DaggerHeart - Open Beta Playtest

While I don't think DaggerHeart is a rule system that will fit my gaming group, it may fit yours.

Here's the DTRPG link to the Daggerheart Open Beta.

Daggerheart is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game of brave heroics and vibrant worlds that are built together with your gaming group. Create a shared story with your adventuring party, and shape your world through rich, long-term campaign play.

This free download contains all the current materials for the public Daggerheart Open Beta Playtest, with the full game expected to release in 2025. As this is a playtest, future changes are coming and will be updated in this product. The current version is 1.2, released March 12, 2024.

After your play sessions, please head to daggerheart.com to bring us your feedback using the official surveys!

ABOUT DAGGERHEART:

When it's time for the game mechanics to control fate, players roll one HOPE die and one FEAR die (both 12-sided dice), which will ultimately impact the outcome for your characters. This duality between the forces of hope and fear on every hero drives the unique character-focused narratives in Daggerheart.

In addition to dice, Daggerheart’s card system makes it easy to get started and satisfying to grow your abilities by bringing your characters’ background and capabilities to your fingertips. Ancestry and Community cards describe where you come from and how your experience shapes your customs and values. Meanwhile, your Subclass and Domain cards grant your character plenty of tantalizing abilities to choose from as your character evolves. Craft your unique character through the cards you choose and the story you tell, and become the hero you want to be!

This download contains PDFs of:

• A Quickstart Adventure, plus 5 pregenerated characters
• The full draft core rules
• Print-ready card sheets for your character options (Ancestry, Community, and Subclass) as well as your abilities (Domain Cards)
• Character sheets for each class: Bard, Druid, Guardian, Ranger, Rogue, Seraph, Sorcerer, Warrior, Wizard
• Player and game master references
• And more!

 

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

Playtest Impressions - Bunny & Burrows Light - No Animals Were Truly Killed in the Playtesting of These Rules

Friday night I was asked an important question: "Do you know of anyone that might like to playtest the Bunnies & Burrows Light rules?" What a loaded question! I spent hours talking with Dr. Sustare one night at NTRPG Con about Swords & Wizardry Light, a new edition of Bunnies & Burrows and the idea of Dennis putting together a "Light" version of the Bunnies & Burrows rules. My answer was "Send me the rules and I'll run it tomorrow night!" and they did and I did.

I sent the rules, character sheets and cards to my Saturday Night Irregulars and assembled out bunny posses. We had three bunnies. I suggested someone name one of their bunnies Hugh Humpalot but wisely no one bit at it.

The bunnies, all young, had to find some Rabbit Flower at a nearby marsh to help heal their den mother who was suffering from an as yet undefined disease.

It really does change the whole narrative when gold and treasure is not the driving force behind an adventure (because even ones that have other motives driving the action still supply opportunities to loot the dead)

Our brave bunnies:

- didn't find and didn't fall into a trap.

- hopped / climbed a tree for a better view, as they had no map (bunnies don't map) and just a vague direction of the marsh they needed to locate.

- were pounced on by a persian kitty who got rabbit punched to an early grave. Rumors that humping bunnies were running amok after their victory is greatly exagerated.

- located the marsh ad Rabbit Flower, but now it was dark

- drove a snake from the hollow of a tree trunk so they would have protection from predators over the night's passing.

- were attacked by and drove off a dachshund (the fact that my wiener dog was barking in the background for the prior half hour simply added to the scene)

- found and fell into that trap they missed the first time

- got the Rabbit Flower to their mother in times to heal her.

Created characters and ran the adventure in about 2 and a half hours with another 15 minutes of post playtest critique.

Damn but I'm looking forward to more Bunnies & Burrows.

This is How I Roll... Online

Well, I had a comment to the previous post which I figured needed a follow up answer and a post of its own:

Hey, barkeep. Remind us how you do your online play. I seem to recall Hangouts, but do you mix in any other apps? 

Right now I'm targeting Rolz, plus Skype. (Roll20 is just too ... much.) I don't know if I want to trust Hangouts when they are sunsetting app support. 

Regards,
Bob P

Historically I used Google Hangouts with the Roll 20 app inside the hangout. Yeah, couldn't figure out how to get ANY apps open in Google Hangouts. Google, the only company that can make great applications basically useless. Alright, maybe not the only company...

So, this is what we did:

We used Google Hangout for voice and video. I actually like seeing my players expressions and I'm sure they enjoy seeing my cat's ass in HD ;)

Then I loaded up the Roll 20 app which I had set up earlier in less that 15 minutes, sent out invite and used that on my main screen. On my vertical side screen I had the Hangout and various PDFs open.

The map is a +Dyson Logos . Its a perfect dungeon for what I needed. Support his Patreon for more awesome maps for the RPG community. Find his maps at his blog.

I use Fog of War to show may players what they can see and where they have been. I reveal new parts as the party progresses. Sure, part of the fun and challenge from my teen and college years was the mapping. Well, not really. No one ever wanted to be the mapper. Now, its not an issue.

Notice something missing? Tokens. I never use them. I could. Maybe I should. I have access to hundreds, if not thousands of them. Instead, I go more theatre of the mind. Maybe at some point in the future I'll find a nice middle ground between not using them and using all the bells and whistles.

I do use character sheets now. They actually have ones coded for Swords & Wizardry. I'm impressed.

The thing with Roll 20 is use what you need, not what sounds cool. Dynamic lighting would be a blast to use but the time needed to set it up could be better spent making blog posts like this, or writing more SWL content, or drinking more beer, or...

I roll all attack rolls, damage rolls and 99% of adversary saves in the open. I think players trust the DM to do what is right behind the screen when the rolls of chance are all in front of the screen.

As a DM, I want the players to think out of the box. You want your halfing fighter to make a running leap into the half dozen skeletons coming at you, trying to knock some over and block the doorway at the same time? Sure, make an attack roll with a penalty of 2 to the roll.

Oh, in case you missed it, here's Tim's blog post of last night's session.

Peter just put up his post. Read it. Please comment on the possible motto for The Tavern. It came up organically in play ;)

Star Trek ™ Adventures Living Playtest Launches - and I'm not in it :(

Yesterday Modiphius announced the kick off of the Star Trek Adventures playtest, with 5k players in the initial pool. That's actually a pretty impressive number of playtesters. Just as impressive is the pool of writers they have working on this game - many of whom are mentioned in the press release (I know of at least one that isn't listed.)

There are still playtest openings available for those interested.

Press release follows:

Hi guys we have some fantastic news today of the awesome writing team putting together Star Trek Adventures™

STAR TREK ™ ADVENTURES LIVING PLAYTEST LAUNCHES WITH THOUSANDS OF GAMERS WORLDWIDE AND STELLAR WRITING LINE-UP LED BY NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLING AUTHOR DAYTON WARD

Written and Developed By Famed Star Trek Novelists and Game Designers, Players Will Make Star Trek History as the Course is Plotted for Exploration and Adventure

LONDON, ENGLAND (December 1, 2016): Modiphius Entertainment, publisher of the Achtung! Cthulhu, Mutant Chronicles, Conan, Infinity and John Carter of Mars roleplaying games, announces the missions for the Star Trek Adventures™ living campaign playtest, to develop the first official Star Trek RPG in more than a decade, are now live with more than 5,000 players and counting. To join the campaign, visit www.modiphius.com/star-trek.

Thousands of players around the world will adventure through the Star Trek universe like never before in an epic storyline written by New York Times Bestselling Star Trek author Dayton Ward and Scott Pearson (Star Trek novellas: The More Things Change, Among the Clouds, Terra Tonight), developed by Nathan Dowdell (Black Crusade, Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition, Corvus Belli's Infinity: The Roleplaying Game and Robert E Howard's Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of) and lead writer David F Chapman (Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space Roleplaying Game, Conspiracy X 2.0, Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG). Joining them are an interstellar line-up including writers from all previous editions of the Star Trek roleplaying game, as well as big names from across the tabletop gaming industry including:

Shawn Merwin (Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition: War of Everlasting Darkness, Halls of Undermountain, Dungeon Delve), Jim Johnson (Lord of the Rings RPG, Mage: The Awakening, Shadowrun Augmentation), Jacob Ross (Legend of the Five Rings, Mongoose Traveller, Kaigaku), Patrick Goodman (Shadowrun: Fifth Edition, Shadowrun: Street Legends, Shadowrun: Storm Front), Ross Isaacs (Line Developer Star Trek RPG (Decipher) and Star Trek: The Next Generation Roleplaying Game (Last Unicorn Games), Ian Lemke (Changeling: The Dreaming, White Wolf Publishing, Earth Down), John Snead (Mindjammer: Traveller, Eclipse Phase, Star Trek Next Generation RPG Last Unicorn Games.), Dan Taylor (IDW Publishing's Star Trek comics), Bill Maxwell (Fading Suns, Star Trek Roleplaying Game, Mage: The Awakening), Tim Beach (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (Red Steel, Maztica Campaign Set, Hail the Heroes, Dungeons of Mastery, City of Delights) and Andrew Peregrine (Doctor Who, 7th Sea, Victoriana).

As well as Aaron Pollyea (Battletech), Oz Mills (Fantasy AGE Bestiary, Dragon Age: Faces of Thedas), Ade Smith (Mutants and Masterminds: Atlas of Earth Prime - Northern Europe, Rogue Gallery. Fainting Goat Games: Extreme Earth), Chris Huff (Mutants & Masterminds Freedom's Most Wanted, DC Adventures RPG Heroes & Villains Volume 1, DC Adventures RPG Heroes & Villains Volume 2), John Kennedy (Ninja Crusade 2E, Infinity Tabletop Roleplaying Game, Myth Board Game), Kevin Mickelson (Mask of Death, A Learning Time, A Frightful Time, A Miraculous Time), Ryan Schoon (Fragged Empire, Edara: The Steampunk Renaissance, Baby Bestiary) and Chris Huff (DC Adventures, Mutants & Masterminds, Pathfinder).

The playtest gives fans of the legendary television series and films the opportunity to contribute to the development of the game; to sit in the captain's chair, seek out new life and new civilizations, give all they've got to a warp core breach, or explore their own adventures in the Star Trek universe.

The living campaign begins with playtest missions and will continue with the release of the core rulebook in the summer of 2017. The living campaign takes place in the Shackleton Expanse, an area of space vastly unexplored by both the Federation and the Klingons. Starbase 364, Narendra Station, named after the battle of Narendra III where the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-C was destroyed, serves as the keep on the borderlands for excursions out into the frontier of space.

As the crews of the U.S.S. Venture, U.S.S. Bellerophon, U.S.S. Thunderchild, explore strange anomalies and discover new life while uncovering an ancient civilization and mysterious technologies, those aboard the U.S.S. Lexington will shape historical events for those very ships.

Assignments are still open for Captains and Officers to take their place aboard the bridge and make Star Trek gaming history. Further, local game shops organizing an in-store playtest group will receive starbase status with pre-order promotions for the game's retail release. Fans attending Dragonmeet in London on Saturday will have the final chance to receive a free Captain Kirk or Captain Picard figure when they sign up for the Star Trek Adventures playtest.

To register yourself or your group online, visit www.modiphius.com/star-trek.

To register as a retailer, visit http://www.modiphius.com/retail-support.html

Under license by CBS Consumer Products, Star Trek Adventures is slated for a Summer 2017 release and the playtest crews will be listed in the Star Trek Adventures book manifest.

™ & ©2016 CBS Studios Inc. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

A TPK Avoided, But Not Without Sacrifice (2nd session of The Caves of Ortok)

Last week the Saturday Night Swords & Wizardry group had their first session delving into the Caves of Ortok, an adventure soon to be forthcoming from +Jason Paul McCartan . They nearly killed two PC's bungie jumping off of a statue on a small island, killed a giant crab, found the caves, got ambushed and finally held position inside the small cave complex as they and the sahuigan deeper inside decided on tactics. Not bad for a night of gaming.

Last night, the party made their move.

They sent the thief in invisibly to take out the shaman as the magic user slept the front lines followed by the monk (also invisible) and ranger charging in. It was brutal.

The thief rolled a nat 20 on his backstab and opted to take maximum damage for the crit, which was then multiplied by three. Not quite down but severely wounded. Sleep took out 2/3's of the sahuigan front line, but they held. There was no where to run to and they were fighting for their prince's life.

The party won initiative, and the magic user finished off the shaman with a pair of magic missiles. The only problem for the thief is he was now facing the prince and his captain BEHIND what was left of the lines. There would be no help coming anytime soon.

Invisible monk couldn't hit the broadside of a barn those first few rounds, so he remained invisible and his opponent couldnt hit either. Damn near comical.

The thief fell and damn near bled out before the party was able to stabilize him (rubbing ointment and shoving potions down his throat). Actually, the magic user, who wadded into combat like a pro and the monk (finally visible) where each a single hit away from falling. Even the hit point tank of a ranger was brought down by half. It's one of the few times the players truly feared a TPK. Heck, even I started thinking about "the next campaign" ;)

The thief lived, but using the ACKS rules for going below zero HP, he was found to have taken severe damage to his head, mouth and vocal cords. Never again would he speak a spoken work, and thus he retired from adventuring, to be replaced by a cleric.

Yes, holy shit! Both the "A Team" and the "B Team" added clerics for the first time to their ranks. Go figure. It must be serendipity.

Afterwards, the players figured out how to open a secret door they found in the caves, and proceeded into Ortok's chambers.

I'm going to gloss over much of this part, so it should remain a challenge to others who may adventure within, but I literally laughed so hard when the monk traversed a hallway that was presumed to be trapped by literally climbing the walls. Upon reaching the other side and being instructed to use a spike or two to secure a rope high on the far wall so party members could follow suit and avoid the floor, he informed them he had neither spikes nor hammer. Come to think of it, he lacked rope too. Which kind of defeated the party's plan which they had discussed before he made his way across. Simply priceless ;)

Yes, a damn fun time was had by all.

Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition Open Beta (Free)

The Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition Open Playtest is free in PDF.

It comes in three flavors - print friendly, low res and hi res.

I've peeked at the hi rez and it does look pretty. I would, however, consider the print friendly version easier to read.