Grim-n-Gritty: Revised and Simplified

FraserRonald said:
I am using the old version's Protection rules in a D20 Modern campaign. I don't see anything for that in the new one. It does mention damage reduction. Am I to assume that the Protection rules have not been updated?

Yes and no. Soak replaces the Protection mechanic.

Effectively, they are the same thing, but I chose to change terminology to change thinking about their application.

Also, Soak has fewer syllables. ;)
 

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FraserRonald said:
Ken, do you have a website I could use rather than the broken link to Sleeping Imperium?

'Fraid not. I haven't had a site for a couple of years. They're a pain in the butt, so I probably won't get another one.

ENWorld is hosting the rules in the downloads section. If you look through this thread, you'll find a few other places hosting the rules.

Heck, if you wanted to host a copy of the rules with your article, I wouldn't mind.

Free to all.
 

FraserRonald said:
Ruthless? They were keeping track of the sections of the city burned to the ground thanks to their actions (though, in their defence, the razed sections were pretty much the "bad" portions of town). There was even a bard (yes, a bard) who seemed to have a penchant for kicking the crap out of the elderly.

I think Chris summed it up best: "Don't worry, the blood will put out the fire."
 

KenHood said:
Yes and no. Soak replaces the Protection mechanic.

Effectively, they are the same thing, but I chose to change terminology to change thinking about their application.

Also, Soak has fewer syllables. ;)

Just went back, looked again, and there it is. Sweet.

KenHood said:
Heck, if you wanted to host a copy of the rules with your article, I wouldn't mind.

Free to all.

Sniff . . . he's just so darn selfless. Excuse me, I'm choking up. Sniff.

But seriously, thanks Ken. I really would like to host these rules as well. I don't know when the next issue of SE will be coming down the tubes (life and work has intruded) but at least now I have an idea for a new Gamers' Table article.
 

Northcott said:
I think Chris summed it up best: "Don't worry, the blood will put out the fire."

Dude, that was SO my line as DM. If "Accidental Survivors" was still up, I could prove it!

And an aside to others, "Accidental Survivors" was a campaign website maintained by one of the players. It included a tally of buildings burned to the ground.

Did I mention ruthless?
 

For clarification's sake: When I write "ruthless," I don't mean burning down towns and kicking elderly people.

Webster's defines "ruthless" as "having no ruth : MERCILESS, CRUEL."

When I use the term, I meaning having no mercy upon one's enemies and demonstrating cruelty to them, because they have chosen to oppose you. Cruelty not in the sense of killing their dog because you don't like them, but in the sense of an absolute void of humane feelings, since humane feelings are not necessarily conducive to one's survival.

For example, when you knock down your enemy, you kick him. When he sleeps, you hurl a grenade into his chambers. When he goes to the toilet, you strike. When he goes to confessional, you stab him with your dagger. (To steal an image from Hamlet.)

In other words, you observe your enemy, select the most vulnerable moment, and strike with the most deadly means at your disposal. You don't engage in soliloquy or quips. You don't posture or preen. You strike fast, strike first, and strike hard. Precise. No mercy. No surrender.

Ruthlessness is a cold, unswerving, unrelenting process of the systematic destruction of one's enemies.

Ruthlessness is proactive, not reactive. It seeks the enemy in its lair. It identifies and destroys the threat before it becomes a threat.

It's not random. It's not careless.

It is measured, planned, calculated, and executed.

Most people, at this point, experience a "Holy crap!" moment when the skin crawls and the stomach turns just a bit. That feeling you have is the feeling your enemies should feel.

That's ruthlessness.
 
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FraserRonald said:
Dude, that was SO my line as DM. If "Accidental Survivors" was still up, I could prove it!

And an aside to others, "Accidental Survivors" was a campaign website maintained by one of the players. It included a tally of buildings burned to the ground.

Did I mention ruthless?
In an old Vampire game I played in when the DM lived in Cincinnati, we had a big map of Cincy spread out and we all hated White Castle, so a couple of acts of vandalism involved homemade dynamite, bricked pedals of stolen cars and blown up White Castles becoming blackened marks on said map. Same thing for Northgate Mall after an incident involving many police and driving cars thru the mall ended up in a car hitting a gas main that ran down the strip near the mall and all thru it, blowing it all sky high. We just drew a big oval around it and kinda scratched thru it heh.

Hagen
 

Hi Ken

Sorry if we cast a pall over the concept of ruthless. Just some good-natured tom-foolery with a friend I don't see any more due to a move. We kind of hi-jacked this thread and I apologize.

In future, the Accidental Survivors will no longer be called ruthless, they shall be called what they truly are: sociopaths.
 

FraserRonald said:
Sorry if we cast a pall over the concept of ruthless. Just some good-natured tom-foolery with a friend I don't see any more due to a move. We kind of hi-jacked this thread and I apologize.

Quite all right.
 

Wrong Term Used Repeatedly

I meant Cinematic, I typed Heroic. [Rumsfeld]Yes, a lot of my statements were based on my personal opinions. Yes, I like running games that feel like big-budget action movies. No, I do not apologize for that.[/Rumsfeld] I disagree with your statements on status quo. My normal bad guys, when I run fantasy games, tend to be humans or humanoids more often then not. Your games, judging only from your posts, tend to utilize large creatures more often. Different choices. However I am truly enjoying this discussion, and the thought a lot of people are putting into a variant set of rules.
Question: How many other people have actually tried out the new rules?
 

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