Gritty Campaigns. How you play one?

[Quartz]

No amount of narration is going to make any game that has Vicious Mockery gritty.

Really? Think about all those pithy one-liners that are the stock in trade of film warriors.

Same for glamor bards and whatever that fire is druids cast that give allies advantage ditto.

Can I refer you to the post I made upthread about ruling out flashy magic?

 

[Dispater]

- No magical items, just better items in terms of quality.
- Survival, exhaustion and survival points are a real mechanism when players have to travel.
- Weather has an effect on fights, stamina and battle terrain.
- Encounters are not scaled to party level, some a breeze, others complete suicide, PCs have to decide whether to run or fight.
- No clerics.
- No bards.
- No palladins.
- Actually, just get rid of all the magic using subclasses. None of that high-fantasy BS.
- When you are reduced to 0 hp, you take levels of exhaustion and CON damage, representing grievous wounds.
- Cut Goodberry, Create Food/Water, Healing Word, resurrection spells, just pretend they never existed on your world.
- If party attains wealth, they have to deal with thieves, scammers and cutthroats everywhere.