manage to keep their torch lit before the timer expires, there is loot to be claimed. Successfully locating all three torches unlocks a free one-shot adventure penned by prominent tabletop creator and YouTuber Bob World Builder. Failing to do so results in a “The Darkness Consumed You” screen, complete with eerie, old-school spider artwork, requiring users to either restart their session or flee the page entirely.
Kelsey Dionne, the designer behind the acclaimed system, leaned into the chaos.
I’m so excited to see this and tell the Shadowdark community about it when it debuts!”
Shadowdark Mode is available only on desktop today and does not work on mobile devices. The platform has noted that a functional, conventional dark mode will finally deploy on the 2nd of April.
Happy April Fool’s Day! Did the “clerical error” story seem a bit too convenient? This article covers StartPlaying’s elaborate April Fool’s Day prank. While “Shadowdark Mode” is a real, playable minigame on their desktop site today (and you really can claim an adventure by Bob World Builder), the engineering typo origin story is pure marketing fiction. The actual, highly requested Dark Mode officially rolls out tomorrow.
