Daggerheart: Hope & Fear Expansion Explained w/ Spenser Starke & Rowan Hall

“A game for everyone is a game for no one.” That’s the design principle Spencer Starke and Rowan Hall brought to Daggerheart: Hope & Fear, the first major expansion for the fantasy TTRPG published by Darrington Press. In this conversation, they walk through the decisions behind the new Dread domain, the warlock class, the transformation system, and the campaign frames—all while explaining how they keep the game streamlined, collaborative, and true to its heroic fantasy roots.

The Expansion’s Origin: Community Demand and Cut Content

Hope & Fear wasn’t the original plan. After Daggerheart’s core release, the team had a different roadmap, but player enthusiasm changed their priorities. “We had the amazing champagne problem of having to kind of change our plans,” Starke says. The expansion became a “core expansion”—a book with offerings for everyone, including a new domain, two new classes, transformations, campaign frames, and adversaries.

Much of the content came from ideas that didn’t fit the core book. The core’s page count was constrained by the weight of the ink, which affected international shipping costs. “There had to be so much cut from the core book,” Starke explains. “I like to have more and then decide what the best stuff is.” The cut material was iterated on until it reached the quality the team expected, then released in Hope & Fear.