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]

I think I knew this . . . but then how does the action tracker fit in?

Whenever the players perform an action (not all actions require rolls, but most do), they put a token in the action tracker.

I think I recall a complaint about some players having an incentive not to declare actions because it would be likely to set back the players/PCs on the action tracker - or something like that?

I suppose that would work, but then your characters would be doing nothing, which can't be fun. And since the GM likely has fear tokens from non-combat rolls or the characters taking rests, they can make tokens and use them against the PCs, even if they're not doing anything.

Basically, despite appearances, this game requires the kind of mindset needed for fiction-first games like in a PbtA or FitD-type game, not the kind of mindset needed for tactical games like D&D. Players that can't have fun not winning or being sub-optimal probably won't enjoy this game.

 

[overgeeked]

Players that can't have fun not winning or being sub-optimal probably won't enjoy this game.

Exactly. If your first thoughts are “what’s optimal?” or “how do I win?” this is probably not the game for you. It’s more mechanically involved than most fiction-first games, but it’s still a fiction-first game.

 

[pemerton]

Whenever the players perform an action (not all actions require rolls, but most do), they put a token in the action tracker.


I suppose that would work, but then your characters would be doing nothing, which can't be fun. And since the GM likely has fear tokens from non-combat rolls or the characters taking rests, they can make tokens and use them against the PCs, even if they're not doing anything.

Basically, despite appearances, this game requires the kind of mindset needed for fiction-first games like in a PbtA or FitD-type game, not the kind of mindset needed for tactical games like D&D. Players that can't have fun not winning or being sub-optimal probably won't enjoy this game.

So the GM spends tokens from the action tracker to trigger <stuff> or generate fear tokens?

Where <stuff>, or spending fear tokens, gives the GM more "oomph" than the simple GM-moves do.

Have I got that roughly right?

 

[Reynard]

Exactly. If your first thoughts are “what’s optimal?” or “how do I win?” this is probably not the game for you.

I would argue that is true of all RPGs, but games like D&D often forgive people for ignoring it.

 

[EthanSental]

Reading the last few game mechanic related posts, this might be a one shot game for our group to have a break from D&D as a game style but we’ll give a shot eventually. Granted the last 5 years our group is averaging about 9 sessions a year so there’s a break between sessions already and trying to do a one shot for a break like we did when we played more might not make the schedule.

Is there going to be PDFs for sale of DH?

 

[Reynard]

Is there going to be PDFs for sale of DH?

Yes.

 

[Faolyn]

So the GM spends tokens from the action tracker to trigger <stuff> or generate fear tokens?

Where <stuff>, or spending fear tokens, gives the GM more "oomph" than the simple GM-moves do.

Have I got that roughly right?

Sort of but not quite. Heck, here's a monster:

The Warp Blast is a regular attack and doesn't need a token. Neither do the Passive (always on) or Reaction (requires trigger) abilities. However, Sickening Flux needs an Action token to activate and Remake Reality needs both an Action token and a Fear token. So you can use the chaos elemental's Warp Blast as much as you want, but the other abilities will cost you.

When the PCs roll with fear, the GM can choose to either get a Fear token or to have a consequence or complication happen right then and there. So the GM may or may not actually have a lot of Fear on hand, depending on how much they've decided to have not-good things happen to the players lately.

 

[Faolyn]

I would argue that is true of all RPGs, but games like D&D often forgive people for ignoring it.

I wish! I've seen too people online outright state that if you're not optimized out the wazoo in D&D, you're a failure of a gamer. And a lot more people will say certain archetypes or classes <cough cough ranger> are completely unplayable because they deal slightly less damage than others.

Meanwhile, at my table, I have people continuously bringing up their flaws and weaknesses or asking to lower stats just to be able to roleplay them. (My group is generally awesome)

 

[Reynard]

I wish! I've seen too people online outright state that if you're not optimized out the wazoo in D&D, you're a failure of a gamer. And a lot more people will say certain archetypes or classes <cough cough ranger> are completely unplayable because they deal slightly less damage than others.

Meanwhile, at my table, I have people continuously bringing up their flaws and weaknesses or asking to lower stats just to be able to roleplay them. (My group is generally awesome)

I got piled on on reddit for suggesting RPGs were different than MtG, so...?

 

[UnplayedRanger]

Sort of but not quite. Heck, here's a monster:

View attachment 396469
The Warp Blast is a regular attack and doesn't need a token. Neither do the Passive (always on) or Reaction (requires trigger) abilities. However, Sickening Flux needs an Action token to activate and Remake Reality needs both an Action token and a Fear token. So you can use the chaos elemental's Warp Blast as much as you want, but the other abilities will cost you.

When the PCs roll with fear, the GM can choose to either get a Fear token or to have a consequence or complication happen right then and there. So the GM may or may not actually have a lot of Fear on hand, depending on how much they've decided to have not-good things happen to the players lately.

What a cool monster. With them getting rid of Action Tokens in the final release, I'm curious how the GMs' action economy will change.