Daggerheart General Thread [+]

[Reynard]

Hm, looks like "you have advantage on a handful of rolls" is a pretty common Ancestry thing. Highborne already has a "negotiate prices" one though.

Streetwise: You have advantage on rolls to find your way in urban environments, find the best places for gossip, and navigate day to day bureaucracy.

Not sure on that 3rd one.

"and avoid the cops."

 

[zakael19]

"and avoid the cops."

I feel like that’s more the Slyborne thing? Maybe something about rules of conduct?

 

[Reynard]

I feel like that’s more the Slyborne thing? Maybe something about rules of conduct?

You don't have to be a criminal to want to avoid cops.

Maybe "engage with city officials and services."

 

[zakael19]

Urbanborne

Being part of an urbanborne community means you’re accustomed to living in a society with a swirl of cultures and walks of life. Urbanborne communities value knowing how to navigate the complex webs that make up life in an area where folks tread on top of each other, where crowds seethe and travelers are common, and most of the basics of life come in from elsewhere. These communities include those who live in towns large enough where not everyone knows your name and family through to dwellers in massive metropolises that take hours or days to cross.

Urbanborne are often brusque, wary, gregarious, astute, and assured.

Community Feature

Streetwise: You have advantage on rolls in urban environments to find your way, hunt down the best spots for gossip, and engage with the authorities.

 

[aramis erak]

“Some seraphs ally themselves with an army or locale, much to the satisfaction of their rulers, but other crusaders fight in opposition to the follies of the Mortal Realm.”

I’m not sure why DH dropped Cleric / Paladin from their classes when almost the rest are direct D&D fare - but perhaps it’s to leave the religious connotations you want to bring in more open. None of the Frames are thst explicit about divinity apart from the one with the almost animistic small gods.

I’ve just gone ahead and made new cards/ subclasses off the Seraph - one Cleric, one Paladin, which fits my classic D&Dtropland better .

Seraph adequately covers less obnoxious paladins and combat-capable clerics...

I would expect proper priests to be eventually added in a splat, either as a third subclass of Seraph, or a new class. I kind of expect a splat with the classes' domains being X and X+2 modulo 9, while the corebook are all X and X+1 modulo 9. (See the page 25 diagram.)

The playtest warlock, however, introduces a 10th domain: dread.
The fighter is an X+2 type - bone and valor are two apart (skipping blade).

 

[aramis erak]

It seems weird to worry about the players not sharing the spotlight. Everyone is there to play. What is driving this idea that it is a problem?

I've had a dozen players over the years from whom this was a problem in games with turns. Most later became gamemasters. (Mind you a dozen of over 400).
This doesn't count the 6 kids at a neighboring table before the lockdown. The GM, who was a novice GM, asked for a solution... I suggested a talking stick. She used stuffies, and suddenly, her table not only dropped 10 dB, but ran much smoother.
It's not just kids - when there's no structure, some people will fill the silence until it's clear to them someone else wants the floor.

I think some folks are worried about spotlight hogs, more people are worried about folks being skipped over because they don't feel comfortable inserting themselves into the action.

This is part of it for me, I've a couple who, were it not for turns, wouldn't interrupt to act.

I had a random thought on the way home: Daggerheart for urban fantasy. Specifically, the kind of urban fantasy exemplified by Dresden. While the world is modern, the tools and abilities of the characters in those kinds of stories are usually more typically fantastical. That is, you don't have to build some sort of modern gunman class, because Harry uses magic not guns. You could skin a lot of stuff as modern for narrative reasons, but a Seraph would work totally fine in the secret war with whatevers. The only thing I can think of that you would have to figure out how to skin is most ancestries. Assuming modern LA or NY, you might not want frog people hopping about.

You still need the gunslingers for Dresden. Gunplay can and does happen, between supernaturals even, in the DF novels. Not common, but still, it happens in some of the later novels.

 

[aramis erak]

Hmmm.....

Just checked, Daggerheart completely sold out on Amazon. That's pretty surprising, but in a good way for Darrington / CR.

Wouldn't have suspected even Amazon would run out of stock.

Guess I'll just have to wait for next printing.

Walmart's out, too.

 

[Reynard]

It's not just kids - when there's no structure, some people will fill the silence until it's clear to them someone else wants the floor.

Honestly? This is a player issue that players should solve. Some should advocate for themselves more. Others should read the table more. All of them should work together. The GM should only get involved if the players absolutely can't solve it. Every time a GM tells a player what to do -- take or relinquish the spotlight -- they erode the key feature of RPGs: player agency.

You still need the gunslingers for Dresden. Gunplay can and does happen, between supernaturals even, in the DF novels. Not common, but still, it happens in some of the later novels.

No, you don't. If you don't want "gunslinging" to be a thing, don't mechanically incentivise it.

 

[aramis erak]

Honestly? This is a player issue that players should solve. Some should advocate for themselves more. Others should read the table more. All of them should work together. The GM should only get involved if the players absolutely can't solve it. Every time a GM tells a player what to do -- take or relinquish the spotlight -- they erode the key feature of RPGs: player agency.

Do you know how Ableist that comes across? Most of the people I game with have trouble enough reading the GM, let alone the rest of the table. Half my current players are on the spectrum. My kids are on the spectrum, so am I. Reading the table isn't easy for me; it's the most tiring part of playing and GMing.

No, you don't. If you don't want "gunslinging" to be a thing, don't mechanically incentivise it.

If guns don't happen, you're not actually playing in Dresden's universe. Two of the novels have pivotal battles between factions using firearms.

 

[zakael19]

Honestly? This is a player issue that players should solve. Some should advocate for themselves more. Others should read the table more. All of them should work together. The GM should only get involved if the players absolutely can't solve it. Every time a GM tells a player what to do -- take or relinquish the spotlight -- they erode the key feature of RPGs: player agency.

Daggerheart doesn't agree, although again it's designed to collapse gracefully to more "conventional" TTRPG play. This is a game that intends you as GM to directly spotlight certain players and prompt cinematic action:

Your job is to keep the story moving, so when the players aren’t sure what to do, they’ll likely look to you to find out. This is usually a sign that you should make a move...Similarly, you should make a move when the players are stumped about what to do or when they seem frustrated about a lack of information. When you need to get the scene moving again, a softer move might do the trick (see the upcoming “Softer and Harder Moves” section), but sometimes a harder move is needed to provoke the PCs to action.

As the GM, you can help ensure that the story’s focus rotates between the PCs, so each player has ample time in the spotlight...You can also engage a quieter player by directly inviting action from their character, rather than broadly asking the whole party what they’re doing next.

Lets not relitigate "agency" the way that 10k+ thread over there has, but spotlighting a character does not in anyway diminish that within the confines of the game here - you are giving them a call to action, or thoughtful question, and asking "what do you do?"