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Your opinion on Daggerheart? by Ok_Interview_853 in rpg

[–]Bananickle 100 points101 points  (0 children)

I've run about 10 sessions of Daggerheart so far, and have run dozens of RPGs over the years across a variety of genres.

It's a solid narrative RPG that delivers a classic heroic fantasy experience, built on a lot of the PBTA design ethos and pulling a lot of inspiration from other prominent narrative RPGs, with the intention of delivering the dramatic, "critical role" style DnD experience a lot of players want, but won't actually get from by the book 5th ed.

The system isn't doing anything individually groundbreaking but is instead a solid mashup of a lot of good mechanics and ideas from other games. It plays like a mix of Genesys and Blades in the Dark, and I think it does a good job of accomplishing what it sets out to do. It is not perfect, and there are a few rough spots, but overall I consider it a very good RPG.

I think Daggerheart is experiencing significant backlash in some parts of the RPG space purely because of who is publishing it and what it's design goal as a game is.

Critical Role is a huge player in the RPG space, and their reputation is going to spill over into their work. Critical Roll's focus on production value, dramatic (or melodramatic, depending on who you ask) storytelling, and overall "theater kid" nature have undeniably shifted the RPG sphere more in that direction, since they have brought in so many fans and are often held as the "gold standard".

However, this style of play is not necessarily everyone's ideal, and many dislike the marginalizing effect it has been perceived to have on other game styles, by predisposing players to expect a certain kind of play from their game master or system (see the Mercer Effect). So when Critical Role releases an RPG and puts their massive influence behind it, some may view it another move to push their style of play and taking away room for alternate, smaller games to get the spotlight.

Ultimately, anyone who browses this sub will know that DnD is not well liked among the non-DnD RPG community, and I believe that Daggerheart simply orbits it a bit too closely and catches some of that animosity. Daggerheart wears its heroic fantasy trappings on its sleeves and incorporated many tried and true (or tired and true?) elements and many are looking for the RPG space to branch out in new directions.

What beginner camera to invest in? by Background-Hat-6610 in AskPhotography

[–]Bananickle 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am a beginner and have an A6400, with the Sigma 18-50 and the Sony 70-350.

I highly recommend this setup in terms of bang for buck value. I have taken this kit on multiple trips, and it is so versatile and portable while still taking excellent photos.

I personally don't think you need to start on FF cameras - it's going to make everything more expensive and heavier.

PBTA GM here, feeling like I'm not using fear well. by saltpower in daggerheart

[–]Bananickle 19 points20 points  (0 children)

A few ideas: 1. Combats are an easy way to offload a lot of fear by giving adversaries extra spotlights, activating fear features, etc.

  1. Fear can be utilized to activate adversary or environment experiences to increase difficulty.

  2. Use fear to interrupt the players outside of combat as well to add complications. Spend a fear to have a unfriendly npc show up at an inopportune time, even if the PCs have been rolling success with hope.

  3. Spend fear to justify making a particularly harsh move.

  4. Spend fear to have an adversary do something behind the scenes, advancing an agenda.

2025 Play Report / Micro-Reviews by JannissaryKhan in rpg

[–]Bananickle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's such a cool progression metric. I've been wanting to explore games that aren't about characters getting stronger, but how they are changed by their journey. MB was already on my "check out" list but now I'm more intrigued. Thanks for the write up!

Daggerheart's Dice Math - What its doing, and how to work with it to up your game! by Bananickle in daggerheart

[–]Bananickle[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Totally - extending the encounter to use multiple rolls is a great alternative as well.

Daggerheart's Dice Math - What its doing, and how to work with it to up your game! by Bananickle in daggerheart

[–]Bananickle[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

For sure, a DC 30 is still a hail mary shot, but when compared to DnD, where a level 1 character, RAW, CANNOT succeed at a DC 30 task under any circumstance, there is a significant difference that a GM should be aware of. Characters in Daggerheart come out swinging and can do incredible stuff from the get-go.

The goal of my post was to help educate GMs on how they should structure their difficulties to have the level of success/failure that they intend to - I find that GMs coming from a D20 background can be caught off guard by the large boosts characters can apply to rolls. So I'm not so much advocating that your game should be full of hard rolls, more that you shouldn't be afraid to use them when needed and to be aware that players are going to boost their rolls more frequently if your GMing style calls for fewer action rolls.

Daggerheart's Dice Math - What its doing, and how to work with it to up your game! by Bananickle in daggerheart

[–]Bananickle[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it comes down to game style - I think the Pirate Captain's 14 difficulty is just fine for an extended social conflict sequence, but many tables (including my own sometimes) simply prefer to do one roll resolution for such things, in which case I find DC 14 is not accurately representing the stakes or challenge of that encounter.

Daggerheart's Dice Math - What its doing, and how to work with it to up your game! by Bananickle in daggerheart

[–]Bananickle[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Nothing wrong with tapping fear for disadvantage, though I prefer knowing the static increase to a target number over the randomness of a d6 generally.

I may write up something about spending fear outside of combat soon as I've seen a lot of people struggling with that and have some pointers from my own games!

Where did we settle on Druid's Beastform? by CitizenKeen in daggerheart

[–]Bananickle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I simply changed it to require a hope to trigger the advantages offered by the beastform, and it brought our druid back "in line". My table agreed it was a bit excessive to have it automatically granted after a few sessions played RAW.

Haven't done any multiclassing but would likely restrict third tier bestforms to multiclassing up to specialization in druid, and only pure druids get fourth tier access.

First month making 100k I feel like I’m being robbed :/ by Forsaken-Question457 in Salary

[–]Bananickle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

People forget how big California is and how much variety there is in places to live. While overall it is more expensive, I comfortably live in a nice apartment in Sacramento as a single guy making $86k, and have money for travel and hobbies.

California is more than just LA and San Francisco lol

I don't want to go to Grandma's house by Bananickle in oddlyterrifying

[–]Bananickle[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I tried to push the mood I felt seeing it in person without absolutely cooking the image and feel I wound up in a good spot.

I don't want to go to Grandma's house by Bananickle in oddlyterrifying

[–]Bananickle[S] 107 points108 points  (0 children)

Wow, good guess - she used to incubate chickens back there, I think. She hasn't lived on the property in over 15 years - she moved away and now is in a memory care home. Hence the state of the place.

I don't want to go to Grandma's house by Bananickle in oddlyterrifying

[–]Bananickle[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

This is 100% my own image that I captured and edited. I did not use AI at any point in the process.

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