There has been a lot of exciting news released regarding Critical Role and Darrington Press‘s TTRPG that they have been developing called Daggerheart. Critical Role released several videos discussing the Daggerheart open beta along with the rules of the game. Critical Role did film a one-shot with the Daggerheart system which I was able to carve time to watch. Without knowing much about Daggerheart before the videos were released, I wanted to share some things I noticed while digging into all the Daggerheart content.

As a side note, Daggerheart is in their open beta which means that the game is currently being playtested by real players and gamers. This means the rules can change once the open beta period is completed. The game is set to be released in 2025 according to Daggerheart’s FAQ page.

Before reviewing Daggerheart in-depth, I wanted to share a bit of background if you have no idea what I’m talking about. Since Critical Role first aired, each of their three campaigns utilizes Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition rules. Ever since the OGL License controversy, there’s been a lot of discussion over the future of Dungeons & Dragons since many fans disagree with how Wizards of the Coast has been handling the situation. This directly impacts Critical Role since they have worked with Wizards. There have been rumors that Critical Role is making Daggerheart so they can move away from Wizards as a company. I’m not sure how true that is since Critical Role hasn’t commented on this directly, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this was the reason behind creating Daggerheart.

I haven’t played the Daggerheart open beta and I don’t know if I will have time, but I wanted to share my first thoughts from what I have seen. Daggerheart is a D12 system meaning that instead of using a 20-sided die to roll in Dungeons & Dragons, Daggerheart will use a 12-sided die instead. Players will have two 12-sided dice to be aware of. One of the die will be a Hope die and the other will represent Fear. Players will reveal to the DM what they roll while noting which die they rolled the highest on either Hope or Fear. I’m intrigued by this Hope vs. Fear concept. I don’t use my d12s often when I play Dungeons & Dragons, so I think it will be a nice change from other TTRPGs I play.

Another interesting concept in Daggerheart is character creation. Players will have cards that they will pick from which highlight their powers and abilities. I have read critiques of this, but I actually think this is neat. It feels like a mixture of playing a TTRPG and a board game. I like having everything laid out in front of me versus trying to flip through the rule book to find what I’m looking for. Another thing that I’m looking forward to is all of the choices. Daggerheart has several class and race options which means there’s a lot of customization during the character creation process. I’m partial to the Faun or the Fungril. The Fungril are a mushroom species and I think that would be something I would enjoy roleplaying.

From everything I have watched thus far, the combat in Daggerheart is something that I’m skeptical about. For combat, there isn’t a player order like there is in Dungeons & Dragons. Instead, players pick and decide who gets to go first. When a player rolls and their roll is higher on their Fear die versus their Hope die, the DM gets to take their turn. I personally like having an idea as to who plays next. For example, if I’m last in the initiative order, it helps me write down essential notes from the session because I know I’m going last. The idea that there’s no order to combat in Daggerheart, it feels like it will be unorganized and chaotic. The other thing that I feel nervous about is what if a DM or a player is rolling extremely well. If the DM rolls well and gets to take many turns in a row in combat, players could feel defeated. If the reverse is true where players are rolling well, DMs might have to think more on the fly to make combat encounters challenging. If there was a rule where it stated that players or the DM can’t have more than three turns in a row, that might quell my skepticism. I could be completely overthinking Daggerheart’s combat, so maybe this isn’t an issue. I am curious to see if Daggerheart’s combat will be modified once the open beta is complete.

I think Daggerheart as a system seems intriguing and I would be open to playing a one-shot. I don’t think I will have time to play in the open beta, but if anyone is curious and wants to try out Daggerheart, the open beta can be accessed through Daggerheart’s website.