Community Edition

What is the Community Edition?

Grimwild: Community Edition is a refinement of the original game. We wanted to expand the rules text, clarifying and simplifying where we could to make the game easier for newcomers. We've addressed consistent friction points and FAQs that have come up since the game's original release in January 2025. The game is now in the community's hands. Use it, change it, or build off of it, and tell exciting stories!

Previous previews:

Changes

General

  • Chapters reordered.
  • Overall clarity and guidance.

Chapter 1: Gameplay

  • Risk added as a section.
  • Impossible decoupled from 3t, though general rolls should still have 0-2 thorns.
  • Vantage scale replaced with certain/reasonable/doubtful/impossible.
  • Critical Effect - Secondary Effect codified as perfect on a different, but related action.
  • Any pool dropping 0d gains a secondary effect, or the PC can push themselves to drop 1d (not just on a 1d initial pool).
  • Harm clarified as the standard weight of an impact move, not the default. Additional suggestions added.
  • Bloodied and Rattled thorns only apply to their respective stats.
  • Desperate added as harm upon second bloodied or rattled, instead of dropped. Additional harm leaves you dropped.
  • "Death" options added, such as sacrifice, retirement, and another end.
  • Treatment does not always carry risk, though often does.
  • Potency is connected to vantage, no longer always removes all thorns.
  • Changes
  • Cantrips have been removed.
  • Spells without risk are automatically successful and require no resource.
  • Potent spells (like actions) no longer always remove all thorns.
  • "What can spells do?" section added.
  • Arcana overhauled into a new system that puts all arcana of the same tier on the same power level, acting like a spell-in-a-can.
  • Arcana uses whichever stat makes the most sense, as any other action (or a story roll).
  • Artifacts are arcana with special limitations, effects, or anything unique.

Chapter 2: Adventurers

  • Backgrounds.
  • Heritage talent suggestions added.
  • Investigator added as a background.
  • Background talents added.
  • Various talent updates to all paths.

Chapter 3: GM Toolkit

  • Stakes tied to harm, and split into Low/Regular/High/Dire.
  • Story Moves cut completely, added as guidance.
  • Suspense moves cut to resolve, foreshadow, build up, clue in.
  • Impact moves cut to complicate things, hit hard, lock down, counter.