[Free RPG Day 2026] The Dying Spire

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

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The Dying Spire is an adventure for Daggerheart, the fantasy roleplaying game which combines classic high fantasy roleplaying elements with a narrative element that was one of biggest successes of 2025. Published by Darrington Press, it is the 2026 Ennie Gold Winner for Best Game and Best Rules as well as Ennie Silver Winner for Product of the Year. It does two things. One is to continue the story and provide a sequel for ‘The Sablewood Messengers’, the scenario in the Daggerheart Quickstart Adventure. The other is to give an adventure that also stands on its own and is not necessarily holding the players’ hands as in the Daggerheart Quickstart Adventure. Thus, The Dying Spire is a Tier 2 adventure and one that designers advise the Game Master to take care if her players have not either played Daggerheart or are not used to how their characters work, lest they find the scenario too much of a challenge. In the Daggerheart Quickstart Adventure, the Player Characters are entrusted with transporting an important package to Hush, small village within the ancient forest of Sablewood, where they are to deliver it to the Whitefire Arcanist. Eventually they find the Whitefire Arcanist and protect him as he performs a ritual to ensure the continued safety of the village.

The Dying Spire picks up where the Daggerheart Quickstart Adventure left off. The Whitefire Arcanist asks the Player Characters to check on Vaya, the Spire Keeper for one of the tall structures which towers over the forest canopy atop which burns a signal fire that seems to protect the Sablewood. Of late, the fire appears to have weakened and nobody is quite sure how this will affect the woods. The scenario is divided into five acts. The first two deal with their journey and arrival at the Spire, descending into a valley where they first encounter a pair of injured travellers and then the goathogs that attacked them. Goathogs are normally passive creatures, but something has caused them to decay and made them suicidally aggressive, as the Player Characters will discover when another pack attacks them. Afterwards, at the Spire, the Player Characters can make several discoveries. One is that the tall structure protects an impossibly tall Elder Tree, so tall that it is potentially stressful to climb the height of the stairs that run round the inside of the tower.  A second is that Vaya is injured and the third is that the ‘Brambleheart’ has been stolen. This is a magical mesh of thorns that draws wild magic up the Elder Tree and creates and maintains the ‘Spire Weave’ which protects the Sablewoods and makes them verdant, and without it, the forest’s future is threatened. The third, fourth, and fifth acts consist of a chase across the Sablewoods in pursuit of the thieves, the scenario throwing some fun encounters into the Player Characters’ path. These include a race down a raging river, into an ancient cave network, and finally confront an ancient evil and discover an external threat to the Sablewood.

The scenario consists of a good mix of challenges. There are social and environmental challenges to be faced as well as plenty of combat. Throughout, there are clear explanations of how each encounter is handled, both narratively and mechanically, and where a situation relies upon an action dice roll, of what happens if the players succeed or fail, whether they rolled with Hope or Fear. There are lots of optional questions too, which the Game Master can ask her players, their answers flavouring the detail and feel of the scenario as it progresses. The scenario ends with the possibility of a sequel and publisher’s website has a ‘Downloads’ section [https://www.daggerheart.com/downloads/], which includes the Sablewood as a location.

The scenario uses the same set of six Player Characters as the Daggerheart Quickstart Adventure. They consist of Marlowe Fairwind, the Loreborne Elf Sorcerer; Barnacle, the Underborne Ribbet Rogue; Garrick Reed, the Highborne Human Warrior; Khari Nix, the Ridgeborne Giant Guardian; and Varian Soto, the Wildborne Katari Ranger. Copies of these are included with the scenario.

The scenario is solidly supported for both the Game Master and her players. There are standees and terrain, and a GM Guide for the former, plus a Play Guide for each of the players. This is in addition to sheets for all of the Player Characters. All of them are on perforated sheets for easy removal from the book.

Physically, The Dying Spire is very well presented. The artwork is excellent and the adventure is well written. The only downside is that the artwork is black and white.

The Dying Spire is an entertaining scenario for Daggerheart with plenty of action and a little bit of mystery. It works as a one-shot, but better as continuing support for the Sablewood setting.