Daggerheart Discussion

[zakael19]

Sure. I was just thinking when you set up an environment like "Cult Ritual" it might be neat to include a move in there that specifically brings about the end of the encounter in a dramatic fashion, triggered by some victory condition besides "all the enemies are dead."

Oh sure, but that presupposes an element of constrained prep and encounter management I’m not doing. Eg: what if the players had focused the cultists first instead of killing the demons? What if we never had a cult ritual?

I look at my prep (list of potential dangers for the area, the adversaries, my encounter environments (far more generic themed around factions instead of set pieces), the current status of where the various countdowns area), what’s been telegraphed before, and what’s happened over the session. Then I make a Move and ask what they do. They could’ve bypassed the sight of ominous hellish flames, or done any number of things that keep me from proscribing outcomes. I’d rather just have the thought in my head of “end things on a dramatic note” and look at hitting that beat.

 

[Reynard]

Oh sure, but that presupposes an element of constrained prep and encounter management I’m not doing. Eg: what if the players had focused the cultists first instead of killing the demons? What if we never had a cult ritual?

I look at my prep (list of potential dangers for the area, the adversaries, my encounter environments (far more generic themed around factions instead of set pieces), the current status of where the various countdowns area), what’s been telegraphed before, and what’s happened over the session. Then I make a Move and ask what they do. They could’ve bypassed the sight of ominous hellish flames, or done any number of things that keep me from proscribing outcomes. I’d rather just have the thought in my head of “end things on a dramatic note” and look at hitting that beat.

One of the neat things about DH is that the degree to which it is prepped vs not is totally up to the GM (kind of like 5E in that way). You CAN make everything up on the fly, but having previously designed adversaries and environments makes winging it more seemless IMO.

 

[zakael19]

I'm running 3 games with varied quantities and styles of prep:

- Conversion of the 4e Neverwinter Campaign Setting: total conversion, including >70 adversaries (some mostly direct over, some added to fill out roles); so far about 10 environments to cover various areas and factional encounters with more to come as we get there (neverwinter wood / the thayan & netherese strongholds / the castle / etc).

But inside of that overarching sandbox, very little direct session to session stuff. I've got everything I need to pull together, and the baseline tools to improvise as needed.

- Thursday in-person game, following a loose storyline around evil gods undermining a kingdom - highly informed by player resolutions as to what's happening next and how the set of open campaign countdowns impact the world. Started small, prepping situations and locations as we go. Minimal adversary or environment usage outside the core book.

- Tuesday urban fantasy, using a series of mechanics brought over from teh Carved from Brindlewood mystery games. Prep follows those PBTA based games, with discreet "mysteries" that have thematic dangers to bring in. Environmental prep for a handful of recurring places (Faerie, some random dangers in the urban setting), a selection of adversaries to grab with heavy urban magic themes.

 

[Reynard]

We finally got to play another session of my "Arcanopolis Knights" magitech supers game last night. It was unfortunately encumbered by technical issues as I tried to move the game to Fantasy Grounds and the Mac User could not manage to get it working. Ugh. We ended up going back to just discord.

Anyway, the current plot line is basically a rip off of Morrison's "Hyperclan" arc in JLA way back when, except in this case the new heroes are really three powerful hags who are masquerading as a magical girl squad with secret IDs as wealthy young widows from another city. The PCs know something is up and are currently breaking in to their penthouse to get proof.

I have not had to stat up the hags or their guards yet but I will soon. One is all light and magic, one is all plant powers, and the last is all shadows and stuff. Any ideas for cool powers and fear effects would be appreciated. The PCs are all level 5.

 

[zakael19]

The Demons have the most interesting and unique moves in the whole book, when I want to go off kilter that’s where I look for inspo.

A fun flavor for a shadow & light combo would be copies of the players formed of their shadows thanks to a harsh magic light. Tackle by defeating the shadows and/or putting out the light?

 

[Reynard]

The Demons have the most interesting and unique moves in the whole book, when I want to go off kilter that’s where I look for inspo.

Good idea.

A fun flavor for a shadow & light combo would be copies of the players formed of their shadows thanks to a harsh magic light. Tackle by defeating the shadows and/or putting out the light?

Love this.

 

[Agamon]

The environment I made for my Age of Umbra game tonight

 

[Reynard]

FYI Daggerheart is celebrating its first birthday with things and stuff!

 

[TheHand]

Taha

The environment I made for my Age of Umbra game tonight

Thanks for sharing that. Seeing how others make custom events and environments really helps me make my own.

 

[Agamon]

Taha

Thanks for sharing that. Seeing how others make custom events and environments really helps me make my own.

I do need to think of the PCs when I make these. I thought the Gain Ground was cool, but as I explained it to my group, I realized that they'd ever use it, as we have a flying seraph, an archer ranger, and a squishy bard that doesn't want to be in melee lol