Dispatch

Vol 23: Traps & Tension

Devious devices, army antics, and Dungeon Crawler Carl. Then, a planetary playtest, gnolls and demons, and a Bastion of Hope. There’s a primer on pacing, an analysis of armour, and meditations on metaphysics. Bonus: a Daggerheart database and a narrative mystery framework.

SPOTLIGHT

Like many of us, I was charmed by Nick Nelson's TRAPS, a compendium of 24 unique lures that sit somewhere between Adversary and Environment. Not because he writes, designs, and illustrates the kit. That's impressive. No, the charm comes from the gleeful cover illustration and how it captures both the joy of devious devices and game aesthetics of the '90s. Bring on the blades!

NEWS & RELEASES

Holy Trinity

If you’re in SoCal next week, Spenser, Rowan, and Elise are holding court at WonderCon. They’ll join panels to discuss their publishing adventures and Darrington behind-the-scenes, while Rowan will cap the weekend interviewing her bearded partner in crime.

Good AI

SoCal not your scene? How about Boston? Acquisitions Incorporated, now fully draped in Daggerheart, returns to the stage at PAX East next Saturday, March 28. The whole gang joins, along with newly minted Mark Mercer, and streams @8pm.

Roll Call

"D&D feels a lot like the DM saying "I have built this thing for you. Come discover this thing I have built." and that's somewhat the story. Daggerheart, on the other hand, feels more "I have the blueprint for this thing. Come build this thing with me." That's Joe Zieja—aka Captain Atticus Fray—from the Rigamaroll AMA. The indie AP debuted a couple of months ago to big numbers and has quickly become regular viewing for players and GMs alike.

Commission Impossible

If you didn’t think they were in it to win it, Heart of Daggers is going as far as to commission 150 character portraits for all Daggerheart classes and subclasses displayed on the platform. This is on top of their original 2,000+ icons and images for the Homebrew Vault. WTF is in the lager down under?

Coding Builds Character

While he built it for him and his buddies and may remain a side project, I found @spoogooter’s character sheet builder to be elegant, smart, and fast.

Road from Perdition

"Get out of hell" is the pitch for Demonheart, a new book from UK-based DRS Publishing coming to Kickstarter. You start at the lowest levels of hell and work your way up, activating new Domains based on the seven deadly sins. The plan is a 450-page compendium, complete with new classes, subclasses, Domains, Adversaries, a setting, and an adventure.

Burn Notice

I like Mike. Mike Underwood, Magic Mike, Monster Mike… all the Mikes are great. But what I really like is angry Mike. If you can't feel their rage about the State of the Union vibrating through this cover, what are you even doing with those Fear tokens? Arrives Spring 2026.

DISCUSSIONS

Army Antics

The question “How do you roleplay an army?” elicited a few practical suggestions—build it like an Environment, treat them as Hordes—but I was intrigued by Seth Mackenzie’s idea: design them like a Colossus.

“Each part could be a battalion. And just like Colossus, they could all have their own features, and the army could be defeated in various ways depending on [the] battalions weaknesses or player’s creativity. Colossi have a weakspot (usually the head) that when destroyed defeats them—that could be the general of the army or the headquarters.”

Paws for Thought

In a world with magic, what—and how much—can a Ranger’s pet or a tree in the forest actually know? Those questions had thrown a GM during a recent session, so PrestigiousEmu helpfully reminded them: magic is on a dial. Pets and plants aren’t omniscient nor necessarily helpful. Use restraint, work with your players, and you’ll find a common sense solution to uncommon communication.

Severe Consequences

An OP who felt big damage rolls lack impact at the table floated some brew: when a player beats the Severe Threshold by 20, the Adversary marks an additional HP. Rinse and increment at every multiple of 20. As a counter, Adversary designer Chris Davidson (aka RightKnighttoFight) suggested alternatives like disabling features or lowering thresholds. That kicked off a productive convo with OP and several others about deploying mechanical and fictional outcomes instead.

Statistically Speaking

Pollsters might appreciate the self-selection bias inherent in the question “How many of you didn't find Daggerheart through CR?”—a thread that in principle suggests 85% had NOT. You could counter that number with ChiefStingy’s reply, as he runs a weekly Sablewood quickstart and notes “80% of new players learned about Daggerheart from Critical Role,” which is observed phenomenon instead of self-reported and typically more reliable. Of course, lies, damned lies, and statistics: the Reddit thread likely attracted more GM responses, while Stingy’s table is filled with players. All aside, I know which data point I’d use if, say, a certain Senior Producer were asking Travis for a raise and wanted to point out that Daggerheart stands firmly apart from the CR funnel.

VIBE CHECK

Psionic Lunatic's half-Infernis, half-Fairy, designed for *Colossus of the Drylands*.

Meet Grimrr Halfpaw, Joetzel's Katari Wizard. Loving the toe beans.

Cherish, a candy Gorgon with prehensile hair, by iXain.

🎯 GM TIPS

How to Pace Your Games

Whether you’re playing Daggerheart or watching Die Hard, the invisible hand that keeps your attention is pacing. Pacing isn’t necessarily just “speed things up” (although dude—no one cares about all that lore), it’s about not wasting time and cutting to the things that matter. That’s the core message of Val’s video, and she offers a few important tips about when to know it’s time to change scenes and how to change them. Plus, knives and dolls.

Colossal Combat, Part Deux

RJL is back with part II of his colossal combat explainer, artfully animating the Level 2 PCs fight with a Daktadae. Perfect for a Drylands encounter, but in keeping with the Discussion up top about treating an Army like a Colossi, also watch this while abstracting the enemy into "multi-part-attack-system." It may inspire you to construct more complex encounters or Environments.

🍺 HOMEBREW

The Heartbeat

The folks behind the successful Fangs & Felons are back with The Heartbeat—a magazine format built around an Adversary. The first edition is Gnolls and comes with Adversary variants, lore, Environments, maps, and a one-shot.

I love this concept and hope it proves durable. It’s bigger than an Adversary pack but smaller (and cheaper) than a campaign book. It addresses questions about where and how an Adversary lives and functions, and then provides a one-shot to bring it to life. It also has legs. The writers and designers can decamp around dozens of different Adversaries from the CRB and the upcoming Hope & Fear expansion book.

Praise be Riksheare, who continues his gleeful absorption of our cultural touchstones with Jason Voorhees, Jekyll and Hyde, Man Eating Cow, and Dungeon Crawler Carl.
The Toad Cult (aka Lae'zel lovers) brings Ribbits and frogs to life with cards for equipment, Environments, and Adversaries.
The sub now has The Friday Frame Pitch. Pitch yours or steal from others.

🌎 CAMPAIGN FRAME

The New Unknown Playtest

The big book of outer space dropped a playtest on the sub, complete with three Classes, subclasses, Ancestries, and Communities; Domain cards; and a selection of weapons, armour, gear, and expendables.

Says co-writer (and sub moderator) Tenawa:

"This project is a massive labor of love, and we couldn't wait to finally put these rules into your hands. Now you can finally start reading our playtest, which also functions as a first draft for the finished product, regarding the direction of design and layout. Let us know how you like it! "

I suspect the final book will be a hit and a touchstone of the "early Daggerheart era" we'll gesticulate about from our armchairs in the senior's residence.

🎨 CRAFTY

Anto's Affinity

Anto from Icarus Games dropped this handy tutorial on setting up the new Affinity for TTRPG layouts and publishing.

House of Cards

I don’t recall how I stumbled upon this, but for those of you who print and laminate your own cards, Rachel's Print and Play is an amazing resource of guides, videos, and equipment lists that help you create beautiful, durable cards.

🛠️ TOOLS & RESOURCES

I am OBSESSED with Ada Palmer, the medieval and renaissance historian who brings wit, wisdom, and levity to the study of those eras—and debunks the very idea of "ages" as she romps from person to person with snappy anecdotes and insights. Filing this interview under "Resources" because, along with historians like Eleanor Janega and Dan Snow, Palmer's ability to make sense of the complex systems in our history are ideal for worldbuilders who want to better understand cause and effect.

The Roundup:

A sortable, searchable, filterable database of Daggerheart Adversaries to help you quickly choose who will murder your players.
Blazer explains their narrative mystery framework for Daggerheart, complete with mechanics for clues, questions, and theories.
Psychoactivelemur prepared Beast Feast ingredient templates so you don't have to miss lunch.
Silken-haired Nico de Gallo prepared a handy one-page player guide you might want to pass around.
Don't have dice? Play Daggerheart with cards instead.
MAB Music released another Five Banners Burning soundtrack—this one for academics.

INSPO

The exaggerated proportions of the buildings and vessels in Montreal-based artist Raphael Lacoste’s portfolio create scenes that feel both familiar and otherworldly. The epic scale and commanding architecture make us—the tiny inhabitants that dot the surfaces—irrelevant to the majesty of the creator, be they gods, engineers, or, in Lacoste’s case, art directors.

STORYTELLING

Dress for Success

V1: "She's an Elven Mage. She's wearing robes and carrying a staff."

V2: "Her robes are cut from undyed silk, the kind that takes dye poorly because it's been treated to resist fire. The embroidery at the collar is Sylvari court script, but the knots are Ashveld funeral rites. In other words, she learned magic from two groups that kill each other and somehow survived."

I’m not suggesting either of those responses to a player question are any good, but I do know the second one takes into consideration how clothing can communicate details that reveal someone's history, culture, attitude—even what they might do in moments following their introduction.

If that kind of nuance is your jam, you’ll enjoy how Elie Hutchinson deconstructs video games, art, and stories though the lens of fashion and history, teasing out details that ground subjects while bringing them to life.

You might also like her brand, Lorica Clothing, that translates historically accurate armour patterns to dresses, hoodies, leggings, and other accessories. Sadly, the Iron Fit Henry VIII leggings are sold out, but the Scudamore and Istanbul plate mail prints are still open for business and mighty fine.