[Grimtales] Hardcover and PDF's

[Vocenoctum]

I'm thinking of getting the hardcover, and was wondering which of the PDF's add to the book in any meaningful way?
Any way to just get the updated stuff?

On a seperate note, anywhere online with more details about the magic system?

Thanks.

 

[Yuan-Ti]

Turanil posted this on the magic system in another thread here:

Grim Tales Spellcasting:

Grim Tales expands the d20 Modern concept of the six base classes (Strong, Fast, Tough, Dedicated, Smart, Charismatic) to 20 levels. There is no specific class of spellcasters. Anyone with at least one rank in Spellcraft may potentially learn a spell (provided he finds it somewhere) and thus cast it.

Casting a spell requires to succeed a caster level check (d20 roll) against a DC = 10 + spell level. In casting a spell the caster saps his lifeforce and suffer 1d6 point of Constitution temporary damage, for every level of the spell cast. Spell is cast at the character's caster level (here zero) or the level of the spell, whichever is better.

Three of the classes have access to the Magical Adept talent. This gives the character a caster level of 1, but more important, gives him "Spell-burn resistance" equal to his Intelligence or Wisdom modifier (whether if arcane or divine magic) that his applied to each d6 of "spell burn damage". Note that a natural 1 cannot be reduced. Then, remaining spell burn is substracted from Strength rather than Constitution.

As all ability damage, loss is recovered at the rate of 1 point per night of sleep.

Note that there is no spell list or spells in Grim Tales. The idea is that the GM decides which spells to use from d20 sources and doles them out to PCs and NPCs as appropriate. (Wulf has hinted that a "Grim Grimoire" concept is under consideration.)

As far as the PDFs go. I have the Gamemastering one and the Creature one. To be honest, I have read those sections in the rulebook but not the PDFs, so I don't know what is different. Both those PDFs come with excel files, however. The creature one is awesome... plug in the abilities of your homebrew creature and it calculates the CR of the creature for you. Did I mention it is AWESOME? The gamemaster PDF comes with an excel file which calculates encounter levels and xp for you. Very handy, although perhaps not quite awesome.

The book is the real deal. If you are interested in a toolkit kind of book that gives you the rules for running a low magic game, and one that is flexible and designed so that its parts can be changed out and other d20 systems changed in, then you can't go wrong with this book.

 

[Crothian]

The cool thing with the PDFs is they have the excel files which the book does not. The excel files are a real time saver as well as are focing on things that are complicated and not easy like figureing the CR for a created creature.

 

[jonrog1]

I'd like to chime in here. GRIM TALES' take on balancing EL's with the party changed the entire dynamic of my campaign (for the better) and the CR calculations allowed me to do some horrible mutation-like things to the PC's, while the EL system kept the encounters balanced.

Seriously, these two sections alone are works of game-design art.

 

[Vocenoctum]

The cool thing with the PDFs is they have the excel files which the book does not. The excel files are a real time saver as well as are focing on things that are complicated and not easy like figureing the CR for a created creature.

Well, the 1.95 ones I could possibly justify, but the Creature Creation one is 7.95. Spending 1.95 X3 and 7.95 more after buying the book doesn't work for me.

So, PDF by PDF;
Horror: looks like direct reprinting, so wouldn't be needed if I bought Ye Booke.
Gamemastering: Has the Excel files, is anything else updated from the book?
Mass Combat: Is any of this material in Grim Tales? It says Cydonia, so perhaps not.
Creature Creation: the main one I think I'd need the Excel stuff for, but it's the most money. Is there any new material besides what's in the book?

That also raises the Slavelords question, but I'm still looking for info on that.

 

[Crothian]

I don't have Horror so I can't say on that one. I also don't have Slavelords, though I do have the Mass Combat PDF.

The Creature Collection PDF seems to be that section from Grim Tales exactly. The tables, layout, text...they all look the same.

The Gamemastering section in Grim Tales is a bit different, it is laid out differently though the info seems the same if organized differently.

I'm still loving the excel files.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Horror: Direct reprinting, wouldn't be needed if you bought Grim Tales.

Gamemastering: Has the Excel files and is significantly changed from Grim Tales. I recommend this one.

Mass Combat: Is not available in Grim Tales as it is excerpted directly from Slavelords of Cydonia.

Creature Creation: Directly reprinted from Grim Tales; if you already have GT, here you're probably paying for the Excel sheet. It's worth it if you will be using that chapter a lot to make creatures-- otherwise, you can safely give it a pass.

I don't think the PDFs are really a very good substition for the book; I certainly didn't publish them to be so. I would say if you're going to run a new campaign, get Grim Tales. The PDFs are meant for folks who like the rules they're already living with (be it 3.0, 3.5, or Modern) but they are missing some small but vital rules component (for example, Horror); and the Excel sheet component of the download is for those folks who have Grim Tales already and will pay a little extra for convenient time-savers.


Wulf