Daggerheart vs Legend of the Elements
Compare Daggerheart and Legend of the Elements side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Daggerheart | Legend of the Elements | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Narrative, Collaborative, Heroic, Roleplay-Heavy, Fiction-First, Theater of the Mind, Character Building, Drama, Beginner-Friendly, Character-Driven | Narrative, Playbook-Driven, Beginner-Friendly, Cinematic |
| 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. | Roll 2d6 + stat. On 10+ you succeed fully, on 7–9 you succeed with a cost or complication, on 6- the MC makes a move. Five stats (Natural, Hot, Solid, Keen, Fluid) map to elemental temperaments. Chi and Chakras fuel supernatural abilities; Oaths and Respect drive character relationships. |
| Dice | 2d12 | 2d6 |
| Complexity | Medium | Low |
| Accessibility | Very High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Medium |
| License | Darrington Press Community Gaming License (DPCGL) | All Rights Reserved |
| Cost | $$$ | $ |
| Publisher | Darrington Press | The Logbook Project |
| Year | 2025 | 2016 |
| 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. | Groups who want to play Avatar: The Last Airbender-style supernatural martial arts stories with elemental bending, oaths, and chi. |
| 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. | Designed for Avatar-style elemental fantasy, wide playbook selection (15+ including sub-playbooks), Chi/Chakra economy adds depth beyond standard PbtA, accessible to new players |
| 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. | Very niche: requires buy-in to the wuxia/elemental genre, tightly coupled to its specific tone, MC section is dense for first-time PbtA GMs |