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Grim Tales for Planescape?

whydirt

First Post
I've heard a lot of good things about Grim Tales, but since my local game shop doesn't carry it, I've been wanting to do extra research on it before investing my hard-earned cash on it.

From the reviews I've read, it seems like it could be used to run a Planescape game fairly easily. Instead of making faction or planar based Advanced Classes, I could just create new feats and talents.

Would someone who's more familiar with the book care to give their opinion on the subject?
 
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Turanil

First Post
I have Grim Tales (and am actively designing a setting to run a long campaign with it), and formerly I had Planescape for AD&D (boxed set and a few supplements).

Normally, Planescape really was a pure D&D setting. Now, in theory, nothing should oppose running with Grim Tales, except maybe where magic is concerned. Here is how magic works in grim Tales:

You must have the Spellcraft skill (any GT class can have it). It is used both to learn a spell, then to cast it (casting check is a Spellcraft check). Then, while a spell known can be cast at will (without any kind of preparation), it nonetheless drains on Constitution: 1d6 points of temporary Con damage per level of the spell. So you cast only 1 or 2 spells per day. Nonetheless, three classes on the six can get the Magical Adept talent, which gives Spell-Burn resistance equal to your Int./Wis./Cha. modifier (as appropriate). Meaning you substract the modifier from each d6 rolled (with the restriction that 1 is alxways a burn, no matter the reduction). Thereafter with each Improved Magical Adept talent, you improve your spell burn resistance by +1 (this is a typo in fact, where it should just improve the casting level; but you may say this is not a typo for a high magic campaign world). As such, a 8th level Smart adventurer with a 18th Int could statistically cast as many spells per day as an 8th level wizard, but also having more fets, more hit-points, and much more skills points.

In a Planescape I would suggest this: only natives from the outer planes could have such GT classes, including defense bonuses and action points, while those from material planes would have to stick with traditional D&D classes. I suppose this could add some flavor, and makes natives from the planes much more exotic.
 

I agree with Turanil; Planescape was so quintessentially D&D that using anything other than D&D to play it seems odd. Grim Tales was really more for doing that lower magic, pulp fantasy feel; Conan the barbarian, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, etc.

Although Grim Tales is incredibly flexible, and can obviously do more than just that genre, I still wouldn't ever use anything besides D&D to run Planescape.
 

Jeranon

First Post
Wow, I was planning on doing this very thing! But yeah, the magic will be an issue. I was thinking of making spell burn nonlethal (similar to the spell casting in the CRPG Betrayal at Krondor), but I haven't really thought things through nor do I have the book yet to see what consequences this would have. I don't know enough about GT to wonder what will be done with clerics or their equivalent.
 


Turanil

First Post
Jeranon said:
Wow, I was planning on doing this very thing! But yeah, the magic will be an issue. I was thinking of making spell burn nonlethal (similar to the spell casting in the CRPG Betrayal at Krondor), but I haven't really thought things through nor do I have the book yet to see what consequences this would have. I don't know enough about GT to wonder what will be done with clerics or their equivalent.

Spell-burn is not lethal if you don't take chances it could be. When you have the magical adept talent and a good spell-burn resistance, the spell-burn now draws on Strength instead of Con, then with SB resistance is less potentially lethal. You could cast a good number of spells per day. So it's workable.

Clerics: clerics are priests and agents of the gods. Now a Smart, Dedicated, or Charismatic hero who cast divine spells (based on Wisdom) dont look a priest to me, but rather another type of mage needing a spell-book. Maybe a faithful mage associated with a church, but definitively not a cleric.
 
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Turanil

First Post
Wulf Ratbane said:
As much as I'd like to sell another copy of Grim Tales, I wouldn't personally try it. It's got the wrong feel for Planescape.

In fact, I tend to also agree with that. At least, Grim Tales classes should not replace the normal D&D classes, but be added to them for bored players who absolutely want to try something else. (But don't mix both types of classes, only multiclasses D&D with D&D, or GT with GT, IMO).
 



Jeranon said:
Sigh. Maybe Hackmaster will do the trick as 3.x sure isn't doing it for me :p
Well, if you're going that route, why not just use 2e, y'know the system that Planescape was written for? There's not much difference that I can see between Hackmaster and 2e really, and you'll have to do less converting. 3e, at least, you can run without converting since it's all been done either in some Wizards book or another, or on www.planewalker.com
 

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