How to prep a grimdark RPG session (and why you should)

Grimdark fiction has plenty of golden nuggets o’ storytelling fuel to stoke your DnD (or tabletop game of choice) sessions. And then burn most of that story to the ground… In a good way!

Complex moral dilemmas, shady characters whose motives aren’t entirely clear, faction leaders who toe the line between hero and villain. All these elements are both the essentials of any good Grimdark tale and the makings of an epic roleplaying session.

But injecting your game with what you love in grimdark fantasy isn’t always so easy to do in practice. In this quick guide, you’ll learn some tips to give your next RPG campaign or one-shot a gritty flavor your players won’t soon forget.

Let’s start with the basics and end where you’ll need the most detail (and prep time).

System

Really, use whatever works best you and your players. But some systems lend themselves well to gritty, dangerous sessions of grimdark goodness. Here are a few recommendations beyond D&D 5e:

Shadowdark

This darkly-styled book takes the best of D&D (all versions of it that is) and streamlines it into a single page of rules that anyone can easily grasp. It’s complex enough to keep you busy, and light enough to stay out of your story’s way.

Index Card RPG

An indie D20 system that’s a way of thinking as much as an RPG system. Its runable in any kind of setting and filled with interesting approaches to DMing. It may even change the way you run games permanently. It encourages a DIY-spirit that makes planning a session easy, using index cards rather than grids and maps.

Dungeon World

The lightest system of the bunch, Dungeon World throws away the trusty D20 in favor of a pair of D6s. What results is an intuitive system that seamless transitions from social interactions to combat and everything in-between. This is without question the fastest-moving system of these three. It’s perfect for GMs who just want to play and avoid ever consulting a rule book.

Difficulty

Once your system is chosen, you’ll want to make sure you ramp up the difficulty. Grimdark is such an exciting genre because, as any seasoned Game of Thrones reader will tell you, it’s no guarantee your favorite character is making it out alive.

Find the line between a sadistic deathtrap and a leisurely murderhobo job. As a benchmark, at least one character should be rolling death saves every single fight. Combat should have real complications and an actual sense of danger. A player death should always be a looming threat.

It may feel mean or unfair to put your players up against overwhelming odds. But, you’ll find something amazing happens when you do. They stop mindlessly rolling dice. And start discovering creative solutions you probably had never thought of. Reward their ingenuity while keeping things deadly always.

Setting

Whether you’re running a dark fantasy RPG or a cyberpunk romp through Neo-Tokyo, one thing is pretty consistent in Grimdark when it comes to setting: there’s not much more fucked up than the world we actually live in.

Casting pessimism aside, you only have to read through history or turn on the news to latch onto something horrific to base your setting on. George R.R. Martin was inspired by the War of the Roses. Glen Cook used Vietnam experiences. And Joe Abercrombie has said his First Law universe is essentially a stand-in for our own.

Don’t overthink this part. Instead, follow your interests, keep it real, and keep it gritty. This doesn’t mean making your game an unpleasant experience. Avoid explicitly dark themes that may trigger your players (sexual assault, genocide, etc.).

Your setting is only a backdrop for the drama you’re trying to create. And your goal is an emotionally-charged story everyone can get invested in, not a forced horror show.

The Moral Dilemma

Maybe the biggest hallmark of all Grimdark stories (and epic RPG sessions) is the moral dilemma. Drop your notions of the BBEG right now. What you’ll want is a problem with no clear solution, no easy way for your players to feel like “the good guys.”

Most worthwhile grimdark has a distinct lack of clear heroes and villains. Instead, it just has people, people who make mistakes and wrestle with extremely difficult choices.

That’s why you’ll be paying special attention to factions and their NPCs in your world. They and the conflict between them will be the spark that ignites your Moral Dilemma.

Factions and NPCs

Any good character has realistic and believable motivations. That includes traditional villains. Rather than teach you how to create believable characters, let’s keep this section focused on creating factions and NPCs that serve the Moral Dilemma.

The basics are simple. Think up one major problem everyone in your setting is currently facing. Two or more factions or NPCs have drastically different and opposing views on how to solve this problem. Not much more to it than that.

But the tricky part is making sure both sides’ arguments hold water. The choice should not be clear or easy. So take some time designing your NPCs with this in mind. Here’s an example to see this in action:

Drought plagues the land. A northern village has dammed the area’s only river to grow more crops and defend its walls via a moat from barbarians. A southern village faces starvation if the river isn’t restored. North refuses to open the river, saying it flows on their lands first and their population is higher, needing the water (and its defense) more. South prepares to open the dam by force by the cover of nightfall, with or without the PCs help.

A force of good-intentioned rebels may be able to unseat a tyrannical king with the PCs help. The overthrow would come with a massive loss of life, civil unrest for years, and no tangible reward for the PCs beyond the factions’ favor.

The PCs discover their long-standing employers are involved in morally questionable dealings. They can stay the course which may be the easier but worst of two hard choices. Or cut ties with their employer, losing all sense of stability and safety while simultaneously making a powerful enemy moving forward.

Struggling to come up with believable moral dilemmas? Get 10 ideas ready to insert into any game setting or system straight to your inbox now.

Keep the concept of moral dilemmas in mind anytime you read books, watch movies, or even watch the news for an endless stream of inspiration.

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By now, you should see that grimdark elements add a ton of tension, danger, and drama to an RPG session. There’s so much opportunity here for dynamic play beyond combat, in-character debate, and (most importantly) fun.

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