Hope Springs Eternal

Stretch goals! Spotlight #5: The Eternal Song & Fermata
3 months ago – Wed, Jan 07, 2026 at 07:28:15 PM

Stretch goal unlocked! Another one in sight!

We've unlocked the CA$ 10k stretch goal: The Voyager's Workshop will draw us a beautiful map with our five locations, as well as other lands and features, to help inspire players and GMs.

With 12 hours to go, we are only 7 backers away from 260! This stretch goal would unlock a new illustration by Héctor for the Poisoned Roots frame similar in scope to the Wonderbeast they did for The Ever Rime. What will they draw this time? I will make three proposals and will let backers decide!

The Eternal Song & Fermata

Alexandra's other frame, the Eternal Song, has a strong musical theme and explores the role and importance of culture in a society. Players and GMs can adopt a standard party-based adventuring approach and have fun with the frame's mechanics, but engaging in its theme brings it to another level!

The land of Fermata has played host to the Eternal Song for as long as anyone can remember. Music has shaped this world, with every rest and every note, with the silent form of the Conductor leading the charge. But the music has stuttered: the notes have stopped flowing from its hands. Suddenly, the continuation of the Eternal Song has been broken. The Conductor has spoken: new notes are needed. 

The people have launched into an imperfect continuation of the melody, trying to carry on and keep life moving as routinely as they can. But much of Fermata is in a state of confusion and dangers, whether natural or not, are appearing in every corner. Players must urgently venture forth from the city of Saga in search of new notes.

• Players will acquire the required notes by visiting each of Fermata's nine communities, helping these communities, but also connecting with them and learning from them. Some features of each community are presented in the Communities section, but what form they take in Fermata should be decided through collaborative worldbuilding. Players and GMs will discover Fermata together, just like the citizens of Saga who for too long trusted in their Song and thought culture only travelled one way.
• The Dissonance mechanic, inspired by various musical concepts, will provide prompts to help players and GMs determine the issues facing the various communities, as well as effects to modify encounters (smaller ones affecting all adversaries in an encounter, and more significant ones affecting one adversary chosen by the GM). 
• The Moment of Silence mechanic replaces the Prepare downtime move with a new one to emphasize the importance of rests, of taking the time to reflect on the past and appreciate how it can resonate in the present.
• We'll keep the 4th mechanic, "Inspiring Melody, Somber Requiem", a secret for now!
• We should also mention the presence of Gemfolk: people who are made of living gemstone, of all different ancestries and gem types, and who normally resonate with the Eternal Song. Gemfolk will be available to players either as a "supplementary" ancestry or, if the SRD is updated before we go to print, as a transformation!

With the importance of this frame's worldbuilding aspect, the Fermata location will present less settlements than others and instead focus on distinctions, such as Percussive Quakes and Staggered Breaths (that will also be Environments), landmarks, rumors, and adversaries. The aim is to provide inspiration to situate and define a community, as well as to determine the issues it is facing. 

End of the campaign

I will post another update tomorrow after the end of the campaign to provide an overview of what to expect next. A special thank you to those who are helping to spread the word until the very end, every pledge counts!

Spotlight #4: Poisoned Roots and the Gardens
4 months ago – Sat, Jan 03, 2026 at 07:08:08 PM

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope it turns out for the best, even if it is starting with some unsettling world news... Speaking of politics, it's time to spotlight the Poisoned Roots frame and the Gardens location!

Poisoned Roots and the Gardens

We are finally spotlighting one of the frames written by Alexandra! This frame might be our boldest, as its themes, setting and mechanics encourage players and GMs to shift the focus away from party-based adventuring and explore more personal and political stories in a claustrophobic setting.

Poisoned Roots is a frame where floriography and social unrest meet, where beauty and rot coexist. With Westside Story, Romeo & Juliet, and Apothecary Diaries as touchstones, this frame is set in the city of the Gardens, where rulers have all but cut themselves off from the rest of the nation. They care only about the Gardens, its flowers, its beauty, its perfection. They will not tolerate anyone contesting the established order, which is exactly what is happening. And so the Gardens are being pruned, weeded. And people are vanishing. With each disappearance, unrest grows as the atmosphere amongst the citizenry becomes more and more unbearable.

The mechanics highlight this tense atmosphere and the rising oppression, as well as the dangers, often indirect, facing the PCs. As part of the Bundling Bouquet mechanic, players will establish what their PCs hold dear: NPCs, items, even values or ideals. This Bouquet will be subject to Root Rot, as things outside the PCs' control jeopardize their Bouquet. In addition, PCs will often be placed in difficult situations and may, for the greater good, voluntarily decide to Pluck a Petal from their Bouquet: a terrible sacrifice of something they hold dear in a moment of great need. Another mechanic, the Daisy Chain, highlights the importance of information and solidarity in the face of oppression.

The Gardens will feature plenty of landmarks and distinctions to make the city feel both beautiful and dangerous. The Blooming Cage is the prison where the state holds the citizens it considers most dangerous. Though its stated mission is reeducation, the great majority of those who enter are never seen again. On the opposite end of the spectrum, situated on the outskirts, the Pond is a rare area where citizens of the Gardens can forget their troubles. But even there, things are susceptible to quickly change for the worst.

Citizens of the Gardens will also face dangers not directly tied to its rulers, such as the unpredictable petal storms (which will be one of the location's Environments), or the Garden's Grasp, an illness surfacing in lower-class areas causing victims to cough up flower petals until an entire flower bush has grown in their torsos!

We can't wait for you to explore this truly original and different frame and location pair! We hope it will inspire you and will help you tell stories you would never have expected!

Final push!

As of this update, we are basically at CA$ 9k with 4.5 days to go. We will be firing on all cylinders in the next days to have the best finish possible! See you soon with the last spotlight: The Eternal Song frame, also written by Alexandra, and its Fermata location.

All SG revealed! Spotlight #3: The Final Curtain and the Jagged Domain
4 months ago – Sun, Dec 28, 2025 at 06:58:49 PM

All stretch goals revealed!

With a little over 10 days to go, I wanted to clearly present all stretch goals:

CA$ 10,000: As mentioned in update #3, Voyager's Workshop will make a custom world map that will include our 5 locations and open the possibility for players and GMs to use frames and/or locations in one shared world.

US$ 10,000 (approximately CA$ 13,680): 15% raise for our artists and writers. 

260 backers: Backers will choose 1 of 3 possible illustrations to add to the book. We'll keep the voting period brief to quickly commission our artist.

300 backers: MAB Music TTRPG will compose a soundtrack for the Eternal Song, our campaign frame with a musical theme.

The Final Curtain and the Jagged Domain

The Final Curtain is the one frame I am writing. Though my initial thought was to make a frame inspired by Frieren, the idea evolved and is now mostly inspired by caregivers who accompany a loved one in their final days, often dealing with the difficult reality of mental and/or physical decline. I witnessed both my mother and mother-in-law taking care of a husband faced with a terrible disease and wanted to dedicated this frame to them.

When the Scourge emerged from the Jagged Domain and made for the realm’s heart, Onivir’s very existence was on the line. Thankfully, five fearless adventurers took matters into their own hands and decided to brave the farthest reaches of the Domain. They succeeded, somehow. But only one of them made it back.

Venerated by the people, the Hero retreated to a private life and did not speak of what befell their companions, of what they had discovered on the other side of the Jagged Domain, or of what they had to do to triumph over the Scourge. 

A generation later, with both mind and body starting to fail them, the Hero wants to embark on a final adventure, to travel back to the Jagged Domain and face difficult truths before it’s too late. But they can't do it without your help.

The frame's mechanics center on the Hero, providing players with the possibility to have a say in the Hero's actions and to participate in worldbuilding by exploring the Hero's thoughts and past deeds. 

In session zero, players will begin by answering questions about the hero and choosing two domains. Every session will start with the Hero having 4 cards from these domains in their loadout, though players are not the only ones able to interact with the Hero! While players will be able to trigger Moments of Resolve and Moments of Lucidity, GMs will be able to cause Moments of Dementia and Moments of Loss. 

The Jagged Domain is, even with a limited Scourge presence, as inhospitable a place as one can find. It is also full of mystery: ancient temples have been sculpted within massive rock formations by a lost civilization, creatures stranger or mightier than the Scourge lurk in the shadows, and the evil behind the Scourge is still unexplained. Exploring the Domain is an occasion to make the task of caring for the Hero even more daunting. Players will be pushed to their limits and will have to decide just how far they will go to explore the past and provide the Hero with some measure of peace before the end. Should the Hero's request be fulfilled even if it causes them pain, hastens their decline? Should answers be sought even if the Hero is no longer able to understand them? And what about the realm? Does it deserve to learn the truth about the Hero's deeds, or should the Jagged Domain bury its secrets once more?

Next updates

We still have Alexandra's two frames to spotlight, and then we'll cross our fingers for a big push in the final 48 hours when all the project followers get a reminder! Happy New Year to everyone and we'll talk again in 2026!

Funded! SG? Thanks and happy holidays!
4 months ago – Mon, Dec 22, 2025 at 05:52:43 PM

Funded! 1st stretch goal!

We reached our funding goal shortly after the last update and Spenser Starke was actually the one who made us cross the line! Thanks to Spenser and to all the other backers! Now let's get working on some stretch goals!

The 1st stretch goal is a custom world map by the Voyager's Workshop. Even if you can use our frames and/or locations independently or in other settings, we thought it could help inspire players and GMs if we situate our 5 locations on a detailed world map and open the possibility for stories to use frames and/or locations in one shared world. Astute readers will even find hints of connections between the locations.

Some special thanks!

The success of the campaign is due in great part to the support of important members of the Daggerheart community, including two of the core book's designers!

Mike Underwood produces tons of amazing Daggerheart content. Take a look at their youtube and their patreon. They are also working on Dungeons of Drakkenheim and you can still make a late pledge to that kickstarter. 

Carlos Cisco is designing Pistolheart, a Western campaign supplement that will span multiple volumes. Volume 1 is available on Heart of Daggers and on itch.io. 

Thanks to Mike and Carlos for helping spread the word about Hope Springs Eternal!

Happy holidays!

With the holidays approaching (and my birthday on the 24th), I did not have time to finish the 3rd frame-location spotlight. Rest assured I will post it between Christmas and the New Year. Happy holidays to everyone and let's hope for a fantastic 2026!

Week 2: 95%! Spotlight #2: Gutterpunk Rhapsody and the Tower
4 months ago – Wed, Dec 17, 2025 at 10:29:29 AM

Reaching the Daggerheart community

Still early in our second week, we are currently sitting at 95% of our initial goal! So close! We can secure funding soon and unlock a stretch goal or two in the next three weeks if you help us spread the word. Speaking of spreading the word, we want to thank two pillars of the Daggerheart community for their support.

• The Daggerheart Dispatch is a fantastic newsletter covering every aspect of Daggerheart, with content also available on its website. I did an interview for the Dispatch and was greatly impressed by their professionalism and genuineness.  
• Heart of Daggers not only hosts community content, it also offers applications to help players and GMs, such as an Encounter Manager and an Adventure Builder. Expect more in the coming weeks!

Gutterpunk Rhapsody and the Tower

Inspired by Arcane, Dishonored 1 & 2, Final Fantasy 7, and Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, this frame, written by Graham M. Payne, is a playground where you can go all-out and have wild crazy fun! 

Players take on the role of a band of punks living in the Guts, the middle part of a gigantic tower on top of which sits Alabaster, the over-city where the privileged few live. Made wealthy by industry, military expansionism, and trade, the dominant families own mercantile syndicates, powerful companies that have carved the Tower into their own miniature fiefdoms. The last half-century has been dominated by the explosive growth of automation, and the ever-sharper divide between owners and workers. A symbol of this inhumane automation, clanks are denied sentience by the syndicates, who treat them as property and who force them to wear compliance cogs.

Below the over-city are the Guts; the tangled, polluted, and overbuilt innards of the tower. Here the average person makes ends meet doing hard labor. This region is ruled by the Sump-Gangers, criminal mobs who vie over ever-shifting borders. But the most dangerous player in the region is the Iron Hand, the merciless automaton police force used by Alabaster to quell any resistance. 

The Tower is powered by Martyr’s Blood, a volatile, mutagenic magical chemical pumped from the Stygian Depths below that has fueled industry and powered the alchemical sciences. The massive Stygian Depths hide ancient crumbling ruins watched over by titanic celestial monuments. The extraction rigs here are constantly beset by subterranean horrors, losing workers to the jaws of an unnamed beast as often as they do to industrial accidents.

And at the base of the Tower lies the Junker’s Wilds, a blighted, sprawling forest of rusted scrap, chem wastes and mutant fungus. Here, the poorest of the poor live among the trash discarded from the city above.

The main mechanic is called Bloodbound, its purpose being to encourage players to stand together and to care for each other. When communing during a rest, players unlock their binding for the remainder of the session, allowing a player to choose from a list of effects. The mechanic is even more generous when used during a Tag Team Move. Another mechanic, Punk-Luck, encourages players to risk it all, to defy impossible odds, by granting them a "get out of jail free" option based on a narrative approach.

The location chapter will have sections for each of the four regions, with each region being its own rich Environment. In addition to Rumors and Moments of Hope and Fear, the Location chapter will also include Settlements and Factions. Here are two examples to give you an idea of the setting and themes: 

• Midway through the Guts sits Butchers Row, an exposed stretch of former sky docks converted into a slaughter yard. Here, the locals process the large, flying beasts that are hunted across the vast reaches above the wastes. From bloated abominable wyverns to gentle sky whales, every fibrous sinew, every drop of ichor, every gram of bone, is harvested to feed the ravenous fire of industry.
• The Help is a small, but dedicated network of spies, vigilantes, and saboteurs who have embedded themselves within mercantile syndicates and the private staff serving the preeminent families of Alabaster. The Help works to undermine the worst cruelties and excesses of their employers without revealing their identities.

We will include Adversaries such as the Brutes and Bobbies used by the Iron Hand, while the Loot section will have weapons, such as the Splinter Rifle, and consumables, such as Saint's Fire, a dangerous derivative of Martyr's Blood. 

Don't worry, you will have plenty of toys to make this campaign memorable, whether your punks manage to rise from the Guts and shake the Tower's very foundations, or if they die trying!

See you in 5-6 days!

In the next update, we will spotlight the Final Curtain frame and its Jagged Domain location. Hopefully, we will also celebrate reaching our funding goal! Thanks again to everyone!