If you're DMing for an experienced group of 5e players that want a gritty, dark, and deadly adventure, you've probably already decided to run a grimdark DnD campaign.
Grimdark fantasy adventures can be wicked fun because they push player characters (PCs) to the breaking point, pitting them against unforgiving environments filled with brutal, relentless, and horrific foes. When done right, this experience is akin to a thrilling survival-horror video game (just without the jump scares).
Player characters must earn their progress with blood, sweat, and tears.
And this makes every step forward that much more satisfying.
Of course, running a grimdark DnD adventure that really pushes the envelope can be harder than you think. Basically, RAW (rules-as-written) fifth edition DnD was designed to be less deadly for PCs compared to old-school editions, which makes the game more fun for newbie players but sometimes less exciting for veterans.
So how do you make 5e more hardcore and grimdark?
Brutal, Horrific, and Enigmatic Enemies
Many foes in your grimdark campaign will be savage and horrific creatures.
You can’t have a good DnD game without monsters. But not every enemy should be an inhuman freak.
Keep them guessing.
You should also throw your players for a loop by having them meet an enemy NPC that initially appears friendly and catches them off guard later.
At some point, they may also encounter a loathsome, pathetic creature that isn’t actually a threat at all. If your players go murder hobo, make sure they realize they’ve slain an innocent creature.
Most enemy NPCs should be unpredictable and cunning.
When your players confront a new enemy, they should be wondering what faction they might be affiliated with. Will killing this person land the party on a hit list?
Keep it grey.
You should also include NPCs that could become either an enemy or an ally. It shouldn’t always be obvious who’s evil and who’s good.
Keep it moving.
Encounters should be relatively quick and deadly, so consider giving monsters and NPCs additional attacks, higher attack modifiers, or more damage. Reduce hit points as needed to balance it out.
No player character should come out unscathed.
When encounters turn into combat (not always, but often), it should be brutal. This might require you to finesse stats on the fly if certain PCs aren’t feeling the pressure.
Unknown and Indomitable Threats
The unseen monster hiding in the shadows will always be more terrifying than the monster in plain sight. Always.
Think back to every scary movie you've ever seen. The most tense moments are when the threat is off screen (especially if you haven’t gotten a clear look at it yet).
Players should always be wondering what's out there.
Periodically throughout your grimdark DnD campaign, you should drop hints that something lurks in the area that could wipe out the entire party. This can be accomplished in a few ways, such as having the players discover a massacred group of warriors that appear comparable or even more capable than the party (or greater in number). Or the party could encounter a shell-shocked NPC that witnessed a horrific monstrosity and barely lived to tell the tale.
Example: Your party of five PCs might stumble on a squad of nine well-armored soldiers that have been absolutely torn to shreds by something in the woods. Nearby, a terrified lone survivor hides under a fallen tree. Now the party will think twice about gallivanting through the forest on the way to the dungeon.
Travel in your grimdark DnD setting should be perilous.
Players should never feel like they can just fast travel from point A to B like Skyrim. Distance travel should come with the risk of random encounters and other threats. Need help populating your world with random locations, monsters, mysteries, items and more? The Homebrewer's Helper from Alchemy GameLab has you covered.
Eventually, you might even have the party run into your indomitable foe and be forced to flee for their lives, reinforcing the idea that PCs are not superheroes in this world.
Few things will keep your players more on edge than knowing a TPK could be right around the corner at any moment.
Evolving Monsters
Including foes that “evolve” during the course of an encounter is a great way to apply pressure. The Dark Souls trilogy of games (and Bloodborne) do this by giving an enemy more tools to dish out extra punishment after they drop below a certain threshold (often half their hit points).
Ramp it up.
In some cases, the fight may start out easy, giving the party a false sense of confidence, only for the difficulty level to jump dramatically during the second half. This keeps combat more exciting and dangerous.
Perhaps when a specific enemy drops below a certain hit point threshold, they unleash a devastating one-time special attack or effect.
Examples:
A lycanthrope enemy might have a special reaction called “Blood Frenzy” that triggers when they drop below half HP. They immediately make two claw attacks against the nearest target at advantage.
Another enemy might explode upon death, spraying putrid black viscera in a 15-foot-radius that does 2d8 necrotic damage on a failed DEX save (half on a success).
Set timed triggers.
Roll 2D6 but don’t say why. Now, after 2D6 rounds, the seemingly weak enemy will unexpectedly transform into an entirely different creature that is larger, stronger, and more deadly.
Higher Possibility of Character Death
This can’t be emphasized enough: Keep reminding the party (in both overt and subtle ways) that they might not survive to the end.
Death always lurks around the corner.
Characters should start out with minimal equipment and resources. Everyone should be poor. Nobody should be playing a wealthy noble with full plate and a greatsword at level one.
Ideally, PCs should start with almost nothing.
Magic items should be rare and hard to obtain. You may even consider making new spells more difficult to find for magic users.
At least once or twice during the campaign, the party should face a threat they have little or no hope of defeating (at least with conventional tactics) and be forced to retreat and regroup.
If you’re halfway through the campaign and not a single PC has made a death save yet, it’s time to ramp up the difficulty with deadlier and/or more threats.
Danger is everywhere.
The environment of your grimdark campaign setting should also periodically serve as a deadly threat. Urban areas should be full of thieves, cutthroats, and violent gangs. From sucking bogs to a sudden blizzard or mudslide, traveling through remote areas should be equally dangerous.
Madness
Your players shouldn't just be worried about their characters suffering bodily harm. They should also be looking out for their characters’ mental health. In a true grimdark setting, losing hit points isn’t the only way characters can perish.
They can also lose their minds.
This is where madness comes into play. Now, you can certainly use the classic madness rules, but if you really want to dial up the hardcore setting, consider implementing the Poise and Mania System. Now a character’s declining mental state can affect their ability to function physically and could also manifest into a variety of manias.
Long Resting is Not a Cure-All
In the real world, if a bear mauls someone (and they survive), they can’t just go to bed for eight hours and wake up in perfect health.
In DnD, it seems nonsensical that a long rest restores ALL lost hit points. Basically, long rests in RAW 5e are broken and definitely go against the harsh brutality of a grimdark campaign. Here are three possible ways to fix this:
Nerf long rests.
Make it harder for PCs to get a long rest.
Both.
Option 1: Nerf Long Rests.
To increase the tension and challenge, long rests no longer restore hit points to full. Instead, use this rule:
At the end of a long rest, which requires at least 8 hours of resting in a safe, secure space (with at least 6 of those hours spent sleeping), a character regains 1d6 plus their Constitution modifier worth of hit points. The character also regains up to a number of spent hit dice equal to their proficiency bonus.
As always, if the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity—walking, fighting, casting spells, etc.—the character(s) must begin the rest again. A character also can’t benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period.
Option 2: Make Resting Harder.
For another method, implement “Situational Rest Conditions.”
In RAW 5e, characters can take a long rest almost anywhere once out of combat, assuming there are no more hostile creatures nearby. Characters regain essential resources after a long rest, so naturally players try to rest after most encounters. This, of course, makes the game easier.
To maintain dramatic tension, let the players know that where they rest will directly correlate to the odds of their rest being interrupted.
Example: If the party visits a large town and rests at an inn, there is little to no chance of interruption. If the party long rests in the middle of a remote forest, on the other hand, odds of interruption will be higher (e.g. 50%). The woods in a grimdark setting are full of wild animals, beasts, and roaming monsters. Resting in the underdark? There's probably a 70-80% chance something will stumble on the party as they sleep. Adjust accordingly based on location and situation.
You may also consider restricting spells like Tiny Hut, that provide a portable safe location.
If you feel that players are not experiencing enough difficulty and tension, you can also have some or all of the party experience a nightmare during their rest, which prevents them from fully recovering lost HP and Poise on a failed Wisdom saving throw. The nightmare may be related to a previous encounter or ill-omens of a future event.
Note: Some players won’t like these alternative rules. It’s important to explain (preferably during session zero) why the rules for long rests will be changing. The goal is to add gritty realism and challenge, not to make the game unfun. Test the waters first. If players feel these changes are too harsh, adjust to keep things balanced (such as altering the type or amount of dice rolled).
Hard Choices
Characters in a grimdark DnD campaign should get stuck between a rock and a hard place at least once or twice. Players should be forced to make difficult choices under duress (i.e. time limit) periodically throughout the adventure to add tension and challenge.
Example: The party is escorting a small group of villagers through the wildlands after their remote town was destroyed by death giants. While traveling, the party is attacked by wolves. A dire wolf grabs a villager (still alive) and begins dragging her screaming into the woods. Meanwhile, the party battles for their lives against the rest of the pack. Do they spit the party to save the woman or let her die, giving them a better chance of defeating or escaping the wolves?
The party has to choose quickly, or the woman will be killed regardless. When something like this happens, roll a d4 and tell the players they have X turns before the NPC is killed.
Other choices may have even greater implications to the campaign and story, such as forcing the party to align with one of two rival factions, both of which are corrupt and vile. If the party includes characters with good alignment, you could also put them in the awkward position of having to commit a major crime (such as assassination) in order to prevent something even worse from happening.
The possibilities are endless.
New Grimdark Cosmic Horror One-Shot Adventure
Looking for a ready-made grimdark one-shot based on Lovecraft’s classic horror short story? Check out The Colour Out of Space for 5e.
Happy hunting!