Vol 18: Azerim & Artwork
Kiwi kooks, platform plays, and convoluted combat. Then, bandits and brigands take a beating, time folds in on itself, and artwork from the ages. Plus: tips for editing your RPG, the Nakatomi Tower as dungeon, inspo from ILM, and a journey inward.
SPOTLIGHT
Viva La Dirt League brings their comedic madness to Daggerheart via Azerim, a 30-part series launching Jan 27 (Jan 13 on Beacon). From what I’ve seen, the logline is “Beast Feast turns into cosmic horror.” But absurdly. And with Kiwi slang and cursing.
NEWS & RELEASES
Total Eclipse of the Heart
Lots of outlets picking up Business Insider’s year-end story on how Daggerheart befuddled Darrington’s projections by 2500%, with a one-year supply selling out in two weeks. The article is light, but touches on several CR/DP topics of interest.
Veni, Vidi, VTT
The Heart of Daggers mothership arrived, its many tentacles outstretched, its many features on display. Combing through the January update—and having used several of the tools over the holiday—it’s clear this team is ambitious. What they’ve built is smart, integrated, and leagues ahead of everyone. But as they increasingly resemble a VTT, my questions now are less “can they pull it off?” and more “will Darrington bless, block, or buy them?”
Level Ups
Not to be overlooked, Duality Codex rolled into the year with their own slew of feature updates. So too Heartforge, the iOS/Android campaign manager, which added import/export options for homebrew and maps, timelines, and canvases.
Room for Runeterra?
Bound in White, an Arcane-inspired campaign frame, is looking for play-testers as it expands with new ancestries, subclasses, adversaries, and domains. It’s a well-crafted start for those hoping to eventually rub shoulders with a certain set of severed sisters.
Set the Table
Mike Underwood will be GMing a Daggerheart one-shot with The Naturolls to raise funds for Feeding America.
Eggs Over Easy
Hatchling Games, building towards their summer Kickstarter, has released a free solo journaling game based on Dragon Dowsers. It’s fun and lovingly crafted.
DISCUSSIONS
Convoluted Combat
Did Daggerheart shy too far from theatre-of-the-mind for combat? @FedericoValeri thinks so. A veteran GM who tired of D&D’s convoluted system and hoped DH would require less prep noted that, by keeping the grid and relying on attrition, DH combat lands in the mushy middle: not the propulsive narrative of Powered by the Apocalypse, nor the elegant engine of Draw Steel. His back-and-forth with adversary designer Chris Davidson suggests a future where combat design unwittingly backslides towards the D&D system many abandoned when choosing DH.
Soft Solos
Semi-related, are Adversaries too weak? There’s a growing consensus that Solos need buffing, as discussed in this thread, and one way is through Environments. But while environmental actions are intended to create dynamic encounters, there is cognitive overhead and diminishing returns if a GM has to spin plates for Passives, Actions, and Reactions across additional Adversaries and an Environment. Caveat emptor.
