Some say players accumulate hope much faster than the referee does fear, which could be a huge problem and destroy any challenge as players "pile on" with buckets of hope points. As a referee, going into a boss fight with a few fear points could mean the encounter would be a cakewalk for the players.
I feel part of this comes from not knowing the game, and referees feeling they need to "spend fear" to make a move, which the rules are clear on:
GMs also make moves. They should consider making a move when a player does one of the following things:
- Rolls with Fear on an action roll.
- Fails an action roll.
- Does something that would have consequences.
- Gives them a golden opportunity.
- Looks to them for what happens next.
After the GM's turn is done, the spotlight goes back to the PCs.
- Daggerheart SRD, page 37
Rolls with fear or ANY failure (RWF/F)? The GM gets the spotlight. The rules say, "consider making a move," which is bad advice. Make a move! Do not slack on taking enemy action when ANY player RWF or fails. If you are not forcing enemy attacks each and every time a player RWF/F, you are gimping your fights. If that purple die is ever higher than the yellow, someone in the party is getting whacked.
While RWF gets the referee a fear point, a failure does not, but both give the GM a chance to make a move. Take them. Don't be soft on this, since this will be the majority of the opposition's action budget.
How do you spend fear?
Spend a Fear to:
- Interrupt the players to steal the spotlight and make a move
- Make an additional GM move
- Use an adversary’s Fear Feature
- Use an environment’s Fear Feature
- Add an adversary’s Experience to a roll
- Daggerheart SRD, page 64
By spending fear, you can steal the spotlight, but you should be getting it on 50% of player rolls anyway, just due to chance. Also, remember, while resting, the referee accumulates fear. Spending fear to steal the spotlight should be a last resort, or saved for killing blows or other moments. The clever play is making a second move (or more) by spending a fear point, which means multiple enemies go on your spotlight turn.
Do not give the players any slack. Attack every chance you can get.
And don't burn your fear resource a few encounters ahead of the boss fight.
However, do not think that the only time the GM gets the spotlight is by spending fear. You are missing a massive part of the intended action economy. However, if people are correct and fear points are scarce, then using an adversary's special attacks and environmental features will not be feasible. The challenge will be negatively affected by a random factor.
I wonder if it was a great idea to narratively limit the referee's power using an artificial resource. The referee is busy enough running Daggerheart and keeping the puppet strings, making things work, and spending "referee points" to "make things happen," when in other games the referee can simply "just do it anyway," seems strange. It makes the game harder to run, and now the referee must balance encounters, run the narrative, communicate the environment, manage NPCs, reference rules, run combat, and manage a resource pool.

This is where the Cypher System excels. As a GM, I am not spending pool points to trip a boss's special attack; those are written into the monster. Monsters have their "boss attacks" used as GM Intrusions. I am not spending a limited resource to make a boss attack, as I can just call for a GM Intrusion for that monster, hand out XP to the players, and make it happen. Yes, I am handing out "free XP," but that XP can be handed back to refuse GM Intrusions, including boss monster attacks.
How many GM Intrusions do you have? They are infinite, but you are handing out XP with each one. With Player Intrusions, the players need to spend an XP to trigger them, and the referee has the final say (which protects the narrative and balance of the game).
Cypher's GM Intrusions are not "referee points." This is what being a referee is all about: rewarding players who take on extra adversity, while giving them more than enough XP to deal with it and push back.
Cypher System's narrative economy is easier, cleaner, and does not rely on tracking resources and generation by the players. It does not depend on random chance, and players do not make rolls to generate referee currency. Referees have no currency in Cypher; heck, they don't even have dice.
You call for a GM Intrusion when it is narratively correct, see if a player spends XP to refuse, and if they agree, you hand out the XP and tell them what happens next.
You keep playing.
The players are the only ones tracking pools, XP, health levels, and resources.
All a referee focuses on is the story.
Dragonbane is also great when it comes to boss monsters. They roll on a random chart every time they act. This can be solo-played very easily. You don't need narrative pools, just your imagination. This is a more traditional game than Cypher System or Daggerheart, but it also shows that you can use a random system to trigger boss attacks and have the game work correctly in the narrative.
I don't need a fear point to activate a dragon's breath weapon; all I need is the fear of not rolling it again.
Daggerheart remains a solid game, boasting numerous innovative mechanics. Other games excel in areas like narrative play. Others are more mechanical. One is not generally better than the other; each must be considered in light of a group's preferences, play style, and whether the game assembles enough interesting elements to make it compelling.
For mechanics, it is Dragonbane for me.
For narrative, it is Cypher System.
Daggerheart, I need to feel out whether this can be played solo at all, or if it's more of a group experience, like Pathfinder 2. Daggerheart is more of a collection of good things. If all these blend well and appeal to you, then great! This is your game. If other games do things better and would be a better fit for groups that like different styles, I will say so.
Be cautious about relying solely on limited reports of play and forming your opinion of the game based on them. Some groups could be playing the game wrong, report something wildly incorrect, and you will get a group of people online adopting false information as their opinion.
Play the game, and make up your own mind.
I return to the Daggerheart SRD, a free resource, and since it lacks art, it can serve as a more effective "quick resource" for rules. The page numbers in the index are significantly off in the current version, and I hope they will be corrected soon.
Yes, I can see how "going into a boss fight with limited fear" can be a problem, and the game tells GMs to spend "fast, often, and big." Also, don't let players make rolls for every little stupid thing. If the die roll has no meaning or impact, just "say they do it." Move the narrative along, and don't roll for every silly thing! This will freeze pool generation, but it will still reach the parts of the game where it matters when it is being generated.
If there is no consequence of failure, don't roll.
Also, think twice before setting a target number of 10 or lower. Do you really need to make this roll? Just give it to them! Most of your critical die rolls should be a target number of 15 or higher.
The action, "walk quickly across a narrow beam," is rated as a difficulty 10 agility roll. Most of the time, if the players were not under threat, had no arrows flying at them, and were not in a hurry, I would never roll for that. Yes, there is a "consequence" of "falling into the river," but I will ask you, "Is that really a consequence if nothing is going on around them?"
What does it matter? Someone gets wet?
So what?
No real consequence, no die roll is needed, no hope and fear generation; move on, I do not care.
Do not get "die roll happy" with this game. Be stingy when you ask for dice rolls. Keep them essential and impactful.
Also, there is this rule in the SRD:
If there’s a rule you’d rather ignore or modify, feel free to implement any change with your table’s consent.
- Daggerheart SRD, page 3
If your bosses are getting rolled over, simply consider adding a rule where the referee receives a d4 of fear when a boss encounter starts. If the players agree, then the problem is solved. They don't want cakewalks any more than you.