Daggerheart vs Dice & Glory
Compare Daggerheart and Dice & Glory side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Daggerheart | Dice & Glory | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy, Universal |
| Play Style | Narrative, Collaborative, Heroic, Roleplay-Heavy, Fiction-First, Theater of the Mind, Character Building, Drama, Beginner-Friendly, Character-Driven | Crunchy, Toolkit, Character Building, Simulation, Tactical, Freeform Magic, Superhero |
| Core Mechanic | 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 Check: roll d20 plus a skill modifier (skill rank + attribute + miscellaneous) and meet or beat a difficulty the GM sets. Standard difficulties run from 10 for easy to 35 for impossible. Attack rolls and saving throws use the same d20, though an attack must also beat the target's Agility Class. A natural 20 is a critical success and a natural 1 a critical failure. |
| Dice | 2d12 | d20 |
| Complexity | Medium | Very High |
| Accessibility | Very High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | High |
| License | Darrington Press Community Gaming License (DPCGL) | All Rights Reserved |
| Cost | Free | $ |
| Publisher | Darrington Press | Ranger Games Publishing |
| Year | 2025 | 2014 |
| Best For | 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. | Rules-comfortable groups building a long campaign from scratch, who would rather engineer a spell or a fighting style than choose one from a list. |
| Highlights | 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. | Experience points work as a currency rather than a level track, so an attribute increase and an extra attack come off the same price list. The core book contains no spell list, so a spell is built from its method and effect and then developed with money and time. Knockout points absorb nonlethal damage while weapons bypass them for hit points, so beating an opponent unconscious and killing them are different outcomes. |
| Considerations | 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. | Task resolution switches between high-roll d20 checks and roll-under percentile proficiencies, so two scales run side by side. Spells and superhuman powers are built rather than chosen from a list, so two characters of the same level can differ widely in practical capability. Power scale needs policing: fantasy, superheroic, divine, and modern technology all run on one framework. |