Critical Role's 'Daggerheart' Open Playtest Starts In March

System plays on 'the dualities of hope and fear'.

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On March 12th, Critical Role's Darrington Press will be launching the open playtest for Daggerheart, their new fantasy TTRPG/

Using cards and two d12s, the system plays on 'the dualities of hope and fear'. The game is slated for a 2025 release.

Almost a year ago, we announced that we’ve been working hard behind-the-scenes on Daggerheart, our contribution to the world of high-fantasy tabletop roleplaying games.

Daggerheart is a game of brave heroics and vibrant worlds that are built together with your gaming group. Create a shared story with your adventuring party, and shape your world through rich, long-term campaign play.

When it’s time for the game mechanics to control fate, players roll one HOPE die and one FEAR die (both 12-sided dice), which will ultimately impact the outcome for your characters. This duality between the forces of hope and fear on every hero drives the unique character-focused narratives in Daggerheart.

In addition to dice, Daggerheart’s card system makes it easy to get started and satisfying to grow your abilities by bringing your characters’ background and capabilities to your fingertips. Ancestry and Community cards describe where you come from and how your experience shapes your customs and values. Meanwhile, your Subclass and Domain cards grant your character plenty of tantalizing abilities to choose from as your character evolves.

And now, dear reader, we’re excited to let you know that our Daggerheart Open Beta Playtest will launch globally on our 9th anniversary, Tuesday, March 12th!

We want anyone and everyone (over the age of 18, please) to help us make Daggerheart as wonderful as possible, which means…helping us break the game. Seriously! The game is not finished or polished yet, which is why it’s critical (ha!) to gather all of your feedback ahead of Daggerheart’s public release in 2025.
 

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SteveC

Doing the best imitation of myself
I could be wildly mistaken based on a very cursory look through, but all of the cards feel like they took features that would just be written onto your typical character sheet and put them onto a card. I don't see why you couldn't write them down as usual with a little tick-mark to denote when the card is or isn't in your loadout.
Right. There's no reason you need the cards. If I were playing it, I'm sure I'd just make a note of them on paper.
 

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SteveC

Doing the best imitation of myself
A mildly cynical part of me says they are there for the sweet B&G version...
I love those things! The fact that I play everything with a VTT means my wallet has been saved for several products. I expect there will be a Foundry module for this (already some discussion) and so I'll use that.
 

I could be wildly mistaken based on a very cursory look through, but all of the cards feel like they took features that would just be written onto your typical character sheet and put them onto a card. I don't see why you couldn't write them down as usual with a little tick-mark to denote when the card is or isn't in your loadout.
Great point! Still reading through the rules and admittedly I have a lot of knee jerk reactions to some things.
 




Morrus

Well, that was fun
Staff member
I could be wildly mistaken based on a very cursory look through, but all of the cards feel like they took features that would just be written onto your typical character sheet and put them onto a card. I don't see why you couldn't write them down as usual with a little tick-mark to denote when the card is or isn't in your loadout.
I'm sure you can. What you're complaining about here is format. Games come in a thousand formats these days. Hardcovers, boxed sets, web pages, apps, PDFs, VTTs, D&D Beyond, A5E.tools, core rulebooks, starter sets, you name it. Don't worry about it--if you don't want to use cards, you'll be able to play it without using cards. Nobody will stop you 'writing them down as usual' if that's what you'd prefer to do. Write away!
 


SakanaSensei

Adventurer
I'm sure you can. What you're complaining about here is format. Games come in a thousand formats these days. Hardcovers, boxed sets, web pages, apps, PDFs, VTTs, D&D Beyond, A5E.tools, core rulebooks, starter sets, you name it. Don't worry about it--if you don't want to use cards, you'll be able to play it without using cards. Nobody will stop you 'writing them down as usual' if that's what you'd prefer to do. Write away!
To be clear, I think the cards are really neat! Just for those who don't like that presentation, like you say, I don't see them as essential at all.
 

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