Post originally by Brother Grimm at 2003-12-12 07:01:35
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Re: 2d8 Strength roll
Childhood isn't fair. I think the game is best enforced by having random rolls, and then players choosing the best class based on those rolls. The Nerd who wished he was a Popular Kid or a Jock for instance.
Plus, the 2d8 makes for an interesting character -- because this stat more than anything would help determine your age. Roll a low Str Jock, most likely he's a rather spunky "younger kid".
But yeah, point buy easily "fixes" this -- but I think the book was instituted a method to help emphasize the fact that as children, we rarely feel we are born with the gifts we want.
Re: long-term campaigns
Just divide up the experience points awarded, say by half or by quarters or whatever. Sure, there won't be as much "leveling up", but from what I've read of Grimm, that doesn't seem to be the point.
Post originally by Rob Carriere at 2003-12-12 07:37:24
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Nice review, thanks.
The point about slowing the XP dole has already been made, so I'll just add that it's easy enough to accomodate the 2d8 in point-buy: just give a "racial modifier" of -1 (if you're a generous GM) or -2 (if you're not) on STR and run standard point-buy.
Post originally by screenmonkey at 2003-12-12 14:50:28
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i dunno, 42 pages of new rules in a book that's only 64 pages long? i was hoping for a little more in the way of adventure seeds and other gaming goodness.
Post originally by R Schwalb at 2003-12-12 14:54:57
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Thanks for the great review!
*2d8 Str*
If you REALLY want to make the game nasty, or tie it into d20 Modern/Urban Arcana, try having characters roll 4d6 six times, place them where they want and apply the following modifiers: -3 Str, -1 Dex, -3 Con, -1 Int, -1 Wis, -1 Cha. This was something I thought about but we dropped it for many of the same reasons as Brother Grimm pointed out.
*Long-Term Campaigns
You'll note that on the last page, it does say that kids should advance to the next archetype level after each adventure. It goes on to say... "Whether an adventure is a 3-hour romp that lasts for one evening or is an extended quest that takes several sessions to complete... etc." So, level progression can be as long or as short as suited to a particular game, allowing you to actually play a Grimm campaign for as long as you want.
Post originally by Varkias at 2003-12-12 21:55:22
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I was initially unsatisfied with the 2d8 for STR as well, and considered both a 4d6 drop one with a -2 modifier or a 3d8 drop one. Then I realized that with the former they'll just put in a higher score to STR to offset the penalty, and with the latter people will nearly always take the higher possible score. Meaning that you'll never get kids at the lower age range. You'll end up with all 10-12 year olds.
I liked the suggestion someone made to allow the PLAYERS to trade STR scores to allow them to play the archetypes they want. That way the full range of STR scores is still possible and present, they'll just be going to where they make more sense for each player's character.
Post originally by Varkias at 2003-12-12 22:16:17
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Well...
It's d20. Depending on how codified you like your rules, that could be a good or a bad thing.
It's not the real world. In two ways:
Little Fears makes mention of Kids going into Closetland, but doesn't really say much about what's there (from what I remember). The action assumed to center around hidden monsters in the real world. Grimm all takes place within the Grimm Lands, and most of the extra mechanics are in place because of it. Even the kids' stats are probably technically higher than what they would be in the real world.
Little Fears makes use of real world children's issues as potential subject matter, even if it's just thematically. At the very least, adults are oblivious and (to play up the horror aspect) are unable to do anything to help. While Grimm has some nods to some potential kink (:P), the problems presented are all very fairy tale - getting swollowed whole, being lost, etc.
Linear Mode
