It’s awesome for Critical Role fans.

The playtest package can be found at this link.

I’ve been in this hobby for over 40 years, and I’ve seen many games come and go. Companies with products who looked like they were going to stand the test of time are gone now. Games that looked like hot garbage at first glance are still around today. Darrington Press’ Daggerheart is still very much up in the air.

Is it going to be the final nail in the coffin for Dungeons & Dragons 5E? Signs point to “No” and this stage, but the game is only in Beta playtesting and a lot could happen between now and the launch of D&D 2024 (The “Whatever It Is”) Edition in September. Playtesting could prove invaluable to Darrington Press and make Daggerheart awesome between now and some unspecified date in 2025. I think it’s too early to really say one way or the other what’s going to happen.

Disclaimer: Statements expressed in this article are strictly my opinion. If you disagree or have a different opinion, that’s okay. I’m not an expert on everything. I’m not always right. I’m just writing from my experience as I know it. Your mileage may vary.

It’s already head and shoulders over Candela Obscura.

Darrington Press’ other major TTRPG title, Candela Obscura with its Illuminated Worlds system debuted to harsh criticism in 2023. I still think the game was rushed into production following the Great Dungeons & Dragons Open Gaming License Debacle of January 2023. Unfortunately, Candela proved to be extremely niche, and Illuminated Worlds was clearly not built for more than a quick session or two of gameplay at any given time. The lack of playtesting ultimately hurt that game and I hope they strive to go back to improve the system after Daggerheart launches.

Daggerheart has a robust playtest document by comparison. The Playtest Manuscript V1.2 is a chunky 377 page document along with entire folders full of character sheets, cards, GM docs, and an introductory adventure. It’s one of the most comprehensive playtest books I’ve ever seen. If they added some art to the manual itself, they could slap a cover on it and send to the printers tomorrow. (*I wouldn’t recommend it, though.)

Looks great on paper, but still a bit rough around the edges.

I’m still plowing my way through this book as of this article, but from what I’ve seen, it’s got some interesting things about it that look great on paper. That might be where it begins and ends from what I’m hearing, though. I still want to fiddle around with the core mechanics while I’m deciding how I feel about the game.

First impressions are great in terms of the artistry and creativity. I see they’ve gone out of their way to include classes and ancestries that will appeal to the D&D 5E and Critical Role fanbase. The designers have done their homework in terms of marketing and their primary target audience. The game has lots of encouragement for acting and cosplay.

Excerpt from the Daggerheart Manuscript

Not so much for us old fartz.

I honestly don’t think Daggerheart was designed with us old codgers and Grognards in mind. It’s kind of the opposite of an Old School Renaissance game. That’s obvious just from the first 50 pages. I got that impression just from what I’d term as the mission statement early on in the book. However, I also think they would benefit greatly from some of that old school practical mechanics design that the game seems to be lacking right now.

I fear Daggerheart might end up being written off as an artsy-fartsy niche RPG in the end. I think it will play out beautifully onscreen with the Critical Role cast just as Candela Obscura did. Bear in mind these are the same acting talents that could probably make a Preparation H commercial seem cool to their regular audience. Daggerheart seems to be missing some of that dreaded crunch that the book seems to be avoiding thus far.

Here are some of the crunchy bits I’m referring to:

  • No initiative.
  • No combat grid or minis.
  • Reliance on cards and counters for tracking various aspects of the game like in most boardgames.
  • No defined action economy.
  • The GM has to wait for the players to basically give up actions before the NPCs can move in combat.
  • The Hope/Fear mechanic is probably going to get metagamed by min-maxxers until the GM cries.
  • Very cinematic or animated combat without a lot of balanced mechanics.

This stuff will likely play out perfectly on camera with the Critical Role crew. The Critters will already be loving this game both aesthetically and because it’s on the screen. So far, Daggerheart is everything we wanted to see in 5E on camera without the D&D system getting in the way.

Early on, I’d say Daggerheart’s appearance will carry it a long way.

Mercer and company will make this thing work however they decide to roll it out on the streaming shows. It has wicked potential to end up as an animated show or video game. Aesthetically from an art and early fiction standpoint, this game is amazeballs. It does literally everything I would want to see them do for the next season of Critical Role. It’s a clean break from D&D 5E.

Would I play it with a group of wargamers and old AD&D fans? Nope. Not a chance. The Anthropomorphic animal characters alone will chase off half the people I’d want to test this thing with. On the other hand, my kids will eat it up because they grew up on a steady diet of anime, Pokémon cards, video games, and a little D&D 5E with the old man. Precise, concise, rigorous, and tactical Daggerheart is not.

I want to applaud the early inclusion of Safety Tools and the like. It’s a good starting point in the book. Again, I think the writers really know their intended audience extremely well. Good for them!

Marketing truly matters.

In a year where dozens if not hundreds of new games and campaign settings are hitting an already swollen market, I think Darrington is playing it smart with Daggerheart. My guess is that all of the D&D core rulebooks will be on shelves by the time Daggerheart drops. Darrington is playing it safe and collecting meaningful feedback before dropping a book. They’re doing everything and anything they can think of to draw that old 5E fanbase into their game.

Critical Role may or may not be stuck in a contract with Wizards of the Coast and obliged to run D&D for another season or more. We’ll likely never know because everyone is being very hush-hush about it. If I were Mercer, I’d take my sweet old time making CR Campaign 4. Meanwhile, they can launch Daggerheart in separate breakaway shows the same way they did with Candela Obscura. Matt and wife could even take a year off and just chill if they so desired. Lord knows they deserve a break.

Darrington Press can push Daggerheart on air, at conventions, and on social media for a year and a half before dropping the “official” version of the game. I think the final version will look considerably different than the manuscript we have now. (Hopefully with fewer gimmicks.) The final version will still sell like mad because it will probably puff up even more with the addition of art, layout changes, and revised text. I fully expect the core book to run right around $70.

Unlike Candela, Daggerheart is designed for campaign play. Whatever cast they run with, and I honestly hope they recruit a bunch of new/different talent, is going to be able to stick with the same group of characters for quite a while. The flavor of Daggerheart will still appeal heavily to the Critters and probably take on an even wider audience of cosplayers, actors, theatre kids and D&D 5E refugees. The game doesn’t need heavy mechanics to accomplish any of that.

My conclusion for now is that it’s going to be hot but needs work.

As I was saying, the game won’t need heavy mechanics to appeal to the Critters. Honestly, I think they could go back and incorporate some 5E mechanics such as initiative, hit points, as well as action economics and still be okay. Sometimes the old ways do still get the job done. Not everything has to be shiny, new, and innovative.

Do I think it’s for me? Not yet. The system needs more crunch and fewer gimmicks before I’ll be onboard. But I’d still recommend it to a lot of younger gamers.

Thanks for being here today. I appreciate you! Please go check out Daggerheart and give it a try.