Legend in the mist - anyone using it and/or have thoughts

[Kichwas]

I somehow missed that this title was even coming out until I was looking on DriveThruRPG the other day and noticed it was (at the time), number 2.

Seems like it just came out middle of August 2025, digitally at least, with print on the way. It looks like it's aimed at the same style of gaming at Daggerheart - narratively driven roleplay over gamism. I'm not familiar with PBtA but I keep seeing this as being very close to that.

It has a system where characters are described by 'tags' that are just thematic descriptions you come up with (with some templates you can pick from also provided) and no numbers, but uses a 2d6 die mechanic where you total up traits that are relevant for a bonus or penalty to the roll.

Despite being number 2 on DriveThru and a decent number of table listed on startplaying, didn't see much discussion of it here or elsewhere.

Anyone know more, have it, running it, etc?

Folks who have played both this and Daggerheart have any comparison thoughts? Hopefully that will include me soon as I'm really looking to contrast the two. But I also just want to see what I think of it in general so I'm now in the process of learning more.

 

[BenjaminPey]

I've run City of Mist, extensively. It was a previous iteration of the Mist engine, very close to what LitM is, and I have followed LitM's developpement very closely.

It's a great game, with a very solid gameplay loop and a stellar character evolution (about the same as CoM's). It has strayed further from the pbta roots of CoM, but remains in the same design space.

 

[Crusadius]

Son of Oak is creating a series of how to play videos on youtube - so far there are 3.

 

[overgeeked]

Anyone know more, have it, running it, etc?

Folks who have played both this and Daggerheart have any comparison thoughts? Hopefully that will include me soon as I'm really looking to contrast the two. But I also just want to see what I think of it in general so I'm now in the process of learning more.

I’m still reading it.

This is wildly lighter in rules than Daggerheart. It’s a tag-based system and the more relevant tags you have for a task the bigger the bonus. It’s not a PbtA game per se but it uses 2d6 and the PbtA success ladder (6-, 7-9, 10+). It looks pretty slick and rules light.

 

[BenjaminPey]

Yeah, it's really not like Daggerheart. The only thing in common may be the spotlight mechanism, common in PbtAs: the npcs don't have any turns, they act in between spotlight to pose threats, and only inflict consequences when their threats are ignored or in case of a miss or a mixed success.

Otherwise it's not class-based, there's no levels (although there are different Mights to represent power gaps), there's no prescriptive and defined powers or spells, there are only tags and statuses (conditions on a scale).

PCs are made of four themes of three tags each, plus a weakness. They can be free form or they can follow broad categories (people, origin, influence, skill, knowledge, magic, relic, monstruous nature, this kind of thing) and each have a quest, a calling, which you can follow, marking improve, or forget, marking abandon. Three marks in one of these and the theme will evolve, being augmented or totally changed.

 

[SteveC]

This is a fantastic looking game. I backed the PDF only, and I'm sort of regretting that because I think the game would be gorgeous in print. You can take a look at the "learn to play" comic book that's available for free (it's available at DriveThru RPG) and you'll see what it looks like.

Now as to the entire game, I am not 100% sold on the mechanics, just as I wasn't for City of Mist earlier. But in terms of presentation and creating a look and feel? This is great. I think you'd have to have players who are really narrative focused to enjoy the game, which means it's not for everyone. I'd put it farther out on the narrative branch than DaggerHeart, for instance, and that was a bridge too far for some people.

But if you like to read and collect RPGs, this is a no-brainer. There's a retailer who comes to Gamehole Con every year that focuses on these types of indie games, and if I see it, I'll definitely be picking it up.

 

[Piperken]

I've not focused closely on these two, so these are more second hand thoughts that I've picked up from discussion of the two in other spaces.

There is more reliance on several different meta currencies in Daggerheart (Hope/Fear has been discussed a lot, but there are others). How these are employed in the system to encourage particular decisions by players makes intentional sense, but keeping track of these may or may not be your thing.

While lighter, some ppl have noted there a lot of tag words in Legend, which could be something you may bounce off of.

They're each modern games in feeling, that can do elf game settings!

 

[Kichwas]

Decently detailed look through of the game:

 

[Kichwas]

When I noted I felt similarity Legend of the Mist and Daggerheart I mean that I think they're both trying to "sell" to the same type of table-interest: Narrative driven storytelling with a 'game' to provide structure.

They have very different approaches it seems, but I imagine the same player who would be "curious" about one would also be for the other, then pick between them or go for both as I suspect I will.

Picked up the digital bundle off their website just today, and I've barely had time to look at it yet.

Daggerheart has the 'experiences' which right now in my mind are like 'tags light'. Each of of them you have becomes a modifier to your odds on something when it fits narratively. Where Daggerheart gives you just a few of them and they are something you use sometimes, Legend in the Mist is wholly driven by them and you need a group to be fluent in using descriptive methods of going through the game to keep the pace going.

Daggerheart has most actions resolving in either hope or fear as a guide to how to direct the narrative consequence, Legend in the Mist has consequence to impact the degree of success away from the character's desired result.

On the surface that feels like Legend is more negatively driven. But I need to read through because I suspect this is just a surface impression and the tags drive the positive end of the result more strongly than their equivalents would in Daggerheart.

I'm on the front door of impressions right now, so I suspect my take in a few days to be very different than it is right now.

But I suspect my impression is going to only go up the more I know, as this system seems to be written to appeal to what I'm seeking right now.

 

[overgeeked]

When I noted I felt similarity Legend of the Mist and Daggerheart I mean that I think they're both trying to "sell" to the same type of table-interest: Narrative driven storytelling with a 'game' to provide structure.

They have very different approaches it seems, but I imagine the same player who would be "curious" about one would also be for the other, then pick between them or go for both as I suspect I will.

I really doubt that will broadly be the case, honestly.

Daggerheart is designed for 5E refugees who want a bit more story and narrative than they're used to but keep roughly the same level of crunch and focus, i.e. fighting monsters.

Legend is designed for players looking for a mostly rules-light narrative-focused game that's "rustic" in feel, i.e. less about killing monsters and more about everything else. Or at least overcoming threats without always resorting to murdering everything.

The Venn diagram overlap includes RPG, narrative mechanics, and fantasy. But it looks like that's about the extent.