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What is "grim and gritty" and "low magic" anyway?
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<blockquote data-quote="EricNoah" data-source="post: 1420259" data-attributes="member: 4"><p>Thinking back over this thread, and going back to the original question (what is grim & gritty and low magic?), I think we can now safely identify a few things they are not...</p><p></p><p>1. They are not interchangeable terms (you can have grim & gritty with "normal amount" of magic; you can have low magic without "grim & gritty").</p><p></p><p>2. They are not inherently the tools, preferences, or outcomes of an inexperienced DM or one with so-called "poor" skills.</p><p></p><p>3. They are not inherently the result of a DM who is a control freak or someone who wants to ruin the game for the players.</p><p></p><p>We may be able to say that they *are*...</p><p></p><p>1. A spectrum of campaign styles. It's not on/off, or black/white, but shades of gray -- it can be "a little" grim/gritty or "a lot" low-magic, and you can tweak things a little or a lot.</p><p></p><p>2. Not well supported by the core D&D rules. And as with any straying from the core rules, it gets trickier the further afield you go. However, there are subsystems throughout various D20 and ogl products that could easily lend themselves to such a campaign style. But integrating them is a real challenge because one change can trickle down through the rules pretty quickly. </p><p></p><p>3. Some people have been burned by bad experiences as players in these kinds of campaigns. (But just because they got burned doesn't make them whiny munchkins, necessarily!)</p><p></p><p>4. A matter of taste. Maybe you only like to read "gritty" fantasy. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with people who like to read "high" fantasy. And the same goes for the games they choose.</p><p></p><p>5. Is it easier to die? Eh, maybe. Is it easier to get hurt? Possibly. Does it take longer to recover from being hurt? Probably. Is coming back from the dead a common occurrance? Probably not. Are resources scarce? Not necessarily -- a good DM will make sure there are resources -- they might not be scrolls of cure light wounds, but they might be, say, herbal ingredients that might accelerate your healing rate or something like that. </p><p></p><p>Add more!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EricNoah, post: 1420259, member: 4"] Thinking back over this thread, and going back to the original question (what is grim & gritty and low magic?), I think we can now safely identify a few things they are not... 1. They are not interchangeable terms (you can have grim & gritty with "normal amount" of magic; you can have low magic without "grim & gritty"). 2. They are not inherently the tools, preferences, or outcomes of an inexperienced DM or one with so-called "poor" skills. 3. They are not inherently the result of a DM who is a control freak or someone who wants to ruin the game for the players. We may be able to say that they *are*... 1. A spectrum of campaign styles. It's not on/off, or black/white, but shades of gray -- it can be "a little" grim/gritty or "a lot" low-magic, and you can tweak things a little or a lot. 2. Not well supported by the core D&D rules. And as with any straying from the core rules, it gets trickier the further afield you go. However, there are subsystems throughout various D20 and ogl products that could easily lend themselves to such a campaign style. But integrating them is a real challenge because one change can trickle down through the rules pretty quickly. 3. Some people have been burned by bad experiences as players in these kinds of campaigns. (But just because they got burned doesn't make them whiny munchkins, necessarily!) 4. A matter of taste. Maybe you only like to read "gritty" fantasy. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with people who like to read "high" fantasy. And the same goes for the games they choose. 5. Is it easier to die? Eh, maybe. Is it easier to get hurt? Possibly. Does it take longer to recover from being hurt? Probably. Is coming back from the dead a common occurrance? Probably not. Are resources scarce? Not necessarily -- a good DM will make sure there are resources -- they might not be scrolls of cure light wounds, but they might be, say, herbal ingredients that might accelerate your healing rate or something like that. Add more! [/QUOTE]
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