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It's not as much violent but Weaveworld by Clive Barker is in that dark fantasy vein, very good, very long.

Also dark, kinda cosmic, very good, is Imajica, also by Clive Barker. It's almost 900 pages tho so you've been warned.

I came here to recommend The First Law trilogy. It's the definition of gritty

They don't fix it but they're good. Really enjoyed Best Served Cold.

The Gentleman Bastard sequence is fantastic, Lies of Locke Lamora hooked me so hard. Can't wait for the other 4 books. Highly recommend it.

Yea, the ones selling methamphetamine to housewives were the Nazis in the '40s.

Helps to know it's divided into 4 sub-diciplines: Physical Anthro, Cultural Anthro, Archeology, and Linguistics. Each of these would approach the various questions through their own lense, finding the one that matches your topic interest best. You're probably gonna want to look for things regarding cultural anthro, since that's gonna handle the "why" of war more directly

I could actually see this being a cantrip for a bard or arcane trickster. It's almost innocent in its mischief but would be a worthwhile hindrance on the battlefield.

For shoes without laces and creatures without shoes it could simply loop magical string around them.

Prob just a cut to movement with a dex save at the start of every move (like once per turn but they can avoid it by choosing not to move). Doesn't need to be a high save, but if they fail, they trip.

Since it's a cantrip they can remove the string with an action, and they last a number of turns equal to caster level.

I'd also love to see a DM be creative with how much it effects certain creatures. Centipede? Probably a little pissed but not too hindered by stumbling on one pair of legs. 1 legged Pete? Completely unaffected as he jumps at you with his 1 leg.

Leaves from the Vine is the most "try not to cry, cry a lot" moment in any show for me.

Well the dude is English, he'd probably apologize to the knife for being in the way and the stabber for bleeding on their shoes.

And isn't going anywhere. Pandemics result in diseases becoming part of the worldwide swathes of diseases we are concerned about

A narcissist's dream

The old addage is "nobody wins a knife fight". Only solution is to disarm them and you are 99% going to get cut. Just gotta believe you won't get cut bad enough to stop you from stopping them