Christian's RPG Shelf

 I have been running occasional one-shot adventures in Daggerheart going back to the play test phase of its development. I wrote about a recent game I ran last week . This week, I got to be a player with my group for the first time and what a blast it was to experience Daggerheart from the other side of the GM screen.  I considered many options for a character but the Hope & Fear expansion has been on my mind and I decided to play a Tidekin Hearthborne Moon Witch. I wanted to try the new Dread domain and though the Warlock was tempting I found the Witch class a bit more enticing this time around. Made of the Sage and Dread domains, the Witch has a mix of nature and nightmarish abilities. I liked the way this character was shaping up and the concept for him came together very quickly.  Corrus was the name of my Witch, a beach bum who speaks to nature. This adventure took place in a seaside town and Corrus was part of a crew handling security on a ship. The party also c...

I play D&D with my friends about once a month. We have been maintaining this schedule for a decade and counting and though some faces have changed it is a true blessing that we can get together and have some fun. We play campaigns that span several years but sometimes drop in a "one shot" game when someone's schedule prevents them from making it to game night.  We found ourselves in just such a situation. One of our friends has some family commitments and is unable to make it to game night for a bit. Slotting in a few one shot adventures felt like the right decision to pass the time rather than continue a campaign with a character missing. I ran the first one of these one shots this past week and crafted an adventure running Daggerheart and set in a Wild West themed world. I had great fun throwing this one together and I used the opportunity to try some new ideas. This is the first "GM Journal" piece I am writing on this blog and I am going to cover how I co...

Polygon has an interview with longtime D&D designers Jeremy Crawford and Christopher Perkins who left Wizard of the Coast to join Darrington Press and work on Daggerheart. This interview doesn't reveal much about Daggerheart that we didn't already know but the theme here is about the game's collaborative storytelling approach.  Further, I like that Darrington Press is looking at Daggerheart as something of a blank slate for the tabletop RPG industry. What is a Daggerheart adventure, exactly? It could be similar to D&D, sure, but it doesn't need to be.  “It’s exciting to think about just what a  Daggerheart  adventure is,” Perkins says. “We literally only have one or two adventures out there in the universe. It's a delightful thought exercise, and one I've never been part of, because D&D adventures are kind of established and codified. Here, we're starting right at the outset with carte blanche, and we are going to take some chances, experiment a...

  Darrington Press had a big hit with the launch of Daggerheart last year. The game has picked up traction quickly and has outpaced Darrington Press’s own initial expectations. It is a great game that I have run with my friends and family a few times and will be running a campaign at some point down the road.   Daggerheart’s first expansion book, Hope & Fear, launches today and brings with it a treasure trove of new goodies. I preordered Hope & Fear as soon as it was announced and it arrived at my doorstep a few weeks ago. I have read the book and am happy with what Darrington Press has accomplished with it.  (Full disclosure: I have read Hope & Fear but have not yet played in or run a Daggerheart game with the content in the book.) The book itself is full of beautiful artwork from cover-to-cover in a brisk 196 pages. Daggerheart’s Core Book has some fantastic art and that quality continues with Hope & Fear. It strikes a good balance of vibrant, inviting t...