Daggerheart vs No Thank You, Evil!
Compare Daggerheart and No Thank You, Evil! side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Daggerheart | No Thank You, Evil! | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Narrative, Collaborative, Heroic, Roleplay-Heavy, Fiction-First, Theater of the Mind, Character Building, Drama, Beginner-Friendly, Character-Driven | Beginner-Friendly, Family, Rules-Light, Narrative, Collaborative, Low-Prep |
| 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. | Simplified Cypher System: roll d6 vs. difficulty number (1–6). Spend points from pools (Tough, Fast, Smart, Awesome) to lower difficulty. Character sentences scale by age: 'I'm a Noun' (age 5+), 'I'm an Adjective Noun' (age 6+), 'I'm an Adjective Noun who Verbs' (age 8+). Every character has a Companion with a one-use Cypher power. Any player can shout 'No Thank You, Evil!' to instantly end a scary encounter. |
| Dice | 2d12 | d6 |
| Complexity | Medium | Very Low |
| Accessibility | Very High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Low |
| License | Darrington Press Community Gaming License (DPCGL) | Proprietary |
| Cost | $$$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Darrington Press | Monte Cook Games |
| Year | 2025 | 2015 |
| 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. | Families with kids aged 5 and up who want a structured, supportive introduction to tabletop RPGs in a whimsical setting. |
| 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. | Three complexity tiers scale character sentences by age (5+, 6+, 8+), built-in safety mechanic lets any player end a scary encounter, every character has a Companion with a one-use Cypher power, uses simplified Cypher System rules as a gateway to Numenera and The Strange |
| 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. | Designed for ages 5–12 with limited mechanical depth for older players, d6 vs. difficulty 1–6 resolution has narrow outcome range, setting is locked to the whimsical land of Storia, no advancement system beyond the three-tier sentence structure |