How to use Stress as a GM in Daggerheart

HP is the hit. Stress is the grind. I used to skip it, because marking a box felt rude, and then the last Stress would land in a fight they should have been tired for already. If you can spend Stress as a cost instead of as a slap, the night gets better.

Know what the last box does

They start with six Stress slots, and twelve is the cap. Features they choose can mark Stress. You can make them mark Stress as a GM move, especially on a success with Fear or a failure with Hope, when you want a minor cost that is not HP. When the last Stress is marked, they are Vulnerable until they clear at least one. If they must mark Stress and they cannot, they mark a Hit Point instead. They cannot fire a move that costs Stress if every slot is full.

That is the whole machine. You do not need a long explanation. You need a moment.

Spend it on the cost, not on the speech

The landing again. They talk the clerk down with Presence, and they succeed with Fear. They get onto the skiff. I do not take HP. I say the rope burns through their palm, and they mark a Stress.

That is a GM move from the list: make a PC mark Stress. It is the right size for a Fear success, because they still got the boat.

A failure with Fear is bigger. Then I can separate them, or spotlight the watch, or take the chance away. Do not stack Stress on that as well unless the fiction is actually grinding them.

Do not tax every roll

If every action costs Stress, they will stop spending it on their own features, and those features are the fun. Clear Stress exists for a reason. A short rest lets them clear 1d4 plus their tier. A long rest clears it all. Let them have that, because a full track is how Vulnerable sneaks up.

What I would print tonight

Pick one success with Fear in the first hour and make the cost one Stress, named in the fiction. Leave HP for the hit that actually lands. If someone is on their last Stress, say they are Vulnerable before the next swing, so the table can see the box that matters.

When I want the Stress track where the table can see it, I still reach for Veil on the character sheets page.