Daggerheart Sold Out in Two Weeks, Has Three-Year Plan in Place

A recent interview with Business Insider revealed just how well Daggerheart did for Critical Role's Darrington Press when it first launched earlier this year. Ed Lopez, Critical Role's chief operating officer, revealed that Daggerheart sold out in two weeks. According to Lopez, Critical Role anticipated that their stock would last a year, but the game was forced to go into reprints in a hurry. "The amount of units that we ordered we thought was going to last us a year, and it lasted us literally two weeks," Lopez said. "It's a great problem, it's a Champagne problem, but it's now changing our view in terms of what this product can be."

Lopez also revealed that Darrington Press has a three-year plan in place for Daggerheart, which includes the already announced Hope & Fear expansion, which adds a new domain and several new classes and backgrounds to the game.

Lopez also spoke about the hires of Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins, stating that the two would be working on both Daggerheart and D&D material for Darrington Press. "We really want their creative juices brought to the world of 'Daggerheart.' That being said, we're also doing a bunch of 'D&D' stuff, and who better to bring in than the guys who used to do it?" Lopez said.

 

[zakael19]

Mine didn't versus a trio of medusae; they did, however, use help occasionally. We also are using the action tokens for the PCs, and help spends one as does tag team, but hope is cheaper and (vs medusae) not a huge difference from tag team in odds.

because we use maps extensively, it's not uncommon for advantage to be gained from help, positioning, and narration... thankfully, thats +3d6k1, not +3d6k3.

I will say the demons of despair and wrath, combined, are freaking nasty fuel for the GM. 3 session fight. Many of them rolling d8 hope and d20 fear...
Fights where I got nothing are not tne norm, either... but I've had 3 in the big group.
And I've had a couple fights where it was zippery back-and-forth.

Yeah, we're basically playing significantly different games! I only use notional sketched maps and never give positional advantage (that's what Hope or your various Domain cards are for), so maybe that's part of the bit too, my folks are usually rolling flat. I don't use action tokens, managing the spotlight like I've done for hundreds of sessions in PBTA/FITD games.

But hey, it's working for both of us.

It's sort of like Dungeon World or something - good for a few months of play.

I'll note that as we established in your thread about speed, this is a you/your table thing. My Thursday bi-weekly group is 11 3-hr sessions into play and they should resolve the arc's significant objective next session which will lead them to L3. This is an easy 30-40 session narrative. Table energy is off the charts, we're having a great time, we're now up to 4 Death Moves in that period (only 1 scar though), etc.

 

[Neonchameleon]

I really enjoy Daggerheart. I'm running two campaigns currently (Witherwild and Motherboard). I'm finding that I like it more than I've liked D&D in 20+ years.
But I don't think it has enough content or interest for me to fuel years of gaming. It's sort of like Dungeon World or something - good for a few months of play.

Honestly it needs more content. There's Hope & Fear due next year but I wish they#d publish faster.

 

[Retreater]

Honestly it needs more content. There's Hope & Fear due next year but I wish they#d publish faster.

Right. I'm already seeing characters repeating the same powers. But for me, it's having outlines of campaign frames, sketches of characters, only a handful of unique monsters at each tier, limited items - all of which limits the length of a campaign. Also, it has skill challenges in place of many session-length events, which also trims the length of a campaign.

 

[Vael]

Yeah, I'd like more content, especially the 100+ Adversaries and Environments that Hope & Fear are offering. But I'm still finding joy with the system.

 

[zakael19]

I’m probably porting my Neverwinter Camapign Setting game over from Draw Steel! which means I’m starting work on converting a bunch of the 4e Monster Vault creatures over..

 

[aramis erak]

Yeah, I'd like more content, especially the 100+ Adversaries and Environments that Hope & Fear are offering. But I'm still finding joy with the system.

i'm hoping I like the newer frameworks; there's a lot of grimdark in core ones.

 

[Reynard]

i'm hoping I like the newer frameworks; there's a lot of grimdark in core ones.

There's only really one grimdark framework. Besides The Age of Umbra, which ones struck you as "grimdark"?

 

[aramis erak]

There's only really one grimdark framework. Besides The Age of Umbra, which ones struck you as "grimdark"?

beast feast - when you notice there are sentient sapient beings on the feast list. Not as grimdark as withwild and AoU, but still, darker than I like in ways I don't like. We edited out the beast feast portion
Witherwild - every bit as much a how-you-gonna-die? as AOU, but with more personal corruption

Until I focused upon Witherwild, (last two weeks), I didn't grasp the darkness. Snake Sickness makes it the WFRP-like tone of creeping corruption.

Motherboard isn't as grim, but tis still dark. I can't run it for a different reason - it triggers flashbacks to showing Cyberchase to students.

Westerns as a clade I find generally dark, especially when you add magic; Colossi of the Drylands is a western with magic, but without the inherent Us vs Them of White (and Black) settlers stealing lands from the violent-in-cultural-defense of the majority of Native American tribes. The first thought of my player base was indeed Natives vs Whites. Which, considering several are of Native ancestry... Adding the giant monsters doesn't lighten it up any. Then again, my favorite western is Shane. Followed closely by Bonanza and Wild Wild West... and those two would be easier in Savage Worlds... which I have and also like. Add the lack of guidelines on building collossi...

 

[Reynard]

beast feast - when you notice there are sentient sapient beings on the feast list. Not as grimdark as withwild and AoU, but still, darker than I like in ways I don't like. We edited out the beast feast portion
Witherwild - every bit as much a how-you-gonna-die? as AOU, but with more personal corruption

Until I focused upon Witherwild, (last two weeks), I didn't grasp the darkness. Snake Sickness makes it the WFRP-like tone of creeping corruption.

Motherboard isn't as grim, but tis still dark. I can't run it for a different reason - it triggers flashbacks to showing Cyberchase to students.

Westerns as a clade I find generally dark, especially when you add magic; Colossi of the Drylands is a western with magic, but without the inherent Us vs Them of White (and Black) settlers stealing lands from the violent-in-cultural-defense of the majority of Native American tribes. The first thought of my player base was indeed Natives vs Whites. Which, considering several are of Native ancestry... Adding the giant monsters doesn't lighten it up any. Then again, my favorite western is Shane. Followed closely by Bonanza and Wild Wild West... and those two would be easier in Savage Worlds... which I have and also like. Add the lack of guidelines on building collossi...

I think this is a "you problem." You are interpreting things as more "grimdark" than intended. I mean, would you call Horizon Zero Dawn, Princess Monoke, or Delicious In Dungeon as "grimdark"? If so, I think you are an obvious outlier.