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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jacob Lewis" data-source="post: 9698735" data-attributes="member: 6667921">In a system like Daggerheart, the step count may appear long on paper. Taken at face value, it looks like a bloated cousin of any standard d20 process. But the similarity is superficial.What Daggerheart does differently is infuse each step with engagement. Every point in the process creates an opportunity—not just for outcome, but for participation. Rolling dice doesn’t just resolve success or failure; it sustains attention, builds momentum, and creates tension before the final result is revealed. Each step cues someone—player or GM—to do something active and meaningful.For example, armor doesn't autmatically stop damage. It is a limited resource players must actively manage. They must make the conscious decision whether to use it, or save it for a more dire moment that may never happen.This is also why the system works without a traditional turn structure or initiative order. There's a high degree of interaction embedded in every action. There's rarely a moment where one person just rolls a number while everyone else sits back and waits. They're not simply waiting their turn—they’re anticipating what happens next. Because the steps themselves drive the flow of events, play often shifts between players and GM in ways that feel spontaneous. That unpredictability generates tension, which in turn helps maintain attention—even when it’s not technically “your turn.”Think of it like baseball versus basketball.Traditional RPGs often resemble baseball. One player “bats” (takes their turn), while everyone else watches. The system pauses between turns. Each action is self-contained. Even when the steps are simple, they’re siloed—everyone else is just waiting for their turn at the plate.Daggerheart plays more like basketball. The moment one player moves, others are reacting. A roll generates Hope or Fear—now the GM has a narrative opening. A hit lands—now the target decides whether to burn armor. The flow is continuous. There’s no clean division between actor and observer because the system keeps inviting engagement from both sides. It’s not just about who has the ball—it’s about who responds to what happens next.That’s why the number of steps matters less than what those steps do. If each one keeps the game in motion, you don’t notice how many there are. You’re already moving with them.So yes, it’s fair to say that a process full of dead steps—uninformative rolls, redundant modifiers, nested conditionals—can bog down a game. But that’s not Daggerheart’s issue. Its process is built to create momentum, not delay it.</blockquote>

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