We recommend following these principles when engaging with Daggerheart as a player to get the most out of the system.

• Be a fan of your character and their journey.
• Spotlight your friends.
• Address the characters and address the players.
• Build the world together.
• Play to find out what happens.
• Hold on gently.

Be a Fan of Your Character and Their Journey

Find ways to show off what your character does best and what they do worst. Strive to make interesting choices and learn more about who they are through play. Push your character’s story forward and let them grow with the fiction.

Spotlight Your Friends

Look for opportunities to put other characters in the spotlight. Provide them openings to do what they do best, ask them for help and offer yours freely, and prompt them to share more of their thoughts and feelings.

Address the Characters and Address the Players

Speak to the other characters within the world of the fiction. Lean on the connections you build together, ask them questions, and create a story using your conversations as well as your actions.

Speak to the other players outside of the fiction. Ask them what their character might do and what they want to see happen in the narrative. As you play, be considerate of their preferences and desires.

Build the World Together

In Daggerheart, every participant is a storyteller, not just the GM. Daggerheart is a highly collaborative game and reaches its greatest potential when every player (including the GM) is working together. This means actively advocating for the story beats you want to see, offering suggestions to enrich the arcs of the other player characters, creating parts of the world with others at the table, and thinking deeply about your character’s motivations.

Play to Find Out What Happens

Everything you do at the table should flow from the fiction. Listen to your fellow players and the GM—then react to what their characters say and do to discover the story together as you build on each other’s creativity. If you roll the dice, let the results lead you through what happens next. Embrace complications with the same vigor with which you celebrate victories.

Hold on Gently

Improvisational storytelling isn’t always perfect, and that’s okay. Hold on gently to the fiction—enough that you don’t lose the pieces that matter, but not so tightly that the narrative has no room to breathe. Let yourself make mistakes and make changes. Smooth the edges and shape them to fit the story. Even if the story beats don’t go the way you expect or a sudden twist catches you by surprise, trust that the GM and your fellow players will all create something beautiful and memorable by the end.

Following these principles will help guide you in telling exciting, unpredictable, and meaningful stories together at your table.