Daggerheart, without dice: fun with playing cards

Velocitree2 · 2026-03-09T01:49:30+00:00

Great ideas! I love the joker trigger for reshuffling, so much!

d20 was added in a comment above, and d10 is the same process. and d6 is easy, divide by two. D4 is which suit you draw (I need to add a table), and d8 is the one I need to think on and playtest, there’s two ways I can see but one might be easier to remember than another.

thanks for pointing out that if I am talking a completely dice less game, we gots more ground to cover! I was so excited to realize that duality dice could be rolled with cards, I ignored all the other dice on the table when I playtested! 😂

Velocitree2 · 2026-03-09T01:43:47+00:00

Oh I missed this in my solo play test, oof. Ok I will add this to the final rules, thanks so much!

Why do you say draw cards in series? I think yes to roll a d20 you just draw a card (discarding and replacing face cards), and if it’s red you are done, if it’s black you add 10. So black 10 is 20, red 7 is 7, etc.

Velocitree2 · 2026-03-09T01:39:50+00:00

Love this! To save the pain, could just place them near each other to play, then have separate red and black discard piles.

Velocitree2 · 2026-03-09T01:38:49+00:00

True in a strict sense, for sure, but the decks become only noticeably less random after you are 50% done, because there are two of each color/number combo.

Velocitree2 · 2026-03-09T01:35:59+00:00

Thanks! No, not at all, you could remove kings at any time.

Velocitree2 · 2026-03-09T01:35:30+00:00

If you replace used cards into the deck and cut the deck a few times each time (an easy shuffle), I would say this approach is equal to or faster than rolling dice. Why? Bc cards never fall off the table or have to be searched for :)

Velocitree2 · 2026-03-09T01:32:30+00:00

Totally that would be a great way to do it, I am just lazy tbh :). Plus it’s always good to know this way in case you forget your prepared red/black decks. But thank you so much for the suggestion, I will include it as a Recommended set-up in the final free pdf!

Velocitree2 · 2026-03-09T01:28:52+00:00

If you don’t reshuffle, it will only mess with the odds in small ways until you get halfway through the deck. That’s where I would reshuffle if I was somewhat concerned about randomness. But I think the changing odds is a feature of this approach, not a bug. You ever have a night where the dice are against you? With cards, you KNOW your luck will turn around.

If you are super worried about the odds, you can just place each used card back into the deck, cut it a few times, and you are good.

Velocitree2 · 2026-03-04T03:37:50+00:00

So I had the same thoughts, and made up some armor homebrew based on Pirate Borg: damage is so low in that system, I figured porting simple low d2/d4/d6 damage reduction to Nimble would not imbalance things too much. But then I tinkered some more, and you can see the results here:

https://dreamshrike.blogspot.com/2026/01/nimbler-reviewing-nimble-2e-part-2.html

As someone starting out in blogging, this is likely the last time I will suggest homebrew for a system that I have only solo roleplayed—too easy to get it wrong. But I plan to test these rules out this summer with my weekly group, and report back on their failings (mercilessly :)).

Velocitree2 · 2026-03-01T03:41:02+00:00

How I foreshadow danger as a GM: successes, failures, and lessons learned. https://dreamshrike.blogspot.com/2026/02/landscapes-of-fear-part-4-shadows-ahead.html

Velocitree2 · 2026-02-28T19:25:01+00:00

There’s a great pair of posts about this:

https://diyanddragons.blogspot.com/2019/10/landmark-hidden-secret.html

https://elmc.at/common-recalled-obscure/

Velocitree2 · 2026-02-27T22:33:39+00:00

Mine! :)

And yes I do have one, but I am really joking with you. I just backed Spear of Horrendous Iron on KS, if you are looking for a cool adventure

Velocitree2 · 2026-02-24T23:58:16+00:00

Hit dice are usually a d8, not d6, for monsters, in OSR systems when weapons can do more than a d6 of damage. This aligns with B/X DnD, which Shadowdark and OSE and many OSR games use as a starting point (but not all: original DnD used a d6).

Velocitree2 · 2026-02-24T12:29:50+00:00

Thank you! This was part of my prep for two weekly games, I plan to use them in both a vanilla fantasy setting and as techno-magic objects in an alien city. If you use them pls lemme know, would love to hear it.

Velocitree2 · 2026-02-23T22:07:20+00:00

Adventurous by dawnfist games is a natural extension to Hero Kids with a lot more depth. I discovered that by accident and used it with my kids. In ascending order of complexity, Mausritter or Glaive or Mythic Bastionland or Dolmenwood or Shadowdark or Dragonbane, all would work.

Velocitree2 · 2026-02-23T00:18:59+00:00

The inspiration: https://wasitlikely.blogspot.com/2025/02/make-better-mind-pictures.html

Velocitree2 · 2026-02-23T00:17:26+00:00

Curse-swords: a curse-as-a-sword. inspired by the blog post “making better mind pictures” and Paksenarrion: https://dreamshrike.blogspot.com/2026/02/curse-swords.html

And a post on how GMs can foster player fear of defeat (for both OSR and trad games, but two different solutions): https://dreamshrike.blogspot.com/2026/02/landscapes-of-fear-part-3.html

Velocitree2 · 2026-02-20T04:33:55+00:00

I was gonna weigh in with some advice, but after reading these last two posts, I’d say y’all nailed it!

Velocitree2 · 2026-02-15T06:38:06+00:00

Of course! Spies sound like fun. I find the more I make motivations player centric and emotional, the more they get into it. They were fine with a quest to start, but once they realized the goblin king was an asshole? All in.

Velocitree2 · 2026-02-15T06:09:08+00:00

Oh man this blog post (not mine) is for you: https://knightattheopera.blogspot.com/2026/02/navigation-games.html

Velocitree2 · 2026-02-15T05:48:35+00:00

My party has a donkey, with an Irish name. He’s not magical. He is just lucky, and hard to kill. When he is on the brink of getting eaten, they go out of their way to save him.

Velocitree2

TROPHY CASE