Chapter Two: Playing an Adventure¶

In this chapter, we'll cover what you need to know as a player to start your adventure, including the core mechanics, combat, levelling up, equipment, and a few optional rules you can add to your game.

Flow of the Game¶

In a session of Daggerheart, you and the other players go around the table describing what your characters do in the fictional circumstances that the GM sets up, building on each other's ideas and working together to tell an exciting story. The mechanics of the game help facilitate this conversation, providing structure to the discussion and a way to resolve moments when there are several exciting possibilities for what happens next.

Everyone at the table should ask questions and integrate the answers into the game. As a player, you'll often ask clarifying questions about the scene: "Are there any guards outside the door?" or "What kind of weapon are they holding?" or "Can I jump across the gap safely?" The GM might answer questions directly: "There are four guards outside the door," or "They're wielding longswords." They might also ask you to roll to determine the answer: "It's raining and dark, so let's see how well you jump the gap. Give me an Agility Roll, Difficulty 11."

In turn, the GM asks you questions and builds on those answers to create the fiction: "You are you able to sneak around this building so carefully?" or "What does the camp you set up look like?" or "You've found a way to safely scramble up the wall—what made your climb easier than you anticipated?" This back and forth creates a collaborative conversation where everyone can meaningfully contribute to the fiction.

For those familiar with roleplaying games, the flow of the game might come naturally, but if you're new to this experience, it might not. The following steps outline an example of the gameplay loop that drives every session. This gameplay loop will be described in more detail in the upcoming sections.

Step 1: The GM Narrates Details¶

The GM lays out a scene, describing the surroundings, dangers, NPCs, and any important elements the characters would notice immediately.

Step 2: The Players and GM Ask Questions¶

The players ask questions to explore the scene in more depth, gathering information to help them decide their characters' actions. When appropriate, the GM can ask the players to describe elements of a scene, leaving their own influence on the world.

Step 3: The Players and GM Answer Questions¶

The GM responds to these questions by giving the players information their characters can easily obtain. The players also respond to any questions the GM poses to them. If they want more insight than what is readily available, the GM informs players what die roll or action they must make to obtain more information.

Step 4: Choose and Resolve Actions¶

As the GM describes the scene and provides information, they lead the players to opportunities to take action—problems to solve, obstacles to overcome, mysteries to investigate, and so on. As the players pursue these opportunities, the GM helps facilitate their characters' actions, and everyone works together to move the fiction forward based on the outcome. If the players aren't compelled into action right away, the GM continues to provide more details, conflict, or consequences until they are.

Step 5: Repeat the Cycle¶

Because the scene has changed in some way, this process repeats from the beginning.

Example Interaction¶

A noble just caught Nolan's character, Lavelle, trying to steal an important letter from their bag in a busy market square at the center of town.

"How many guards did you say this noble had?" Nolan asks Stella, the GM.

"Two right there with him, and you suspect that there's another two out-of-uniform and back in the crowd."

"Great. I'm by an alley, right? I want to book off and find a place to climb up to the rooftop before anyone can catch me."

"Sure thing," Stella says. Based on the situation, she decides that Nolan doesn't need to roll for Lavelle to accomplish what they want to do. "You're fast, and thankfully the noble is the one who spotted you, not the guards—so you can scramble up without a roll. The guards will be following you, though, and once you're on the roof, they're going to draw their crossbows and start shooting."

Nolan asks, "How close are the buildings? Could I leap into the next building's roof?"

"They're not that far apart," Stella says. "Certainly not wider than what you're used to from growing up in Dawnvale. That'd be an Agility Roll to escape across the rooftops. But heads up—if you don't succeed here, you'll probably take some serious damage from the fall. It's a long way down." Lavelle has a +2 Agility, and Nolan spends a Hope to use Lavelle's Scoundrel Experience, adding a +2 bonus to the roll to make the leap.

"I know it's dangerous, but I've done this kind of jump before." Nolan gathers 4 character tokens to represent his Agility and Scoundrel bonuses, then rolls his Duality Dice. The Hope Die lands on a 9 and the Fear Die lands on 4. He combines those values together—adding up to 13—then adds his 4 character tokens for a total of 17. Because the Hope Die rolled higher than his Fear Die, Nolan tells the GM, "I rolled a 17 with Hope!"

Stella nods. Nolan's total of 17 is higher than the Difficulty of 15 she had in mind, and a success with Hope means there are no negative consequences for the action. "That's more than enough to escape these guards. They're armoured and trying to take shots, but none of them get close to you—and they're not good enough at jumping to risk a fall. By the time you're two blocks away, you've completely lost them. Make sure to gain a Hope for that roll. But now you're farther away from the noble and the letter you were trying to steal from him. What do you do?"