Game Master's Journey

I return to my exploration of the new Daggerheart supplement, Hope & Fear. This week I discuss the four new classes: the assassin, brawler, warlock, and witch.

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I begin the show by going over Darrington Press’s three year plan for Daggerheart. I also discuss the upcoming official support for Daggerheart on Foundry VTT. Then I begin my multi-episode series exploring the first expansion for Daggerheart, Hope & Fear.

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There are very few official published adventures for Daggerheart, and those are either one-shots or very short. The third party options are also limited. So what is a GM wanting a published adventure to do? In this episode I share how I’m taking adventures from other games and adapting them to Daggerheart. Because Daggerheart’s system is relatively...

A lot of times as a GM, we can be tempted to say no to a player. Why not say yes instead? Not only is this embracing the “yes, and” philosophy of improvisation, but it will lead to more fun for the players and for us too. I also discuss leveling in Daggerheart compared with other games I’ve played. There is no such thing as xp in Daggerheart....

Today I discuss GM pitfalls to avoid in Daggerheart and other RPGs. We also play a little game of finding a way to use any attribute for a task. Even with something obvious, like crossing an icy bridge—that would obviously use agility, you can make a good argument for using any of the six attributes. I give some tips on how to prepare for more improvisat...

Today I discuss Daggerheart’s GM Best Practices. These will help you be a better GM, no matter what game you’re playing or which system you’re using.

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Today I discuss Daggerheart’s GM Principles, which are begin and end with the fiction (story); collaborate at all times, especially during conflict; fill the world with life, wonder, and danger; ask questions and incorporate the answers; make every roll important; play to find out what happens; and hold on gently. I talk quite a bit about why you don&rsq...

This week I discuss player best practices presented in the Daggerheart core book. Keeping these in mind will enhance any tabletop RPG you play, not just Daggerheart. The first, and I’d say fundamental, best practice is to embrace danger. At the heart of this and the other best practices is to choose the interesting choice, the choice that makes a better ...

Today I talk about Fear in Daggerheart, a metacurrency used by the GM. Some GMs consider metacurrency to be a bad word. So how do the metacurrencies of Hope and Fear work in DH? Are they boons or flaws? Pros or cons? Buffs or debuffs? I’ll unpack it in this episode. I show how in my experience Fear hasn’t limited my creativity or prevented me from ...

Today continue my series on Daggerheart with an in-depth explanation and exploration of its initiative system. I was very excited to try Daggerheart’s “lack of initiative initiative,” which is a bit of a misnomer. Daggerheart does have an initiative system, it’s just not like the ones you’re probably used to. I’m here to rep...

Today I’ll share the top 10 most-played tabletop RPGs right now. There are some surprises in this list, at least to me. I’ll also begin my series of episodes exploring the new RPG, Daggerheart, by talking a bit about what I like about it and why I’m excited to run it. I’ll compare and contrast DH with D&D, Pathfinder, and Numenera. ...

In this episode I discuss running D&D and other RPGs at high level. It’s often not as fun as we think it’ll be, especially for the GM. A lot of the issues with high level play and advancement are baked into the games, but sometimes we as GMs make the situation even worse through our approach. I talk about some ways to handle powerful PCs as a G...

This week I have a roundtable discussion with players from my D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars, that recently ended. Brett, Craig, and Sam join me to discuss our experiences with the end of the campaign, both as players and GM. We talk about our experience with having a character who goes evil within a good aligned party. There’s a lot that can go ...

This week I have a roundtable discussion with players from my D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars, that recently ended. Brett, Craig, and Sam join me to discuss our experiences with D&D at high level, both as players and GM. If there’s a sweet spot for D&D level-wise, what is it? We also talk a bit about what we’d really like to see from...

This week I have a roundtable discussion with players from my D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars, that recently ended. Brett, Craig, and Sam join me to discuss our experiences with D&D at high level, both as players and GM. We also talk about what it was like to bring a new player into a campaign toward the end, when the PCs are all high level. Finally...

The final session of our D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars. The final battle at the World Axis continues. Aided by the many allies they’ve made throughout their adventures, the PCs fight for the survival of Primordia itself. Together they will make a decision that changes Primordia forever. This is part 2 of the session.

The final session of our D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars. The final battle at the World Axis continues. Aided by the many allies they’ve made throughout their adventures, the PCs fight for the survival of Primordia itself. Together they will make a decision that changes Primordia forever.

Our D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars, continues. This week the final battle at the World Axis continues. Aided by the many allies they’ve made throughout their adventures, the PCs fight for the survival of Primordia itself. They are now level 17. This is part 2 of the session.

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Our D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars, continues. This week the final battle at the World Axis continues. Aided by the many allies they’ve made throughout their adventures, the PCs fight for the survival of Primordia itself. They are now level 17.

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