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Grimdark: Deadly, Nasty Rules for the World's Most Ubiquitous RPGClick to magnify
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Grimdark: Deadly, Nasty Rules for the World's Most Ubiquitous RPG

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186 pages, not a stand-alone game. Assumes a fantasy game up to 'early modern' setting.

Contents
Introduction: 1
Rules Changes & Additions: 5
A Games Master Primer for Grimdark: 15
A Player Primer for Grimdark: 16
Creating a Character: 17
Equipment: 69
Feats: 75
Wounds: 76
Miracles & Blessings: 78
Rituals & Dark Gifts: 102
Madness, Fear & Stress: 132
Here be Monsters: 135
Afterword: 177
Contents and Index: 178

Many fantasy games, if not all of them, follow the lead given by Dungeons & Dragons, and rapidly become superheroic parodies of themselves. This has been especially true of the newer editions, since AD&D Second Edition. It’s great, but it’s not for everyone.

At least not all of the time.

There are many kinds of fantasy, and Dungeons & Dragons’ increasingly sanitised, fluffy, generic, high-escapist fantasy - dripping in magical weapons and character invulnerability, isn’t necessarily what people want.

A Grimdark game is in part made from difficulty. In this context, that has to come from encouraging the players to play tactically and carefully. To do everything they can to swing advantage in their favour.

It’s also as much about encouraging players to deal with difficult and horrifying role-playing and decisionmaking consequences, all with less resources and power than they might be used to. It also encourages them, when necessary, to run away.

We need to take that, lustrous, heroic, ‘fantasy-Portland’ edge off 5th Edition’s default rules-set, to amp up the difficulty and make people play more carefully. At the same time, we don’t want to just turn it into an unfair meatgrinder.

So why not a game designer, literally known as ‘Grim’, to do it?

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Reviews (1)
Discussions (16)
Customer avatar
Ed S August 08, 2023 12:54 am UTC
The nine page preview isn't especially helpful---small business plug, ogl boilerplate, the block description given above, a plug for Wightchester (which I already own).

Could you instead give us 9 random pages from pages 15-176?
Customer avatar
Fabrice C March 09, 2023 2:25 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi James, I bought the PDF & the print version and love what you've done with the system. I noticed that some of the Features for the Soldier Class are left undefined. We only get the Fighting Style options but no precise definition for the other features: Second Wind, Action Surge, Extra Attack and Indomitable. Could you issue an errata for those? Thanks in advance!
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Customer avatar
James D March 10, 2023 8:31 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Hi Fabrice. Grimdark is meant to be used alongside regular 5e and these abilities are defined the same as regular 5e.
Customer avatar
Gary F December 10, 2022 3:33 pm UTC
What 5e books do you need for this game?
Customer avatar
Ni C September 09, 2021 10:10 pm UTC
I would have been interested to purchase a hard copy from Lulu but latest publication date there is Aug 27, 2020 compared to DTRPG's PDF version Sept. 5, 21.
As I read JD had updated text for many typos, I would like to be sure I am not about to buy an inferior version.
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Customer avatar
James D September 10, 2021 7:01 am UTC
PUBLISHER
The hardcopy has been updated alongside the digital version. I'm not sure why the date hasn't updated, which concerns me. I'll look into it.
Customer avatar
Benjamin W September 02, 2021 4:46 am UTC
PURCHASER
A couple issues I've noticed.

The soldier's table has a column called Kill points instead of Skill points.
The text for the level 7 miracles are all copy pastes of the text for True Seeing
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Customer avatar
James D September 03, 2021 8:11 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
I'm not sure what's going on, I think somehow files have reverted on my end, or aren't updating on DTRPG's end.
I just spent several days in hospital, but as soon as I'm fit and well I'll try and do a few things to force an update.
Please bear with me.
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Customer avatar
Benjamin W September 07, 2021 1:58 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Looks good to me in the latest upload version
Customer avatar
Sean P August 31, 2021 11:30 am UTC
PURCHASER
Ok, I tried the footer thing to contact drivethrurpg, but this is apparently out of their hands. I've been reading through the pdf and there are some formatting options. On the version I have (the most recent), for example, if you go to page 10/186, you will see that the last sentence on the left column continues on the right, but the words are hidden under the graphic at the top of the page. Can't read the sentences. There are other locations where the text is hidden by graphics. Should be an easy fix.
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Customer avatar
James D September 01, 2021 6:10 am UTC
PUBLISHER
They had contacted me and I had fixed the issues that someone had raised with them. Please ensure that you do have the latest version, and I will check the file again to be sure.
Customer avatar
Josh O August 28, 2021 3:00 am UTC
PURCHASER
I can’t seem to wrap my head around how the monsters ac is calculated on page 135. Can anyone explain that to me please?
Customer avatar
Sean P August 16, 2021 6:00 pm UTC
PURCHASER
It looks like there are some formatting issues with the PDF. For instance, if you look at page 5, the wording that continues from the bottom left should be at the top right, but appears to be hidden by the "Rules Changes" graphic.
Customer avatar
Jorge R August 13, 2021 6:10 pm UTC
PURCHASER
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/545551782189858820/875799906265235466/unknown.png
the final line of text about Dice on page numbered 5 and 10 of the pdf is covered
Reply
Customer avatar
Jorge R August 14, 2021 1:06 am UTC
PURCHASER
same problem on page numbered 43 (48 of the pdf), the text "(Guildsman), 200 gp (Noble)."
Customer avatar
Joshua S August 13, 2021 5:31 pm UTC
PURCHASER
what does 'fantasy-Portland' edge mean?
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Customer avatar
James D August 13, 2021 6:05 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
A 'fantasy Portland' is one of those too-safe, modern sensibility campaigns and settings.
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Customer avatar
Joshua S August 13, 2021 6:15 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks, I was confused because Portland is a madhouse right now. Street races, random shootings, violent clashes in the streets, and the police nowhere in sight.
Customer avatar
John P March 29, 2021 6:45 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I love it, just bought it a few days ago. GRIMDARK is pretty much what I was looking for and I'm very excited for Wightchester,

Thank you, great work.
Customer avatar
Miguel V March 09, 2021 7:54 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Which is the cost of Rituals and Gifts for Magus, both buying them and casting them? How many can they afford per level?
Customer avatar
tom S September 09, 2020 10:59 pm UTC
PURCHASER
The PDF would really benefit from an index but otherwise this is an amazing conversion of D&D 5th edition to grimdark rules.
Customer avatar
Matthew K August 28, 2020 6:45 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I love it, pretty much exactly what I was hoping it would be and it's got me very excited for Wightchester, will probably write a review at some point for now I would ask a couple of clarifications related to the magic system;
- A couple of the Rituals appear to be item-bound but don't have the "Until used/" duration, like Sleep and the Magus/Cunning Folk version of Insect Plague, was this just an error or am I missing some point of how they are used differently?
- Likewise, some look like they ought to be item-bound to make them useful, like Weird, but their description makes no reference to an item being used.
- The Magus' pacts grant "free access" to rituals that aren't in the book, like Teleport - I'm assuming we should just use the PHB spell for the basics of what these do, but would like some advice on how to balance them with the Grimdark Component system and casting time differences.
- The Cunning Folk's "special gift" class feature gives access to...See more
Reply
Customer avatar
James D August 29, 2020 9:50 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
I will look into these issues when I can, I'm pretty burnt out and have a lot of other pots on the boil. If I don't answer your queries in a week or two, give me a poke :)
Reply
Customer avatar
Matthew K August 29, 2020 10:59 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Yeah, no hurry, still have my usual game on the boil for a few months before I have a chance to use this.
Customer avatar
Steve M August 27, 2020 3:48 pm UTC
Also, is this a complete rules system, or would I need 5E to play it?
Reply
Customer avatar
James D August 28, 2020 6:41 am UTC
PUBLISHER
It's for 5e, so you would need 5e.
Customer avatar
Anthony V August 27, 2020 3:00 pm UTC
Give us a bit more. How long is the book, what does it cover? Is it usable in a fantasy setting? Modern urban? Does it include new character classes? Feats? Monsters? Also, any chance of a print edition?
Reply
Customer avatar
Randal A August 27, 2020 3:01 pm UTC
These are also things I would like to know.
Reply
Customer avatar
James D August 28, 2020 6:42 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Page count is found to the right-hand side of product entries on Drivethru and related sites, in the grey box marked 'product information'.

I'll add contents to the description.
Reply
Customer avatar
James D August 28, 2020 6:47 am UTC
PUBLISHER
A print version is technically available on Lulu, but awaiting a test print to confirm quality.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jean M August 13, 2021 5:03 pm UTC
Yeah. I'd like a better preview. We get everything from the OGL license (doesn't everyone have that memorized by now?) to various credits and ads, but no actual preview of the content. That really doesn't help much, preview-wise; I'm stuck going with comments and reviews.
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Product Information
Electrum seller
Artist(s)
Pages
186
Publisher Stock #
GRM001
File Size:
210.31 MB
Format
Original electronic Click for more information
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File Last Updated:
September 05, 2021
This title was added to our catalog on August 27, 2020.