Dark, gritty, "realistic" games. Can they be done without the DM being hamfisted and ironically cliche in overusage of tropes? Have you been in a game that successfully managed one?
Dark, gritty, "realistic" games...
Brandon Lopez
Lucas Russell
I mean life is pretty dark and gritty if you live in the rougher parts of the world.
I think it really depends on what you define these "tropes" as.
But really you just wanted to post that picture, didn't you?
Ryan Walker
Depends how realistic they go.
If they go "realistic" this bugbear is bigger than you and therefore invulnerable to your puny sword and rips you into tiny pieces, then they failed at the gate because clearly a setting like that should be known to the player characters well before the encounter and as adventurers (presumably) they should start with gear that would actually help them in that situation, unless humanity is near extinct out of incompetence, which leads to a whole other set of issues such as 'who wants to play in a gameworld that plays up the idiocy and incompetence of men?'
If their version of "realistic" is there are consequences for your actions and sometimes the best way to handle things is to get the evidence needed for the guys paid to handle this situation to handle it... as long as that's the game the group signed up for, why not? A number of systems expect that kind of play.
Jaxson Kelly
Dark, gritty, "realistic" games are about establishing the atmosphere. Untrusting NPCs, people looking to exploit others for personal gain, "give and take" moral codes, are all things that make the world seem more real. The virtues of good are extolled and should be held to a high regard, but not necessarily adopted by the masses.
Gritty realism is about establishing a very strong "Good" and "Evil" spectrum and having everyone fall somewhere inbetween. It doesn't need to be about burn/rape/murder all the time, but characters should be expected to behave like people trying to survive.
Ryder Jackson
So what, did the author finally decide to kill everyone off in goblin slayer?
Brody Nguyen
Define "realistic". Actual realism or "wanking to DM's impression of realism"?
Nicholas Brown
Yes. It's called "having a decent group with decent tastes".
GS might not be really related.
Aiden Ross
GS is certainly not related to "decent taste" or realism.
Jeremiah Perry
As a heads up for any anons that aren't aware, Goblin Slayer is getting an anime soonish. Expect a rise in these threads.
Parker Morales
Try playing MERP or Trudvang, with an experienced DM both those games can be wicked fun and completely brutal. MERP has given me some of the best experiences on the table, and the crit tables are great.
Ryan Thomas
Generally they can't be done right even in fiction.
Matthew Lopez
No it's time for some Rip and Tear.
Blake Martinez
No, he wakes up and barely manages to fuck some guy up
Samuel Torres
It’s possible one, and only one, way; if all the players are on board and want/enjoy that sort of game. If even one player is offkey, it’ll throw all sense of tension and immersion completely out. When you have this though you can have a pretty fun and great game.
my favourite moment of such was running a LotFP game. The party went exploring in a dungeon looking for a lost child, when they got caught in a pocket demension stairwell. The only way out? Putting a fresh heart in a basin filled with black goop. The cleric of the party discovered this. they had an npc escort (a simpleton, the son of the blacksmith) and he divulged this info to the other two party memebers. The cleric pulled out his pistol and said “we all know what needs to be done” before turning the pistol on himself and giving himself a Curt Kobain.
the other two did what was need, and left the dungeon. On the return to town, they crossed a bear and one party member killed it with a spectacular arrow between the eyes. He decides he’s going to skin and take the bear bones/meat as at least something from this damned expedition.
Upon gutting the bear, the remains of the missing child were found.
Ahhh good times
Benjamin Sanders
That's just edgy as shit though
Asher Turner
>LotFP
No shit, every module for that system is edgy
James Turner
I've definitely been in a game that was good for being dark, gritty, and realistic. Probably mostly Cthulu.
What gives that impression is probably the survival aspect, the fact that the game is low survival, hard to win a session.
How creative your scenerio is, and set up, well, let's be honest. There is nothing new under the sun, so what you're really looking for is something your players are not familiar with.
Some of the best games I've had is where the GM is actually stealing from a TV show or Anime in terms of setting and ideas, but I haven't seen or experienced the thing they're stealing from.
I wouldn't try to avoid tropes and cliche's so much as just focus on making fun encounters that are engaging. Maybe focus on the mood/emotions of your players more.
Jayden Sullivan
Rape. Lots of rape.
Jaxon Perry
We had an amazing game with a groupof friends. We were on a caravan to Ogre territory, with around 300 people, travelling for months in a wasteland.
Slowly, parts of the caravan , specifically people from the same region, started to get stricken by illness, food shortages and overall mistreatments from the guards and upper echelons. They were sent to the most dangerous missions, and were kept under surveillance by the secret police of the leaders.
Our group actually got one of them accuse of murder at the beginning, in order to bargain a deal with the leaders; we had become accomplices, and we were witnessing a slow, tenacious ethnic cleansing.
So after weeks of unease and discussion, we started fomenting rebellion, and actually made a run for it with what was left of the oppressed minority. As player we just couldn't bear to witness what we were seeing.
The game ended soon after, because we all had become way too invested in it, and we had things to get done outside of it. These are my best memories of roleplaying ever.
Lucas Nguyen
Just make a frankenfran setting
Alexander Baker
fucking whole book design philosophy comes from the edgiest death metal dropout ever.
but the shit is pretty fun to run if you wanna mindfuck your players for an evening.
Jace Nguyen
Yes, but it also requires mechanical support.
Connor Perry
It's kinda funny, that in most cases the more of a grimdark/realismgrit fan the DM is, the less he understands how to make a fun game. And 99% don't even properly know the rules of the system they're using and are utterly shit at gamedesign.
Elijah Nguyen
Yes.
Logan Nelson
There's that one carebears game, but I'm sure I don't have the screen cap. That seems to be the right way to do it.
Jayden Gomez
It’s pretty fun desu, not even for just mindfuck (albeit 95% of the modules are just that, or “lolgetfucked”)
It makes a pretty decent system stripped down to its bones and just used mechanically. Once ran a game using it where the whole party were orks; shenanigans ensured.
Xavier Perry
they can, but almost never are.
Daniel Phillips
>tfw your party has long sticks to open doors and chests because 3 other parties wiped in this dungeon alone
LotFP can be fun when you know what you're getting into. Solid rules in case you want to homebrew a setting too.
Daniel Reyes
Sure, the trick is to aim for tragedy rather than just being edgy
Sebastian Perry
what? context
Ryder Price
Christ. I don't even hate the series. I think it's serviceable, still worlds better than most anime and manga, and I say this as someone who's happily watched every season of Precure.
But I hate that Goblin Slayer has spread so much, all the discussion around it is awful and the fanbase is fucking obnoxious because anything lighter or more casual than it is baby weeb shit to them while anything that's actually dark or realistic is pretentious. They won't read a book but they want to act high class among other anime shit, and the few players I've seen trying to reference it always have an awful time actually working in game.
Camden Thomas
>Have you been in a game that successfully managed one?
Yes. Grimwyrd
www.kendelyzer.wordpress.com
The GM is catching up with the game, posting our text logs. Weve been playing it for two years. Grim, dark, and still fun
Adam Morgan
Just don't let players weasel out of consequences. Boom. Grimdark.
Dominic Collins
What is this gif from?
Jason Richardson
Time to get up for another go
Thomas Nelson
I love dark and gritty atmospheres but a key part for me is "A light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not". I like my players or me as a player to be the blast of light that scatters the darkness and brings light to a dark setting. Thats not to say that the party has to bastions of virtue, just that they as a whole do more good than harm. So I guess the meme terminology is Nobledark?
Jace Young
>frankenfran
My negro
Evan Ramirez
That is the wrong image