Roundup: Two Games for which the Blogosphere is Duly Hype

Detailing two very different games and their surrounding bloghype, with some other blog posts rounded up for good measure

In olden times, big budget films would get a promotional treatment quite foreign to the movies of today that live a week in theaters (if they’re lucky) before being added to the ever-hungry gaping maw of streaming services. I’m talking about the traveling roadshow theatrical release, where they would go from town to town with the film, showing it to get buzz before a wider release. That sort of thing probably wouldn’t work for movies in the immediacy of our modern, online world. But you know what they seem to work for? Maybe tabletop RPGs.

It is one such game that is getting something akin to a traveling roadshow pre-release that is giving all who play it Wizard Madness and all who haven’t settle for Wizard Envy. The game is Seven-Part Pact, the next opus from Jay Dragon. The Many Sided Newsletter wrote about The Joys of Being Overwhelmed, Old Men Running the World called it “the First Actual GM-Full Game”, and Dr. Em Friedman provided a Guide to Organizing a Seven-Part Pact playtest. These all roused my appetite, but my wizard envy was truly roused by my surprisingly youthful pal at A Knight at the Opera in another multi-part (but not seven-part, sadly) series detailing how Time, Companions, Combat, Consequences, and Authority work in the game. The neat part about Dwiz’s series is that he details ways the innovations from Seven-Part Pact can be brought to bear in other games. It is probably the sprawling nature of the game, as if it were an elephant being witnessed by several blinded participants who think they are interacting with a snake or a tree-trunk, that most appeals to me, but I am also intrigued by how it incorporates so many elements from modern board games in its design. There is much that board games can learn from TTRPGs and vice versa, and ultimately the distinctions between the two categories are hazier than is commonly believed. I suppose once the Seven-Part Pact rolls into my backwater, I too will be consumed with Wizard Madness and blog about it. So, this likely isn’t the last you will hear on this front.

The other big game that is attempting something very different but getting a lot of blogging buzz is Daggerheart, the team at Critical Role’s attempt to dethrone D&D while it is a state of decay after the mixed (to be kind) reception to its latest edition. I actually played an early form of it back in January and came away from the experience surprisingly impressed. Now that it is out (and apparently also sold out), it is being talked about more widely. The Walking Mind asked What to do with Daggerheart and provided some answers and also provided Their Read on Daggerheart. Unboxed Cereal did not review Daggerheart, although they didn’t not review it either. Dozens and Dragons unpacked their (mostly positive) First Impressions of Daggerheart. But 1999 A.D. was less positive in their Dumping on Daggerheart. Just yesterday, the blogosphere’s reviewer of record, Playful Void, Read Daggerheart and…she liked it. So the POSR blogs like both Seven-Party Pact and Daggerheart?! That’s only surprising if you aren’t super familiar with the state of the play culture in 2025.

For my own ever-forthcoming, ever-in-progress game, I have not yet decided whether I will do an international roadshow tour like Seven-Part Pact or if I will simply create the next mega-streaming sensation, hire the lead designers of the latest edition of D&D, and market Prismatic Wasteland off the backs of that notoriety. Both valid options, both very doable. What I have decided, and detailed in my Advantage by Default post, is that I am going to bake in an ability to get Advantage on rolls very easily, to reward being under-encumbered, not just punishing being over-encumbered. Another tool I use when using any system with difficulty classes is to declare the DC before the players roll. The Drolleries blog agrees and lays out solid reasoning for this method in Always Tell Me the Odds. This Vorpal Coil and Bommyknocker Press are fiddling with dice mechanics in different (but neat) ways with (respectively) The Dice Bank and Die Drop or Drop Dead. Both are worth looking at and, if they strike your fancy, stealing for your owl sinister designs.

Speaking of my blog, it is nominated for an Ennie and Prismatic Wisdom (based on the blog) is also nominated for an Ennie. Voting has not started as of this posting, but during the week of voting, I will be blogging like I’m being paid to do it, in the hopes that you’ll remember to toss a vote or two my way. It won’t be just begging either, I am just going to unleash a furry of bona fide posts on the blog and here on the substack. Stay tuned, mother fuckers (said appreciatively and respectfully).