I have a very weird memory, or… I mean shit, I don't know. Let me tell you how it works and you tell me if it's weird. My memories go back very far and include a full sensorium. When I was two years old I got out of our apartment and tried to cross the street in front of our house. I can be there anytime I want! I don't really want to, though. My earliest memories are strange because everyone is so big. My grudges are, as a result, legendary - the crime was always five seconds ago. So, I can get older, but I have all these save points where I have varying levels of experience. I hope it doesn't make me more vulnerable to nostalgia, but when do I ever get what I want?!?
We had the best episode of Acquisitions Incorporated in a long time, taking Daggerheart for a spin with long-time "gamemasters" Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins - the powerful ettin called Jerris Crawkins. Jeremy ran it, but Chris was absolutely there in spirit because the game itself takes place in a completely unique setting we've all been making together. I never knew long term what Chris and Jeremy leaving Wizards would mean for the game we've been playing for over fifteen years, and most of the outcomes made me sad. This does not make me sad.
I've played all kinds of RPGs, and still do, so I can see some of the scaffold underneath Daggerheart and recognize the craft - it's like a core sample of where a lot of Indie roleplaying is at at this exact moment, with some really fundamental directives that shaped it. Being from Darrington Press, the publishing wing of the Critical Role Imperium, I woulda thought its purpose would be to support rules-light, vibes-based video content - and the OGL Debacle demanded action. Instead of the lithe indie pamphlet, of the baller, throwback, "dark cozy" of the Old School Renaissance, it's got a savoury almost boardgame quality - a rich action economy fueled by a currency you farm from dice. It also thinks hard about what a gamemaster might want - an ironically underserved segment. They get a whole game back there of their own, juiced by the same dice.
The live game is currently on their Beacon service for another week or so, but then it'll materialize everywhere with production goodies like superior subtitles from their incredibly nice back of house team. I don't know where it goes from here but I'm incredibly excited to find out, and I'm excited to bring you along.
One of the crazier bits of this game was that Matt Mercer - yes, that one - played my character's son, Bode. I have had many opportunities over the last three decades or so to meet all kinds of people with one foot in the mortal world, and one foot in the odd kind of public life that comes along with being a Known Quantity. It's not enough to say that Matt is cool. He is cool. It's more correct, however, to say that he is who you hoped he would be. He's that, too.
(CW)TB out.
