Shadow World (role playing game)
The Shadow World logo
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| Designer(s) | Terry K. Amthor |
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| Publisher(s) | Eidolon Studio, Iron Crown Enterprises, Guild Companion Publications |
| Publication date | 1987–current |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy/Science Fiction |
| Language(s) | English |
| Media type | Game accessories, novels, role-playing games, |
Shadow World is a high-fantasy campaign setting situated on the fictional planet of Kulthea. Originally produced for the Rolemaster role-playing game system, the game setting is owned by Iron Crown Enterprises (often referred to as I.C.E.). It is currently maintained by the primary author of the setting, Terry K. Amthor of Eidolon Studio (who also holds the trademark for Shadow World, and copyrights for non-gaming fiction related to the world).
The setting blends traditional fantasy elements, such as elves, dwarves, magic, etc., with science fiction, including such elements as space and time travel, and, to a degree, futuristic technology.
Shadow World is a fantasy and science fiction environment that deals with a number of topics, including the path of the hero, in a fantasy role-playing environment.
The first book to be set in Shadow World was The Iron Wind adventure setting, published in 1980 as a game setting for Iron Crown Enterprises's Rolemaster fantasy game system. Iron Crown also published Vog Mur and The Cloudlords of Tanara as standalone settings before the 1989 publication of the Shadow World World Atlas First Edition placed those settings in the context of a single overarching campaign. Iron Crown went on to publish several more supplements before the rights to the property reverted to author Terry Amthor .
The focus of the Shadow World setting is the Kulthea's Western Hemisphere. A massive techno-magickal barrier effectively prevents crossing into the Eastern Hemisphere. The lands of Kulthea are ruled variously by different strains of humans, elves, Lugrok, Murlog, and other fantastic creatures and peoples. Kulthean cultures vary in their technological development from the early stone-age to Steampunk fantasy interpretations of the Italian Renaissance or the Edwardian Era. The presence of magic is a boon and a bane, permitting feats not accomplishable by comparable earth-age cultures, but retarding overall technological development that lack the understanding of melding science and technology held in Kulthea's ancient history. Trade is performed by water and air-going ships or on horse-drawn vehicles, all of which must be aided by a guild of Navigators who can show paths that circumvent magical, weather and other hazards left over from ancient wars and malfunctioning technology.
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