Daggerheart General Thread [+]

[Reynard]

This is a good interview with Elise Rezendes

 

[Teemu]

You get two you can cast at a time at first level? It's not that there aren't choices, it's you only get to choose one or two, correct?

You also have your magic weapon, which in Daggerheart are very much like offensive cantrips in 5e or PF2. You can always use "spells" in combat if you wish. The Primal origin sorcerer has the Manipulate Magic feature that works with magic weapons, very much like a class feature in 5e that lets you boost or modify a damaging cantrip.

 

[Zaukrie]

You also have your magic weapon, which in Daggerheart are very much like offensive cantrips in 5e or PF2. You can always use "spells" in combat if you wish. The Primal origin sorcerer has the Manipulate Magic feature that works with magic weapons, very much like a class feature in 5e that lets you boost or modify a damaging cantrip.

I clearly missed this in my read through, thanks.

 

[zakael19]

Same thing with the Elementalist Foundation. It’s basically an Experience of “air bender” or whatever that you can also use for an action roll or damage boost.

 

[zakael19]

Fantastic session tonight, closing out the first "File" / arc for my Tuesday modern urban fantasy table. We opened with the party having just stepped through a painting-portal into Faerie, needing to find a route through the amorphous Goblin Ways (faerie roads! gotta have em) to the unicorn-horn drug lab they wanted to bust. This meant I got to break out the Environment mechanics:

The Goblin Ways
Scaling Traversal (12/14/17/20)
Twisting paths amongst windswept plains, ancient forests, still lakes, deep caves, and impossible castles.
Impulses: Obscure the path, entice with riches, change without transition

Fix the Path - Passive: When you step through a passage into the Ways, you must exert your will to shape the path forward to lead you where you wish to go. One player must state how they do this and make an appropriate action roll, the outcome determines the resultant Progress Countdown.

How do you reach out and tell the Ways where you desire to go? What does it take to make it understand? How does it push back, fickle and fae? Goblin characters, or the party having an explicit invitation to their destination bestows Advantage
- On a Critical Success, 10 segments and Advantage on their next Traverse the Ways roll.
- On a Success with Hope: 10 segments.
- On a Success with Fear: 10 Segments and Disadvantage on their next Traverse the Ways roll.
- On a Failure with Hope: 12 segments.
- On a Failure with Fear: 12 segments and the Ways writhe and chafe against the Party. All characters must mark a Stress.

Traverse the Ways - Passive: Reaching the destination uses a Progress Clock with the outcome from Fix the Path. It ticks down according to the following criteria when the PCs make a Group or individual action roll to overcome an obstacle:
• Critical Success: Tick down 3
• Success with Hope: Tick down 2
• Success with Fear: Tick down 1
• Failure with Hope: No advancement
• Failure with Fear: Tick up 1
When the countdown triggers, the party has reached their destination.

What sights do you see in the swirling mists of Faerie? How do you keep your footing along the path? What about this place do you most fear?

Basically using these as prompts to frame out scenes as the path swirls and twists. We rolled Success with Fear to start, so I framed the path (asking a player what it looked like), and put them in a clearing with an obstacle. Repeat a couple of times, switching out the environments and vibe of the path based on the character who leads the way forth. Place them in a trash choked set of closed in alleys based on a player, and when they rolled with fear animated a "litterbug" (T1 Construct made of amalgamated trash) against them. They needed a rest after that, so I asked the most hurt player what scene of safety they drew forth.

They said "a really good library in Seattle" so we entered the stacks of the downtown one; and here I swapped from kinda faerie-standard stuff to posing questions to the players for the next scenes, asking each one what the library represented for them and where they found refuge or calm. Next was more obstacle scenes: "Where does Callie least want this escalator to lead you?" (her parents house, an argument ongoing, endless living rooms repeating around them and indistinct forms of her parents, judging her); "why does Kit recoil in fear from that door?" (its the place he grew up for a bit before fleeing for the streets, he really doesnt want them to see what's on the other side).

Really good "discover stuff" about your character, and working together to buoy each other up. In a way, the final equestrian estate and fight was almost an anti-climax after all that! 3/4 players specifically highlighted the mechanic and scenes as their favorite part, and really want to see more of both the fae side & the character-history side.

Bonus: the D12 tables I made as scene prompts along the way:

A Perilous Journey - Action: Describe where the path leads and frame out an obstacle the party must overcome.
1. A shadowed copse of trees, branches swaying in an unfelt breeze, path receding under thick grass.
2. Steep mountainside, fantastic lichens and flowers singing soft songs.
3. A glassy still lake, the stepping stones leading across sightly too far apart to be comfortable.
4. Sudden descent into a cave lit with tiny twinkling stars, the floor slick and steep.
5. A wide open plain, rolling flats of waving grain and figures moving in the distance.
6. A ruined castle, rubble falling and the wind moaning.
7. A sheer cliff, weathered statues flanking a sealed door.
8. A maze of floating stones, leading ever higher.
9. A forest of mushrooms, spores and fireflies clouding the air.
10. Tunnels down amongst the roots, tiny houses carved into the walls.
11. A sudden storm lashing down, turning all to mud.
12. A tiny cottage in a welcoming meadow, butterflies all around.

Denizens of Faerie - Action: Spend a Fear to reveal strange creatures of this realm along the path.
1. Frolicking in a glade.
2. Staring down watchfully.
3. Prowling close to pounce.
4. Fleeing something dark and wondrous.
5. Calling out enticements.
6. Enjoying a perfect ray of sunshine.
7. Having a picnic.
8. Enacting a solemn ritual.
9. Ripping at prey.
10. Gathering garlands of flowers.
11. Weaving a glorious spell.
12. Pleading for help.

 

[Reynard]

In a bit of unexpectedly good news, my Monday group -- which has sort of been on haitus for a bit since our Vecna campaign fell apart -- has agreed to give Daggerheart another go!

 

[cbwjm]

My friend ran a game of daggerheart last weekend and it was a lot of fun, looked like a bit of a mental load on the DM but he ran it well and I did enjoy the freeform nature of it. My cat wizard was very grateful for the turtle guardian who soaked a few hits for me. I thought the spotlight system was a great way to run combat since I'm really not overly fond of cyclical initiative and every roll was watched to see if we could keep going or would the DM gain the spotlight.

Also, I turned someone to a fine mist when I critically force pushed them into a tree.

 

[Reynard]

In a bit of unexpectedly good news, my Monday group -- which has sort of been on haitus for a bit since our Vecna campaign fell apart -- has agreed to give Daggerheart another go!

I went out for beers and eats with a good friend of mine who is our regular group's other GM and who will be playing this game. Talking about what kind of frame we wanted, he expressed an interest of playing in a grounded world. Rather than trying to find ways to reskin or nerf a good portion of PC abilities, I decided it would work to say PCs are all special, something akin to.demigods or superheroes, in a world that (monsters and the various ancestries notwithstanding) feels a lot more generally mundane.

What are some ideas on how to build such a campaign frame? Can you suggest some source media beyond Bullfinch's Mythology?

Thanks.

 

[zakael19]

I went out for beers and eats with a good friend of mine who is our regular group's other GM and who will be playing this game. Talking about what kind of frame we wanted, he expressed an interest of playing in a grounded world. Rather than trying to find ways to reskin or nerf a good portion of PC abilities, I decided it would work to say PCs are all special, something akin to.demigods or superheroes, in a world that (monsters and the various ancestries notwithstanding) feels a lot more generally mundane.

What are some ideas on how to build such a campaign frame? Can you suggest some source media beyond Bullfinch's Mythology?

Thanks.

What did “grounded world” mean to him? Does that work for all the players?

 

[overgeeked]

What did “grounded world” mean to him? Does that work for all the players?

Exactly. If I told the referee I wanted a grounded world and the response was you’re playing demigods or superheroes, I’d honestly wonder if we were speaking the same language. To me grounded is basically the opposite of Daggerheart. Shadowdark is grounded.