Grim Tales question. . .

[jdrakeh]

It has been a while since I've read Grim Tales. Do I also need a copy of d20 Modern to use it, or is it a standalone game? To aid you in answering this question, I should note that I don't consider d20 products lacking complete character creation and combat rules to be games.

 

[jaerdaph]

If you have a D&D PHB for the experience/level table, you should be okay (and even that is debatable). You don't really need d20 Modern to fully use Grim Tales. It almost stands alone. Almost.

 

[jdrakeh]

If you have a D&D PHB for the experience/level table, you should be okay (and even that is debatable). You don't really need d20 Modern to fully use Grim Tales. It almost stands alone. Almost.

What exactly is absent from its pages, aside from the XP table?

 

[redkobold]

You can also download the d20 modern SRD if you need any reference material.

 

[jaerdaph]

What exactly is absent from its pages, aside from the XP table?

IIRC, that's really about it.

Edit: Come to think of it, it could have used a better equipment section too, but again, you can pull equipment from the SRDs.

 

[jdrakeh]

IIRC, that's really about it.

Edit: Come to think of it, it could have used a better equipment section too, but again, you can pull equipment from the SRDs.

Excellent! Now, in the time that owned Grim Tales, I was only ever interested in it as a fantasy game -- has anybody here used it for modern gaming of a more mundane variety (e.g., CoC-ish horror) and, if so, how did it handle that?

 

[barsoomcore]

I am playing in a Napoleonic horror game (CoC + muskets and Frenchmen! It rules!). Grim Tales works GREAT. The horror rules are different from CoC, of course, but they're solid and fun to play with. We're having a blast with it.

 

[takyris]

I've run a fairly odd fantasy game (with aerocrystal fliers that used the vehicle rules for dogfighting in the skies, and flamewands that used firearms rules), as well as a one-shot modeled on DOOM -- 20th-level heroes against things I pulled out of the 3.5 SRD (demons, devils, etc). It worked just fine for that, too.

 

[jdrakeh]

. . . as well as a one-shot modeled on DOOM -- 20th-level heroes against things I pulled out of the 3.5 SRD (demons, devils, etc). It worked just fine for that, too.

SOLD!

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Yea, it doesn't have the experience table.

That's it.

The equipment section is small, but mostly contains the mathematic breakdowns of how to create equipment with a smaller attendant section of equipment. In terms of VALUE I, as a tinker-GM, would have found the "How To" section of greater value than a "trying to cover it all" equipment section.

Which is not to say there's no equipment, just that it is generally stripped down.

I have 'used it' for modern games ... largely using Grim Tales with the Modern SRD equipment section to save me time and effort (he has a greater mathematic breakdown for firearms and I found the Modern guns to work well enough that I didn't want to spend the time redoing them). But I house-rule Modern into Grim Tales and vice-versa that they're almost indistinguishable for me at this point.

Though if you told me that you were going to set either my d20Modern book or my Grim Tales book on fire, I'd tell you to fire the D20M book.

--fje