Beyond the Wall vs Daggerheart
Compare Beyond the Wall and Daggerheart side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Beyond the Wall | Daggerheart | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Beginner-Friendly, Low-Prep, Collaborative, Character-Driven, Classic Fantasy, Low-Fantasy, One-Shot Friendly, Ascending AC, Worldbuilding | Narrative, Collaborative, Heroic, Roleplay-Heavy, Fiction-First, Theater of the Mind, Character Building, Drama, Beginner-Friendly, Character-Driven |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 + modifiers against ascending Armor Class for attacks, and d20 under ability score for skill checks (with situational penalties). Three classes (Warrior, Rogue, Mage) with five saving throw categories. Character Playbooks generate abilities, backstory, and village details through a series of table rolls, building shared history and relationships before play begins. Scenario Packs give the GM a complete adventure framework with no advance preparation. | Roll 2d12 Duality Dice (Hope + Fear) and add modifiers vs. difficulty. Which die rolls higher determines whether the moment swings toward the players (Hope) or the GM gains Fear tokens to spend on complications. In combat, adversary attacks roll d20 + modifier against target's Evasion. |
| Dice | d20 | 2d12 |
| Complexity | Low | Medium |
| Accessibility | Medium | Very High |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | OGL 1.0a | Darrington Press Community Gaming License (DPCGL) |
| Cost | $$ | $$$ |
| Publisher | Flatland Games | Darrington Press |
| Year | 2014 | 2025 |
| Best For | Groups who want to sit down with no prep and collaboratively create a village, a cast of NPCs, and an adventure in a single evening: especially those drawn to literary fantasy in the tradition of LeGuin, Cooper, and Lloyd Alexander. | Groups who want heroic fantasy with emotionally driven storytelling, where every roll shifts momentum between hope and fear. Great for Critical Role fans and narrative-focused tables. |
| Highlights | Playbooks collaboratively build characters, backstory, and the village map in a single session. Scenario Packs provide complete adventures with zero GM prep. Fortune Points provide rerolls and cheat-death mechanics. True Name magic system adds a unique magical layer. Further Afield supplement adds sandbox campaign tools with threat packs. | Every action roll uses 2d12 Duality Dice, and whether Hope or Fear lands higher hands momentum to the player or the GM. Combat runs fiction-first with no fixed initiative, so the spotlight passes by the action rather than a turn order. Characters equip abilities as domain cards drawn from two domains, building a loadout the player can swap between. |
| Considerations | Three classes only, with limited mechanical differentiation at higher levels. Playbook-driven creation is tightly structured, leaving less room for fully custom character concepts. Designed for low-level play (levels 1–10) with a flatter power curve than most OSR games. | The domain-card system runs best with printed cards, though it can be played from the character sheet alone. Players and the GM use asymmetric rules, so each side has its own procedures to learn. Mechanics are tied to the game's own setting and ancestries, which takes work to reskin for another world. |