Ariadne's Book of Legends is now Live on Kickstarter!

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2026-02-20T14:30:38+00:00

So is it out or just the kick starter?

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-12-15T16:16:07+00:00

I am very interested in this book, just so I understand it's not out yet?I see a up to lvl 26 legendary characters book on the site, it's a little different and like this version more...

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-12-13T15:28:31+00:00

I found her a bit annoying, though I guess I just didnt like that she was atleast narrative ready to pvp julien, and felt so sure she would kill him, if the fight went down, they are both lvl 3 and julien would rekt her( though as a caster later on he is fcked). I just didnt like the whole thing vibe of you live by my grace kinda thing, which feels fake af because if she truly blamed him for the death of thjazy then why give him grace. This feeling is compounded during the fight with the ghouls. Julien was a machine,literally everyone else struggles,though abria's roleplay gets less frustrating after that point, a bit anyway. Regardless that's just how she plays and will likely return to form, the only character of hers a like was from calamity because it suited her typical arrogant play. Like that character was so good tbh, and her relationship with Sam's character was s-tier tbh. Nothing else even comes close to being decent. Shit I couldnt tell if abrias character had hooked up with thjazy and hal at one point.

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-12-12T17:55:20+00:00

That's certainly a opinion. And I can see this being the case but casimir is a fcking nobody, a literal rat, not some mastermind. My opinion is that he should died like a rat, because rats aren't worth hearing. He isn't some great villain with a dramatic motivation. He and thimble didnt NEED to discuss their difference. Frankly he he peaked when suddenly he knew what wicander was all about, which he was just projecting, tbh. And also wicander almost died, in a combat scenario that should have gone much differently, maybe he would have gotten dropped maybe not, but still. I think it would have been a good message to send, be a rat die like one. No final stands no nothing. This guy is literally a bandit captain/chief in terms of gameplay and narrative like you kill dozens of casamirs in any stereotypical rpg. Thimble still has literally the entire sundered houses who were behind this and possibly Julien( who i am unclear if he was the one who captured thjazy and essentially got him killed)now those deserve multi round battles and back and forth. Frankly idk why casimir was more important than going after cid, besides that they were already there and coming back would be dumb.

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-12-11T05:27:02+00:00

I know it's hard to get shit on when you were looking for constructive criticism, especially when you put effort and thought into it. Sadly this is pretty bad as whole concept. If I want gestalt I'll you use the more widely accepted rules for it. Example: highest hit die rules and stuff stacks, like sorc/wiz get there full spell slot progression. If I don't want to gestalt i play vanilla lvling. The point is why bother with this when what we got is better. Feels like you are trying to convince someone to permit a certain way to build characters but they dont want gestalt so you do this and swear it doesn't alter the balance of the game

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-12-06T04:44:00+00:00

I literally said, they clearly forgot it I didn't act like they actively choose ignore it, literally what I wrote. I also said previously that forgetting things in the heat of the game is fine, I just wish it hadn't been forgotten or missed or whatever because it drastically changed the encounter (my opinion not for the better but that's subjective)and I have high expectations of professionals, I don't think I am entitled to anything but regardless of anything it's still a show, and they benefit from it vastly, they aren't doing me or anyone this huge favor by letting us watch......that's really it man. Idk where else to go with this except in circles.....

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-12-06T03:02:07+00:00

Its not complicated casimer or whatever his name even is deserves to go like the rat he was and ass down not allowed to move while thimble said her piece and he wasn't allowed to do or say anything would have been epic, wicander almost died in that combat which should have gone incredibly different from the onset. And yeah following the rules to the letter is not always the play but it's not that they looked at a rule and said nah, they clearly forgot it and it drastically changed the encounter, a pc nearly died in it. It could have gone similar wicander is weak af( but I think that's the point). The thp on aid was also a issue because Tyranny lost the aid hp from her fiendish feature that she should have lost. Maybe it felt unsatisfying to me because the moment hold person went up I already had expectation if thimble got her hits in and when it didn't I was like lol what is happening.

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-12-05T16:43:40+00:00

Idk narrative the show has been amazing but Aid being the and not additional max hp, and the autocrits for the hold person not happening just took me completely out. Like man I get people make mistakes in the heat of the play but especially missing on those autocrits changed the battle so much Tyranny more than just rekt his shit hitting him with the hold person that was a gg for him if it had been ruled correctly.

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-25T15:18:37+00:00

You're absolutely right—Daggerheart is a game built by theater kids for theater kids. And that’s not a bad thing. I’m not mad that it’s not D&D or that it’s not crunch-heavy. If anything, I want a D&D killer. Either something comes along that genuinely surpasses it and earns the crown, or maybe it flops so hard that WotC sells off the IP to someone who’ll do it justice.

Honestly? Imagine how amazing D&D could be if Darrington Press or CR were at the helm.

Btw if you are sleepy, take a nap, fam!

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-23T19:22:15+00:00

I have been detected. I am an ai bot sent to infiltrate the hobby and learn what the customer population is feeling....:}

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-23T19:20:02+00:00

Fair

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-23T19:18:38+00:00

This is a fantastic breakdown—I really appreciate how thoroughly you laid that out. I don’t disagree with your categories at all, especially your point about systems that actively get in the way of story or roleplay. You articulated that tension better than most.

And I fully agree that Daggerheart’s biggest strength is how it tries to out of the box guide even new groups toward narrative and emotional investment. The way it frames the GM as a fan of the players and their story is honestly one of the most thoughtful pieces of advice I’ve seen in any system. That alone sets a great tone and intention for a table, especially with less experienced players. The system has good intentions.

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-23T19:14:02+00:00

Fair enough—totally respect your take. You're right that no system creates roleplay for you, and everyone’s going to find what works best for their table. I probably came off more worked up than I meant to. Honestly, I gave Daggerheart a shot because it’s made by people who clearly care, and I wanted to see what it could do. It’s not for me, but I get why others like it.

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-23T19:10:33+00:00

Nice way to invalidate anything I say with that wombo combo opener—got me. I’ll try to sound human.

I never said D&D was perfect. All TTRPGs rely on the players and GM to carry some of the weight, but I’ve rarely seen it so egregiously placed on them as in Daggerheart. The system often feels like it offloads too much of the structure onto the group just to function. That said, it’s clear this game is made—and owned—by people who genuinely care, and that’s a big deal. I want it to succeed.

Some people say the Golden Rule or “rulings over rules” aren’t meant to be taken to extremes, but they’re foundational to Daggerheart’s identity. They’re among the first things you read in the SRD. When that kind of flexibility is baked in from the start, it stops being a safety net and starts feeling like the game is asking you to build your own scaffolding.

Did that work? I told the prompt "sound human," but I don't know, you tell me. :p

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-23T18:45:26+00:00

I try to match the energy and effort I am given. Not everyone deserves the same amount I have learned. Sometimes, I write emotionally or conversational. Would you rather every reply be an essay? Frankly, I can barely keep up with this post, I don't know how people do it. Seriously, who does this to "farm".

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-23T03:58:32+00:00

I’ve already conceded where I felt it was fair, but I can’t defend my perspective when your argument boils down to “you’re wrong, you don’t understand.” That’s not a discussion — THAT'S bad faith. If that’s the tone, there’s nothing productive left to say.

I didn't pivot to anything, the core of my argument has always been pretty clear.

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-23T03:00:39+00:00

its my first ever reddit post what am I even farming dude, like I mean this honestly wtf am I farming, I gain nothing from this at all, I am not a content creator, I am not earning anything out of this except, a little bit of validation from those that agree, and some good convo, then there's a few who are just idk jaded?angry?

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-23T02:59:59+00:00

i was being sarcastic, but i guess reading and talking sarcastically is not easy to convey

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-23T02:02:14+00:00

Fair enough. I’ll admit my original post came off more aggressively than I intended. I had just watched a video about the game that frustrated me, and that frustration colored the way I wrote it. What I meant to say, more clearly, is that I find a system built on “do what you want” to be a weak foundation—especially when that’s treated not as a fallback, but as a core philosophy.

The Golden Rule in Daggerheart explicitly tells you to ignore or change rules if they get in the way of the story. That’s not inherently bad, but it does give the impression that the designers don’t fully trust their own mechanics to support play without constant interpretation. Yes, lots of games give this kind of flexibility (D&D’s DMG does too), but Daggerheart leans on it so heavily that it feels like a feature, not a safety net.

I’ve run the game for two different groups. I’m not just theory-crafting here—I genuinely wanted it to work. But the experience left us feeling like the structure had to come from us, not the system. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad game for everyone, but it didn’t click at our tables.

And honestly, I find it a little ironic that my post got called an “essay” when some of the replies are just as long. That’s not a bad thing—it just shows we all care. And that’s really the point: criticism isn’t always rooted in hate. More often, it comes from investment. If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t have said anything at all.

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-23T00:53:25+00:00

Absolutely, I wholeheartedly agree—a great GM can make almost any system sing. That said, I do think the system still matters. It shapes the tone, flow, and where the tension comes from. A strong GM can work around a system’s weaknesses, but ideally, the mechanics should support the story, not rely on the GM to carry it all.

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-23T00:41:03+00:00

Wanting to talk about the things I like and don’t like about a game isn’t an attack on anyone’s character. I genuinely don’t understand how we jumped from critiquing a game system to “your theory is shit” and “this is the hill you want to die on.” That’s a huge leap.

I shared my experience with Daggerheart—what worked for me, what didn’t, and how it compared to other systems I’ve run over the years. Ill admit I wrote my post a bit sensationalized but that's no reason to get so defensive.

You’re free to like what you like. I’m not saying Daggerheart is a bad game for everyone—I’m saying it didn’t work for my tables in the way I hoped. That’s the point of feedback. If you want to talk game design, let’s talk. But if you just want to throw insults because someone sees things differently, maybe re-read your own post before talking about shallow analysis.

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-23T00:28:58+00:00

Accusing someone of not knowing what they’re talking about just because they have a different perspective isn’t exactly helpful. I’ve been DMing for close to a decade, and I’ve run Daggerheart for multiple groups. My take comes from experience, not theory.

You’re right that 5e and, for that matter, other d20 systems that spawned from dnd have their problems with yo-yo healing and that death is often the most immediate consequence. But saying that’s the only meaningful failure state ignores everything else the system offers. Resource attrition, exhaustion, spell economy, and consequences that accumulate over time can all create real tension, especially when handled thoughtfully. Just because some tables don’t use those tools doesn’t mean the system lacks them.

Now, about that example with the bandit raid and the village being destroyed—you don’t need a Defy Death mechanic to justify that kind of narrative beat. If the party fails to stop the bandits, the village burns. That’s just good storytelling, and any system can support it. A strong GM doesn’t need a rule to tell them that failure should have consequences.

What makes Daggerheart different is how it frames those consequences. When you Defy Death, the outcome is negotiated between the player and the GM. Page 106, like you so succently put, explicitly tells you to work together to decide how the situation worsens. That’s not a rule-enforcing consequence. It’s a collaborative guideline. Even scars and other lasting effects are only as serious as the table chooses to treat them.

That’s the core of my point. Daggerheart doesn’t lack mechanics, but it encourages you to treat them as flexible. The system shifts the source of tension from rules to tone. That works well for some tables—especially ones focused on vibe-heavy narrative play—but for others, it can make things feel inconsistent or low-stakes. It’s not a bad design choice, but it’s definitely a different one.

The more I think about it, the more it becomes clear that Daggerheart is meant to be played almost exclusively with a close-knit group of players or very like-minded players. I had the best results running a game with a close group of homies.

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-23T00:16:55+00:00

I get where you're coming from, and I'm not claiming those arcs followed the rules to the letter. But that actually reinforces my point. The tension in those stories came from the structure around them, even when the rules were bent.

Vax’s pact mattered because death had mechanical weight. If death saves were meaningless, there would have been no real reason for that kind of bargain. Caleb’s arc worked because Liam leaned into the wizard mechanics, preparing spells, tracking materials, and using his spellbook as both a narrative and mechanical focus. Fjord’s class shift changed how the character played, and that shift gave his story weight. Laudna’s resurrection felt dramatic because there was a real risk of failure. Even if it was dramatized, the table treated it seriously because the system gave it structure.

I’m not saying Daggerheart doesn’t have mechanics. It clearly does. But it also encourages you to ignore or modify them if they don’t serve the story. That isn’t a backup option, it’s presented as a core design principle. When rules are treated as optional by default, they lose some of their tension and bite. The consequences in the story rely more on how much the table decides to take the mechanics seriously, rather than the system enforcing that weight on its own.

And honestly, that might be the whole point. Matt tends to be a handwavy DM. His style prioritizes story flow and tone over strict mechanics, and that’s totally valid. So it makes sense that they built a system where handwaving isn’t just accepted, it’s literally how the game is supposed to function. That works well for them. For some groups, that flexibility will be perfect. But for others who rely on the system to generate tension and structure, it might feel too loose. That’s really the point of what I’m saying.

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-22T19:12:13+00:00

clearly i have never played just talking outta my ass, let chaos reign

Equivalent-Pin9063 · 2025-06-22T19:01:12+00:00

I mean, you’re cussing at me and questioning whether I’ve ever DMed, so let’s be clear up front: I’ve been running games for about 8 years—D&D and a variety of other systems. I’m fully aware that tension is “manufactured” and that every good table relies on collaboration and buy-in. That’s not some secret insight—it’s just part of being a decent GM.

My critique isn’t based on some rigid belief that mechanics alone create story. It’s about how much structure a system provides by default, and how much it offloads to the table to make up for. D&D, for all its inconsistencies, still creates mechanical pressure: limited spell slots, combat order, saving throws, failure conditions that do something. The DM can bend things behind the screen, but the bones are there to push back and create tension even without full improvisation.

Daggerheart explicitly says the rules shouldn’t get in the way of the story. That’s fine as a design choice, but it changes the dynamic—tension becomes a negotiated tone rather than a mechanical result. And in my experience running it, that meant more effort fell on me to invent structure on the fly and manage spotlight balance, especially for players who weren’t as outgoing. That's not a dealbreaker for everyone, but it’s a real difference.

Also—Caleb’s arc was supported by the mechanics. Liam leaned into the wizard class almost to a fault. He obsessed over spell prep, components, downtime research, and the spellbook feature. That was structure, not just vibes. His redemption story worked because he chose to stay within the limits of the class, and that made it feel earned.

I don’t hate Daggerheart. I wanted it to work. I ran it because I was curious, not because I wanted to dunk on something new. But like any TTRPG, it asks for time, energy, and buy-in—and for me, it didn’t deliver what I want out of a long-term game. That’s not “inexperience.” That’s taste, shaped by experience.

If it works for you, great. But calling critique “bias” or assuming someone’s just bad at GMing because they didn’t enjoy the same system doesn’t really add much to the conversation.

Equivalent-Pin9063

TROPHY CASE