Grim-N-Gritty (3.5e Sourcebook)/Where do these rules fit?

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Where do these rules fit?

The Grim-n-Gritty Hit Point and Combat Rules are not appropriate for all game settings.

Good Fits

For fantasy, the Grim-n-Gritty rules fit well in a campaign with no, low, or rare magic. Magic takes on a literary rather than cinematic scope. Wizards and other spell-casters become extremely powerful individuals, the cause of fear and trembling, as they are in classical literature.

The rules work well in dark fantasy and horror settings where the characters are supposed to be the little fish swimming with sharks. Monsters and magic are very powerful, as befits this type of genre.

For tactical military, historical, hard science fiction, spy, and post-apocalyptic settings, these rules also make a good fit—assuming the spirit of the game is not cinematic.

Bad Fits

Any setting that focuses on cinematic combat is a poor fit for these rules. If you wish to imitate action movies or follow the combat and magic model of the core rules, it is best to avoid the Grim-n-Gritty rules. If you want to portray mythic heroes able to take on hundreds of foes, then these rules are inappropriate.

These rules do not lend themselves to light-hearted or whimsical settings. They fit best in a dark, grim world.

Incredibly Bad Fits

If you enjoy playing fairies and pixies that can fight toe-to-toe against gigantic opponents, this is not the system for you! Fairies and pixies make a fine paste when struck by giants in this system—which is pretty much what would happen if such things occurred in real life. Take a deep breath and repeat this mantra: The GnG system is realism-based!

A Warning about Magic

These rules assume that magic—if you have it in your setting—should destroy nearly anything with relative ease, as spells would if they existed in real life. People should not be able to shrug off a fireball or lightning bolt. They should die.

The system provides some variant rules to “tone down” the damage from spells in the core magic system, but they still have devastating effect.

If you do not wish to play in a setting where magic is an incredibly destructive force, do not use these rules.

If you are playing in a setting where powerful magic is an everyday occurrence, these rules are probably inappropriate.

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