Daggerheart Release Date Revealed

Daggerheart will be coming out on May 20th. Today, Darrington Press, the games publishing arm of Critical Role, announced that its upcoming TTRPG would come out on May 20th. The game will first release at local game stores, followed by a wider release at all stores that games are sold (i.e. book stores) on June 3rd.

Daggerheart is built around a Duality Dice system that uses 2d12 (one designated as the Hope die, and the other designated as the Fear die). On checks, players roll both dice and add the results to determine the ultimate success or failure of a roll, with the higher die result representing either a positive or negative narrative twist both in and out of combat. The game also uses a character sheet that includes overlays and cards to show character abilities.

While Daggerheart is a high fantasy TTRPG, the game also includes campaign frames that provide specific worlds to encounter and adds additional rules based on the type of story being told. The core rulebook will include six campaign frames, including Beast Feast, a "cozy cooking and dungeoneering campaign frame" clearly inspired by Delicious in Dungeon and a post-apocalyptic world of technological wonders called Motherboard.

 

[Faolyn]

Except Blades in the Dark, somehow.

There are probably tons of games (not just BitD) that have done well without supplements. It's just there's little extra money (once it's sold, there's nothing else to buy(, so the product seems to do poorly in comparison to products that are constantly producing material.

The real measure is "how often is the game played." And I don't think there's any way to know that, especially with games that don't require VTTs or subscriptions that can be counted.

 

[Superchunk77]

I have no guess on how they are selling.

Kickstarter show initial sales, but after that someone would need to provide hard data.

Heck I don't even have a clue what something like DCC sells, it's been around for over a decade.

DC20 is coming out later this year, but from the looks of his livestreams, they're doing just fine. Thanks for the concern.

 

[pemerton]

If I want some generic Fanatasy I'll just go with D&D 5e or Pathfinder 2e. If I want something with a certain flavour, The Dark Eye 5e or WFRP4e. If I want something unique Blades in the Dark or Spire/Heart. If I want to look outside of that, Vampire 20th, Ars Magica 5e, Shadowrun (5e or Anarchy), Mothership, Kids on Bikes, etc. And then there is a whole slew of games that look interesting, but don't know if I would even want to play, pretty much the whole Free League catalog, Paranoia, Wildsea, Exalted, Delta Green, Lancer, a whole slew of 40k RPGs, Torg, etc.

I see to many people that jump on these projects because they either hate WotC (which is ironic as these companies became big due to WotC and D&D) or they want a better/perfect system (a perfect system will never exist, at best one that suits you better).

What's your complaint? If someone wants to play DaggerHeart rather than (say) 5e D&D, how's that a problem for you?

 

[Aldarc]

Totally agree. Personally I think the mechanics sound kind of cool! I need to sift through the Open Playtest thread.

I do feel like CR always has really cool artwork attached to their name and although I realize that is nowhere near the point of their book it is something I'm looking forward to seeing in the Daggerheart book.

So, Bomberooski, here is an example of a non-D&D game getting trashed in these forums.

 

[sevenbastard]

DC20 is coming out later this year, but from the looks of his livestreams, they're doing just fine. Thanks for the concern.

I was asking about DCC, Dungeon Crawl Classic. Not DC20.

I don't have concern, I'm more curious how well a third party we'll supported d20 based Fantasy game not by WOTC or Pazio sells. I choose DCC because it's been around a long time.

 

[Cergorach]

Kickstarter show initial sales, but after that someone would need to provide hard data.

Review numbers give some indication, looking at Amazon and DTRPG are probably two of the biggest indicators.

I'm not sure I understand the point of the hostility here. Of course, you don't have to be excited for it, but why bother trying to throw cold water on those that are?

No hostility. No, just sharing that alarms are going off. When famous people known for A, sell B which is received as mediocre at best, and now try to sell you C. And people are hyping it into the strato sphere, while:

As usual, I'll wait for reviews, after the game comes out.

You should wait for the reviews after the game comes out.

Except Blades in the Dark, somehow.

Blades in the Dark has a TON of third party support.

What's your complaint? If someone wants to play DaggerHeart rather than (say) 5e D&D, how's that a problem for you?

Heck, for all I care people can play GURPS 1e! As long as they are having fun, who am I to stop them? BUT... When there is hype, when there's famous people behind a product, and when media (like ENworld) starts promoting something... Maybe some people should get off the hype train and wait and see before blindly charging ahead.

And why can people here (on Enworld) crap all over D&D (5e), WotC, and that's all right. But when someone points out some issues with the product quality of your favorite publisher...

The real measure is "how often is the game played." And I don't think there's any way to know that, especially with games that don't require VTTs or subscriptions that can be counted.

There is no definitive number available, for all we know Ponyfinder is the most played RPG ever! But there are indicators on how popular a system is by looking what data VTTs have. Foundry published some numbers from last year: Year in Review: Four-Year Anniversary Edition | Foundry Virtual Tabletop And Roll 20 did a few reports a couple of years ago: Orr Industry Report - Roll20 Wiki this is the latest report (Q4 2021) Wayback Machine

There's also what are you weighing as a success? From a publishers point of view it's sales, they are a business after all. You might say that for players it's how often it's played. But for players it should be important how often they play it. How many of us have huge pnp RPG collections that we never get to the table (or not often enough)? I have stuff I enjoy that I never play... So I don't think there's a definitive answer of what 'success' exactly is for pnp RPGs.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I was asking about DCC, Dungeon Crawl Classic. Not DC20.

I don't have concern, I'm more curious how well a third party we'll supported d20 based Fantasy game not by WOTC or Pazio sells. I choose DCC because it's been around a long time.

It's hard to imagine that DCC isn't a financial success. Goodman does rely on crowdfunding for a lot of books, but it's still a (large) minority of what they publish. Customers have to be paying the bills at this point.

 

[pemerton]

When there is hype, when there's famous people behind a product, and when media (like ENworld) starts promoting something... Maybe some people should get off the hype train and wait and see before blindly charging ahead.

And why can people here (on Enworld) crap all over D&D (5e), WotC, and that's all right. But when someone points out some issues with the product quality of your favorite publisher...

What's the issue with the quality of Daggerheart?

 

[Reynard]

Review numbers give some indication, looking at Amazon and DTRPG are probably two of the biggest indicators.

No hostility. No, just sharing that alarms are going off. When famous people known for A, sell B which is received as mediocre at best, and now try to sell you C. And people are hyping it into the strato sphere, while:

You should wait for the reviews after the game comes out.

Blades in the Dark has a TON of third party support.

Heck, for all I care people can play GURPS 1e! As long as they are having fun, who am I to stop them? BUT... When there is hype, when there's famous people behind a product, and when media (like ENworld) starts promoting something... Maybe some people should get off the hype train and wait and see before blindly charging ahead.

And why can people here (on Enworld) crap all over D&D (5e), WotC, and that's all right. But when someone points out some issues with the product quality of your favorite publisher...


There is no definitive number available, for all we know Ponyfinder is the most played RPG ever! But there are indicators on how popular a system is by looking what data VTTs have. Foundry published some numbers from last year: Year in Review: Four-Year Anniversary Edition | Foundry Virtual Tabletop And Roll 20 did a few reports a couple of years ago: Orr Industry Report - Roll20 Wiki this is the latest report (Q4 2021) Wayback Machine

There's also what are you weighing as a success? From a publishers point of view it's sales, they are a business after all. You might say that for players it's how often it's played. But for players it should be important how often they play it. How many of us have huge pnp RPG collections that we never get to the table (or not often enough)? I have stuff I enjoy that I never play... So I don't think there's a definitive answer of what 'success' exactly is for pnp RPGs.

Honestly this just smells like a anti-CR dig.

I will answer one thing in particular: they have already said there will be a method for fan and 3rd party Daggerheart support. They know how invested their fanbase is.

But more importantly: you don't like CR and/or Darrington. Okay, great. But you are still actively peeing in other folks cheerios, which is kind of rude.

 

[sevenbastard]

It's hard to imagine that DCC isn't a financial success. Goodman does rely on crowdfunding for a lot of books, but it's still a (large) minority of what they publish. Customers have to be paying the bills at this point.

Agreed.

Most of my money to Goodman recently has gone to the OAR series, but I picked up Purple Planet Kickstarter (which honestly I was disappointed in) .

I've played DCC once I think? But I own two copies of the main rules and MCC.

My guess is DCC core book makes them small profit as the keep printing it. But they are flirting more and more with 5e as they launch the playtest of their new 5e house rules.