Daggerheart vs Mythras
Compare Daggerheart and Mythras side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Daggerheart | Mythras | |
|---|---|---|
| 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, Tactical, Simulation, Character Building, Deadly, Sandbox |
| 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 d100 under your skill percentage. In combat, degree of success vs. opponent determines Special Effects: tactical maneuvers like Disarm, Trip, Bypass Armor, and Bleed. Action Points govern actions per round, damage applies to hit locations. |
| Dice | 2d12 | d100 |
| Complexity | Medium | High |
| Accessibility | Very High | High |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | Darrington Press Community Gaming License (DPCGL) | ORC |
| Cost | $$$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Darrington Press | The Design Mechanism |
| 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 gritty, tactical, and realistic combat in a skill-based percentile system, particularly for historical, mythic, or low-fantasy settings. |
| 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. | Tactical Special Effects combat system, classless skill-based progression, five distinct magic systems, adaptable to many genres, free intro version (Mythras Imperative) |
| 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. | Steep learning curve for combat, analysis paralysis when choosing effects, large combats become unwieldy, lengthy character creation |