Grim Tales in Play?

[S'mon]

As far as your copy goes, if you want to send me your broken-spined book, I will be happy to replace it for you with a new copy.

Thanks Wulf - if my copy does indeed fall apart I'll take you up on that.
My friend Craig/Upper_Krust said he might give me his freebie copy (that he got for his work on GT) when he's over in August, I'll see how mine holds up.

Thanks to everyone who's replied, you've given me some thoughts & things to look for. I've only spent a couple of hours reading it so far; I agree that the 'feel' does seem superior to d20 Modern - I dislike WoTC's art style, GT's i far preferable, and the writing does seem clearer. The elements I dislike are elements that look familiar from d20 Modern, like d20M's silly autofire rules.

So, given that GT is crunch not fluff, things I think I might do with it:

1. A Space: 1889 or similar game, inspired by the Victorianesque artwork.

2. A d20 version of Ron Edwards' Sorcerer & Sword* (pulp narrativist swords & sorcery), if I can work out how that fits... again, inspired by the Swords & Sorceryesque artwork.

3. As a supplement for filling out the Redline d20 minigame (which was nice but too thin to be usable on its own IMO)... again, inspired by the post-apocalypse artwork.

*Best. Fluff. EVAR.

 

[BryonD]

Glad you are giving it another look.

However, the autofire rules are actually closer to Spycraft than D20Modern.
For one thing, as long as you are proficient, you can do a lot of things that require feats in D20Modern.
GT Guns are certainly less lethal than reality, but so are swords. And in the kinds of literature that RPGs emulate, the heroes often survive gunfire.

If you want to increase deadliness, just add to the dice or bonus damage for bursts or whatever.

 

[S'mon]

Thanks Bryon - I don't have Spycraft, I noticed the autofire rules didn't seem as silly as d20M.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Thanks Bryon - I don't have Spycraft, I noticed the autofire rules didn't seem as silly as d20M.

From a rules point of view, imagine GT as an evolution or blending of d20 Modern, D&D 3.5, and Spycraft. That would form your "core" ruleset. There are little tweaks here and there of my own design based on feedback from this forum and others about what folks thought was working and what wasn't within these rules.

On top of that core ruleset, as you noticed, are the extra bits and pieces that give the campaign its feel-- Spellcasting, Firearms, Vehicles, etc. You can "bolt on" these additional rules to the core, pretty much seamlessly. By adding these bits of "crunch" to taste, you'll notice the "fluff" or the feel start to ebb its way through.


Wulf

 

[S'mon]

Still been looking at GT - I'm quite a tinkerer myself; one thought I had was using Armour-gives-DR might work better in pulp settings, with a chance to bypass DR through very high rolls - say 10 over the Touch AC.

I have my own autofire rules based off the old Twilight 2000 & Traveller New Era systems that use recoil and allow for multiple shots/round at the same target, area saturation, suppressive fire et al; the GT rules aren't terrible but mine are definitely better IMNSHO.

Currently thinking I might try GT for a far-future post-apocalypse game; one of the 3 'sample' eras - though it's odd that GT has nothing on playing in these eras per se, the setting-appendix has 'Undead' 'Dragons' and 'Cthulu-beasties' as the campaigns, then notes on using these in modern, archaic & post-apocalypse eras. It seems to kinda assume we already know what these eras are about. Undead Dragons & Cthulu-thingies don't really fit what I want; I'd like something akin to the Heavy Metal-esque 'Clicking Sands' setting sketched in Ron Edwards' Sorcerer & Sword. PCs would need to start at high-ish level in d20 terms.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I'm seriously seriously contemplating stopping by the FLGS today to pick up Grim Tales. The one I'm thinking of is having a 25% off sale, and that's just not bad.

My wife picked up the Darwin's World 2nd ed hardback while we were out and about yesterday. Mostly because it was called "Darwin's World" and had a really cool cover. Really it could have been about playing evolved squid a million years after the fall of man, and she'd have still wanted it.

Going through it last night, though, I really like what they did ... it tacks onto D20Modern pretty seamlessly ... which MEANS it'd tack onto Grim Tales pretty seamlessly as well. Both of them are pretty open ended.

So just throwing out a thought: GrimTales + Darwin's World.

--fje

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Really it could have been about playing evolved squid a million years after the fall of man, and she'd have still wanted it.

Oddly enough, Grim Tales allows you to play against evolved squid responsible for the fall of man...


Wulf

 

[BryonD]

I do not have Darwin's World.

But I have some other RPGobjects stuff and really like it both as stand alone or in combination with Grim Tales. I have already used Blood and Fists and a few Zombie tweaks from Blood and Brains in my 2 session old GT campaign.

I am seriously considering picking up Darwin's World for the same reason you stated.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

The thing I like about Darwin's World is that it's more of a campaign toolkit than it is a SETTING. But it's a setting too ... oooo, mindbender.

They give you places, names, monsters, rules, etc. But the why and the how are left up to the GM. Did the fall happen in 2386 after we developed lasers? Or did it happen in 2006? Or 1998? Was it a plague (look, Zombies!), nuclear war (Damn you, Russia!), or a combination of things?

Get some Grim Tales rules in there, give 'er a good run in the mixer, seems like we could have a winner.

*off to the game store*

--fje