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Appearance
The book itself is a dense hardback with an emphasis on substance over layout. The pages are made to look like they have crinkled-up edges, which got a little distracting. Also, several charts on the outer columns look a little strange, as the watermark often clashes with the grey and white entry shading (the title bars of charts are white type on black, which gives them a utilitarian if not snazzy look). The art is predominantly quarter-page sized stuff, all black and white with a pretty diverse mix in terms of seriousness (from camp to gritty) and theme (lots of generic pulp, fantasy, and apocalyptic pictures, with the occasional historical looking character). I’ll make a quick comment on the dark cover, which shows a Conanesque hero fighting an undead monster and his savage cronies. It’s an odd choice which I feel doesn’t hint at the contents of the book, and may escape the notice of gamers looking for modern-day game aids.
Basics and Characters
The core of the game is taken from d20 Modern, with basic characters keyed to ability scores, action points, skills, and combat mechanics taken from the SRD (possible actions during combat are summarized in a concise section, as are hazardous environments). Throughout the game are play options characterized by “threat level,” meaning that a GM can tailor a campaign from PC-friendly to no-holds-barred deadly. With each option comes a short explanation of how this should affect a game (for example, the Horror section lays out which characters will be best at resisting the effects of unnatural depending on the option used). It’s a nice touch, accentuated by the fact that most of the options appear on the Campaign Planner form towards the back of the book. More of these would have made the book that much better.
There are no advanced or prestige classes; instead, the basic classes go up to 20th level - not that someone couldn’t figure out the progressions on their own, but for a generic game it’s a good idea. To make up from the lack of kewl powers that such classes bestow, there are more Talents and a broad range of OGC feats. Because the class system lacks the flashiness of other products, many people have pointed to this book as a good example of how a “classeless” d20 game could function. The weakest section of character construction is the backgrounds, which are stripped down from Modern. All they do is throw some core skills at a character (and in an uneven fashion: some backgrounds have three times the available skills as others). The list has a contemporary bent, which won’t suit some futuristic or fantasy settings. It would have been better to discuss making custom backgrounds for a campaign intended, or to leave this section unmodified from the SRD.
Equipment
A few things bear mentioning here. First, the game lists both straight costs and Wealth system DCs, which is nice. There is a mechanic to integrate supply and demand into your characters’ shopping, which requires an additional die roll but would work nicely in a post-apocalyptic setting.
More interesting may be the weapon design pages: a way to create balanced weapons, in the sense that an improvement in one characteristic is offset by a disadvantage elsewhere. A separate section discusses the creation of firearms (which does not involve “balance”), as well as their use, with custom feats and actions. While the design process is about the most coherent one presented in the d20 system, it departs from d20 Modern’s standard two dice of damage per weapon (which may be a selling point for some).
There is a short section on vehicles, mostly dealing with ways to simulate chases. The rules provide a simple but comprehensive list of maneuvers (applicable to both surface and aerial encounters - the terminology mixes both). Chases will be abstract, but with the opportunity to simulate typical cinematic feats in a variety of settings.
The Unnatural
Magic is not to be trifled with, although anyone can cast a spell given the formula and some ranks in Spellcraft. Characters who forego magical feats (and talents – the initial investment comes from the Smart, Dedicated, or Charismatic class) risk lethal spell burn in the form of temporarily penalties Constitution – although a character at zero Con is still dead. Trained magicians get some resistance to this damage, along with the ability to penalize Strength instead; a powerful spell can still incapacitate a character.
Horror Checks in Grim Tales are more complex than in any other d20 product, and resemble Turning Checks more than anything – the greatest factor being the relative encounter levels of the scared and the scarer. There is a pretty wide selection of insanities to bedevil characters, as well as multiple levels of severity that can get worse over time. I thought that it was almost too detailed, especially in a pulp game in which heroes are extraordinary personae.
Cyberware is also presented as an option, although a minor one: eleven potential augmentations are presented, as well as the rules for acquiring them and living with them. At three pages, it almost seems an afterthought. The same may go for mutations, which is presented as an option in the presence of radiation (one of the hazards dealt with). It provides what looks like a simple conversion process for adding powers based on rads of exposure. This will increase a being’s challenge rating, as detailed in the monster section.
Monsters
There is a lengthy section on designing monsters from the ground up. It starts with size and runs through the panoply of creature traits, simultaneously tracking the Challenge Rating. I could not tell if the numbers were cross-referenced against actual D&D beasties but the system appears pretty thorough (there are package CR adjustments calculated for each creature type and standard PC race from D&D, too). The first part of the gamemastering section handles the translation from Challenge Rating to Encounter Levels, and onto experience points.
Campaign Ideas
There are three short campaign models presented in the appendix: the undead campaign, the dragon campaign, and the lethid campaign. Each one has a potential nemesis for a fantasy, modern, or apocalyptic setting. Although the archvillians are pretty daunting, there is practically no material to assist in the development of a campaign for any of them. Lethids are weird relatives of the aboleth, and infest other creatures in order to control them. Again, beyond the stats for three types of lethid (including a “shibboleth”), nothing else is presented. Honestly, without these sections the book would have been tighter. Perhaps the cool ideas are being saved for future books based on the Grim Tales system.
Other Problems?
Really, not many. Grim Tales tries to evoke the pulp feel through the rules themselves, without any meaningful discussion of the themes, characters, and locations that represent the genre (other than a stock example of the structure of a “serial adventure”). I guess that since the author expects Grim Tales to be adapted to existing campaigns, he may be unduly relying on other sources for this sort of guidance. This seems an odd design choice, given that two issues of Polyhedron contained two excellent pulp settings in far less room (Pulp Heroes and Iron Lords of Jupiter). Perhaps Slavelords of Cydonia, the first detailed setting slated specifically for use with the Grim Tales ruleset, will have better guidance.
Grim Tales has the potential to be an invaluable asset to almost any campaign. I felt that the concepts it contains mesh well with both D&D and d20 Modern with equal ease.
