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Track Turns the Shadowdark Way

by Mike on 25 August 2025

The awesome Shadowdark RPG has lots of ways to get things moving and keep up the pace during the game. Real-world one-hour torch timers ensure players don't spend too much time poking around. Effects with turn-based durations mean you're always tracking turns to see when things run out. Characters are always in initiative in Shadowdark – even outside of combat.

It took me time to grasp staying in turn order when playing Shadowdark but a simple trick helped me stick to it.

When my players and I sit down at our table, I write character names on the battle mat in front of me in a semi-circle, arrayed so the name of the character is aligned to the player around the table.

To keep track of turns, I use a token, often a skull-decorated lazy monster token. I put it on the character whose turn it is. As turns move forward, I move the token clockwise around the list of characters, asking the next player what they want to do – even outside of combat.

When the token moves all the way around, you can assume ten minutes have passed in the game. This passage of time might affect spell durations, potential random encounters, or other in-world timed events. Use tick marks to track the number of turns passed.

Shadowdark's "always track turns" rule is designed to ensure everyone at the table gets their time in the spotlight. It helps you avoid accidentally ignoring quiet players over loud ones and keeps the game moving forward at a good pace.

This trick works just as well in 5e as it does in Shadowdark. 5e has just as much a need to keep things moving forward and ensuring each player gets their time in the spotlight.

Sometimes the turn order gets away from us. Players jump in with ideas or break outside of their turn order to coordinate differently. That's fine. Let it happen. Then move things back to the turn order. See if anyone got left out when things jumped around and start the turn order with them.

When playing online, we don't have players sitting around a table. But we can still keep a list of the characters in front of us and use it to keep track of turns. We can make a copy of this list for initiative or to track abstract distances in combat.

The next time you're running a game, write down a list of characters oriented towards their players around the table and use a token to keep track of whose turn it is. This trick keeps the spotlight moving around the table, gives each player an equal chance to shine, and keeps the game moving at a good clip at the all at same time.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Patreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

Talk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Use Physical Books for Online or In-Person RPG Play and Seggotan's Anvil – Dragon Empire Prep Session 35.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Expect boss fights to take twice as long as a normal combat encounter.
Tailor treasure for your characters and the location in which it’s discovered.
Write short lists of interesting encounters for your locations. Roll on it or pick one based on what feels cool for the moment.
Mix two themes for locations like vampires and summoned elementals.
Foreshadow bosses. Have minions talk about them.
Use the urgency of the situation to keep a handle on rests. Dial the urgency back if the characters need a rest to proceed.
Inform players that certain locations won’t allow for long rests and to conserve resources.

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