Dispatch

Vol 26: Fey & Feline

Anger management, milestones, and a sneak peek at a new VTT. Then, Elven kingdoms, Dwarven cities, and Fey cocaine. A Bastion of Hope and a beacon of brooding. Plus: the ultimate GM screen, dungeon design tips, and guidance on rules and lore.

SPOTLIGHT

The hottest thing in Daggerheart right now is the Heart of Daggers Discord where the top creators and GMs are debating rules, celebrating launches, and sharing what really matters—pet pics. Vamping for the socials is Hackshack publisher John Gronquist’s fey feline, over the moon after rolling a crit and scoring catnip. (Kids, don’t do catnip.)

NEWS & RELEASES

Fear Mongers

For their second livestream this year, R&S discussed Hope & Fear and fielded questions about the Void, homebrewing, Fear as a resource, adventure modules, and, of course, teal.

Class Act

The dynamic duo also took to the socials to stump for the newly arrived Class packs with adorkable sessions of “Luck of the Draw.” Even better? Samurai Rusk’s live sketch of Rowan’s PC.

Iron Supplement

Monsieur Mercer presided over a Daggerheart one-shot with Twitch powerhouse Ironmouse (2.5m followers) for the Make-a-Wish foundation. Some highlights.

Foundryscorn

As Hope & Fear draw near, so too did ire and fire as hundreds of villagers stormed the sub to support Foundryborne’s post about the CGL, VTTs, and third-party publishers. [Ed: Darrington doesn't owe Foundryborne a response, but they need to sort out 3PP licensing lest they lose the creator momentum and goodwill Daggerheart has earned to date.]

And…Scene!

In a parallel universe (aka Australia), Heart of Daggers revealed the first glimpses of "Scenes," their dedicated Daggerheart VTT. While the app remains in private beta, the team is publicly fielding input from GMs and players about VTT preferences to help guide their roadmap, and select new beta testers.

May Day

Rounding out VTT tee-off is Alchemy, who have pegged May 21 for their launch of Daggerheart. Pre-orders are up for standard and enhanced editions, while a smattering of UI can be found on their dedicated marketing page. On the Discord, cofounder Chris Eddie hinted Hope & Fear may find itself on the platform within the year.

Animator Accolade

Rob Jon, the Aardman of Advice, hit 5k followers on YouTube. That’s a big number for a dedicated Daggerheart channel, but unsurprising given Rob’s exquisite craft and humble demeanour. Kudos, sir.

We Be Three

The sub is three! Here’s Lord & Saviour, Hosidax, reflecting on r/daggerheart:
“It's been so amazing to see how Daggerheart has changed the way people are approaching role playing games. Everyday we get questions from people new to the game and new to TTRPGs (we call them "Tadpoles"). It's apparent from those questions how this game has expanded the way people play and how they think about RPGs.”

Hârn Core Lore

HârnWorld publishers Columbia Games blew past their Kickstarter goals for a third-edition hardcover printing of Kingdom of Evael, the ninth and last of the Hârnic realms books focused entirely on Sindarin elves. The system-neutral edition dramatically expands the elven kingdom with detailed histories, castle and building floorplans, new color art, and maps. Ideal for a Daggerheart drop-in.

We Have Liftoff

Daggerheart sci-fi expansion system The New Unknown is now rather known, having hit their Kickstarter funding in less than an hour and currently racking up milestones that will undoubtedly keep adversary designer Chris Davidson busy making monstrosities to ice you in deep space. Bonus: Pistolheart designer Carlos Cisco interviewed the German trio behind the ambitious publication.

DISCUSSIONS

Ménage à Trois?

A GM running a 2-PC party wondered if they should—and how they might—GM a third PC to add a bit more meat to the campaign bones. Aside from the “two PCs work really well in Daggerheart” consensus, Pistolheart designer Carlos Cisco offered this advice:

“If it's someone you plan to keep with the party permanently, you could give the NPC a number of tokens equal to the PCs Tier. The PCs could choose to spend a token and narrate how that NPCs assists them on a roll to give them advantage. Refresh the tokens at the end of the scene. That way it scales up with the PCs but doesn't break the action economy or narrative flow.”

Troublesome Telekinetic

A PC who ran roughshod over a session by bashing Adversaries together led the GM to ask: am I doing Telekinesis right? Lots of chatter, but DCFowl’s advice “Don't use the collision damage, limit it to Stress damage” floated to the top, as did PrestigiousEmu’s “Add the Adversary’s experience to their Difficulty.”

Environmental Awareness

Lots of GMs build Environment statblocks. But Arrowed built one, ran it, and blogged about its successes and failures, plus added a “don’t do this next time” list. You might find kinship in their notes and observations.

Designed to Delight

GOAT Monte Cook is back with Part II and Part III of Designing Dungeons. Excellent all around, and a thoughtful parting note that should resonate with Daggeranians:

“Don’t rely on NPCs and combats too heavily in your dungeons in the first place. Crossing a narrow ledge, piloting a raft down an underground stream, figuring out the weird mechanism controlling a big gate, overcoming the defensive measures protecting the magic gem in the glass case, learning that the statue can be moved to cause a secret door to open, trying to convince the ghost to tell you the password, dealing with an unstable ceiling or a floor that can’t hold an adventurer’s weight—these are all potentially exciting or intriguing dungeon situations, too. Dungeons are a great way to please all kinds of players because all different kinds of challenges can be presented in rapid succession, all in the same mysterious, dark, and frightening environment.”

VIBE CHECK

*Mr. Memento**, a Clank who uses a 3D printer in his chest to turn organic matter into gifts.*

*The Eastern Humans**, a minor medieval-esque "Humans of New York."*

*Dutch, by Ares**. (That phrase has the making of a luxury brand.)*

🎯 GM TIPS

Four Play

Phil from Reaction Roll (only 200 subs away from 5k!) scrubbed R&S’s February dev talk and pulled out four helpful tips, from reframing combat psychology and mastering Hope and Fear outcomes, to avoiding giving too much freedom to players and learning how to do reveals. I appreciate the last bit and how focusing on the information you need to reveal—rather than a specific sequence of events—is a helpful mental model.

Right Knight to Fight (iykyk)

Dequitem & Co. step through a one-to-many fight, demonstrating the dos and don'ts of each party. As always, you can hand wave this stuff away—but knowing the finer details of combat can add texture to how you narrate and the questions you pose your players.

Underwood on GM Classes
How to Make Your Players Paranoid (which leads us to…)

🍺 HOMEBREW

Fey Cocaine

PrudentBat writes: "My party's Faery Druid decided while everyone was taking a long rest that she would wander into the swamp with the Galapa Guardian as a coconspirator to find cocaine. I was like "What?!?" and this now where my 'yes and' has led to. Does anyone else have this kind of stuff going on in their campaigns?"

The only thing better than imagining Faery and Galapa trying to score coke in the bog is Sinisterly coining the term "Feyntanyl."

Ettin is back with another theme-based adventure pack, this time Dinosaurs! There's a one-shot, five Environments, and a couple dozen Adversaries, several with big teeth and tiny hands.
Having troubles? It's probably Tribbles.
Have you seen the Raindeer? This kid-friendly Adversary creates magical rain to grow plants in the forest.
Raise both your arms to welcome The Night King.

🌎 CAMPAIGN FRAME

Bastion of Hope

It probably doesn't take more than reading "you'll take up arms against the wealthy" to get people interested in playing Bastion of Hope, Mike Underwood's setting for "defiant fantasy."

But the adventure module goes well beyond that, painting a world where dragons and necromancers are useful stand-ins for insufferable tech bros and Ayn Rand-toting billionaires who use predatory technology to suppress the working class.

Dispatch subscribers know of our love of Mike and have seen pre-launch images from Bastion in previous editions. So, aside from our "buy" recommendation, here's a short note from Mike after we asked about the origins of the work:

"It had its start several years ago, when I wanted to present a world that focused on collaboration, community, and anti-authoritarian heroism. I want Bastion of Hope to be an option for groups that are excited about heroic fantasy and want a bit of a defiant edge to their setting and the chance to explore revolutionary action through the lens of fantasy fiction.

This frame is just the beginning for Bastion, and I'll have more to announce on that soon…"

🎨 CRAFTY

An enchanting hamlet book map that's free to clone and edit, courtesy of 7LegionArmy, a mod on u/inkarnate.

How Much is Much?

Over on the Discord, Kayfabed shared this helpful guide from Dispatch-fave Rick Hershey on estimating how much art to use in adventure modules.

Carlos Cisco shared some intriguing results from a survey he conducted for Pistolheart, his western adventure setting, on what GMs want in adventure modules.

🛠️ TOOLS & RESOURCES

Good Ol'Gus's GM Screen

"This six-page PDF contains condensed rules and procedures drawn from the OG-DHRD, with page number references to the Daggerheart Core Rulebook. It's free and available on Old Gus' Daggerheart System Reference Document."

The Roundup:

Situations and NPC generators, also courtesy of Ol'Gus.
Faolyn's Assortment of Adversaries has been updated.
How to use maps in Heart of Daggers, from Table Top Tavern.
300 free maps for personal or commercial use.
Or just generate maps procedurally...
A stunning map of a Dwarven metropolis, thanks to Rustschleif.
Wyllin's Quarry, an arena-based Colossus of the Drylands map for Talespire.
A handy dungeon checklist from Goblin Punch.
Need to sound loquacious? Turn to Blockbeard's literary generator.

INSPO

*Robert McGinnis - Wuthering Heights (1974)*

*German School, Moonlight Worship, 19th Century / Désiré Thomassin - Returning Home at Sunset (1894) / Tony Robert Fleury - Alix Appearing in Mask (1891)*

*Unknown Artist - Ruins of a Gothic Church (1800)*

*Hans Gude & Adolph Tideman - Fishing With A Harpoon (1851)*

*Karl Friedrich Schinkel - Gothic Cathedral by the Water (1813)*

GMs are, at times, a menacing bunch, drawn to murky palettes and thick shadows, tempests at sea and forlorn heroes aching for adventure. For those of the coven we point to r/darkromantacism, a beacon of brooding melancholy where you'll find the works of great artists, most dead and buried, their fantasies and fears etched in oil, testaments to the wild and worrisome, their echoes trapped in the darkness.

STORYTELLING

The Lore Axe

Games like Daggerheart invite us to build fantastical worlds dripping with history, pantheons, and political intrigue. But the irony is the richer our backstory, the more of it players forget (or ignore) once the dice hit the table.

Why? Because the lore in your head isn’t the same as the lore they’ve lived.

Corkboards & Curiosities addresses the exposition trap with a ruthless filter: Purpose or Perish. If a detail doesn’t drive the plot or reinforce tone, cut it—or rework it until it does. This keeps information short, digestible, and directly relevant to the moment.

She also advises GMs to:

Make players *do* something to reinforce the lore. Swap passive description for active scenes: a guard interaction, a custom they must observe, a clue they must chase.
Make it personal. Tie elements to a PC’s drives, backstory, or a secret only they know. Players engage more when the world touches their character directly.
Hold nothing sacred. Treat prep as suggestion, not scripture. When players fixate on something unexpected (and My God’s they will), pivot and build from it, even if it means tossing your plan.

Her tl;dr: agency is engagement. Give players a handhold into your world and they’ll pull themselves in. [Ed: This entry was originally published in Volume 5. Re-upping for our new members.]