Recent content by Reynard

To be clear, I was never arguing that DH was grimdark. I was arguing against the idea, actually. But I still think the Scar death spiral is somewhere in the neighborhood, and 5E does not have something similar against maybe permanent ability damage but I have never seen it happen in 10 years...

I don't think you are appreciating the combat impact of running out of stress. It means no more beating Thresholds. it means using adversary and environment abilities to cause stress and just doing damage. Also, exhaustion is an okay system for representing "tired" but IME barely comes up. in...

It also means future stress causes HP damage, which is a big deal.

You are still using stats, and that runs counter to the whole idea.

Killing PCs in 5E is not hard if that's your goal. It just isn't fun.

So here's the part where I ask you to name your top Grimdark novels and watch as other people come in to argue with those choices. ;)

I love improv too, but I also like a solid structure under which to improv, if that makes sense. I would not be comfortable just ad hoc-ing Hope and Fear mechanics for a while campaign.

I much preferred the pre-WotC method: your class and level determined what saves you were good at, and by and large martials had the best saves because Conan.

My favorite grimdark novel is The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie and I don't think there is any reason to think you can't emulate that march toward nihilism with scars in DH.

I disagree. Grimdark is often about fading and diminishing hope and about the inevitability of failure. Scars do that just fine. I don't think that subgenre absolutism is particularly compelling.

That may be true, but does having advantage or disadvantage make the roll inherently more "narrative friendly?" I don't think so. Maybe on way to bridge that gap if for players and GMs to start with Hope and Fear resources, and you use them to activate the narrative. That is, after the roll is...

I'm still not sure why you want to do that.

yeah, I am not sure @Parmandur quite understands the permanently reduce Hope pool. it is an inevitable death spiral. You are literally Doomed.

Scars that permanently limit one's Hope pool does have that feel, tho.