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Popular tabletop RPG actual play series the Glass Cannon Podcast, has announced that their next major campaign will be powered by none other than the Shadowdark RPG system.
The news surprised many Glass Cannon fans given that the show has spent the past decade largely focused on running Pathfinder First Edition and Second Edition campaigns. It’s welcome news, however, to the growing number of Shadowdark fans who have embraced the game’s OSR vibes and modern mechanics. Below, we fire up all the details.
What is the Glass Cannon Podcast?
The Glass Cannon Podcast is a long running TTRPG actual play series that launched in June 2015, with the first campaign using the Pathfinder 1e Giantslayer Adventure Path. The show quickly grew in popularity and became known for its mix of humor, dramatic storytelling and cinematic production values. The show later expanded its reach with live tours and several spinoff series featuring a variety of RPG systems, including Pathfinder Second Edition, Call of Cthulhu and Starfinder.
By 2020, the podcast had evolved into the The Glass Cannon Network, a full-fledged entertainment brand that includes multiple weekly productions, a Patreon-style subscription service, partnerships with major RPG publishers and a rotating cast of players and game masters.
What will the new Shadowdark actual play series be about?
The new Shadowdark actual play marks the third season of the Glass Cannon Podcast, replacing Pathfinder Second Edition as their primary TTRPG rules. While we don’t yet know what the story will consist of, we do know what they chose it.
In an official press release, Glass Cannon Network co-founder Troy Lavallee (who will also be GMing the new series) wrote: “When I first picked up Shadowdark, I felt like I was transported back to my parent’s kitchen table in the 80s. I could almost hear the Footloose soundtrack in my head as I was reading it. While at first, I was attracted to the gritty simplicity of the ruleset, it doesn’t take long before you see the nuance and elegance of a system that I believe is built for our style of play and performance.”
Shadowdark has become incredibly popular in the past few years, with a Kickstarter in 2023 generating almost $1.4 million USD in funding, followed by a more recent 2025 Kickstarter that raked in a whopping $2.8 million USD in support. The system is rules light, using D&D 5e as a starting framework, but providing more old school rules that are are far more lethal and favor player choices over stats and rolls.
When will the Glass Cannon Shadowdark series start?
Session Zero of the new Shadowdark actual play will premiere on October 23rd at 8:00 PM ET on the Glass Cannon YouTube Channel. This will followed by an audio release at 12:00 AM ET on October 24th.
Episode 1 will then launch the following week on Thursday, October 30th, 2025, with new episodes airing each week. It’s not yet clear if these have been pre-recorded and, if so, how many episodes there will be in total.
Final Thoughts
While Shadowdark has grown in popularity among the TTRPG community, it hasn’t achieved the mainstream recognition of systems like Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder. With the Glass Cannon Podcast embracing the game there’s the possibility that may change. Conversely, adding Shadowdark into the mix is great exposure for an actual play series that hasn’t ever quite achieved the same level of success of more well known series like Critical Role and Dimension 20.
You can learn more and subscribe on the official Glass Cannon YouTube Channel. Below is also a teaser trailer, showing the kind of vibes we can expect from the new Shadowdark series.