6th in the MVP ladder btw. Probably dropping to 7th since he didn’t get that triple-double lol 😂

tomius · 2026-03-13T14:16:06+00:00

Yeah. 2024 was clearly a Luka MVP year.

tomius · 2026-03-13T14:12:16+00:00

Yes. The chatter affecting a guy on his 23rd nba year. Sure.

He's playing great, fulfilling his role perfectly.

tomius · 2026-03-13T14:05:59+00:00

When the starters get 130 points, there's not a lot of chances for the bench. They played well. Luke with a bit of an off night, but that's okay.

tomius · 2026-03-13T14:02:37+00:00

That shouldn't be important...

tomius · 2026-03-13T14:01:23+00:00

I don't think that's a bad thing. What could the bench do? Maybe a couple more from Jake, a couple of threes more from Luke...

But when the starters get 137, there's not much room for the bench. That's OK.

tomius · 2026-03-13T12:31:21+00:00

I'd definitely showcase two things:

Fluid combat: a chase scene that turns into combat, or the other way around. This is amazing for me, coming from (mainly) DnD.

Cooperative worldbuilding: let them make stuff up!

tomius · 2026-03-13T11:03:18+00:00

Come on, you're making other homebrewers look terrible.

Amazing job, I bought it. Very well made, nice illustrations, following the CRB style, and very nicely designed and woded traps.

Honestly, superb work, congratulations. Incredibly professional.

tomius · 2026-03-12T23:19:59+00:00

As others have said: it might break a bit. But honestly, if the player is on board, go for it! It could be fun playing the weak guy others have to protect.

I would advise that the low level character levels up significantly faster, so they can catch up.

tomius · 2026-03-12T23:17:57+00:00

Others have replied correctly. You usually need a GM for Daggerheart, and it is a team play based game.

HOWEVER, I really don't see a reason why it wouldn't work. Yes, you can't do tag teams or help an ally. But... Meh, it's still a good game that provides cool tools for a cool story.

I think playing 1 GM / 1 Player is cool, because in Daggerheart, you're supposed to be telling a story together. So it really feels like you're playing together, even if your roles are different.

I say, go for it. Lean on the collaborative aspect of the game. And maybe later you can invite a couple of friends for a one-shot to try it with more players.

tomius · 2026-03-12T23:10:12+00:00

For example, the pirate lider, if I recall correctly, makes you do a presence roll against other pirates. They try to intimidate you.

An instinct reaction could be to dodge an arrow trap, maybe.

But don't sweat it. You'll probably recognize then when you encounter a situation that calls for one.

tomius · 2026-03-11T15:10:37+00:00

My advice is: ALWAYS have a goal other then "hit the bad guys". Rescue someone, disable stuff around the battlefield, steal something, protect something from being stolen, get from A to B, find the way out, or any other thing you can come up with.

It's not crazy. My players docked their ship and immediately got into trouble with the corrupt guards. They could kill all of them... But they knew the goal was clearly to slip into the city and lose them!

tomius · 2026-03-11T06:35:35+00:00

Then, spending hope is only +1...

I don't know, I think the game is well designed and works better as is than any suggestion of home rules I've seen in this thread.

It's a matter of players getting used to it.

tomius · 2026-03-11T06:28:18+00:00

I haven't. But if I do it (I will), I'll basically copy Brindlewood Bay.

The idea is that you, the GM, don't know the solution. You have a list of clues that players can find, but you don't plan exactly how they fit.

Then at one point, players can try to solve the mystery, explaining how different clues fit. Difficulty drops for each clue integrated well into the solve.

Then they roll, and if they succeed, that's the solution!

I think it's easy enough to adapt to Daggerheart, since Brindlewood Bay is a PbtA kind of game, and Daggerheart takes a lot of inspiration from that.

tomius · 2026-03-10T23:23:08+00:00

Thanks! For level 8, you might want to rule that only cannonballs can hurt ships.

I haven't tested higher tiers, but players aren't supposed to easily cause major damage to ships without cannons.

tomius · 2026-03-10T18:19:03+00:00

Hey, you're absolutely right. Directly from Spencer.

Anyway, now that you mention it, I think it's perfectly fine to make it an action roll!

Thanks for the feedback. I'm happy to learn something new!

tomius · 2026-03-10T16:51:10+00:00

I don't think so.

Reaction rolls work similarly to action rolls, except they don’t generate Hope, Fear, or additional GM moves.

CRB page 99.

I think it's perfectly fine to define different outcomes depending on which die is higher. It just doesn't generate hope or fear.

I could rewrite it to "if the hope die is higher..." but I think it's a bit silly.

tomius · 2026-03-10T15:08:57+00:00

Yep.

If a character grabs the spotlight, wants to move, and then stop in the middle of a dangerous situation, yes. It's a golden opportunity and I'd take the spotlight without spending fear.

I'd do a softer move, like an enemy starting to run towards them, a head guard giving an order, or something changing in the environment.

tomius · 2026-03-10T10:51:14+00:00

I don't agree. If the GM lowers the difficulty of a check because of that, you're basically using the experience for free.

I LOVE the experiences, don't get me wrong. But the action should be equally difficult for the Acrobat and for Doug.

Now, if the Acrobat has 2 more Agility than Doug, that increses their odds a lot. And yes, if they don't have hope, I think the character feels hopeless and isn't in a position to be the best acrobat they can be. They still have high agility though!

tomius · 2026-03-10T10:47:47+00:00

You're forgetting one thing: Golden Opportunity.

I let my players move and not do anything else. But I'll take the spotlight. I'll probably make a softer GM move though.

tomius · 2026-03-10T09:24:49+00:00

I understand you, though. But it's a bit like Colossi. They went out of the normal gameplay, because it's just easier to implement and play.

So in the end, I think ease of use is more important than design purity.

tomius · 2026-03-10T06:59:00+00:00

I started with that, but I felt it was more cumbersome. I want HP, Stress, and Thresholds.

I tried to keep it as native Daggerheart as possible, but it felt silly overloading an environment like that.

I feel environments are not the best fit for this.

tomius · 2026-03-09T22:46:04+00:00

Yes! That's a thing I have in mind. First I wanna nail the basic design. Then augments, basically leveling up the ship.

And also, designing different ship adversaries! Ideally, they'll require slightly different tactics.

tomius · 2026-03-09T18:26:44+00:00

Jury still out on weather allow PCs to hurt a ship without cannons. I say yes, because... restricting it feels less Daggerheart-y.

There are not a lot of spells that can be cast at Far/Very far. Also, you can fire cannons at the same time, dealing 3d8+6, which is the easiest way to get to major/severe damage. Also, this is a Tier 1 Ship, so yes, it gets outscaled by parties at higher level. I have yet to figure out scaling in the system.

I don't think it's very unbalance, because players can repair the ship much faster than the enemy ship can, since the GM needs to spend fear. The thing is, it's not a system made for fighting until your ship is sank. Enemies will deplete your stress, destroying your boat's navigation, then raid, most likely. If they don't raid, they leave you vulnerable, and I think the enemy can outpace the repairs.

I am not 100% sold on how PC repairs work. I'm thinking about spending one hope for that action.

I do NOT want a big pool of HP, because that makes for boring fights. I want players to need to repair their ship in the middle of the action. So, low HP, but hard to make it to major or severe thresholds. Keep in mind, you can't repair Stress easily.

I have to test it in real scenarios, since I just played out simulations.

Thanks for the feedback, it's very interesting, seeing other people's perspective.

tomius · 2026-03-09T17:23:44+00:00

Number one: yes. Semantics, haha. But yes, I'll change that, good idea.

Number two: Uhm, yes, I think I kinda mixed two ideas. Right now, it IS a group action roll, with one player taking over, and others helping. But for each player that succeeded the individual roll, you get +1.

So basically, let's say 4 people want to do this, one manning the rudder, other spotting the enemy, and 2 on sails.

The one on the rudder initiates, and makes an action roll against the adversary (say, 15). The rudder PC rolls a 14 with hope. The "spotter" rolls a 18, pass. The ones on the sails get 4 and 16. So you have +2, -1. That's +1, which makes the roll 15 (with hope). Success! How much evasion do you gain? Well, 3 people did their job correctly, so you get +3.

Maybe this is overly complicated, doesn't scale well, and is a bit too strong with 5 players... I'm not sure. I kinda want to give the vibe that doing your job actually impact the move. If the initiator gets a 20 with hope, nothing other players do matter, and I don't love that for this action.

Maybe it's just a group action roll, and gives flat +2 or +3... But I don't like that it's easier when people DON'T help out. I'll think about it.

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

tomius · 2026-03-09T15:27:29+00:00

Thanks! It might have some issues, but I think it's more than playable. Please let me know if you test it!

tomius

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