What system would you use for gritty fantasy?

[Morrus]

D&D. If 5e doesn't work, playing 1 or 2e...or even Basic/BECM for that matter would do the trick.

I don't really think "gritty" is a system reliant thing.

Are the characters in legitimate danger they may or truly may not be able to handle? Is magic somewhat restricted and/or rare? Is healing difficult (and/or, again, healing magic very difficult to come by) and/or lengthy?

Gritty as opposed to high fantasy, which D&D very clearly is.

 

[steeldragons]

Gritty as opposed to high fantasy, which D&D very clearly is.

*shrug* Agree to disagree.

No reason it has to be. Don't want prolific magic...don't have it in the world or allow it to the player class choices. Don't want tons of healing magic? Don't have/allow it. Don't want elves and dwarves and halflings walking through the middle of town (or even in the world at all) don't use/allow them. If you are looking at "gritty" as "not high fantasy" -which is essentially defined as something with heavy amounts of magic/fantastical elements.

D&D can do high fantasy very well and D&D can do "low fantasy" a.k.a. "gritty." Just another flavor and defined set of trappings to play in and with. But high fantasy isn't something D&D "is."

 

[Lawngnome4hire]

Shadow of the Demon Lord. Plays quick and is easy to learn, but character customization is very deep. It's also extremely dark and twisted, with excellent sanity and corruption mechanics.

 

[TreChriron]

OLD dude! Use Resolve and toss in some diseases and horror in the adventure and I feel like WOIN would handle gritty just fine. Actually, sounds like a good issue for Eons...

 

[S'mon]

For gritty simulation, Runequest/BRP with no battle magic. Sucking chest wounds FTW.

 

[Bluenose]

*shrug* Agree to disagree.

No reason it has to be. Don't want prolific magic...don't have it in the world or allow it to the player class choices. Don't want tons of healing magic? Don't have/allow it. Don't want elves and dwarves and halflings walking through the middle of town (or even in the world at all) don't use/allow them. If you are looking at "gritty" as "not high fantasy" -which is essentially defined as something with heavy amounts of magic/fantastical elements.

D&D can do high fantasy very well and D&D can do "low fantasy" a.k.a. "gritty." Just another flavor and defined set of trappings to play in and with. But high fantasy isn't something D&D "is."

Frankly if you're getting rid of that much the reason to play D&D at all - especially since you're still going to get the inflation in hit points that make danger a much more relative term past the early levels than it is in most of the games being suggested.

 

[dbm]

Another vote for GURPS. Fantasy is very well supported as a genre, with different systems of magic available to provide options on how you want that to work on your game. It also has the Fantasy genre book that is full of templates (removing the need for extensive prep).

RuneQuest / Mythras would also be a good choice, it depends which system you know best.

 

[Psikerlord#]

Low Fantasy Gaming RPG for a low magic, gritty system.

Only has 12 levels, made for short episodic adventures, only one magic using class, martial exploits, injuries at zero hp.

Free PDF or print on demand: https://lowfantasygaming.com/

 

[Derren]

No idea how gritty The Dark Eye is in its current edition but in the past it had enough diseases and other complications in it to make the life of the PCs hell while still allowing heroic moments.

 

[Lylandra]

No idea how gritty The Dark Eye is in its current edition but in the past it had enough diseases and other complications in it to make the life of the PCs hell while still allowing heroic moments.

Yep. Plus, many groups wouldn't even bother with magic. Regaining AE (the system's mana points) was a big pain and often took multiple days. Oh and did I mention that you could either regenerate some HP OR some AE? And you had to check on whether your spell actually succeeded?

I can tell you that switching from DSA3 to 3e D&D was such a huge shock for me... "what? You can... simply cast spells? Without checks? And you have... HOW MANY slots? And you regain them all after ONE DAY?! Incredible!"