Daggerheart Discussion

[wicked cool]

I’m a little confused on the argument that daggerheart can’t create adventures as it would limit the gm? They just sold us on drakennheim being converted to daggerheart from 5e
If daggerheart came out with its version of keep on the borderlands or if i converted it it’s not that difficult. The gm builds fear based on poor rolling etc. there isn’t any nuance to it

 

[zakael19]

I think what many of us are positing is that a "traditional" AP-style adventure which is generally a highly linear and scripted event negates a lot of the deliberate system design and collaborative suggestions the game puts in front of player and GM alike.

It looks like the Drakkenheim conversion (which was already fairly sandbox-y with some soft gates on content based on "oops you died") is going to go even more "situation" based then the original 5e adventure was. I think it'll work well as a product where people want some pre-written content to work off, but still plenty of player-driven goals and space to follow the Hope/Fear and see what happens.

The more an adventure assumes end-points, the less ability you have to ask questions and play to find out what happens.

 

[Reynard]

I think what many of us are positing is that a "traditional" AP-style adventure which is generally a highly linear and scripted event negates a lot of the deliberate system design and collaborative suggestions the game puts in front of player and GM alike.

It looks like the Drakkenheim conversion (which was already fairly sandbox-y with some soft gates on content based on "oops you died") is going to go even more "situation" based then the original 5e adventure was. I think it'll work well as a product where people want some pre-written content to work off, but still plenty of player-driven goals and space to follow the Hope/Fear and see what happens.

The more an adventure assumes end-points, the less ability you have to ask questions and play to find out what happens.

I think it is important to remember that while "play to find out" is the state playstyle intended for Daggerheart, and advice is given to the GM to "hold on lightly" and all that, there aren't actually any mechanics in Daggerheart that enforce this. You could play DH as linearly as any 5E game, as far as the mechanics are concerned, and use Hope and Fear for results for the metacurrency alone and it would work fine. Now, I would not run it that way, but I also don't like running 5E or any RPG that way. But, again, DH does not actually enforce its stated preferred play style with mechanics.

 

[Vael]

There is a flexibility to Daggerheart that I find helpful. I've run pure improv sessions as well as more "scripted" sessions and the system can handle both. What I really like is the encounter math is pretty simple, small numbers to add up instead of XP budgets. In general, Daggerheart does this well, the damage threshold mechanics allow everyone to roll a lot of dice and get impressive results and then it's a few checkmarks for the DM to mark down.

It's... dare I say it ... elegant?

 

[Vael]

Daggerheart: Hope & Fear Unveiled! – Darrington Press

darringtonpress.com

Formal announcement, Hope & Fear arrives August 26th, copies on sale at Gen Con.

 

[zakael19]

Daggerheart: Hope & Fear Unveiled! – Darrington Press

darringtonpress.com

Formal announcement, Hope & Fear arrives August 26th, copies on sale at Gen Con.

Was just coming to share this - that collectors cover is Fire. Loved the core collectors cover too.

Alas, I don’t really buy physical gaming books any more!

 

[zakael19]

I think it is important to remember that while "play to find out" is the state playstyle intended for Daggerheart, and advice is given to the GM to "hold on lightly" and all that, there aren't actually any mechanics in Daggerheart that enforce this

There’s at least one (the Syndicate rogue), but yeah - there’s rules (as in: things the game tells you to do to play in the intended fashion) but it’s hard to hardline mechanics in this way. Even PBTAs/FITDs rely on people reading the text and making an effort to follow the best practices and principles. You can play both of those “missing out” on the intended play style in the same way as DH.

 

[Reynard]

There’s at least one (the Syndicate rogue), but yeah - there’s rules (as in: things the game tells you to do to play in the intended fashion) but it’s hard to hardline mechanics in this way. Even PBTAs/FITDs rely on people reading the text and making an effort to follow the best practices and principles. You can play both of those “missing out” on the intended play style in the same way as DH.

I think DH is a little more "forgiving" though because it is is perfectly viable as a "5E style heroic fantasy game" and I think that was intentional. Folks are supposed to come to it from 5E and are probably assumed to play it that way initially. Because that works fine, you don't lose those people and instead over time they are more likely to embrace the light narrative elements of DH and eventually end up playing it in its intended playstyle. I think that is a better strategy than designs that guarantee a suboptimal experience for people making their first forays out of traditional and neo-trad play.

Plus it has the added benefit of being forgiving if you just want to smash some bad guys tonight because everyone had a long week or whatever.

 

[darjr]

Was just coming to share this - that collectors cover is Fire. Loved the core collectors cover too.

Alas, I don’t really buy physical gaming books any more!

@Morrus

Was going to post this too.