Duality Dice instead of W20
One of the biggest differences to Dungeons & Dragons is that in Daggerheart you do not roll a single W20 for your abilities. Instead, skill checks are made with two as differently looking W12 as possible – the so-called Duality Dice.
Here, one W12 represents hope and the other represents fear. If you have to succeed in a skill or attack roll, you always roll both W12 and add the result to your respective modifier. And now comes the twist: Depending on which of the two dice has the higher number, you get a different narrative outcome.
There are the following variants of how a situation can turn out:
- Success with the higher number on the hope die: Good result and roll succeeded
- For example, the person you are trying to convince gives you all the information you need
- Success with the higher number on the fear die: Roll succeeded, but there is a catch
- Here, the person you are trying to convince may give you the information, but not without compensation or it might be incomplete
- Failure with the higher number on the hope die: Failure, but there is still something positive
- The person does not give you the information, but perhaps a hint on how to proceed otherwise
- Failure with the higher number on the fear die: Failure and there is an additional negative effect
- The person does not give you the information and ensures that you can’t get it anywhere else either
- Double with the same number on both dice: Critical success and best possible outcome of the situation
- The person gives you the information and additional assistance with your problem
This way, you already get noticeable nuances in gameplay that you incorporate into your storytelling. This automatically gives both players and game masters more incentive to tell the story more vividly and brings an additional flow to the game. But even outside of the rolls, hope and fear have a significant importance in the game.
