GM resource
Session zero for Daggerheart
Set expectations, tone, and table agreements. Session zero for Daggerheart sets the table before the dice matter: agree on tone (hopeful heroic fantasy), safety boundaries, and what each player wants from the game.
Checklist
- Talk through tone and boundaries: how hard the table wants to lean into what makes Daggerheart distinct (hopeful heroic fantasy).
- Walk the group through the core roll mechanic together so nobody is guessing at the table: Daggerheart resolves rolls with Duality Dice: roll two d12s (one Hope die, one Fear die), add your trait modifier, and compare to a Difficulty. Which die rolls higher colors the outcome, succeeding with Hope builds your resources, while Fear feeds the GM's.
- Collect character concepts and connect them to each other before the first scene.
- Agree on logistics (session length, cadence) and which safety tools the table will use.
Common pitfalls
- Skipping the tone talk and hitting a mismatch mid-campaign
- Running session zero as pure character creation with no table agreements
- No shared safety-tool agreement before the first high-intensity scene