This was fantastic. I agree with almost everything you've said. I have a few teens that play in my game, and D&D has been too many rules for them. They want the story and get disheartened when I tell them that the rules prevent them from doing something fun. I know a game needs rules, but I love that DH is very story driven. I have young writers at my table that want to experience the fun and tell a big story. We're going to be trying out DH this weekend. Thank you for your time and feedback on a new system.
I think that daggerheart is really open to tinkering with homebrew and houseruling. The stat blocks are so simple, i started just giving enemies special abilities to spend fear on that i made up. Really simple stuff, like pushing, snaring, or more damage. It made fear scary and impactful without adding the slog of adding new enemies.
GM'd a game last week with my regular D&D group, and the workload is definitely bigger for the GM than the players. I really want to play again to get a better grasp for what tweaks I would want in future versions. But I loved playing it! If nothing else, hopefully Daggerheart opens people up to try other ttrpgs (I truly dislike what Hasbro is doing).
This is definitely a game made for actors, and I don't mean in a bad way. Some people are all about acting in character and some are more about taking action. D&D was not created by or for actors, so rp is only a conceptual part of the game. But Daggerheart is building it into the mechanics. And that probably won't appeal to all rpg fans. But it's something that's being overlooked by most games coming out in these interesting times.
YES, this is exactly what I meant. Critical Role moves so smoothly with this game because they're all actors. The average ttrpg usually isn't (or at least not to this extent) but that doesn't mean the game isn't good, just appealing to a unique sort of crowd
I think a big thing that will elevate a Daggerheart session is taking a page from Spenser Starke's GMing book, and have the players narrate what happens to their own character. If they roll have them tell you what results, and you as the GM elaborate. I came up with a metaphor: The results are like a flower you and the player are trying ro grow. The player provides the seed, and the GM decided if it needs to be "fertilized," it's not enough and the GM needs to add onto it to help it grow, "landscaped," it's too much and the GM needs to subtract a bit from it to help it grow, or simply "watered," it's just right and the GM doesn't need to do anything with it but let it grow on its own. I hope that makes sense.
Im loving this system. Played the Playtest and forgot a couple of rules, with "experiences" being the most confusing part... but otherwise it went surprisingly well. It was pretty easy to "flow" with total strangers cause we talked during the session 0/Character creation phase about limits and expectations. If someone got a little shy to try and take a turn, others would be able to push the spotlight or make open suggestions on how to strategize. I did have ideas on what to adjust and change, but it never felt like i was "Fixing" the game. More like making Optional rules that could be picked up in certain tables.
The Fear die is a mechanic that demonstrates to the players the permission for the GM to go off-script. It is part of the collaborative nature of the game and prevents the GM from being the purely adversarial unit that a DM is in D&D. It is not as big a step as problematic Aspects in Fate; however, it provides a mechanic for more dramatic storytelling.
I like daggerheart's take on aspects. Taking away the double edged nature that was very difficult for new players to grasp, and making thme purely positive "experiences" but as you say, the spirit of compells are still present via fear. I also like how fear and hope work more than how FATE points work.
@@bonzwah1, what I liked about Fate was that it rewarded Players for their Characters' non-optimal moves in service to the fiction. Daggerheart's Fear component still pretends to take the choice away from the Players, which I am less than happy with.
Re: nail in the coffin. There's a pretty massive chasm between "profitability" and being a D&D killer. It needs 50,000 loyal customers to be a smash hit in the TTRPG space. While Hasbro doesn't break out D&D revenue (just WotC), in a year without major books Forbes estimated D&D brings in 100-150M revenue in 2022 (and WotC made 90M off BG3 license fees in 2023/24 alone for comparison), so the pie is big enough for CR, MCDM and others to grab 5% off the top and all be a success. If they trim the fat on the 400 pages, and make it a bit more modular, I can also see them releasing more genres down the road as well.
The only thing that can kill D&D is WOTC and Hasbro, and their trying as hard as they can. Oh, and I'm old enough to remember playing 2e, as I remember it, we didn't need a structured initiative system the DM just went from player to player and asked "what do you want to do, any one want try something?" Initiative is a crutch for DM's that can't motivate timid players and control play hogs.
I can get what you're saying. I didn't realize it at the time, but a surprising amount of structures made to "streamline" parts of the game can act as crutches. There are the dms that don't need them, but that does take a certain amount of skill at the game.
It’s not really a hefty read, a lot of it is discussion and I think a good editor could delete at least a third of the text (hasn’t been edited yet). I don’t think improv is the fuel of this game, it’s the trading of Hope and Fear cards. It’s actually a card trading board game. There is structure and it’s dictated by the cards
I feel like you are being very generous about the fundamental problems with Daggerheart. If this game had been produced by anyone apart from critical role it would have disappeared without a trace.
Y'know. I'm not even going to fight you on that. There's a lot of indie ttrpgs that exist out in the market rn and dozens upon hundreds of games that I likely don't even know exist. While I did enjoy playing Daggerheart, I do accept that if the game had likely been produced by anyone else, it wouldn't have nearly gotten the same hype and traction across the community. And I do believe that the only main reason for this is because of critical role. They have a massive community that they earned and I don't think it's wrong of them to promote their game through that massive outreach.
@smilesschemes I just didn't find it well designed on a mechanical level. The initiative system means that a character who can't contribute amazingly to a particular combat (e.g. because of resistance) would be better off doing nothing so as not to give actions to the enemies. The combat mechanics are too fiddly and too long winded and the fact it's easy to hit but you don't do much damage makes combat boringly predictable. I really didn't get along with the fear points for exactly the reasons you give. The stuff it's good at (like encouraging RP and setting tone) is not core to the game system, but the flaws feel like they are.
@@matthewtopping I pretty much agree with everything here. Mechanics are generally more complex and convoluted than they need to be (gold system, damage system) while also not really adding any meaningful depth as a result of that complexity. Plus, there seems to be some serious issues that would be obvious to even the newest of designers, such as, like you mentioned, the action system incentivizing non-action from less effective characters, the "damage threshold" system feeling predictable and anemic, cut-and-paste feeling special abilities, etc. This combined with the fear system that (1) forces the GM to CONSTANTLY come up with complications on nearly half the roils players make, which can be exhausting, and (2) gives a an unnecessary "license" for a GM to do basic GM things that they kinda just already do, makes for a confusing mishmash of story game elements and mechanical crunch. It's like things that should not be gamified are unnecessarily gamified, and things that probably should be more gamified are not detailed enough to be satisfying. It's like the game itself has an identity crisis and doesn't know what it is trying to be, combining the weaknesses of narrative games and the worst tendencies of crunchy games, while gaining the strengths of neither. It's baffling. If feels like the the lead designer, Spencer Starke, is new to game design, and definitely is not naturally mechanically-inclined. I get the sense he would much rather be making a completely narrative-forward story game, but because people generally expect a "D&D killer" TRPG to have crunchy mechanics, he was forced to put them in.
@nalgrazzim I think you've nailed it. His breakthrough game was a storygame and he has no formal training in game design. CR, as a company, is very actor and writer heavy but with no design expertise. Candela obscure mechanics were mostly taken wholesale from two other games but it still had issues.
@@matthewtopping The initiative system does not incentivize doing nothing. The DM can add action points using fear at any time, can take initiative at any time, and can attack at any time. Unless everyone just decides to stop playing, no one is incentivized to do nothing.
This was fantastic.
I agree with almost everything you've said. I have a few teens that play in my game, and D&D has been too many rules for them. They want the story and get disheartened when I tell them that the rules prevent them from doing something fun. I know a game needs rules, but I love that DH is very story driven. I have young writers at my table that want to experience the fun and tell a big story. We're going to be trying out DH this weekend. Thank you for your time and feedback on a new system.
I think that daggerheart is really open to tinkering with homebrew and houseruling. The stat blocks are so simple, i started just giving enemies special abilities to spend fear on that i made up. Really simple stuff, like pushing, snaring, or more damage. It made fear scary and impactful without adding the slog of adding new enemies.
I've noticed that too. That the statblocks are more like guidelines and templates rather than a set of abilities and restrictions for a creature
GM'd a game last week with my regular D&D group, and the workload is definitely bigger for the GM than the players. I really want to play again to get a better grasp for what tweaks I would want in future versions. But I loved playing it! If nothing else, hopefully Daggerheart opens people up to try other ttrpgs (I truly dislike what Hasbro is doing).
Yeah, not a big fan on what Hasbro and WOTC are doing with dnd
You have compelled me to check this new system out. i am definitely interested.
*Insert Palpatine here
This is definitely a game made for actors, and I don't mean in a bad way. Some people are all about acting in character and some are more about taking action. D&D was not created by or for actors, so rp is only a conceptual part of the game. But Daggerheart is building it into the mechanics. And that probably won't appeal to all rpg fans. But it's something that's being overlooked by most games coming out in these interesting times.
YES, this is exactly what I meant. Critical Role moves so smoothly with this game because they're all actors. The average ttrpg usually isn't (or at least not to this extent) but that doesn't mean the game isn't good, just appealing to a unique sort of crowd
I think a big thing that will elevate a Daggerheart session is taking a page from Spenser Starke's GMing book, and have the players narrate what happens to their own character.
If they roll have them tell you what results, and you as the GM elaborate.
I came up with a metaphor: The results are like a flower you and the player are trying ro grow. The player provides the seed, and the GM decided if it needs to be "fertilized," it's not enough and the GM needs to add onto it to help it grow, "landscaped," it's too much and the GM needs to subtract a bit from it to help it grow, or simply "watered," it's just right and the GM doesn't need to do anything with it but let it grow on its own. I hope that makes sense.
Im loving this system. Played the Playtest and forgot a couple of rules, with "experiences" being the most confusing part... but otherwise it went surprisingly well. It was pretty easy to "flow" with total strangers cause we talked during the session 0/Character creation phase about limits and expectations. If someone got a little shy to try and take a turn, others would be able to push the spotlight or make open suggestions on how to strategize.
I did have ideas on what to adjust and change, but it never felt like i was "Fixing" the game. More like making Optional rules that could be picked up in certain tables.
The Fear die is a mechanic that demonstrates to the players the permission for the GM to go off-script. It is part of the collaborative nature of the game and prevents the GM from being the purely adversarial unit that a DM is in D&D. It is not as big a step as problematic Aspects in Fate; however, it provides a mechanic for more dramatic storytelling.
I like daggerheart's take on aspects. Taking away the double edged nature that was very difficult for new players to grasp, and making thme purely positive "experiences" but as you say, the spirit of compells are still present via fear.
I also like how fear and hope work more than how FATE points work.
@@bonzwah1, what I liked about Fate was that it rewarded Players for their Characters' non-optimal moves in service to the fiction. Daggerheart's Fear component still pretends to take the choice away from the Players, which I am less than happy with.
Re: nail in the coffin. There's a pretty massive chasm between "profitability" and being a D&D killer. It needs 50,000 loyal customers to be a smash hit in the TTRPG space.
While Hasbro doesn't break out D&D revenue (just WotC), in a year without major books Forbes estimated D&D brings in 100-150M revenue in 2022 (and WotC made 90M off BG3 license fees in 2023/24 alone for comparison), so the pie is big enough for CR, MCDM and others to grab 5% off the top and all be a success.
If they trim the fat on the 400 pages, and make it a bit more modular, I can also see them releasing more genres down the road as well.
The only thing that can kill D&D is WOTC and Hasbro, and their trying as hard as they can. Oh, and I'm old enough to remember playing 2e, as I remember it, we didn't need a structured initiative system the DM just went from player to player and asked "what do you want to do, any one want try something?" Initiative is a crutch for DM's that can't motivate timid players and control play hogs.
I can get what you're saying. I didn't realize it at the time, but a surprising amount of structures made to "streamline" parts of the game can act as crutches. There are the dms that don't need them, but that does take a certain amount of skill at the game.
Amazing video as always! ;) Also very interesting
Thank you very much! I'm glad you like the video
hell ya!
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
It’s not really a hefty read, a lot of it is discussion and I think a good editor could delete at least a third of the text (hasn’t been edited yet).
I don’t think improv is the fuel of this game, it’s the trading of Hope and Fear cards. It’s actually a card trading board game. There is structure and it’s dictated by the cards
I feel like you are being very generous about the fundamental problems with Daggerheart.
If this game had been produced by anyone apart from critical role it would have disappeared without a trace.
Y'know. I'm not even going to fight you on that. There's a lot of indie ttrpgs that exist out in the market rn and dozens upon hundreds of games that I likely don't even know exist. While I did enjoy playing Daggerheart, I do accept that if the game had likely been produced by anyone else, it wouldn't have nearly gotten the same hype and traction across the community. And I do believe that the only main reason for this is because of critical role. They have a massive community that they earned and I don't think it's wrong of them to promote their game through that massive outreach.
@smilesschemes I just didn't find it well designed on a mechanical level.
The initiative system means that a character who can't contribute amazingly to a particular combat (e.g. because of resistance) would be better off doing nothing so as not to give actions to the enemies.
The combat mechanics are too fiddly and too long winded and the fact it's easy to hit but you don't do much damage makes combat boringly predictable.
I really didn't get along with the fear points for exactly the reasons you give.
The stuff it's good at (like encouraging RP and setting tone) is not core to the game system, but the flaws feel like they are.
@@matthewtopping I pretty much agree with everything here.
Mechanics are generally more complex and convoluted than they need to be (gold system, damage system) while also not really adding any meaningful depth as a result of that complexity.
Plus, there seems to be some serious issues that would be obvious to even the newest of designers, such as, like you mentioned, the action system incentivizing non-action from less effective characters, the "damage threshold" system feeling predictable and anemic, cut-and-paste feeling special abilities, etc.
This combined with the fear system that (1) forces the GM to CONSTANTLY come up with complications on nearly half the roils players make, which can be exhausting, and (2) gives a an unnecessary "license" for a GM to do basic GM things that they kinda just already do, makes for a confusing mishmash of story game elements and mechanical crunch. It's like things that should not be gamified are unnecessarily gamified, and things that probably should be more gamified are not detailed enough to be satisfying.
It's like the game itself has an identity crisis and doesn't know what it is trying to be, combining the weaknesses of narrative games and the worst tendencies of crunchy games, while gaining the strengths of neither. It's baffling.
If feels like the the lead designer, Spencer Starke, is new to game design, and definitely is not naturally mechanically-inclined. I get the sense he would much rather be making a completely narrative-forward story game, but because people generally expect a "D&D killer" TRPG to have crunchy mechanics, he was forced to put them in.
@nalgrazzim I think you've nailed it. His breakthrough game was a storygame and he has no formal training in game design.
CR, as a company, is very actor and writer heavy but with no design expertise. Candela obscure mechanics were mostly taken wholesale from two other games but it still had issues.
@@matthewtopping The initiative system does not incentivize doing nothing. The DM can add action points using fear at any time, can take initiative at any time, and can attack at any time. Unless everyone just decides to stop playing, no one is incentivized to do nothing.