Sunday, May 11, 2014

Grim World RPG - Dark Fantasy Fun

In what is already a record year for me in terms of trying different games, I ran a one-shot demo of "Grim World" on saturday night.

"Grim World" is a dark fantasy supplement for Dungeon World and Fate Core. It was a successful Kickstarter, though it's now available to purchase as a PDF. It's a truly superb product of high quality, and I was really interested to try it, given that I've recently run Dungeon World and have a long history of running dark games. In this case I ran the Dungeon World version.

Any of the other playbooks can be used, though Grim World comes with seven new ones, two of which are reworked versions of other playbooks, the Shaman and the Templar. The others are the Battlemaster, Skirmisher, Channeller, Slayer and Necromancer. All the new playbooks come with "Death Moves"...a major event that happens if that character dies. Character death really matters and shakes the world. For example, if the Necromancer dies, an army of the dead rises. There are death moves included for all of the other playbooks too, including the supplemental ones. There are also fifteen races included, any of which can be used with any playbook.

The game also comes with a location generator, new guidelines for the setting to help the GM capture the atmosphere, a new organization for player characters to join ("The Hunt") and eight adventure outlines. I ran one of them as the demo for a group that consisted of a Battlemaster (the tactician), a Skirmisher (the opportunist) and a Necromancer (the life and soul of the party....just kidding).

The scenario had the group seeking a reward offered by a small mining town that is on the brink of financial ruin, having fallen victim to a bear the size of a house. Throw in Druids, rival adventurer groups, town secrets and some plot twists, and you have a nice session to introduce the world and the system. This was really good fun and exactly what I hoped it would be...it is Dungeon World tweaked and pointed in a different direction..a darker and messier one.

The players thoroughly enjoyed it and asked me to keep running it on saturday nights, which I'm happy to do. I'm not well versed enough with Fate Core to try that version, but I'd be curious to see how it compares with that system. I can strongly recommend this if you're a fan of Dungeon World and enjoy settings like Ravenloft.