I Play Dungeons and Dragons
I'm a big fan of Warhammer Fantasy, the works of Clark Ashton Smith, and other grimdark/weird fantasy. However, I haven't been able to talk my group into playing the Warhammer Fantasy RPG, Zweihander, or anything but D&D 5e. I was inspired by the "Gritty Realism" rules in the Dungeon Master Guide, but they didn't give me the feel I wanted. So I made up my own grimdark rules. I'm sharing them with people here and there, and since I hadn't posted anything here in a while, I figured why not here too?
1. A short rest takes one week. A long rest takes one month.
2. Characters have hit points equal to their Constitution score, plus the modifier.
3. All spells (Arcane, Divine, and Primal) other than cantrips must be cast as rituals.
4. All damage dice are increased by two die steps. If a weapon does 1d6 in the official rules, it now does 1d10 and so on in that way.
5. All criticals require a death saving throw. Failing the save is instant death.
6. No Life Domain Clerics or Oath of Devotion Paladins.
7. Strange monsters such as aberrations, monstrosities, or fiends should be very prominent.
These rules are not for everyone, but if you want to play a grimdark game where a pack of rabid dogs is still a serious threat even to a celebrated hero and the party is more likely to flee in terror of a horror from beyond than attack it, they work well. I hope you like them, and that your players will eventually forgive you if you decide to use them.
1. A short rest takes one week. A long rest takes one month.
2. Characters have hit points equal to their Constitution score, plus the modifier.
3. All spells (Arcane, Divine, and Primal) other than cantrips must be cast as rituals.
4. All damage dice are increased by two die steps. If a weapon does 1d6 in the official rules, it now does 1d10 and so on in that way.
5. All criticals require a death saving throw. Failing the save is instant death.
6. No Life Domain Clerics or Oath of Devotion Paladins.
7. Strange monsters such as aberrations, monstrosities, or fiends should be very prominent.
These rules are not for everyone, but if you want to play a grimdark game where a pack of rabid dogs is still a serious threat even to a celebrated hero and the party is more likely to flee in terror of a horror from beyond than attack it, they work well. I hope you like them, and that your players will eventually forgive you if you decide to use them.
31-35, M
