As is my tradition, each time a game ends, I try to learn from it. This time I'm looking at our short (but completed) Daggerheart Witherwild campaign, which lasted 16 sessions over 6 months.
About the Group
Player A: my wife, a power gamer who likes butt kicking and action-packed adventure. Her favorite systems are Pathfinder 2 and D&D 4E because of the tactical combat options and big damage potential.
Player B: our neighbor (who grew up with THAC0-era D&D)
Player C: my neighbor’s co-worker (who also grew up with the same era of D&D, but prefers more story-focused games)
Since forming as a group about three years ago, we played two 5e campaigns, short forays into 7e Gamma World (based on 4e) & Savage Worlds Holler, an 8-month campaign in 4e D&D, a handful of 1-shots (Dread, Monster of the Week, Alice is Missing), Dragonbane, Savage Worlds Deadlands: Lost Colony, and two short attempts with Level Up: Advanced 5e (run by both me and Player C’s college-aged daughter).
About Me
I don’t think I’ve talked about me in any previous post-mortems. That might be a valuable part of a reflection like this.
I started in the gaming hobby with AD&D 2nd edition. My main campaign setting was Ravenloft both as a player and DM. I never played B/X or BECMI – my closest comparison was the HeroQuest boardgame, which I loved (and still do!) My longest and most memorable campaigns were extremely narrative, telling a story, letting the players work with me to create new kingdoms to explore, and basing scenes from movies like Star Wars.
When 3rd edition came out, the crunchy rules and strict grid combat became the norm. The OGL gave me the opportunity to fulfil a dream of game designer, and the behind-the-scenes work made me unflexible about the application of the rules. For decades this was my gaming. From 3E to Pathfinder 1E to D&D 4E to D&D 5E to Pathfinder 2E.
I ran published material brutally and strictly “by the book.” I had countless TPKs as my players rarely finished campaigns. I felt my creativity stifled and felt like “the ignorant muscle of the rules.” I didn’t consider that my problem was that I was running the wrong games, and that I would be better suited for something less traditional and more narrative.
The Selection of Daggerheart and Witherwild
We just had a very rough campaign with little player control with Player C’s daughter running a grim Level Up campaign, which we abandoned after a month.
I wasn’t feeling anything, really. I was about to say “let’s just get together and play board games” when I thought we could try a one-shot or limited campaign of Daggerheart.
First, let me say, I’m not a Critical Role fan. Like, at all. To be honest, I kind of hate it. I took absolutely no notice of this system until it was reviewed on Knights of Last Call on YouTube. I picked up the set as a curiosity because it was very different. I ran a one-shot for another group of my friends, and my wife (Player A) fell in love with it too and asked me to run it for this group.
I suggested Witherwild, which was the most “normal” campaign frame in the book and closest to a traditional fantasy without being too dark (reminding us the previous Level Up campaign).
What Went Right
From character creation, we had stories developing by answering the questions. Player A had her butt-kicking powers, Player C had her story beats, and Player B had everything nicely organized and cards to tell him what he could do. We used a white board for basic positioning, but we weren’t counting squares in a grid combat.
I didn’t kill a single character, even though the combats felt challenging and exciting. Each player got to complete their character’s arc. We got to 8th level (which is the equivalent of 16 in D&D).
What Could’ve Gone Better
I didn’t think the campaign was going to be accepted like it was. So my scope was too narrow from the beginning. Also, we established a very quick pace of levelling up every other session. Both factors essentially locked me in to running a short campaign. However, with the 16 sessions, it still ended up being longer than most of them that ended in TPKs.
The players and I did struggle a bit with me trying to give them narrative control. They come from a trad RPG background and sometimes balked at me “offloading GM duties” on them (for example, asking them to sometimes help declare the stakes of a loss, come up with villain motivations, etc.)
We also didn’t use much of the Witherwild campaign frame. Other than the overall theme and the map, we didn’t utilize the campaign frame. None of the special rules were used.
What Next?
I went to a neighborhood party, and Player B was talking to a person who used to be in our gaming group before moving away to college. He was talking about how much he loved Daggerheart, how it was the best RPG he’s played in 40+ years of the hobby. Player B is the most “casual” player in our group, and to witness him get passionate about a rules system was something I never thought I’d see.
I found a lot of 3rd party Daggerheart material, and I’m learning how to homebrew my own. So what’s next? Well, I’m going to stay with Daggerheart for the next campaign. I’ve found a sci-fi supplement called Starheart, with a feel of Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy. I’m planning on using Stars Without Number for some campaign creation tools.
Daggerheart and Gaming’s Second Lease on Life
McCoy: “How do you feel?”
Kirk: “Young. I feel young.”
In a lot of ways, I feel a weight taken off my shoulders so I can enjoy gaming again. I can tell stories with my friends, share some of the load with them, not have to stress about encounter budgets or magical item rewards to be the appropriate level. I haven’t felt this free in the gaming sphere in over 25 years. For me, Daggerheart is a once-in-a-generation game system. It has allowed me to dip a toe in narrative gaming like Powered by the Apocalypse or Fate while keeping enough interesting options for my players and a pretty nice 3rd party community for additional options.
There are things I miss about Pathfinder and D&D. 50 years of history with classic adventures, monsters, spells, and magic items. But for now, I’m happy enough to say goodbye to D&D and all the control it’s had over my gaming table (and life) for the past 30 years.
This is must be how a lot of folks feel about the OSR. Unfortunately, my “old school” is AD&D 2e and highly narrative – which is not supported in that movement.
If anyone has questions about Daggerheart or my experiences, just let me know.
About the Group
Player A: my wife, a power gamer who likes butt kicking and action-packed adventure. Her favorite systems are Pathfinder 2 and D&D 4E because of the tactical combat options and big damage potential.
Player B: our neighbor (who grew up with THAC0-era D&D)
Player C: my neighbor’s co-worker (who also grew up with the same era of D&D, but prefers more story-focused games)
Since forming as a group about three years ago, we played two 5e campaigns, short forays into 7e Gamma World (based on 4e) & Savage Worlds Holler, an 8-month campaign in 4e D&D, a handful of 1-shots (Dread, Monster of the Week, Alice is Missing), Dragonbane, Savage Worlds Deadlands: Lost Colony, and two short attempts with Level Up: Advanced 5e (run by both me and Player C’s college-aged daughter).
About Me
I don’t think I’ve talked about me in any previous post-mortems. That might be a valuable part of a reflection like this.
I started in the gaming hobby with AD&D 2nd edition. My main campaign setting was Ravenloft both as a player and DM. I never played B/X or BECMI – my closest comparison was the HeroQuest boardgame, which I loved (and still do!) My longest and most memorable campaigns were extremely narrative, telling a story, letting the players work with me to create new kingdoms to explore, and basing scenes from movies like Star Wars.
When 3rd edition came out, the crunchy rules and strict grid combat became the norm. The OGL gave me the opportunity to fulfil a dream of game designer, and the behind-the-scenes work made me unflexible about the application of the rules. For decades this was my gaming. From 3E to Pathfinder 1E to D&D 4E to D&D 5E to Pathfinder 2E.
I ran published material brutally and strictly “by the book.” I had countless TPKs as my players rarely finished campaigns. I felt my creativity stifled and felt like “the ignorant muscle of the rules.” I didn’t consider that my problem was that I was running the wrong games, and that I would be better suited for something less traditional and more narrative.
The Selection of Daggerheart and Witherwild
We just had a very rough campaign with little player control with Player C’s daughter running a grim Level Up campaign, which we abandoned after a month.
I wasn’t feeling anything, really. I was about to say “let’s just get together and play board games” when I thought we could try a one-shot or limited campaign of Daggerheart.
First, let me say, I’m not a Critical Role fan. Like, at all. To be honest, I kind of hate it. I took absolutely no notice of this system until it was reviewed on Knights of Last Call on YouTube. I picked up the set as a curiosity because it was very different. I ran a one-shot for another group of my friends, and my wife (Player A) fell in love with it too and asked me to run it for this group.
I suggested Witherwild, which was the most “normal” campaign frame in the book and closest to a traditional fantasy without being too dark (reminding us the previous Level Up campaign).
What Went Right
From character creation, we had stories developing by answering the questions. Player A had her butt-kicking powers, Player C had her story beats, and Player B had everything nicely organized and cards to tell him what he could do. We used a white board for basic positioning, but we weren’t counting squares in a grid combat.
I didn’t kill a single character, even though the combats felt challenging and exciting. Each player got to complete their character’s arc. We got to 8th level (which is the equivalent of 16 in D&D).
What Could’ve Gone Better
I didn’t think the campaign was going to be accepted like it was. So my scope was too narrow from the beginning. Also, we established a very quick pace of levelling up every other session. Both factors essentially locked me in to running a short campaign. However, with the 16 sessions, it still ended up being longer than most of them that ended in TPKs.
The players and I did struggle a bit with me trying to give them narrative control. They come from a trad RPG background and sometimes balked at me “offloading GM duties” on them (for example, asking them to sometimes help declare the stakes of a loss, come up with villain motivations, etc.)
We also didn’t use much of the Witherwild campaign frame. Other than the overall theme and the map, we didn’t utilize the campaign frame. None of the special rules were used.
What Next?
I went to a neighborhood party, and Player B was talking to a person who used to be in our gaming group before moving away to college. He was talking about how much he loved Daggerheart, how it was the best RPG he’s played in 40+ years of the hobby. Player B is the most “casual” player in our group, and to witness him get passionate about a rules system was something I never thought I’d see.
I found a lot of 3rd party Daggerheart material, and I’m learning how to homebrew my own. So what’s next? Well, I’m going to stay with Daggerheart for the next campaign. I’ve found a sci-fi supplement called Starheart, with a feel of Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy. I’m planning on using Stars Without Number for some campaign creation tools.
Daggerheart and Gaming’s Second Lease on Life
McCoy: “How do you feel?”
Kirk: “Young. I feel young.”
In a lot of ways, I feel a weight taken off my shoulders so I can enjoy gaming again. I can tell stories with my friends, share some of the load with them, not have to stress about encounter budgets or magical item rewards to be the appropriate level. I haven’t felt this free in the gaming sphere in over 25 years. For me, Daggerheart is a once-in-a-generation game system. It has allowed me to dip a toe in narrative gaming like Powered by the Apocalypse or Fate while keeping enough interesting options for my players and a pretty nice 3rd party community for additional options.
There are things I miss about Pathfinder and D&D. 50 years of history with classic adventures, monsters, spells, and magic items. But for now, I’m happy enough to say goodbye to D&D and all the control it’s had over my gaming table (and life) for the past 30 years.
This is must be how a lot of folks feel about the OSR. Unfortunately, my “old school” is AD&D 2e and highly narrative – which is not supported in that movement.
If anyone has questions about Daggerheart or my experiences, just let me know.
