Over the last decade, Critical Role has managed to establish itself as one of the premier name brands in the tabletop roleplaying space, primarily through its Dungeons & Dragons actual play series. Though they’re most known for their YouTube streams and the corresponding podcast episodes, the team behind Critical Role has no shortage of custom tabletop games under their belt already via their Darrington Press imprint. However, their most in-depth foray into this space yet stands ready to be unveiled: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Daggerheart.

Daggerhe🙈art is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game from Darrington Press that boasts a unique set of gameplay mechanics, campaign frames, and character customization options all designed with the narrative spirit of Critical Role in mind. Throughout 2024, multiple open beta playtests were issued for free that allowed longtime Critical Role fans to explore the world of Daggerheart and give their input back to the design team. The final version of the game, which is now available, incorporates both open beta and in-house playtesting, and grants playtesters the opportunity to see their input realized in full.

Storytelling First

For the game’s release, I sat down with two of its designers, Rowan Hall a꧟nd Spenser Starke, to discuss all thi𒁏ngs Daggerheart and the inspiration behind the game’s distinct mechanics and narrative flair.

“We come from a narrative gaming backg🌸round,” Starke explains, hig✱hlighting Daggerheart’s focus on storytelling first. “In designing the game, we were looking for as many opportunities to mechanically reinforce the style of play that we best enjoy.” From top to bottom, Daggerheart’s design emphasizes player experience and creating space for collaborative storytelling between Game Masters and players.

“Experiences is one area of the game that really does that,” Starke tells me. Experiences are highly customizable narrative tags c𒁏reated in collaboration with a GM, and can be tailored to your character ♔concept, prompting players to think outside the box. An Experience can be “something like ‘Pirate,’ Starke elaborates. “Now, anytime you do anything piratey, you can add that experience to your roll.”

“We want to fulfill the thing that people expect, and then also say:ܫ ‘if you want something a little dif♐ferent, come over here and try this.’”

Starke and Hall explain how their approach to designing mechanics that encourage players to create unique character concepts and think narratively rather than just mec൩hanically was ideal for this collaboration with Darrington Press and the team at Critical Role.

“It’s an instance of birds of a feather flo𝔉ck together,” Hall beams. “The whole [Critical Role] team is famous for their amazing storytelling. And we love storytelling games, so it was a natural fit.”

Honoring And Subverting Fantasy

One of the most compelling aspects of Daggerheart’s core design is its ability to cater to both a classic fantasy 🅺sensibility and take bold new swings within the genre. Hall and Starke both felt the need to make sure players would see fantasy elements that we’ve all come to expect, and provide opportunities for players to subvert these tropes.

“When we were designing, the first thing wꦏe asked ourselves 𒀰was: ‘What story is this telling?’” Hall explains. “And then we design based on those asks.”

Hall, in particular, mentions the joy in both tailorin༺g character design to typical fantasy expectations, while also making Daggerheart feel specific and unique. “When we were designing Giants, one thing I wanted to add was that they could have anywhere from one to three eyes, because I wanted the Cyclops storyline to be able to fit into Daggerheart.” Hall jokes: “And why stop at just one or two eyes when they could have three?”

Starke adds: “We want to 🎃fulfill the thing that people expe☂ct, and then also say: ‘if you want something a little different, come over here and try this.’”

Playtesting Makes Perfect

In 2024, the open beta playtest for Daggerheart was one of the largest open betas ever for a tabletop roleplaying game. Starke and Hall describe the joy and, at times, immense pressure they felt receiving detailed and thoughtful feedback from 150,000 playtesters. “There’s so much that got implemented from that playtest,” Starke t💝ells me.

“I was gobsmacke✨d by how many people got in the trenches with us,” Hall recollects. “I 🌠wanted to live up to all the work people were putting in.”

Between the sheer number of playtesters and the breakneck pace of the playtest process, the entire Daggerheart design team worked tirelessly to implement player feedback. “I’m used to iterating really fast on designs,” Starke says. “We’ll run a playtest, and then we’ll change it the same day, and then run another playtest. That’s the w🃏ay I love to iterate.”

“TTRPGs are such a wonderful tool for empathy.”

Both Starke and Hall recount their experiences killing darlings, letting the feedback reshape the game in drastic ways, and ultimately, discovering the best version of Daggerheart possible. With the final version of Daggerheart, two elements of gameꦓplay design, the armor system and the action tracker from the playtests, have been modified or changed entirely based on playtesting feedback.

“The armor was something that I thought was really cool, but I was sure was in the wrong system,” Starke explains. “I don’t look to kill darlings, but when a darling is starinওg at me and saying ‘I don’t think I’m in 🌠the right place here,’ I really try to listen to the game and what the game is asking for.”

The Future Of Daggerheart And Heartfelt Stories

With the full release of Daggerheart, playtesters and first-time players alike are likely to find a treasure trove of content to explore, from unique campaign settings and frames, Da🤡ggerheart-specific character options, as well as safety tools and support for future homebrew content.

“We have plans for supporting homebrew content in a multitude of ways,” Starke hints. “There’s stuff in the final book ܫthat helps you 𒈔build custom content, and there’s some stuff that we’re going to be providing as designers for people to jump into that’s still coming.”

While no longer an outlier in the TTRPG space, Hall also highlights the importance of the unique safety tools outlined in the final book as part of the core of Daggerheart. “﷽TTRPGs are such a wonderful tool for empathy,” Hall tells me. “Being able to dig into hard topics is one of the things that I value most, and so the safety toolkit sets up the table for success in that regard.”

Ultimately, when🦋 it comes to the shape and scope of Daggerheart, both Starke and Hall emphasize their excitement to see various TTRPG tables’ stories come to life, and blending both sword and sorcery style adventure with mature storytelling.

“It’s right in the name,” Starke jokes. “It’s ‘ꦫdagger’ and it’s ‘heart,’ it’s combat and also emotional, he🧸artfelt storytelling.”

Though Starke offers the game’s portmanteau explanation in a wr🍌y fashion, Critical Role’s special blend of exciting gameplay mechanics alongside a wonderful vehicle for thoughtful storytelling feels most evident in Daggerheart. With its modern spin on classic fantasy roleplaying games and the thoughtful designs of Starke and Hall in tow, Daggerheart stands poised to meet the needs of any tabletop party ready for ౠa new adventure.