Daggerheart Environments to DND

Hello,

Recently I've become interested in Daggerheart, (newish TTRPG from Darrington) and I enjoy the environment system they have in place.

For you who don't know, the environments are little stat blocks essentially for areas or events that have several features. Some are passive, while others require Fear to use. Fear is a resource that the GM gains when players get a higher result on one of their 2 d12s they roll in the place of d20. GMs can use it to activate Adversary features or spend it on other things, like Environments.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to work this into a DND game, seeing as the DM doesn't have a resource comparable to Fear, and a lot of Environment features require it.

The closest thing in existing D&D rules might be the "Lair Actions" that some powerful monsters like dragons have. If you're not familiar, these are actions the monster can take (or call upon the environment to take) while it's in its lair; they happen on a specific Initiative count (usually 20) and sometimes have other restrictions on how they can be used. This might be a good place to start.

I haven't yet had the opportunity to play Daggerheart, but I am very interested to try it someday, and I have read through the materials fairly well to prepare.  So the environment system seems to be just a method of presenting the usual information that you would prep about an encounter location, but in a straightforward and organized manner. It doesn't strike me as a new mechanic but rather just a shorthand way of organizing your notes. 

Each environment lists potential adversaries that might be encountered there, which is a normal part of any DM's prep for a location. They also list Passive, Action, and Reaction events, which are basically just encounter hooks. Most of these are very bog-standard for any D&D game. For example, in the "Local Tavern" environment you've got the passive "Talk of the Town" which is just the players using their skills to learn about the area. Maybe they use Persuasion and buy a round of drinks, maybe they eavesdrop conversations, maybe they use Detect Thoughts, maybe they search for Wanted posters. It's just a basic skill check and a way for you, the DM, to present some exposition and lore. Then there are Action hooks, like "Mysterious Stranger" and "Bar Fight". Again, standard tropes for any D&D tavern, and a way for the DM to present a bunch of plot hooks and to get the story moving along.

Taking a look at "Mountain Pass" (tier 2 travel) you've got the passive "Engraved Sigils". You describe what the characters see and they make a skill check (history, arcana, religion, whatever) to try to decipher the sigils. Of course, they should learn something useful here that will advance the story and the plot. Then you've got the active "Avalanche". This is just a skill challenge. The characters have to make Athletics and Survival checks to see if they can either avoid the avalanche or dig themselves out before freezing to death. Base the DCs for those checks on what level of hiking gear, cold weather gear, and teamwork the characters were using in their climb. And then there's the "Raptor Nest" reaction. At some point the party will pass too close to a nest of baby birds, and big angry momma bird is gonna swoop in to defend her chicks. 

The only real distinction I see with the environments is that Daggerheart requires the DM to spend a Fear to activate some element of the encounter. But in D&D, you're the DM. Things happen whenever you say they happen. The bar fight starts when you say so, though usually right after the bard hits on the wrong waitress. The avalanche happens whenever you say so, though probably right after someone in the party made too much noise. And so on. Just use the environment stat blocks as prep notes and pretend you've got a pocket full of Fear dice to spend whenever you want to keep the players on their toes. 

I love sandbox-y, location-based adventure style games, so I really like the Daggerheart conception of Environments, where environments get their own stat block, environments can do things to the PCs. It's super clever. I use the following 5e mechanics to simulate an active conception of environmental features that affect PCs, combat, etc.:

• Natural hazards: weather (snow, acid rain, rain, storms, etc.), water (esp moving water), fire (e.g., lava, etc), avalanche, ravine, sand, quicksand (any difficult terrain), bog, light/darkness, elevation (which can add combat bonuses/penalties), diseases
• Magic infused items in an the environment such as an obelisk, reliquary: spells (tons of debuffs, buffs), curses, disease
• Lairs that have their own environmental affects
• Environmental features designed by intelligent creatures:
  • Traps
  • Urban features: walls, roofs, bridges, doors/portcullis, sewer, bystander NPCs (which can be obstacles in a chase/combat)
  • In some ways, a trap is a hazard (albeit designed by intelligent creatures). 

IMO, typically, the best (read: most challenging, fun) encounters include one or more of these environmental features. DM/campaign can choose to lean into these sorts of environmental features of the world or not depending on what pillar of the game a DM/campaign wants to emphasize. IMO the best sandbox style games are based on 3 pillars: points of interest (environments), resources (natural resources, gold, treasure, magic items, etc.), and factions (monsters, groups of NPCs, etc.)