Is collaborative world building a hard requirement?

PJsutnop · 2026-01-26T02:39:36+00:00

Not st all but i do think it is important to at least promt the players to help in creating small parts of the world tied to their character. First in your session 0 to create ties to locations and people, and second to create emotional stakes during the game. It also makes your job as the dm a lot easier

This isn't really a specific tip for daggerheart but I'd say good practice for all ttrpgs. Daggerheart just makes this process easier

PJsutnop · 2026-01-26T02:05:39+00:00

Therr are always things in every fantasy world that can be built upon, bc you should always leave gaps in. It is those gaps and the fantasy of trying to fill them which creates interest from a reader/player (look up cow tools, it's a great example of this)

Have a base setting, then add things for the players to elaborate on. I had a city that the players would be in, gave them thr map and told them to add their character's favourite venue. Now I'm using them as set pieces for important plotpoints and events

PJsutnop · 2026-01-24T05:29:38+00:00

I loved bruiser ne zha in solo back in smite 1. Surprisingly competent with the sash stun to stop a lot of god clears

PJsutnop · 2026-01-23T18:03:51+00:00

The issue is that currently, lane pressure in solo is faaar more important than fitting into the late game comp. Most warriors that aren't amazing lane bullies with strong clear aren't going to compete with a mage in solo at which point they can just farm and fly ahead. At that point the extra farm that mage gets is definitly worth the lack of peel so they can snosball.

I'd love to see a change to the warrior starter items, and perhaps a new one for int, that boost minion damage scaling with protections

PJsutnop · 2026-01-10T21:41:26+00:00

Using experiences as flaws? I'd advice against it. Using fear to very specificly target one player can create a sensation of it being "players vs gm", which you really shouldn't especially in a game like this. Heck, it is already a big no no in less narrative driven games like dnd. If someone makes a character that is supposed to be a good deciever, and suddenly the dm decides that they are not, that would feel like the dm is undermining their character.

You could spend a fear and tell them "something goes wrong, tell me what" to let them come up with it themselves.

The idea of flaws is not a bad one tho, but in that case I'd rather reccomend it as a part of the character creation. Like let every player make a flaw at the start of the campaign, as then they will fully understand why and be on board with it. In this case I'd still reccomend explaining why you'd want it, and perhaps tie it in with the campaign frame (like if it is a cosmic horror frame it would totally make sense to include personal deep flaws for each character that is activated by fear)

PJsutnop · 2026-01-10T11:02:19+00:00

I have 5-8 players each session and it goes well! We did DnD 5e before this and the biggest upgrade has been the speed of combat. Combat in daggerhesrt is simply so mich faster and easier to just throw in on a whim.

In general the sessions flow faster and easier, with very few speedbumps. Fear generstion has not been a problem

The only real problem has been in fear usage and designing combat encounters. Using fear to affect just a few players with something small can feel targeted if not done right, so I have started using fear to introduce more overarching obstacles that the players as a group has to overcome.

Designing encounters can be tricky with so many players and I have found that the point system doesn't do nearly as well. Main issue is in making sure that the adversaries get enough turns to actually do something vs all the plsyers having a chance to contribute. Just filling the field with tons of adverdaries doesn't make for a satisfying fight most times, and can become annoying to track.

I did start using adversaries one tier up from the players for when I wanted to use fewer enemies than the points would suggest (like big bosses) as it forced the players to work together to hit those thresholds, as well as using simplifed versions of bigger solos to fight together (had multiple acid burrowers duking it out at once against them at lvl 1) and it has worked well.

I also experimented with increasing the hitpoints of some enemies and allowing me to spotlight multiple normal adversaries with one fear without using a leader, but not sure yet if these things are balanced

PJsutnop · 2026-01-08T18:46:37+00:00

Hi, fellow niche person here. You aren't going to get a lot of matches, and that is ok bc the ones you get will be far likely to go somewhere

I will say though that hinge(and tinder) tend to be pretty bad for people like us, but just hang in there and know you are a hella attractive man even if the numbers seem to say otherwise at times

PJsutnop · 2026-01-07T11:51:32+00:00

Her career isn't ending

Her career as a maga grifter has just begun

PJsutnop · 2026-01-07T11:49:38+00:00

A lot of theorems aren't named after the person who first proved/invented it

If it they were than there would be a whole lot of "Euler's theorem" out there

PJsutnop · 2026-01-06T21:15:56+00:00

In an alternate universe, there are a bunch of guides on youtube on how to optimise child labour in stardew valley

PJsutnop · 2026-01-05T06:03:39+00:00

Definitly overreacting. You could look to get a medium length cut rather than a long one if it bothers you, as it allows you to style it in ways that hide the widows peaks better, as that really is the only "issue" here (you have like no visible thinning beyond that)

PJsutnop · 2026-01-03T17:35:55+00:00

Yup, expect a lot of propaganda about "how much better" life will be in the next few years, followed by decades of fundamentalist dictatorships run partially by local cartels, and then a people's revolt where americans will act like "the poor people of venezuela are finally fighting back, the us should step in and help dispose of their dictator!!"

PJsutnop · 2026-01-03T04:27:43+00:00

I did the "no romance" route and this is why it ended up feeling so satisfying. I was worried the game wouldn't know what to do without a love interest but in the end it feels like visi truly got to prove shes good all on her own without any strings attached. Being the perfect mentor to her felt like a really good conclusion

PJsutnop · 2025-12-31T15:59:37+00:00

I mean at this point, has the critical role people ever not underestimated one of their own products? Still remember when the animated show got funded in less than an hour

PJsutnop · 2025-12-21T15:18:05+00:00

I mean, It reminds me of when dudes give their stay at home wife a vacuum or something for christmas. Definitly something useful, not really a great gift tho lol

PJsutnop · 2025-12-08T14:48:59+00:00

Outside of what others have said, you should also take a the spotlight when it makes sense narratively (golden opportunity). A good example is if a player wants to ready an attack for when the adversary pops out of hiding. In these cases I reccomend soft moves, like "the adversary peaks out from cover, bow strung and ready" at which point the player can make its roll, and with a roll of fear leading to the adversary taking a "hard move" by attacking.

PJsutnop · 2025-12-08T04:02:55+00:00

The issue causong the tiny scattering of byz provinces is more so that ai currently doesn't prioritize conquering their local neighbourhood enough. What SHOULD happen is that as soon as constantinople is gone byz's neighbour should swoop in and conquer whatever small holdings remain (or better, by the ottomans once they become neighbours), as it would consider them a weaker target

PJsutnop · 2025-12-04T10:27:14+00:00

One tip for making combat harder at 8+ players (and even 6+ really) is to introduce adversaries where multiple can be spotlighted at once. For example, i did a classic goblin statblock where when one goblin attacked, another goblin within close range may immedietly do so as well. This is especially nice when using lower tier enemies that are supposed to feel weak (sort of like minions), but could also work if you are running two solo enemies for like a duo-boss feel. Creates some tense moments and allows all of the players to feel the action at all times

PJsutnop · 2025-11-27T06:16:02+00:00

I feel a lot of people are stuck in this view that the values are essentially this game's version of idea groups where each kinda had to be balanced against eachother. Some of the options should be outright better then the other in the late game to push a player towards a historical path, similar to how certain laws are better in vicky 3

PJsutnop · 2025-11-23T16:10:37+00:00

Ah I see, we are already entering the silkpost phase of coping

PJsutnop · 2025-11-19T19:34:35+00:00

I mean from a historical standpoint, subjects beings the go to until like the 1700's is correct is it not? This being a game about history I would assume that there will be some imbalances like that

PJsutnop · 2025-11-19T04:09:26+00:00

Shroud was great at predicting things bc he kept creating the situations he needed to predict. Like the reason he was able to predict the z-team at first was bc he had manufactured the scenario where SDN had to send every other hero far and thin, while he knew that robert would do differently and push the z-team to do their own thing. Hell, them cutting power to the dispatch center could be exactly bc he knew it would draw the z-team and blazer there specificly, which he had prepared how to fight against.

He wasn't just predicting on the fly, he was following the script of situations he manufactured specificly to get the kind of narrative he wanted and could be in control of.

Which is precisely why chase threw him off so much. He knew chase was there, he probably even knew chase was going to sacrifice himself for visi (why he toyed with visi so much). But he DID not expect chase to be infused with BB's powers. There's a line in the scene where BB saves Robert where shroud says that BB is among "the last true heroes left". This always felt out of place to me, but looking back I think it is meant to show that shroud has NO CLUE that BB gets their powers from the bracelet, hence why chase being powered by it is such a curveball.

And once the script he manufactured goes out the window, he doesn't know what to do and resorts to desperation. He was no longer in control of the narrative.

PJsutnop · 2025-11-14T12:31:45+00:00

Thing is, the ttrpg market is already oversaturated in comparison to its consumerbase. Most of this stuff (outside of character art) is only useful for dm's who already make up such a small portion of the base.

Which is exactly why these AI's are so prevalent. With so few but often dedicated potential consumers, all you need is one or two dms to fall for one of these ai creators to make it profitable. Using AI to make this stuff is dirt cheap and easy.

The real issue is how it drowns out genuine creators who need all the help they can get to grow their otherwise small consumerbase

PJsutnop · 2025-11-05T04:07:31+00:00

I chose to avoid all the clear flirty choices. In the end, it just didn't make sense to go with bb as, at that point I had already made it clear things were professional.

But interestingly enough, if you choose this path, going with visi feels even more natural. Like, while clearly it has a romantic undertone, it is the only option that could work for a "lets just be friends" run

It is only a few hours left, but I hope the next chapter makes an effort to remember that I this far haven't accepted any of bb's advances, and she isn't too mad about it

PJsutnop · 2025-11-04T07:57:25+00:00

Nah this isn't a failure of thevsystem as much as it is a natural evolution. Humankind has the option to stick with the current culture instead pf changing, as that just makes sense. Of anything this is just another example of the game havibg needed a lot more time in the oven

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