Today Darrington Press, the publishing arm of Critical Role, officially launched the open beta playtest for Daggerheart, an original fantasy tabletop roleplaying game set to release in 2025. From March 12 through the summer, playtesters aged 18 and above are encouraged to create characters, immerse themselves in the game, dissect its components, and provide honest and open feedback through online surveys on the Daggerheart website.
“Daggerheart is not a finished product yet, and in order to get there, we need people to play it and break it. No, seriously!” said Lead Game Designer Spenser Starke. “This phase of playtesting will help us gather the much needed information from YOU to create the best game possible, and we need your help to do that.”
Daggerheart is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game of brave heroics and vibrant worlds that are built together with your gaming group. Create a shared story with your adventuring party, and shape your world through rich, long-term campaign play. When it’s time for the game mechanics to control fate, players roll one HOPE die and one FEAR die (both 12-sided dice), which will ultimately impact the outcome for your characters. This duality between the forces of hope and fear on every hero drives the unique character-focused narratives in Daggerheart.
In addition to dice, Daggerheart’s card system makes it easy to get started and satisfying to grow your abilities by bringing your characters’ background and capabilities to your fingertips. Ancestry and Community cards describe where you come from and how your experience shapes your customs and values. Meanwhile, your Subclass and Domain cards grant your character plenty of tantalizing abilities to choose from as your character evolves. Craft your unique character through the cards you choose and the story you tell, and become the hero you want to be!
Daggerheart’s Open Beta Playtesting has three ways for people to participate:
- At Home: Download playtest packets from Daggerheart.com or DriveThruRPG and play the game at home.
- Digital Playtest: A character creation tool in partnership with Demiplane, set to host the Daggerheart NEXUS for playtesting materials.
- In-Person Playtest: Select Darrington Press Guild stores will be offered physical playtesting packets to host playtesting sessions at their store.
As part of the Daggerheart Open Beta Playtest launch, and in celebration of their 9th anniversary, Critical Role is rolling out multiple exciting pieces of content, including deep dives into Daggerheart, further details on how to play, and more throughout the day on Critical Role’s Twitch (twitch.tv/criticalrole) and YouTube (youtube.com/criticalrole) channels. And to wrap up this exciting day, the cast of Critical Role will be playtesting Daggerheart live at 7pm Pacific!
For more information on how to participate in the Daggerheart Open Beta Playtest, visit daggerheart.com.