Shadowdark characters are fragile

First-level characters in Shadowdark are "fledgling heroes who are ready to go on dangerous adventures." To determine their hit points, roll their class' hit-points die and add their constitution modifier. This results in adventurers with very few hit points to start the game.

What can you do with a character with low HP? Lots of things... but all of them from the back of the party. Make ranged attacks. Cast supporting magic. Cure wounds. But most importantly: avoid contact with monsters at all costs.

I was playing a first-level fighter and chose a melee weapon for "Weapon Mastery". He had decent armor and a shield, which gave me every indication that he would be good at the front of the line. Except he had 1 HP and a -1 Constitution modifier. I knew that, but it didn't register properly (you can probably see where this is going).

In his first combat, he was bitten by a level-0 spider and knocked out. I rolled a 1 on his death timer giving the rest of the party one chance to save him... while dealing with the spiders. Our wizard failed his stabilizing check and the fighter died.

To be clear: I'm okay with player characters dying. I like knowing that death is a possibility. Had I played the character differently, he probably wouldn't have died. That's part of the excitement of playing a game like Shadowdark.

So let this be a warning to you (and future me): treat characters with few hit points as fragile. They are porcelain dolls. Wrap them in protective clothing and keep them far away from danger. And maybe they'll survive to adventure another day.