Last month, the cast of Critical Role played Daggerheart for their Critmas 2024 show. Not only is it good old-fashioned Critical Role fun, it also was our first look at the final rules for Daggerheart.
Building the World Together
One of the principles in the open beta rules is “Build the World Together.” Rather than the GM explaining the lore of the world, all of the players also participate in adding details.
In their previous one-shot, Matt was still in DM-mode with extensive worldbuilding that he was revealing to the players when asked. In the Critmas 2024 show, Matt wasn’t frequently asking the players to fill in details. However, there were extended conversations between the player characters with bits of childhood backstory or Springvale Springs gossip stated as fact.
This perhaps might be a scary thing for players to figure out on their own, and for my own game, I’m hoping to find more seamless ways to allow players to contribute without being put on the spot.
No Battlemap Required
Matt always puts together incredible terrains and battlemaps for his players. However, in the Critmas show, they did it entirely with theater of the mind. Rather than pointing to miniatures and measuring distances, everyone just imagined the flow of combat and acts accordingly.
The open beta rules make it clear that maps are optional. Distances in combat are specified by ranges of Melee, Very Close, Close, Far, Very Far, and Out of Range. And if you really want to use a physical map, there are proxies for non-gridded measurements of distance as well.
A Fight Breaks Out!
In Critical Role, there’s a lot of ceremony to know that a fight has started when Matt asks for initiative and physically brings out the map. However, since Daggerheart doesn’t have fixed initiative, combat can start (or end) at any time.
I like tactical combat. I also like fluidity between combat and non-combat parts of the game. Overall, as a GM, I like the flexibility to use either depending on the situation.
Turntaking is Hard
Since there is no fixed initiative, it’s up to the players and GM to negotiate who is acting when. In the last one-shot, I felt like it worked pretty well. However, I did feel like Talesin was really in-focus a lot for the last fight.
There’s tension in figuring this out. On the one hand, it’s very cinematic to have a close-up with a series of back-and-forth blows in one part of a fight between one player character and the enemy they’re squaring off against. On the other hand, it diminishes the role of everyone else at the table, which is very visible when you have a large party like Critical Role.
In the end, I don’t think the other players had a problem with it, and it didn’t happen in other Daggerheart games with Critical Role. It’s just something to keep an eye on.
Kind of Setting-Agnostic
Daggerheart, in its current form, is not Powered by the Apocalypse or Forged in the Dark. The rules as is worked in this 80s suburban setting due to a bit of magic to inject fantasy into the world. It isn’t designed to just work for the game you want to play.
Yet.
The designers have talked about how future direction all depends on how the game is received and what happens with hombrew content.
Personally, I think that Daggerheart is pretty specific on the sort of experience and style of game it supports, even with the tweaks of the campaign frame. However, there’s plenty of fun to be had knowing that you have good reasons to use other systems, too.
Final Thoughts on Critmas 2024
Having watched Critmas 2024, I feel more and more that Daggerheart is well-suited for the cast of Critical Role. They seem to be having fun, and it makes for a fun game to watch as well.
They continue to be cryptic on the future of Daggerheart and Critical Role other than to say that there will be more. I for one will be happy for whatever we get!
Elsewhere in Daggerheart
I found two more Daggerheart Actual Plays: Wither and Bloom Studios and Explorers of Elsewhere. I’m continuing to gather more on the Resources page, so if you ever find anything that I haven’t, please let me know!
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