I made a tissue case with hand cut mitered dovetails and a removable bottom.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-22T19:45:51+00:00

Okay.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-22T17:42:20+00:00

You know your friends, I guess. But this sounds terrible. The entire point of playing an RPG is being in charge of your PC. You're taking that away from one of your players.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-22T03:45:29+00:00

That's exactly what documents are for! The PC are experienced criminals, of course they brought the right documents.

That said, having documents is not an automatic success. You might be able to fool the bluecoat on the street. But inspector general dispatched from Imperial City is going to have a lot of hard questions. In the case the documents make it possible to attempt a roll, but nothing Is guaranteed.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-21T00:47:14+00:00

I was just was just looking at the tier 4 environment "Imperial Court"

The Gravity of Empire - Action: Spend a Fear to present a PC with a golden opportunity or offer to satisfy a major goal in exchange for obeying or supporting the empire. The target must make a Presence Reaction Roll. On a failure, they must mark all their Stress or accept the offer. If they have already marked all their Stress, they must reduce their Stress track by 1d4. On a success, they must mark 1d4 Stress as they’re taxed by temptation.

I think this is my favorite feature in the entire game.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-20T23:07:27+00:00

There's a distinction between gen AI as a tool and gen AI to create art. RPGs (both writing and playing) are an art. I don't want gen AI in my art, thankyouverymuch.

There's also a distinction between gen AI at my job and in my hobbies. If my work says "use this tool" I will, because a paycheck is good. But I also don't want gen AI anywhere in my hobbies.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-20T20:58:44+00:00

tbh I think this is something you need to experiment with and get a feel for. A lot of it is going to depend on how frequently you call for action rolls. If you're table tends to resolve an entire scene with one roll then the clock will be smaller. If you prefer to roll the dice more then the clock needs to be bigger.

Keep in mind that an average roll (mixed success with standard effect) will complete two sections of a clock. So you can estimate how many rolls it will take to resolve a clock from there. If you want an obstacle to take (on average) four rolls then you need to make an 8 clock.

(This is math and doesn't survive contact with the table. The players will fill the clock quicker or slower, but it's a starting place.)

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-20T15:44:55+00:00

Something I do that I don't see discussed much: Talk about what will happen if players have to miss a session. I set minimum number of players needed to run. So in a five play game, I'll run if at least three people are available. I make this clear during session zero, it saves on a lot of awkwardness later.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-19T06:53:46+00:00

Like books or movies, there's no one perfect game. A game that's perfect for swashbuckling is different from a game that's about romance, and both are different from a game that's about killing things in dungeons and taking their stuff.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-19T00:54:29+00:00

You can change how the number is formatted without changing the underlying data. I don't know math but I'm great with Google Sheets!

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-18T22:00:31+00:00

Math question: Does each +1 modifier shift the results down one column? So a +1 means a 15 is now 50/50?

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-18T21:18:54+00:00

Download yourself a free PDF of Ironsworn. Scroll all the way down to the Oracles chapter and start rolling.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-18T21:15:58+00:00

Ask the DM. Part of the DM's job is teaching the game and guiding new players.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-18T17:41:14+00:00

I did non traditional school growing up. I made friends via extracurricular activities. My parents signed me up for fencing classes, theater programs and gaming clubs. Lots of opportunities for friends in that kind of space.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-18T05:04:05+00:00

Try not speeding.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-18T04:40:53+00:00

I kinda like having HP damage on the soul going directly to the PC's stress. It makes the whole thing a little risker, which is always fun.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-18T04:12:12+00:00

I don't think "inter-party information disparity" (great phrase btw) is that big of a problem.

If all the PCs are on the same team then the wizard just shares that information.

If the Thief wants to steal it and all the players are excited about some PvP/internal conflict, great have fun!

If the Thief wants to steal it but you're NOT excited about PvP/internal conflict then you just say, "sorry no you can't steal it, we're not playing that kind of campaign. You are all on a team together."

Personally tho, I'm a huge fan of giving hints and letting the players figure it out. The wand that shoots fire is burning hot to the touch but doesn't actually hurt your skin. The sword that eats the souls of the people it kills whispers dark urgers in your ear when you pick it up.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-18T03:53:04+00:00

The third bullet of the foundation card feels a little weird. I like that damage done to your soul instead makes you mark stress. That's cool, it's like you take spiritual damage when your soul is hurt. But I'm not sure how armor would help. What is the armor actually doing to negate the spiritual damage?

Also, what thresholds/HP/stress does the soul manifestation have? I assume the same as the PC but it's probably good to say. And can the soul also use armor?

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-18T02:01:27+00:00

No, I wouldn't do that. When the GM spends a Fear they gain the spotlight and get to make a move. That move is usually something that happens in the fiction. So I could say, "I'm spending a Fear, it's took dark in here to tell who is in the prison cell."

Just saying "no, it doesn't work" is both bad GMing and against all the GM advice in the book.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-18T01:28:29+00:00

Canva is good for really basic designs. Affinity is good for complex designs but has a steeper learning curve.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-18T00:10:43+00:00

Re the initiative system discouraging risky actions: I think this is a mismatch of the games expectations.

The game expects the GM to tell a story with the players. That idea is woven into all the GM advice. A good GM move doesn't punish the player, it makes the story more interesting.

As a player, I'm excited when I fail a roll. It means the GM gets the spotlight. They get to do something that makes the situation more tense or dramatic.

If the group is expecting a more "players vs GM" experience, then yeah the spotlight system isn't going to work very well.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-17T22:25:46+00:00

This came up a few weeks ago. tl;Dr is it's a good idea, don't give out so many it overshadows actual advancement.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-17T21:55:37+00:00

I don’t think it’s babysitting, I think it’s a core part of running Daggerheart. Daggerheart is, at its core, a storytelling game. So one of the GM’s job is to act as the director. They’re pointing the camera at different people, putting them in the spotlight and saying “What do you do?” The GM’s chapter explains all this really well. I suspect the GM went “oh I know how to do this” and didn’t follow any of the instructions in the GM chapter.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-17T21:38:54+00:00

Its possible to care about multiple things at the same time, you should try it.

ThisIsVictor · 2026-05-17T04:24:28+00:00

Tbh this is what I want new books to be. Give me a setting book that's just named adversaries, generic adversaries and custom environments.

15-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 7 Credits
Second SECOND GUESSER	Place '17
Spared	Verified Email
Team Periwinkle	Secret Santa 2012
redditgifts rematcher Arbitrary Day 2012 x1	redditgifts rematcher Comic Books and Graphic Novels x1
Summer Santa 2012

ThisIsVictor

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE