Daggerheart vs Smallville Roleplaying Game
Compare Daggerheart and Smallville Roleplaying Game side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Daggerheart | Smallville Roleplaying Game | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Superhero, Modern |
| Tags | Narrative, Collaborative, Fiction-First, Character Building, Character-Driven, Drama, Combat-Heavy, Resource Management, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Strong GM Support | Licensed IP, Superpowers, Character-Driven, Drama, Narrative, Collaborative, Worldbuilding, Roleplay-Heavy, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Strong GM Support |
| Core Mechanic | Players roll two d12s, add a trait and modifiers, and meet or beat a Difficulty to succeed. The higher die grants the player Hope or gives the GM Fear, even when the action succeeds. Matching dice produce a critical success. Adversary attacks use d20 plus a modifier against Evasion. | Roll a d4–d12 pool built from one Value and one Relationship, with an Asset die if applicable. Add the two highest dice. Dice showing 1 are Complications and never count. Plot Points can add dice to the pool before the roll or include more rolled dice in the total afterward. Tests normally pit your roll against the GM's Trouble pool. Ties go to the GM. Contests exchange action and reaction rolls until someone Gives In or fails to beat the previous total and takes Stress. Giving In concedes the opponent's demand but avoids Stress. |
| Dice | 2d12, d20 | d4–d12 dice pool |
| Complexity | Medium | Medium |
| Availability | Free core rules | Out of print |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | Darrington Press Community Gaming License (DPCGL 2.0) | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Community gaming license | No verified route found |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Darrington Press | Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. |
| Year | 2025 | 2010 |
| Languages | English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese | English |
| Best For | Groups who want fantasy campaigns built around character relationships and changing ability loadouts. Battles suit tables that share the spotlight without a fixed initiative order. | Groups who want superhero stories driven by relationship drama, where the player characters' convictions and loyalties clash with each other as often as they face villains. |
| Highlights | Hope can activate character abilities or add a backstory-based Experience to a roll. Players share the spotlight freely until a failure, a Fear result, or GM intervention shifts it. Each class combines two domains into a loadout of up to five active ability cards. | Challenging a Drive triples its die for one roll but steps it back for the episode, turning a crisis of conviction into Growth. Group character creation builds a shared map of people and places that supplies material for later episodes. When an opponent fails to beat your action result, they take Stress rather than concede your demand, making Giving In a separate choice. |
| Considerations | The spotlight has no fixed turns or action allotment, requiring the group to share opportunities to act. Recalling inactive domain cards outside a rest can cost Stress. Resting restores resources but also gives the GM Fear to spend on further threats. | Creating an original cast through Pathways takes a few hours of group work before the first episode. Episode preparation centers on conflicts between player characters rather than a unified party's shared objective. Winning a Contest cannot kill a character by itself, because killing in a Contest requires that character's player to Give In and accept death. |