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Heart: Dagger in the Heart
Rumors speak of a machine deep within the Heart that allows you to harness your fate and gain untold power. What will you do to be in control of it?
TYPE
SYSTEM
LANGUAGE
EXPERIENCE
AGE
$10.00
/ Session
Details
1 player following this game
Bi-weekly / Thursday - 1:30 AM UTC
Jul 30 / Session 1
Session Duration / 3–4 hours
Campaign Length / 20–30 Sessions
5 / 5 Seats Filled
Top Game Master
One of StartPlaying's top-rated GMs, a player favorite and highly recommended.
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Schedule
Meet your party members
5/5
About the adventure
About a century ago, the aelfir began the creation of the Vermissian - a train network that drew its power from the living, beating Heart that lies deep beneath the City. To this end, they created a machine to cut into the Heart. As expected, this went very, very poorly for everyone involved and the Vermissian instead ended up as a channel for Heart magic to seep into the City Above. The Heart itself grew stranger and more dangerous, but the Vermissian was shut down and discontinued so all's well that ends well, right? Except for one small detail - time in the Heart is strange. Twisted by its arcane magics, time's often anything but linear. Very few, if any, know this, but the original incision team are still down there, cutting into the Heart. Anyone that could harness the power drawn by this machine would be able to gain their heart's desire, if only for a moment. You and your fellow delvers are seasoned in some sense - you've been in the upper levels of the Heart for quite some time when you hear rumours of the Delving Machine and, more importantly, that one who gains control of it might be able to write the course of their own destiny. However, you aren't the only ones looking for it. It's a race against time, the opposition, and, if you make it there, even each other. What will you sacrifice? Who will you become? We will be going over rules, character creation, and such in Session 0 (free), so please feel free to join even if you're unfamiliar with the system! Note: Heart can be a little more mechanically punishing and thematically dark than most PbtAs so please keep that in mind when deciding to join. Feel free to message me if you have any further questions!
Game style
Theater of the Mind
Roleplay Heavy
Sandbox / Open World
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(60)
2 years on StartPlaying
351 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Inclusive, Beginner Friendly
Average response time: 2 hours
Response rate: 100%
About me
Hi, I'm Sonder, I use she/her pronouns, and I've been playing and GM-ing TTRPGs for about 5 years, and designing them for about 4. I love collaborative storytelling and greatly enjoy tailoring narratives for characters. I've run a variety of TTRPGs spanning various systems and genres such as Monster of the Week, Masks, The Between, Absurdia, and a variety of other PbtAs. I'm also familiar with similar systems such as FitD, Belonging Outside Belonging, Rooted in Trophy, and the Resistance system. I would be more than happy to tailor any of these games to suit your table's needs! I'm also open to running any other rules-light TTRPGs of a similar nature, so feel free to reach out to me anytime!
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Upon signing up for the game, you will receive an invite to the Discord server where the game will be hosted. There you will find a player resources channel with a Google Drive with the fillable character keeper, lines and veils document, and available classes. Characters will start at the base creation level. Feel free to ping me at any time if you have any questions!
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Please be sure to have a Discord account and a working microphone as the game will be over Discord voice chat. Characters needn't be created beforehand - character creation, setting, and rules will be discussed in (the free) Session 0.
What Sonder brings to the table
- An excellent pre-written campaign setting by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan - A campaign customized around the player characters - An open, inclusive table - A vivid world with lore and mysteries for players to explore - Unique, memorable NPCs - A wide range of classes to choose from
Homebrew rules
- Inspiration allows a player to roll an additional d10 (the highest overall is taken) - Every character starts with 1 Inspiration - Rolls may be 2 Skills or 2 Domains if applicable - If a Skill or Domain can be used but is broad, it provides a d8 to the roll instead of a d10 - Knacks increase the size of the dice in the roll by 1 instead of adding Mastery (Eg: d10->d12, d8->d10) - Difficulty removes d10s, then d12s, then d8s - Oppressive Difficulty reduces the size of all dice in the roll by 1 (Eg: d12->d10, d10->d8, etc.)
Equipment needed to play
Headphones
Internet
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Sonder creates a safe table
- There will be a (free) Session 0 before the beginning of the campaign where I will explain the rules and premise of the game as well as guide the players through character creation. - Every player will be encouraged to add their Lines and Veils to a shared Google Sheet (this will be anonymous). - Around once an hour, we will be taking 5-10 minute breaks - X, N, and O cards will be via message or on voice chat. - If an Open Door is invoked, other than asking if the player will be back later and what triggered the Open Door no other questions will be asked. - Stars and Wishes will be discussed at the end of the session.
Content warnings
Safety tools used