Hey! If you're reading this, that means that the game below is still SUPER ROUGH. As in, UNFINISHED. I want to thank you in advance for taking interest, and also apologize for the mess. Oh, and if you have any ideas or want to contact me, you know how to do that.
GRIM is a roleplaying system about average people in a fantastic and dark world. In the game, you and the other players act as characters in a world which is presented and controlled by another player, called the Game Master. In that world, your characters will explore, encounter, and fight through various places to achieve their goals.
Grim is special because of a few things.
In short, your resource management is key, your characters are human, not superheroes, and the world is against you.
A Role Playing Game is a game played between the Players and the Game Master, where the Game Master sets up scenarios, and the Players act as their characters in those scenarios.
To play an RPG, the Players describe what their characters do or attempt to do in a given scenario. If the GM decides that the action could fail, the GM may call for a roll that determines whether the action succeeds or fails. Using the results of the roll, the GM determines if the action succeeds or fails and describes the results. If the GM decides that the outcome of the action does not need to be determined, (i.e. no chance of failure or success) they simply narrate the outcome. After that, the Players make new choices or actions, and the cycle repeats. Eventually, the players' characters move on to a new scenario, and so on.
The Game Master is responsible for everything outside the Player Characters in the game, including setting the scenarios, acting out other characters, and enforcing the rules of the game.
The Game Master is also responsible out of the game for making sure the players are following the rules, settling disputes at the table, creating or choosing the scenarios the players will experience, scheduling the time and place of the game sessions, and removing players when they are being disruptive. Being the Game Master is the most demanding role of the game, but without one it is impossible to play.
Players play as characters in the world created by the GM. To play the game, Players act as their characters in scenarios created by the GM. Players may use their characters to talk with other characters, explore areas, fight other characters, and do anything they want their character to do.
To roleplay the game, the Players act as their characters in scenarios created by the GM. Players ask themselves, "What would I do if I were my character, in this situation?
In other words, act as in action, and act as in acting. Players have to do the first thing to progress the game, and have to do the second thing to actually roleplay as their character. At the beginning of the game, your character has no personality or history, only some equipment and some abilities. At that stage, you can choose how your character will act, and gain traits. After you have defined your character, then you know who to role-play as. But your character can grow, and is not limited to their current traits. Characters, like people, can change.
After a player describes their characters' action, if that action is dangerous, difficult, and/or risky, the Game Master may call for a roll to determine the results. Whenever a Game Master calls for a roll, roll 2 6-sided dice and add the results, plus any skills, abilities, or items your character has that apply to the roll. If the result is greater than the Difficulty Class for that action, you succeed, and if it is equal to or lower, you fail.
DEGREE OF SUCCESS/FAILURE - The difference between your result and the Difficulty Class is referred to as the Degree of Success or Failure (DOS or DOF). The DOS or DOF is used to determine the effects of actions; a bigger degree results in a better success or a worse failure. If a result is the same as the DC, it has a DOF of 0 and it is still a failure, but any effects depending on a DOF would not trigger.
ADVANTAGE/DISADVANTAGE - Certain actions are more or less likely to succeed based on your circumstance. In this case, your Game Master may tell you to roll with Advantage or Disadvantage. If you have Advantage, you roll 3 dice and take the higher 2, and if you have Disadvantage you roll 3 dice and take the lower 2. (Advantage is meant to be a tool of the Gamemaster for situational advantages. If there is a rule or mechanic giving Advantage or Disadvantage, the Gamemaster may choose to negate or overrule it.)
PUSHED ROLLS - If there is a important roll that your character fails, you may re-roll the dice for a cost. The first time you re-roll the dice after a Rest, your character gains the Exhausted condition. If your character is already exhausted, then they pay Resolve equal to the difference between the first and second roll.
SAVES AND CHECKS - Some rolls are not made as an action, but as a reaction to an outside force, the force usually being an attack. When your character is attacked by normal means, the attack must defeat your Armor score to damage you, but special effects that are not affected by armor such as poison, environmental hazards, or morale use saves instead. On a save, you roll to defeat the effect's roll or DC, and if you succeed you avoid the effects of the attack. If not, the effect triggers.
INITIATIVE - In situations where the order of actions matter, each character rolls Initiative to determine who gets to take an action first. The character with the highest Initiative score goes first, followed by the character with the next highest Initiative and so on, until all characters have acted. Then, play resumes with the character with highest Initiative.
TURNS - On your turn in Initiative, you get to take one action and a Stance. Actions are one thing that your character does. Actions that your character takes may require more than one roll, but they are usually determined with a single roll.
STANCES - In Initiative, on your turn you may also take a Stance. Stances are used to move or affect the action that you take, and may be used to perform minor actions such as opening a potion or drawing a sword. Every character knows these basic Stances.
When Characters are adventuring, they can encounter unusual things or run into danger. At the beginning of play, get an empty bowl. Any time the characters do something time-consuming, the Game Master adds a die to the pool. Any time the characters do something that attracts attention, or enters a new area, the Game Master rolls the dice in the pool. If the characters do something that is time-consuming and attracts attention, the Game Master adds a die and rolls the pool. When the sixth die is added, roll the pool and empty it. If any dice come up as 6s, something happens. The characters encounter someone, discover something or somewhere, suffer a setback, or something else happens.
Additionally, whenever the Fate Pool is filled, each character loses a Supply point and makes a Resolve check. If they have no Supply Points to lose, they gain the Exhausted condition.
Resolve checks are a type of save that are triggered whenever your character's morale is tested; gruesome sights, deaths of friends, entering combat, exposure to phobias, and stressful environments are common experiences for adventurers. To make a Resolve check, make a Will save at DC 7. On a success, take one point of Resolve damage. On a failure, take Resolve damage equal to the degree of failure.
RESOLVE - Resolve is your character's will to fight and to continue. Whenever you take damage or stress, you lose Resolve. If your Resolve is reduced below 0, your character begins taking on Trauma. Characters start with 8 Maximum Resolve. For each 4 points of Maximum Resolve gained, gain 1 Trauma slot.
TRAUMA SLOTS - When a character takes damage from an attack and is out of Resolve, they must fill a Trauma slot. The amount of damage taken is recorded as the Severity of the trauma. A trauma can be recorded as a physical or mental trauma if physical damage was taken, but mental damage must be a mental trauma.
For each Trauma Slot filled, your character gets -1 to all actions. If a character fills all of their trauma slots, when they take damage they die.
Trauma can be healed on an uninterrupted Rest with the help of a party member. The party member must make a successful Passion or Medicine roll at DC 7. The Severity of the trauma is reduced by the degree of success. The trauma is cured when the Severity of the trauma is reduced to or below 0.
Characters start with 2 Trauma Slots.
ARMOR - When your character is attacked, the attack must defeat your Armor score to deal damage to you. The greater your Armor score is, the less damage you take. You can increase your Armor score through wearing armor.
Your base Armor score is 6.
ITEM SLOTS - Your character can carry a limited amount of equipment, determined by the size and weight of the items. Larger items may take up multiple item slots, while smaller ones may take up a single item slot when bundled or no item slot. You can increase your number of Item Slots with special packs or companions.
Characters start with 6 Item Slots.
SUPPLY POINTS - Each character has an amount of Supply Points to represent supplies they brought on an expedition. As a Stance, you can spend a Supply Point to produce a common item that your character would have like rope, torches, bandages, alcohol, daggers, or such. If you have a supply kit, you can spend a Supply Point for a use of the kit. Supply Points are also used for Rituals and spellcasting.
INITIATIVE - Your initiative score is added to your roll for Initiative.
Your base Initiative bonus is +0.
When the GM calls for a roll, he or she will probably name a skill that the roll will use. If your character is proficient in that skill, you get a bonus to the roll equal to their skill level. Each character starts with a +2 proficiency in one skill and a +1 proficiency in two skills. The skills that your character is proficient in will affect their statline, for each point in that skill, you may add the bonus in parenthesis.
ATTRIBUTES
Will (+2 Resolve)- Attribute for mental discipline and control. Ability to resist charms, illusions, and Resolve checks.SURVIVAL
Nature (+1 Resolve, +1 Item Slot) - Knowledge of plants, animals, environments, and how to deal with any such difficulties. Ability to identify and follow tracks, tame animals, hunt and forage, and find water and specific species.TRADES (For each point in a trade skill, start with +1 Gold piece. For each point in a trade skill, you earn 1 piece of Gold per month spent working.)
History - Knowledge of many things through books, including religion, history, language, and any other topic. Ability to scan and learn from libraries and books, as well as experience in foreign languages.When your character gains or expresses a quality, they can gain abilities or effects, called traits. These traits can be reinforced to gain more powerful effects from the trait, but in exchange, if the character goes against the trait, they lose those effects. Traits can be a characters reputation, relationships, or personality traits. These reputations, relationships, and personal traits can be positive or negative!
For example, a character who consistently acts in a town's good will may become a folk hero of the town, and if they continue to do great and well-known acts, they may become a legend throughout the land, which come with its perks.
In another example, an player character may be approached by powerful characters to become their vassal. If the character benefits their patron, the relationship becomes strengthened and bestows abilities upon the character.
For internal traits, a character may consistently behave a certain way. This can become an established trait which gives various benefits and costs. Acting towards a character's internal traits can reward them with extra Resolve and special abilities.
At the end of each session, the table may nominate one character to gain or modify a trait. In order for a gain, reinforce, or remove a trait, there must be a majority vote in favor, and the Gamemaster must approve it.
Traits should be reasonably and sparsely given; one good act does not make you a folk hero, and one drink does not make you an alcoholic. Reinforced traits take multiple votes to completely remove; it takes a long time to get rid of a reputation, and it is very hard for an alcoholic to resist drink. And finally, former traits may be kept on the character's sheet permanently; others may never forget that you were once a hero, and your temptation is permanent.
Sometimes, the GM may call on your character's traits to act in a way that is not in the interest of the party. Players are free to choose whether their character acts in their self-interest or in the interest of the party but it is a test of their character (literally). Player characters who act selfishly and harm the party may be removed from the party (and the player must acknowledge this price), but characters who act to stay in the party may lose their trait.
It is important to distinguish that personality traits that are not intentional, such as being clumsy, improper, or impatient can cause just as much trouble, but are not always done with the intent of the harming the party. GMs may call on these traits to cause issues for the party with the player's permission.
Characters who satisfy their reputation or relationship traits at the harm of the party can maintain and advance those traits. These characters may be removed from the party by the other characters for their traits, and may even bring them into direct conflict with the party in the future as a non-player character.
Characters who satisfy their personal trait at the harm of the party gain 2d6 Resolve. If they gain Resolve greater than their Maximum Resolve, then any surplus Resolve is temporary. Characters who attempt to intentionally resist their personal traits may have to make a Resolve check.
Prophet - You are predisposed to Divination magic. As a result, your dreams and meditations have a tendency to show you visions of the future and distant events. However, you become a conduit that attracts powerful beings from other realms, and your dreams and meditations can bleed into reality, causing you to have visions at inopportune times. These visions can be awful in nature, causing Resolve checks.
The visions given to prophets can be denied and blocked over time, and eventually they will go away.