Grimdark: A Sneak Peek
Big Rich started playing role-playing games in 1987. He has been a Gamemaster for most of the years to follow. Right now he acts as the Master Dungeonmaster for a group of roughly 24 regular players in his Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition campaigns. To this end¸ he constantly tries to keep things fun¸ fresh¸ and exciting. Using the simple but effective GRIMDARK system is one of those ways to keep things exciting at the table. This is a sneak peek at the bare bones of a developing variant rules system for use with 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons. It is intended to alter the rules to create a dangerous "grim and gritty" system of play. This system is something that the author has used in his own homebrew campaigns. Excellent for "horror" stories and campaigns. Essentially¸ the core rules of Armor Class and Hit Points are changed. Your character is a little easier to hit¸ and they have precious few Hit Points making them very fragile. Armor and shields are now protective equipment that reduces damage and requires constant repair to maintain its integrity. Critical Hit rules are altered to make them terrifying and now use the System Shock rules. All the rules here are taken from the references to "Gritty Realism" within the 5th edition DMG. This document is a sneak peek. It's got the core idea of GRIMDARK but it's not fancy or pretty to look at right now.