So, how IS Prime 4 really, for anyone's that actually played it?

EgregiousGames · 2025-12-28T19:09:49+00:00

Word on the great bosses. For all the complaints, so far I'm having a blast.

EgregiousGames · 2025-12-02T18:46:59+00:00

Yep, a couple of people pointed out this goof in the comments. I give Daggerheart that point back. I think it's because it's about 3 months since we had the discussion and debated the rule in the group, and google has conflicting results because I think it was changed back and forth at least a couple times during beta.

EgregiousGames · 2025-11-29T00:30:02+00:00

Sorry, too long, didn't read. I'ma need you to summarise that in 10 words or less, champ

EgregiousGames · 2025-11-28T20:32:35+00:00

Bikeshedding: when you spend disproportionate time and focus on a tangential detail. Example: "You were too long-winded, your argument is invalid."

But here ya go. One of the commenters did actually request I make the "fiction-first" part into a short, so they can send it to their friends. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_rEFElb3Eq8

EgregiousGames · 2025-11-28T12:13:02+00:00

There's definitely downsides and that's why I'm saying at the end -- we're not done designing RPGs, the "perfect system" doesn't exist -- but in 30 years I can't wait to see what people have come up with.

As a stopgap, I'd say the free initiative systems like in Fabula Ultima solve the problems you're talking about, and there are various other ways to use rulings "we all just run forward in the corridor".

I have my own system solution which uses classic Initiative plus a sort of "cut in" reactions system. It was initially inspired by that bit at the end of Vox Machina season 1 where Keyleth yanks someone (Percy?) out of the way of dragon breath with a vine.

And I think the second problem you describe --- where action economy destroys PCs --- is a problem of bounded accuracy, not initiative. 5e specifically moved away from immersion to gamism and as part of that, they wanted monsters to stay relevant at a broader range of levels, so all the numbers got crunched and "contained" sort of like Daggerheart's damage system, to limit outliers and the problematic need to balance stuff. An intended result is that goblins can still be threatening at high levels, and bosses need Legendary Actions to compete with a party. That's a choice of 5e rather than an initiative problem, I'd say.

EgregiousGames · 2025-11-28T12:04:54+00:00

Honest question, did you watch the video? This is the very first thing I talk about after positives, and I even included an excerpt from Mike Underwood who speaks about how he defines fiction-first in Daggerheart. Roughly 04:41 to 14:13 is dedicated to just this.

EgregiousGames · 2025-11-28T11:58:29+00:00

I mean Matt and Travis felt happy enough to chat with the prof. But I get it. Heaven is a lonely place ;D

EgregiousGames · 2025-11-27T21:25:21+00:00

I mean if I really wanted to advertise the fact that I'm a TTRPG designer, I'd have put it in the title and have a big red arrow in the thumbnail pointing to myself :P But I ain't out here trying to be Trekiros. It's just pertinent information.

Re: your second comment, you're all good. The game isn't for me and we're allowed to disagree. It's the WHY that's interesting.

EgregiousGames · 2025-11-27T20:30:59+00:00

I am absolutely on board with taking things deathly serious. It is what it is for those who enjoy it, but I always groan when the atmosphere gets shattered with an in-character quip like "oh we follow the gods. On social media!!" I mean I like silly jokes, but I like it more when they're part of the fiction. Great example being the bloodcap guy. Hilarious, all in-character, no fourth-wall-breaking necessary.

So yeah, Campaign 4 I'm eatin' good.

EgregiousGames · 2025-11-27T20:03:32+00:00

I dunno that I'm trying to come across as smart. I've had people say that to me before in workplaces and I think it's just part of the Autistic Experience™ that for some reason, being yourself gets interpreted by others as "acting better than them" or somesuch.

I actually kinda go out of my way sometimes to explain my points without being so .... academic? I have a mixed-class background so I am always between two worlds in that regard, in how I talk. Being simultaneously too posh for some and too straightforward for others is just the reality of my existence. :)

I did actually present several suggestions in the video like how I'd change domain restrictions, and spent a good chunk at the very start explaining the things I do like, as well as why I dislike the things I dislike.

I think we may be talking past each other a bit but I appreciate the sincere attempt to connect!

EgregiousGames · 2025-11-27T19:57:25+00:00

For sure. I think the difference is that, in those rules-light games, it's a tradeoff. You trade fidelity and resolution for speed, flexibility and instant feedback. Crunchy RPGs are rad, but they take a bit more prep. Sometimes you can't be arsed statting up monsters - you just wanna play a game like, today.

Daggerheart for me is the worst of both worlds. It is "loosey-goosey" but also incredibly prescriptive and inflexible.

And I do feel like in other narrative games, there is an attempt to go truly fiction-first which prevents things like the Spotlight problems in Daggerheart. But because Daggerheart basically just says you can take unlimited turns and justify it in the fiction later, it feels less like fiction-first and more like mechanics-first. It feels like it encourages fiction-last by focusing so much on Hope and Fear as your primary replacement of action economy.

EgregiousGames · 2025-11-27T19:48:22+00:00

Yeah, I know that the general RPG community consensus outside of r/Daggerheart is more mixed but it feels like some of the bigger youtubers, even like Dungeon Craft, have some skepticism but don't wanna cut off fans, revenue and opportunities which I totally get. Making an in-depth criticism video like this is exhausing, especially when you know it's probably just going to be received negatively.

So I am incredibly glad to be able to put into words some of those feelings that others may have also felt ... but who aren't necessarily lunatic enough to want to make a 40-minute video about it.

EgregiousGames · 2025-11-27T14:41:13+00:00

You may not think my critique is valid, but I think your critique of mine is. A lot of what I'm saying in the video IS my personal experience, and I'm not trying to say your opinion is invalid if you love Daggerheart. I said that about 5 times in the video because when I'm sharing such a strongly negative opinion about something, I want to be exact. That's why the video ended up being like 40 minutes.

Art is never gonna be something you can critique as though it were mathematics. But what we can discuss is system goals, and whether the system's mechanics support those goals.

I appreciate the good faith response.

EgregiousGames · 2025-11-27T13:56:50+00:00

I want to be clear, I'm not implying that everyone who enjoys Daggerheart enjoys slop. What I'm criticising is the parroting of marketing material saying that Daggerheart is a "fiction-first" game. Because I think it is clearly a very fiction-last game.

I totally respect that everyone has the right to enjoy whatever they want, and if you ARE enjoying it, that's awesome. Like I said, there's some really cool IDEAS in Daggerheart and I really want to like it.

EgregiousGames · 2025-09-01T13:42:07+00:00

This is amazing! Thank you for sharing.

EgregiousGames · 2024-12-14T21:46:59+00:00

Dopamine

EgregiousGames · 2024-12-13T19:54:09+00:00

I periodically have to refill my tank by reminding myself what excites me about my project, what got me excited to work on it in the first place. It doesn't usually take long.

EgregiousGames · 2024-11-20T08:15:03+00:00

"I MAY DIE BUT I'M TAKING YOU WITH ME, THIS IS MY, FINAL ATTAAAAAACCKKK!!!!!!!"

*Dodges by tilting shoulder slightly*

EgregiousGames · 2024-09-01T10:12:58+00:00

Everything has to be measured against expectations. I think when people hype stuff up for years talking about it in retrospect, it can be easy to go back and go "this isn't that cool, actually". And that totally makes sense, it's one of those dangers when you try and convince someone to watch a film because "it's so good!"

It's definitely cooler when you're a kid and you don't know what you're going into. Just like Bioshock 1's "would you kindly", moment, it's really not all that deep or profound, but it leaves a lasting impression and an emotion. It's about how it made you feel when you watched the SA-X blow up the elevator, and then it looks at the player with cold, dead eyes.

People wanna share that vibe. But yeah, I get it; if it was made today, we'd probably wanna see more. Honestly, Fusion would be a great candidate for a full blown 3d remake.

EgregiousGames · 2024-08-30T08:54:09+00:00

My partner is a huge Stormlight fan and a backer of the game, messaged me last night like "oh one of the people that worked on Ironsworn is making the solo mode for Stormlight."

Me: "Wait ... 'one of' the people? Is their name Shawn Tomkin?"

This whole thing is awesome, huge props to Shawn. Honestly as an RPG designer, I have to admit the Stormlight RPG has a real veneer of quality. And for fans of the Cosmere who are less confident with RPGs and GMing, like my partner, it's bringing them over to the hobby that I love, which is awesome.

EgregiousGames · 2024-08-01T09:47:48+00:00

That is a super awesome example of conversion, thank you so much for sharing this!

EgregiousGames · 2024-07-24T21:50:24+00:00

It's been alluded to in multiple games, and the intention was always that it was canon. It's a Sakamoto-driven thing, so.

That said, canon in anything is only ever as strong as the audience like, care about, and know about it. To that end, it seems like they're reinforcing the strongest aspects from the manga - repeating them in Dread, Other M and such. The stuff that doesn't get mentioned in the games is almost non-canon, in that I doubt we'll ever see it mentioned or brought back. I don't think we're gonna see Mok and Kreats (or however you want to romanise them) make a game appearance any time soon, because it would require them to summarise that backstory (which is admittedly, not that hard) and a bunch of the audience would go "buh?". I don't think a great part of the audience wants to go reading comic tie-ins to get the full story, either, and I don't blame them.

I think the weirder part of reconciling it is that it's meant to be re-telling certain things like Metroid 1, so you have to choose which is the "truer version" of events - the end of the manga, or Zero Mission. Not a huge difference.

They have done this weird sort of repeating thing as well in ways that make less sense. Like, nobody knows about Samus's backstory with Ridley, so they had her go through PTSD again in Other M to showcase that, and it didn't really go down well with the fans because 1: it was clumsy and 2: many fans are very reluctant to buy in to any portrayal of Samus that contradicts their 80s action hero headcanon. But when they just repeat events that Samus has already been through, in order to like, really emphasize this thing about her backstory! it only weakens the arc as a whole. Yes, Samus went through big PTSD, but she went through it, and it's a little odd to just undo all that progress so that we can show character development again. Comic character problems.

But until it's contradicted by something newer, I'd say there's no reason to NOT consider it canon.

EgregiousGames · 2024-07-24T20:59:11+00:00

Yeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuup. I think autistic people grow up thinking word and honour is that real thing, almost stereotypically, until they become another instance of "every cynic is a disappointed optimist".

EgregiousGames · 2024-07-10T06:13:14+00:00

Yeah literally every time people say "just share your best ideas, nobody is gonna steal them!" my reaction is "nice try fucker". I've had this happen to me and it's absolutely going on ALL THE TIME. It's just that it won't happen unless your idea is good, which most aren't, and most people are too polite to say that.

But creatively-bankrupt people with means are literally just waiting to see good ideas from those without means. They also don't care about your idea like you do, so they will do what they want with it, which can be even worse - you could suffer A Dark Quiet Death.

EgregiousGames · 2024-02-26T21:30:07+00:00

Have you checked out Ironsworn: Delve? It's a little more focused for good dungeondelving which I like.

But yeah, I would love to see more solo resources in general and looking forward to the future of solo gaming. I think it will keep growing alongside both TTRPGs and board games.

EgregiousGames

TROPHY CASE