NPC Fantasy
Eira the Bone-Witch
Real default fields on every NPC. Genres change the option vocabularies, not the schema.
The genre engine
Homebrew isn't only fantasy.
Neither is Grimoire.
Pick a genre when you start a campaign and the whole app reshapes to fit: category names, field vocabularies, tags, setting dimensions, foundation sections, and tone. Same fourteen entity types, every time, reshaped to your setting.
This page is wearing Fantasy. Pick another skin. The app does exactly this.
Proof, not promise
The same NPC, wearing every genre.
Real default fields from the NPC schema, filled with what each genre's vocabularies suggest. The card is the schema; the genre is the wardrobe.
The contract
What changes. What never does.
A genre reshapes
- Category display names. Planar Forces becomes Cosmic Entities, The Mythos, or Old Powers.
- Field-option vocabularies. Classes become pilots and engineers, or scavengers and raiders.
- Tag suggestions and tone, so search and prep speak your setting's language.
- Setting dimensions: magic and technology dials, higher powers, vehicles.
- Foundation sections, seeded to match the world's shape.
Never touched
- The fourteen typed schemas. Same structure in every genre.
- Your entities and your wiki. Nothing is deleted or rewritten.
- Your history. Switch genres mid-campaign and every entry survives the trip.
Genre changes are non-destructive vocabulary swaps. That is what makes them safe to change in settings at any time.
Mix in
Eleven facets. Stack as many as the setting needs.
A base genre is the foundation. Facets are additive fragments layered on top: each appends extra field options, tags, and a tone sentence, and none of them overwrite anything. Post-apocalyptic with Horror and Survival reads very differently from post-apocalyptic with Pulp & Adventure.
Horror
"Dread underlies events; safety is never assured."
Mystery & Investigation
"Truth is hidden and assembled from pieces."
Political Intrigue
"Power shifts through alliance and treachery."
Survival & Scarcity
"Resources are scarce; survival is not assumed."
Exploration & Frontier
"The map has edges; the wilds press on civilization."
War & Military
"Organized conflict shapes the world."
Magic & the Arcane
"Magic is present and consequential."
High Technology / Cyber
"Advanced technology and augmentation are part of life."
Grimdark
"Hope is scarce; victories carry a price."
Pulp & Adventure
"Bold action, vivid set-pieces, momentum over realism."
Mecha
"Piloted war machines are central."
Name your ruleset in free text (D&D 5e, Mothership 1e, homebrew) and shape the rest yourself, or pick a known system at campaign creation and Grimoire maps it to a base genre and facets for you.
Fine tuning
Then dial the setting itself.
Genres set defaults; dimensions let you disagree with them. Two toggles gate whole categories. Two spectrums place your world on real two-axis maps: how far the thing goes, and how much of it there is.
Toggle
Higher Powers
"Does this setting have gods, cosmic entities, or higher powers?"
Off, and the category disappears from the whole app: hidden in the browser, absent from everything that reads your campaign.
Toggle
Vehicles
"Are vehicles a tracked part of this game: ships, rigs, mounts-as-vehicles?"
Fantasy tables often leave it off. Sci-Fi and Post-Apocalyptic tables usually cannot live without it.
Spectrum · two axes
Technology
Peak technology (none to far-future) against how widespread it is (extinct ruins to ubiquitous).
"Most people use simple tools; ancient ultra-tech exists as rare, coveted salvage" is a real preset. So is cyberpunk. So is magitech.
Spectrum · two axes
Magic
How powerful magic gets (none to reality-shaping) against how common it is (absent to ubiquitous).
Hidden magic and dying magic are different worlds even at the same power ceiling. The axes catch what a single slider cannot.
Genre questions, answered.
Is Grimoire only for D&D?
No. Grimoire is genre-aware. Pick Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Post-Apocalyptic, Modern, Superhero, or Historical when you create a campaign and the whole app reshapes to fit: category names, field vocabularies, tags, and tone. The ruleset field is free text, so any system fits.
Can I change my campaign's genre later?
Yes. Genre, facets, ruleset, and setting dimensions are all editable in campaign settings. Changes are non-destructive: they adjust vocabulary and labels but never delete your data. Switch from Fantasy to Post-Apocalyptic mid-campaign and every entity survives the trip.
What if my setting mixes genres?
Stack facets. A base genre sets the foundation; facets like Horror, Cyber, Survival, or Political Intrigue append extra field options, tags, and tone on top, and they combine freely. Numenera-style science fantasy is Fantasy plus Cyber plus Survival with the lost-tech-salvage technology preset.
Do genres change my data or the schema?
No. All fourteen entity types stay identical underneath. A genre changes what categories are called and which options they suggest. Sci-Fi renames Planar Forces to Cosmic Entities and swaps class options to pilots and engineers, but the structure and your entries never move.
The full story of the genre system is on the blog: Grimoire is no longer fantasy-only →
Whatever you run, run it typed.
Seven genres, eleven facets, one schema. Session zero is free.
New here? Start with everything else in the book.