Grim 'n Gritty 4.0

[Aus_Snow]

I'm curious to hear the impressions of, and experiences with Grim 'n Gritty 4.0 (the commercial release and most recent version, I believe).

I've tinkered about with earlier versions, but I'm intrigued with what I've heard (i.e., read) about 4.0, so far.

Oh and, to be more specific, I'm especially interested how it plays out with D&D 3e or other d20 fantasy rulesets. If it can be used for modern/future/etc. (can it?) then sure, fire away. But I *really* want to hear about any fantasy applications of these rules.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Well, I have mixed impressions of it.

It's been a while since I looked at it last, so this is from memory and more than likely faulty.

I like that it makes combat in d20 dangerous. I like, that it make big creatures really scary. And I especially like that it makes it important, by how much you hit. This is what I really miss in D&D - that your degree of succes has an influence on your damage done.

I like the defense bonus (equal to BAB, a la True20), I don't like the defense roll though, but this is easily replaced by jusing 10 + defense bonus.

I'm not impressed with armor in GnG v.4. It subtracts from the damage you receive, but at the same time it reduces your defense, thus increasing the damage you receive. There are aspects where this works fine (touch attacks), but overall, bah.
I don't like that the solution to making combat gritty is severelty reducing hit points. It seems to me like a lazy way around. For me, the perfect system would be compatible with D&D so that combat is made dangerous in some way while the amount you hit by affects this, but you keep the D&D things like hp.

Also, magic is the superkiller in GnG v.4. There are given some options as how to handle this depending on the genre you want, but again I'm not overly impressed. Seems like the magic is still a beta add on.

So it has great potential, I think, but it's not there yet. Maybe v.5

Edit: Check out this thread http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=82837

 

[genshou]

Edit: Check out this thread http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=82837

Is that the "4.0" the OP is asking about? I love Revised and Simplified, but I haven't had a chance to use it in an actual game yet.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Is that the "4.0" the OP is asking about? I love Revised and Simplified, but I haven't had a chance to use it in an actual game yet.

Eh... no, I think it's revised and simplified, not 4.0

 

[Aus_Snow]

Hm. . . uh, anyone used this product at all?

OK, I know some people have. But has anyone here used it.. anyone who feels like commenting on it at all?


Either way, I guess I'll pick it up for the whole $4 it is. I was curious, that's all.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

My semi-ranty post above is about v.4.

I've never used it though, for the reasons I give in my post.

 

[SSquirrel]

We used to have a condensed version of that GnG Revised thread where I took everything from the whole thread of real interest and condensed it to a post or 2. It got lost in the recent crash and I may re-do it sometime over these next coupla weeks

I haven't actually used any of the GnG's, but I prefer the Revised to the otehr versions I've seen. Less changes to institute and plenty of mood.

 

[genshou]

I've never used or even looked at 4.0, but it looks like it has some extra support for modern and future games. I'd have to take a look at that version to see how its rules differ from my favourite version before sharing an opinion.