The core systems seem strong but with lots of asterisks to keep them backseat to player agency.

I think it’s more that the mechanics take a backseat to the fiction, and largely the GM is more responsible for that than the players. It’s definitely not for everyone. I run a regular 5e game and I suspect half of my players would be into it and half would very clearly say “no thanks”.

lots of pressure valves to reduce the impact of unlucky dice

That’s an interesting interpretation, considering that success with fear is just as likely as failure with hope. I don’t see this as primarily existing to make things easier for the players. Rather it’s there to make each roll more interesting.

Fear seems like it only exists to give the GM permission to do normal GM things

The communication around Fear could be better in the book. GMs can do normal GM things whenever they want. Fear is used to up the stakes by using special adversary moves, taking more “turns” than they can naturally, or interrupting the players in ways that would likely seem unfair in 5e.

lacked mechanical teeth to make it more than a narrative prompting experience

Anyone looking for a game like that is going to be overwhelmed by Daggerheart. It has plenty of crunch. But it does have an overall philosophy that “Everything you do at the table should flow from the fiction”.

For what it’s worth, there are definitely people using traditional initiative in Daggerheart. For one thing, the book has optional rules for an “action tracker” that limits how much an individual player can hog the spotlight. And I saw somebody on Mastodon who was borrowing a cool initiative system from Dragonbane.

Hope and Fear are more central, if that mechanic turns you off, it’s probably not the game for you. Personally I love it, it gives us all improv cues when we need them, and it makes rolls more dynamic than just pass/fail.

I don’t know why it’s not working for you, it works fine for me even from a private browsing session where I’m not logged in. Are you using a Lemmy client that includes the trailing . in the link or something?

Anyway, I’ve copied it here as well: https://sandybox.neocities.org/dh

I pre-ordered the book, and ran the Quick Start adventure for my family last week. I really liked it, and wrote up my impressions here: https://gist.github.com/sandyarmstrong/0503026016dbbb0aa6408ece020010fd .

It’s not a full review or anything. I don’t bother explaining the core mechanics. There are other folks doing that already.

Support for all of those systems is listed explicitly in the Kickstarter and the preview PDF.

Looks like evil Bob.

I love this so very much. Good find!

I assume you know he was a politician as well?

Wow, lovely shots!

I’ve got the whole family giving it a go this time around.

That’s awesome! My 13 year old wrote a few hundred words the first day, but I’m not sure if he’s continuing. He started Skyrim recently, so…

I’m finding it difficult to motivate myself to be creative after work… Any tips?

Is there a better time when you feel more creative? I like to write in 15-20 minute sprints 2-3 times a day (although of course some days I do more or less or don’t write at all). Maybe after work would be a good time to work on your outline or other meta-writing? Describing scenes or characters, etc. Then perhaps before work you set a 15 minute timer and just chug out what you can based on the outlining work you did the night before?

I always find it easier to be creative when I already have some prep to lean on. Putting on the right music can help, too!

FWIW, I’m not shooting for 50k this year. Just want to write every day, build a better writing habit overall. Last year I felt pretty satisfied doing 35k, and it was fun just to be trying something like this with a community.

Glad to help! I’m somebody who wishes more videos were blog posts so I totally get it. I tend to enjoy Matt Colville’s videos, though.

There’s a short summary at https://shop.mcdmproductions.com/collections/the-talent-and-psionics/products/the-talent, with a few excerpts from the PDF (in images, unfortunately), but I felt like in this case the video covered it better.

And yeah, I feel like strain could be so much fun to roleplay, compared to spell slots.

Has anybody tried this while it was in beta? I’m super curious about what the powers are, and what the strain dice rolls look like.

Not sure who Raith Roguestar is, but the original source for these monsters (and more! a Pumpkin King boss with lair/legendary actions!) appears to be https://emberdm.tumblr.com/post/188729099266/medievil-pumpkins-dd-5e-monster-stats-for.

Hi! Sorry if this came across as a specific complaint about you. It’s a trend I’ve seen on YouTube that I don’t understand, is all. By all means, express yourself however you want! But of course, don’t be surprised if old fogies like me don’t engage with that style of content.

And thanks for the blog post! I’m a DM trying to find the best way to distribute fun magic items to my party. I have one character who wants to craft a stronger shield but lacks the necessary skills. This could be a good approach to get him the effect he wants without losing the shield he’s been spending time and effort on.

You really don’t have to watch the video

I didn’t. I’m curious about the content, though.

And I’m genuinely confused about this style of video being so common, but since it is common, I have to assume that it works for some people. I’m glad it works for you.

I don’t understand this video style where I have to watch a video with words appearing on the screen and a cartoon character talking. Why is this not a blog post so I can just read it?

Typically I’d agree here, but I wonder if that would work when the rest of the party is also paying the consequences? An eight year old might be absolutely thrilled about this outcome…

If the problem is more the time-wasting and less about him doing anything unfair, perhaps the best way to handle this is the way some DMs handle shopping: do it offline.

First, explain to him that this is a collaborative/group game, and unfortunately we can’t spend all of our game time on one character’s individual adventure. If necessary, explain to him that he is not the main character, and that is not fair to everyone else who is trying to play if their game gets constantly stalled when they have things they want to do, too.

Next, tell him to keep notes of all the things he is hoping to gather and craft as the adventure goes on. He can then bring these to you at the end of the session, and you two can work it out retroactively. Or alternatively, you can set aside designated time in-game for him to negotiate this with you (maybe once an hour instead of every 3 minutes).

I’m impressed with how patient and understanding you’ve been about this. You recognize that he is embracing the free-form nature of the game, and you don’t want to smother that. It’s a hard thing to balance with the rest of the table, especially when his parents aren’t present. Good luck!