Close
Close
Advanced Search

Letters from the Dark Vol. IV: BorderlandsClick to magnify
Quick Preview
/gs_flipbook/flip.php?xml=/demo_xml/475067.xml&w=500&h=354
Full‑size Preview
Not PDF (file=LFTD4_VTT_Maps_1-1.zip, ext=.zip)

Letters from the Dark Vol. IV: Borderlands

ADD TO WISHLIST >
Selected Option:

*Includes Full-detail and simplified VTT maps in a .zip folder.

The all-time best selling Shadowdark title on DriveThruRPG!

Where the realms of Law and Chaos collide lie the Borderlands: war-torn wilds yearning to be explored and settled.

Your adventuring party has been hired to clear out a Borderlands keep infested with monsters. Once empty, it falls upon you to rebuild the keep and explore the surrounding area.

This third-party supplement for Shadowdark RPG is especially designed for new players and new GMs. It includes:
•    Darlan Keep: A randomized 1st-level dungeon that plays differently every time.
•    The Borderlands: A wilderness region for the players to explore and plunder.
•    Caverns of Kowse: A multi-faction dungeon filled with rival Forces of Chaos.
•    Hirelings and Mercenaries: Rules for hiring NPCs as allies.
•    Keep-building: A system to spend gold to improve your party’s home base.
•    West Marches: Advice on running an episodic open-table game using Shadowdark rules.

An optional supplement is available for this title: Letters from the Dark: Mercenaries. It includes 48 pre-generated mercenaries with artwork by Patrice Long, as well as a table to randomly select a mercenary.

pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
 
 Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
Reviews (5)
Discussions (9)
Customer avatar
Zoltan S January 07, 2025 6:07 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I have a question about how the hexcrawl is intended to be run. If both the keep and caverns are pre-filled, and the players are supposed to explore what’s between, what’s keeping them from going straight to the caverns(instead of using the map they’ve found)?
Reply
Customer avatar
Chris P January 12, 2025 11:01 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Hi, I’m not entirely sure what you mean. If the players find the map in the keep, that should tell them that they need to follow the river upstream to get to the caverns. If they don’t have the map, you can add clues like footprints, or allow them to interrogate the henchmen. As they follow the river, they’ll cross a few hexes before they reach the cavern at the start of the river. After they’ve cleared the cavern to their satisfaction and secured the keep, they can then explore the hex crawl in any direction.

Is this helpful? The intent is that the hex crawl between Darian Keep and the Caverns will be relatively quick. They may not even have an encounter, but it will at least introduce the mechanics of hex travel. The real hex crawl doesn’t begin in earnest until they’ve completed all the pre-written content of the zine. Then you can sprinkle in content from other sources or make it up on the go.
Customer avatar
Jason R December 07, 2024 6:15 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Any tips on getting the provided color map to fit the grid on Foundry?
Reply
Customer avatar
Chris P December 07, 2024 11:20 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
All the color maps should be 128 pixels per 5' square. Hope that helps!
Customer avatar
Michael B November 14, 2024 9:43 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Just a tip - I’d love to see the point of view image of the Caves of Kowese without the labeled entrances in order to show to my players!
Reply
Customer avatar
Chris P November 25, 2024 2:46 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Not sure how I forgot to include that, thanks for pointing that out! I’ll put it in the next update. In the meantime, your PDF viewer program might have the ability to copy images by themselves (I know Acrobat does, but some don’t). The labels are on a text layer separate from the image, so if you just take the background picture it should work for your needs.
Customer avatar
Bob I November 09, 2024 3:52 pm UTC
Hey, just wondering if this would work for a party of 6-7 level 3 characters. What would need to be done to mod the initial adventure and anything else?
Reply
Customer avatar
Chris P November 11, 2024 8:55 am UTC
PUBLISHER
The first part (Darlan Keep) might be a bit easy, but it’s not meant to be a deadly, so I wouldn’t worry about that. The Caverns are good for levels 1-3, but 7 characters might steamroll some of the encounters as written. It should be easy to increase the enemy rosters just to balance out the numbers. Maybe add 1 or 2 enemies to each encounter. Some encounters (like the bulette or the ghasts) are meant to be deadly, but for your party they might just be challenging.
Reply
Customer avatar
Bob I November 14, 2024 3:52 pm UTC
Thanks for the response!
Customer avatar
Harper R September 14, 2024 2:07 am UTC
PURCHASER
I purchased a physical copy of this book and like it quite a bit but for some odd reason it appears to have been double printed. The content of the book is 72 pages long but my copy is 144 pages long, there are literally two complete copies of the book in one binding. I'm not complaining, it's actually pretty useful that way as I will be able to tear pages out guilt free but I thought I should mention it.
Reply
Customer avatar
Chris P September 14, 2024 3:08 am UTC
PUBLISHER
That is absolutely bizarre! Even if you're not upset, would you mind opening an issue with DrivethruRPG? That seems like a big quality control issue on the part of the printer.
Customer avatar
Evan D July 11, 2024 6:26 pm UTC
Does this include a hexcrawl? And, if not, how is the wilderness portion handled?
Reply
Customer avatar
Chris P July 14, 2024 3:36 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Hi, there are instructions and recommendations for a hex crawl for the wilderness part of the adventure, as well as a mostly-blank map for the GM and players to fill in. It’s less explicit than the hex craws in my other adventures, and it’s possible to handle the wilderness adventure in another way as you see fit. The first chapter has plenty of recommendations on how to make the Borderlands setting your own, and you can use any mapmaking system available to you.
Customer avatar
Brian B May 05, 2024 5:05 am UTC
PURCHASER
Why are the maps in .webp format?? DMs need a format that isn't dependent on a browser to open! Some of them cannot even be converted, or edited in MS Paint, or similar application.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jason H May 09, 2024 4:41 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Open with a webbrowser, left click the page, "Save As", then rename it FileName.jpeg instead of .webp. Voila, you have a jpeg.
Reply
Customer avatar
Brian B June 04, 2024 5:30 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Wrong. You can't save it as anything but a .wepb file. It has to be converted by showing the file name extension, and changing it to .jpg/.png.
Which brings me back to my point... SOME FILES CANNOT BE CONVERTED. Stop blaming your customer, and fix your product.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jason H September 03, 2024 12:52 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I'm not the author, I'm a customer just like you. And I was able to convert the files just as I said for my personal use.
Customer avatar
Alexander K April 18, 2024 8:40 am UTC
PURCHASER
I am waiting for this to be POD, as I've purchased the 3 other magazines. Is there a newsletter I can subscribe to, or a social media I can follow to stay up to date?
Reply
Customer avatar
Chris P April 20, 2024 5:08 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Hi! This book’s print version should hopefully be available in a week or two. Unfortunately it’s out of my hands how long it takes for proofs to come from the printers.
If you mean to say you’re waiting to purchase this, don’t worry: you can buy the PDF version now, then get the print version when it comes out for no extra cost (just the cost of shipping and printing).
Customer avatar
Gavin D April 15, 2024 12:43 am UTC
PURCHASER
Any plans to offer a print version?
Reply
Customer avatar
Chris P April 16, 2024 4:14 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Hey! Yes, it’s in the process. The first 3 zines should become available this week, and this one should come a few weeks later. Unfortunately it’s a very slow process getting proofs from the printer, but things are at least moving forward.
Reply
Customer avatar
Gavin D April 17, 2024 6:19 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Exactly, thank you.
Narrow Results
$ to $
 Follow Your Favorites!
NotificationsSign in to get custom notifications of new products!















Product Information
Platinum seller
Author(s)
Pages
76
File Size:
103.41 MB
Format
Original electronic Click for more information
Scanned image
These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

For PDF download editions, each page has been run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to attempt to decipher the printed text. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.

For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. The text is fine for reading, but illustration work starts to run dark, pixellating and/or losing shades of grey. Moiré patterns may develop in photos. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
pixel_trans.gif
Original electronic format
These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format. Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality.
File Information
Watermarked PDF Click for more information
Watermarked PDF

These PDF files are digitally watermarked to signify that you are the owner. A small message is added to the bottom of each page of the PDF containing your name and the order number of your purchase.

Warning: If any files bearing your information are found being distributed illegally, then your account will be suspended and legal action may be taken against you.

Here is a sample of a page from a watermarked title:

File Last Updated:
April 17, 2024
This title was added to our catalog on April 01, 2024.
Publisher
Chris Powell
Publisher Average Rating