Daggerheart vs. Eem! A conversation with Rowan Hall, Spenser Starke, Ben Costa, & James Parks Ep. 100

Daggerheart vs. Eem! A conversation with Rowan Hall, Spenser Starke, Ben Costa, & James Parks Ep. 100

From Reading D&D Aloud by Ben Riggs

May 24, 2026 · 56 min · Season 1 · Episode 100

About this episode

In this milestone episode, the hosts discuss the success of Daggerheart and Land of Eem with their creators.

Episode 100! And is this our best episode ever? A thing Wizards of the Coast has said is that 2024 D&D was the fastest selling version of that game ever produced. I predict that Wizards sold 50,000 copies in the first couple weeks and then made that boast. I would also predict that the other two people we have on the podcast beat that record, because we have Rowan Hall & Spenser Starke here. Starke and Hall are two of the cooks sweating over the stove and serving us Daggerheart from Darrington Press. Daggerheart sold out its initial print run in two weeks, even though it was supposed to last a year. All of which is prelude to say, Hall and Starke are bestselling game designers whose work has broken out of the nerd ghetto to run riot in the culture at large. ENWorld praised Daggerheart as a high fantasy mash up of D&D 4th Edition, the Genesys System, Blades in the Dark, and the Cypher System, producing high fantasy combat in a collaborative storytelling environment. Also on the show, we have Ben Costa and James Parks! They are the ENnie-award winning creators of Land of Eem, a warm, funny, and charming fantasy RPG. Before that, they created the world of Eem in their…

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