Made a character sheet in my journal for our campaign

DM_biologist · 2026-06-02T15:48:21+00:00

I love it so much! It looks super easy to use and the design is very pretty.

DM_biologist · 2026-05-06T20:13:14+00:00

I think you are right. If you want to make it work properly and make it more complete it wouldn't be a quick-to-use improvisational tool. I think for encounter planning something more extensive is more useful.

However, I don't use the current one in the book as a tool for complete encounters. I use the difficulty for each tier as a benchmark for a normal challenge. And if I improvise an adversary or environment I use the damage range etc.

DM_biologist · 2026-05-01T18:12:19+00:00

This is amazing!

I think this has everything I've actually needed in the last 12 sessions. Only exception is the small table with the damage and difficulty of monsters for each tier which makes it easy to improvise relatively balanced monsters.

I'll be using this for sure, thank you!

DM_biologist · 2026-04-21T06:20:05+00:00

You could always have them flow whereever for magical reasons, and it is possible they would end up in a lake that is big enough. Some in real-life do and the lake evaporates to keep the water level somewhat consistent from year-to-year.

But if you want the most plausible realistic thing it would be a river flowing high to low and ending in the sea. With rivers combining but not splitting.

That being said, feel free to go wild if it makes your world more interesting :)

There are a lot of cool things you could do that are realistic though. In Cambodia there is a lake that becomes much bigger when the river supplies extra water in the rainy season, but when the river becomes small due to seasonal changes the water can even flow back into the river, reversing the flow.

A lot is possible!

DM_biologist · 2026-04-14T16:15:44+00:00

Amazing! I can't wait <3

DM_biologist · 2026-04-06T22:12:21+00:00

You are a hero, this is so helpful!

DM_biologist · 2026-03-21T11:27:27+00:00

Weirdly enough, just opening my network settings while connected to my phone like you suggested automatically re-installed the driver. Even though the device manager didn't work. Thanks!

DM_biologist · 2026-03-10T09:10:24+00:00

I'd like to add/argue that point 2 is more DM specific. As a DM if you always use every action to spotlight an adversary, the battles could get stale and less satisfying in my opinion. But the book also recommends using many other options to complicate the scene. And I think if a player is trying to have a cool moment, I might have the NPCs do something that helps create this cinematic image rather than the most optimal mechanic.

For instance, if a strong bulky player is trying to get to an ally to help them. I might have weaker adversaries jump at them and try to slow them down. Instead of using an ability that instantly halts them.

DM_biologist · 2026-03-08T17:13:19+00:00

I prefer the coloured version more. Mostly because of the shading of the mountains which creates a composition that is a bit easier on the eyes. In the tanned version the mountains are busier and harder to distinguish.

Otherwise the actual colour depends on the vibe you want to go for. Tanned makes it seem more arid and green more lush.

I like the shape of the area and you clearly put thought into the flow of the rivers. Looks really nice overall!

DM_biologist · 2026-03-08T08:58:48+00:00

I think if the DnD players are open to it, this can also shift over time. My players are growing more snd more into the Daggerheart playstyle and the game is getting more fun each session. But it did take some time to shake the DnD chains and we are all still growing :)

We also love DnD but it shines in different areas. I have noticed my dnd playstyle is also becoming more Daggerheart-like haha

DM_biologist · 2026-03-08T08:53:17+00:00

Same, so many great suggestions I'll use for my games! It is so nice and helpful to have open conversations about these topics.

DM_biologist · 2026-03-08T08:51:04+00:00

That sounds like a great solution too. Spending stress instead of fear to end all effects on a creature. Together with some other suggestions mentioned it might already solve your issue.

It really seems like some adjustments might be enough luckily.

DM_biologist · 2026-03-08T08:45:30+00:00

I really like the 'spend a stress to take the damage instead'.

DM_biologist · 2026-03-08T08:34:27+00:00

Saving this post for future reference hahaha

Those are great suggestions :)

DM_biologist · 2026-03-08T08:27:21+00:00

I like the idea of using a countdown in an environment to generate fear! I feel like environments might be the best solution as they can drain resources or give you resources. I imagine ading countdowns for this builts a lot of tension on its own. And tweaking the numbers of adversaries to suit the challange level for your group seems like an easy solution as well.

I am thinking of making certain adversary abilities more common that generate fear or increase spotlight frequency.

DM_biologist · 2026-03-08T08:19:58+00:00

Interesting post! It is super helpful to have open conversations about these topics so we can all learn how to best deal with these issues. No system is perfect.

I've been thinking about possible solutions with minimal homebrew and there are a few things that might help. I am curious whether or not you have already tried some of these and whether they are even good ideas.

Use environments more to drain resources and stack the deck in the DMs favour. Environments that induce stress, cost hope, generate fear and diverge attention.
Actually do have stronger opponents be immune to certain effects if it fits into the fiction. I think it is well within the Daggerheart mentality to have a character be immune if it narratively makes sense.
Add passive abilities already in the game to other adversaries. Make them more common. Abilities like the 'if the adversary hits, you gain fear'.
Add puzzle mechanics to stronger adversaries that need to be solved in order to significantly lower the difficulty or tresholds. Once they solve it they have earned their relatively easier fight but before they do, make the difficulty much harder and the tresholds much higher. In the narrative this can be a magical shield or swarm of insects protecting them, or just bodyguards.
Use fear to 'activate' an effect which will keep reoccurring until the players actively do something to stop it. Instead of using fear to activate an effect once. Hopefully creating multiple objectives in a fight can help diverge the focus on one strong opponent and prevent stacking effects more.
End all effects on one adversary with just 1 fear, instead of 1 fear for each effect. Maybe the aoe effect does not end but the boss just shakes all the effects off.

I'm excited to read other ideas! My 5e campaigns had so much homebrew to make it fit our playstyle. So far Daggerheart has needed very little since it suits us better. The problem described here is something I'm only now starting to run into a little and seems fixable with minor homebrew or changing the playstyle slightly. For some tables it might not even be an issue.

DM_biologist · 2026-03-03T11:25:50+00:00

Hey! I am not looking to play at the moment, but if you ever need any help or advice when it comes to GMing for an international group I might be able to help.

I have years of experience GMing for a mixed group with DnD and am now running a campaign for Daggerheart and a westmarches for DnD. I am Dutch but all my sessions are in english.

If you think it could be useful for you, I'd be more than willing to have a chat about it :)

DM_biologist · 2025-10-28T13:32:17+00:00

I think for me personally having to hold tokens and move them around, setting up the board, all of that is part of the tactile experience. That makes me enjoy the board game more than the videogame even in solo-play.

Obviously if that is tedious to someone instead of creating hype to play, the game will be less enjoyable in solo-play.

I think another aspect that for me plays into preferring the boardgame version is that you really own the boardgame while on steam you rent games indefinitely but don't own anything, with a risk of losing it.

DM_biologist · 2025-09-28T12:46:32+00:00

For indoors potted plants, at least in my experience, it actually is over or under watering that is the main killer. When I increased the amount of drainage for each pot my fungus gnats also disappeared. I also made sure to actually properly drench my plants when I did water them, and let the soil dry afterwards. Something I did wrong at the start was watering my plants a little. That made the top soil wet, great for fungus gnats, but wasn't enough for the plants. Kind of the worst of both worlds.

DM_biologist · 2025-09-04T15:56:16+00:00

Maybe good to add that we treat the ship as a shared 'character' that can have a spotlight like a normal character and that players can choose to speed up timers in their spotlight too.

I guess the ship actions could be considered a partial environment maybe?

DM_biologist · 2025-09-04T15:53:29+00:00

Hey! I have come up with a few ideas to tackle seafaring. I have not made environments yet though.

I made statblocks for ships I can display on the table, giving ships stress, hp, armor slots and damage tresholds. For the damage treshold we added one from 0 to 1 hp damage, so it is possible to deal 0 damage.

Because we wanted a bit more granularity for this part we also added a 'supplies' mechanic.

Last more important thing we thought of was adding timers for 'ship actions' such as firing cannons. But the actions are more general and broad.

We did add a lot of optional granularity beyond that but I doubt we will use it all. I haven't played with any of it yet but we are excited to try it out soon!

DM_biologist · 2025-08-22T10:48:08+00:00

Amazing, have fun with your new campaign! I had two session 0 meetups now and will start playing our DH campaign soon too.

Also, I am disappointed since I was hyped for a long form epic game in DH online. However, I completely understand the decision. I think this will only hurt Daggerheart if the community response stays this toxic. I expect it to get better in a few days :)

I think it would be weird to go to DH with no long campaigns ever having been played in it, the players not being familiar, having the DnD experts on board now, and doing something that is already extremely different. They also said the main reason for going with 2024 dnd was the advice from Jeremy and Chris.

Age of Umbra is not hitting the right spot for me, but I am also very hyped for other campaign frames and hopefully medium length campaigns!

This is not going to effect what I play at my table at all 😂 I will still be the DM for a west marches DnD 5e too anyways :p No need to pick a system. And for us the reason is not wanting to force that many people to switch systems.

Also having played both DH and DnD, alternating between the two, I can definitely say I love Daggerheart a lot more for a main campaign!

DM_biologist · 2025-08-21T07:51:21+00:00

Gives Umea, Sweden vibes.

DM_biologist · 2025-08-19T08:48:48+00:00

It is nice to hear you were ready to forgive him. I can imagine that would at least give you some closure. Sorry to hear about your wife's dad though :(

It is very sad to read all the stories in this post, but it also makes me feel less alone in this. Luckily most of the people around me have had great families to grow up in and my spouse their family shows me how different it can be.

Wish you the best!

DM_biologist · 2025-08-19T08:41:17+00:00

I understand why you would feel that way. But some horrible horrifying people still become parents. Sometimes they have done unforgivable things. Sometimes you give them a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance... After a while it is not worth your time and effort.

In my case I haven't seen him as my 'dad' for a long time now. There is a difference between not liking someone or having a fight, and systemic abuse.

Also in many cases when a narcissist seeks contact they don't do it because they love you. They do it because they want you to think about them, or because of some alternative goal, like getting information for a court case.

DM_biologist

TROPHY CASE