Grim-n-Gritty: Revised and Simplified

[Theseus]

Playtesting 2.0

After more playtesting, a few issues came up and I´d like to know what have you done in your games.

- Since undead are immune to crits, you can´t ignore their armor? It doesn´t make much sense, right? On the other hand, if you state that they are not immune to crits, they lose their biggest benefit of being an undead.

- Which spells have you removed from game /changed? Whenever a player casts a new spell, we have to consider if it should change to adapt the new system. For instance, the deadly creeping doom is now utterly useless...

-Magic Items. For instance, if you are using a vorpal weapon you should always aim for the head on the crit confirmation roll.

What else has come up in your game?

 

[lp]

I did a mock combat today with mainly 2nd level characters against our friend Otis, and I couldn't believe how long the combat lasted. I admit I was rolling horribly the entire time, and I had drubbed Otis down to 2s instead of 4s for being large.. but yeesh.

The fighter was the first to die (and quite quickly and spectacularly), then the sohei and the druid fight lasted at least 6 rounds, with small hits until the sohei got a good one in. The druid actually *survived*.

Of course I also ran a couple of other ones with the fighter against a ranger, and whoever won pretty much took the win.

 

[Acid_crash]

I don't know if this would change things, but if you use Dexterity as the main modifier to attack rolls, would you still keep Dexterity as the initiative modifier, or change it to Wisdom? I've seen many other games use a combination of dexterity and wisdom like initiative modifiers, but by changing the attack roll modifier to only dexterity, then dexterity is really getting to becoming THE major ability for a lot of things it can modify.

Thanks Ken for this great system, I do like the feel of it, but haven't tried it yet. I needs to gets me some players to doos that though..

Another query: I love Conan, and I like how it differentiates between Parry and Dodge Defenses (Strength modifies Parry, and Dexterity modifies Dodge)... would this be feasible using this GnG system?

And yet another query: I just got the Advanced Players Handbook, and in it is a defense variant that seperates Defenses into Armor Defense, Parry Defense, Dodge Defense, and Deflection Defense (Armor, Strength, Dexterity, Shield) instead of just one Defense modifier for everything. How would having these seperate categories for defense work with GnG? With or without the attack roll being either Strength or Dexterity.

Another question: Is Sleeping Imperium going to ever get published?

 

[SSquirrel]

Not having seen teh rules in question I can't comment on them, but teh obvious statement here is that it wouldn't really be the SIMPLIFIED GnG
system then now would it? *grin*

Hagen

 

[malebode]

Ahh but you don't discount my comment of masochists on Monte's boards *grin*
Actually I think it could be interesting in the setting and storyline as well. I definitely appreciate teh flexibility of AU and will be running it in mid may (can't start sooner due to conflictin gschedules sadly) but I don't think my group would enjoy the grim n gritty rules. Altho who knows maybe they would. maybe I'll have people look at them and if they like em we'll try them out. If everyone hates em in play we'll dump em.

yes in a setting where all the PC races are medium it balances them better against each other, but as Ken said, if you're tiny you SHOULDN'T be equal.

Hagen

Hagen

SSquirrel, I've been running a once-in-a-while campaign in the AU setting using the old Grim 'n' Gritty rules. I made several modifications, and I'd be glad to forward that information on to you.

-Malebode

 

[Jin]

Threat Range

We started experimenting with a modified version of this system last night.

One of the items that wasn't customized was the new critical threat ranges. One of the players in my group has a keen katana (old 17-20) & so crits when he beats a victim's defense roll by 4+.

This seems a bit low to me even with the usual confirmation roll. This could be because we use a critical effect system instead of just doubling damage.

Has anyone changes these values at all?

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Grimm n not so Gritty

Ken Hood! Thanks!

I am one of those quiet types who has copies of your GnG, Psionics, and Martial Arts systems hiding on my hard-drive.. and incidently today I have started work on my next campaign world which will include all of them.

Anyway, I did a quick read through of the rules and I like what I saw. Alot of it reminds me of the CP2020 combat system, which I like alot.

But enough groveling at the feat of a master I do have some suggestions to make..taken from CP2020 schema

Extend the 'dying' category out some more blocks, I would do 5. Each additional block add 1 to the penalties. Any round in which a 'dying' character takes damage, they must succeed at a FORT save vs the total number of pips lost or fall unconsious.

Undead and constructs automatically succeed on this save.

I will look into it more over the next couple weeks, but it looks like a solid system to me.


Again, thanks!

 

[Malin Genie]

I liked the idea of the original GnG, but it was too complicated and different for me to want to try to implement it. This version looks eminently playable, and I'm keen to give it a go! Well done, and thank you for making your hard work available to all of us!

Quick suggestion re Sneak Attack - the idea is that the Rogue can hit more easily and hit more vital spots if the opponent is unaware or distracted (e.g. flanked.) Perhaps this could translate into a +1 attack bonus per Rogue level if the opponent is flatfooted/flanked, over and above the base +2. Conversely, Uncanny Dodge could allow Level offset of opponents' bonuses for attacking an flatfooted/flanked opponent.

For example: A 5th level Rogue catches a 5th level Fighter from the shadows. She gains +2 (opponent unaware) +5 (rogue levels) = +7 to the attack (slightly less damage than the +2 to attack / +6 damage she would gain under the original rules, but more likely to hit)

If she instead catches a 5th level Barbarian the -5 mostly offsets the +7 so she gains only the usual +2 bonus to attack (and is standing next to a probably very angry Barbarian - gulp!)

 

[glass]

I was considering using the following feat with the revised GnG rules. Does it fit with the overall grittiness of the system and is it balanced. Thanks for you input. Also any suggestions for a better name?

Grin and Bear It<snip>

How about 'High Pain Threshold'?


glass.

 

[SSquirrel]

Ahh the evils of necro posting *grin*

Ok so I'm curious how things have been going with those who have been using the revised GNG ruleset. My game managed to never get off the ground sadly so I still haven't been able to play them out. How have your games been going? What changes have you made to make things run more smoothly? I figured I'd revive this thread since there seems to be some new interest in the system again.

Hagen