Daggerheart - Cooperative World Building - April 19, 2026

April 19 at 1PM at Meanwhile Coffee

Also come roll some dice at Reston Plays Games where we will be teaching:

Overview

Daggerheart is a heroic fantasy TTRPG from Darrington Press (the publishing arm of Critical Role) and it was built from the ground up around one idea: everyone at the table is a co-author of the story, not just a visitor to the GM's world.

It sits in a comfortable middle ground between crunchy combat-forward systems like D&D or Pathfinder and freeform narrative games like those in the Powered by the Apocalypse family. The classes, ancestries, weapons, and leveling feel familiar, but the philosophy underneath is something quite different.

The Duality Dice

Every action roll in Daggerheart uses two d12s. One is your Hope Die, the other is your Fear Die. You add both together to beat a difficulty, but which one rolled higher is just as important as the total.

When the Hope Die is higher, you roll with Hope (win or lose), you gain a Hope token. When the Fear Die is higher, you roll with Fear (win or lose), the GM gains a Fear token. The GM can spend these on complications, enemy actions, and escalating the scene. When both dice match, it's a Critical Success regardless of the total. This is meant to create a moment of pure heroism.

This means there's no such thing as a neutral roll. Every dice throw shifts something. A failed roll doesn't just mean "nothing happens" - it means the story moved, the stakes changed, or a new problem arrived. As the rulebook puts it, "Story is consequence."

Conversation Instead of Procedure

The core of how Daggerheart plays is a back-and-forth between the GM and players that feels less like a standard procedure and more like a collaborative brainstorm. The GM sets a scene, players ask questions, and the table works together to help build the scene. The GM turns this around and asks players to define things too. What does your character's hometown look like? How did you learn to move so quietly? What do you notice about this place that the others might miss?

All of these collaborations become part of the world. That's the design.

Combat works the same way. There's no set initiative order, no strict turn structure, and no fixed number of actions per round. Fights play out narratively — the spotlight moves to whoever it makes sense to focus on, players coordinate in real time, and the GM spends Fear to give enemies their moments. The idea is to allow scenes to occur dynamically, though there are actions, options, and suggestions to help make sure every player participates. Players who aren't locked into a turn are free to look for creative solutions, help each other, or find a way out of a fight entirely.

Encouraging GMs to be Facilitators

In most traditional TTRPGs, the GM builds the world and the players explore it. Daggerheart flips that assumption. The GM's job here is to facilitate a world that gets built by everyone at the table, session by session.

The rulebook actively warns against overplanning — the game works better when the GM prepares situations to explore rather than scripted scenes to execute. Player creativity isn't a deviation from the plan; it is the plan. The GM's Fear resource reinforces this: it has to be earned through play, it's meant to be spent freely, and hoarding it is explicitly called out as a pitfall to avoid.

This encourages the GM spend their time listening, connecting player interactions, and adapting events to build the story everyone at the table is telling.

When players do something unexpected (and every GM knows they will), the response isn't to steer them back on track. It's to read the energy of the table, embrace the new direction, and build on it.

Techniques and Tricks for Telling Better Stories

The Mystic Arts Youtube Channel provides tips and tricks for running better games. These two videos will help provide some tips on how to build better adventures.

Collectible Pin

1 x Limited Series 1 Coffee Goblin Pin for Attendees that Purchase a Drink.

Buy any drink during the event and receive a free Limited Series 1 Pin featuring our smiling Coffee Goblin mascot — yours to wear proudly as a first edition adventurer of Espressos & Epics. Supplies are limited, so sip early!

Player Handouts and Links

Quickstart Pregen Characters (Free in the official quickstart adventure)
- Build your own using the base characters, or use one of these.
Official Character Sheets and Character Guides (Free to Download and Print)
- Character Sheets, Character Creation Guides, and Extras!
Old Gus' Daggerheart System Reference Document (Free but only SRD Content)
- The complete Daggerheart SRD in a digital format, that will help you understand the game.
DHTools - Daggerheart Tools and Information
- Free fan-made content for learning the game and helping you run it.
The Official Daggerheart Character Builder ( Partially Free, but full content requires purchase)
- The Official Character Builder hosted by Demiplane.