What fantasy system and setting should I try?

[GMMichael]

(cue Huey Lewis...)

I know what I like?

I made a pact with a certain devil that requires me to recommend Modos 2 here. Because...

1. Low magic, in the sense that by design casters are either rare as PCs, or even exclusive to NPCs, and magic items are special/rare.
2. Low-to-medium crunch. I lean toward fewer rules but with complex implications/interactions.
3. Flat-ish progression. Low level characters can adventure with high level characters. What's the opposite of "zero to hero"? Whatever it is, that.
4. Un-exotic: no flying ships, planar travel, floating cities, or tons of exotic races to choose from ("humans only" would be fine). And absolutely none of that steampunk crap that seems to be infesting the whole genre.
5. Save the Village, not the World: I'm also pretty tired of every adventure path being a race to save the world from destruction. It's fine if there's a Sauron out there, but the players shouldn't be setting out at 1st level to defeat him.
6. Suspense and fear.

1. PCs can be powerful casters, but getting there requires player skill, which might make PC casters rare.
2. Low crunch: the rules cheat-sheet is just one page.
3. The major difference between low-level and high-level characters is about 8 skill points.
4. The exposition story includes most of your no-nos, yet each part taken separately is pretty mundane.
5. Setting is on the GM. I'm adapting mine to Final Fantasy IV, currently.
6. Suspense occurs with the book's encouragement of letting players narrate (what will they come up with?) and the GM's final ruling (will the players get away with it?). Fear can take a number of house-ruled forms, but the easiest is inflicting Mental or Metaphysical damage as Fear Points.

Things I do like:

• Trudvang, thematically. (I'm just not familiar with the rule system). Viking-inspired games in general I'm finding appealing.
• The dice mechanic in The One Ring (one roll, but with various grades of outcome)
• Dungeon World mechanics/classes. (I just struggle with the overall Dungeon World playstyle, which requires a lot of improvisation.)
• Straightforward dungeon crawls

• Viking games rule! I have a copy of Raiders of the Serpent Sea (player's guide) just begging to be used as a campaign companion.
• Modos RPG uses a die roll that determines which side gets the better outcome - not whether you succeed or fail. Outcomes can be cut-and-dried, or there can be player-GM collaboration on what the roll means.
• Only one place to find "Dungeon World mechanics" as far as I know. That's Dungeon World.
• Making a dungeon crawl feasible in Modos RPG is very much on the GM, because the game doesn't hand out healing, and makes getting outnumbered bad news. The easy access to dials (rules modules) means you can turn up healing rates, restrict the flow of combatants, and do what you must to make your dungeon crawl "straightforward."

 

[pemerton]

What I'm looking for, in rules & setting & campaign:

1. Low magic, in the sense that by design casters are either rare as PCs, or even exclusive to NPCs, and magic items are special/rare.
2. Low-to-medium crunch. I lean toward fewer rules but with complex implications/interactions.
3. Flat-ish progression. Low level characters can adventure with high level characters. What's the opposite of "zero to hero"? Whatever it is, that.
4. Un-exotic: no flying ships, planar travel, floating cities, or tons of exotic races to choose from ("humans only" would be fine). And absolutely none of that steampunk crap that seems to be infesting the whole genre.
5. Save the Village, not the World: I'm also pretty tired of every adventure path being a race to save the world from destruction. It's fine if there's a Sauron out there, but the players shouldn't be setting out at 1st level to defeat him.
6. Suspense and fear.

Prince Valiant ticks most of these boxes. The exception is that, by default, it does not have a lot of suspense or fear. By default it's fairly light-hearted. But I think it could be drifted that way if you wanted to.

 

[reelo]

Maybe check out Mythras.

 

[Rogerd1]

Beasts and Barbarians for Savage Worlds. It is a great setting, and is one of the best Conan type settings out there, whuile doing its own thing.

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

Low crunch, and Savage Worlds is a heap of fun.

 

[schneeland]

Would also have recommended Forbidden Lands or Beyond the Wall, but these have been mentioned already (there's also a sword&sorcery version called Through Sunken Lands, which I have bought, but not read yet).
If you like straightforward dungeon crawls, I would recommend to give Dungeon Crawl Classics a try (basically old-school D&D on a 3e-ish game engine, with nice tweaks making magic more dangerous and a lot of good adventure modules). There is a fair bit of scifi elements in some of the adventures - depending on your preferences that might be a plus or a minus.
Finally, if you like Warhammer Fantasy, but find the rules too heavy, I would recommended given Warlock! a look - an Advanced Fighting Fantasy descendants with light-weight rules that is, in many ways, just Warhammer with serial numbers filed off.

 

[aramis erak]

(cue Huey Lewis...)

What I'm looking for, in rules & setting & campaign:

1. Low magic,
2. Low-to-medium crunch.
3. Flat-ish progression. Low level characters can adventure with high level characters. What's the opposite of "zero to hero"? Whatever it is, that.
4. Un-exotic: no flying ships, planar travel, floating cities, or tons of exotic races to choose from ("humans only" would be fine). And absolutely none of that steampunk crap that seems to be infesting the whole genre.
5. Save the Village, not the World: I'm also pretty tired of every adventure path being a race to save the world from destruction. It's fine if there's a Sauron out there, but the players shouldn't be setting out at 1st level to defeat him.
6. Suspense and fear.

Things I do like:

• Trudvang, thematically. (I'm just not familiar with the rule system). Viking-inspired games in general I'm finding appealing.
• The dice mechanic in The One Ring (one roll, but with various grades of outcome)
• Dungeon World mechanics/classes. (I just struggle with the overall Dungeon World playstyle, which requires a lot of improvisation.)
• Straightforward dungeon crawls

But other than that, whatever. I'm not picky.

Pendragon
1. Yes, low/no magic in PC hands, unless running 4th or maybe 6th edition. (6th isn't out yet and may or may not have a pc-accessible magic system). And even when aa caster in 4th does use magic, it really is "One big showdown, then go down for the count for months"
2. Stick to the core for any edition, and the crunch really is pretty low. except for economics, Book of Knights is a fully functional 32 page version of the ruleset.
3. Progression is "what you use advances" - and it's not a huge issue if the 40 YO baron is adventuring with the 18 YO just-knighted PC... as every sword and every skill matters. I'd recommend using a deck pull rather than a d20 for the family traits, tho', as that ensures each has a unique one.
4. No steampunk. No magic ships. Occasionally, a faerie as an NPC nasty.
5. It can be very local based, or can be very political, but the system to date has never had a "save the world" level threat published.
6. Doesn't have suspense as a goal, but it happens in play. Character fear is mechanicalized... a wyrm is going to make many a PC turn tail involuntarily... and sometimes, make a Player secretly happy to have failed.

It does have a couple issues to be aware of:
A. It operates almost as a licensed game would, except that the setting is multple semicompatible legends. Which leads to...
B. Historical setting complete with inherent racism. (Manifest as Hate (people) traits that can override player control of their action. There is a resistance to them - invoke a passion or trait to oppose it - but some will find that a dealbreaker. (And I don't blame them.)
C. It is, in essence, a wholly male-character focused game. It explicitly notes this, but also provides multiple options for female knights as PC's should one choose to use them.
D. Its romance rules presume traditional heterosexual romance only, as that's part of the sources, including Tristam & Yseult (Traditrional), The Mabinogwion (Traditional), Le Morte d'Artur (Mallory), Once and Future King (White), All the Kings of Britain (Nennius), and even a few touches from Lackey's Mists of Avalon series.
E. The setting is highly rigid social class-roles; you don't play peasants, nor merchants. You play knights. Or their ladies. Or their squires. All of gentle or noble birth. (Optional rules for other birthrights do exist. They're core only in 4th)
F. a secondary focus on dynastic inheritance. That is, it's a strong element that your character needs an heir so you don't lose your accumlated goodies when your character dies.
G. All charcters hold to a religion as a function of culture. Actual praxis is "offscreen" but the religious bonuses do shape play strongly.
G1. If using 4th ed magic users, the religious traits and adherence to them are a major driver for such characters. Far more so than for Knights.

If one is willing to engage with the setting, and that can include allowing female knights quite easily, either with the altered scores or with standard scores generation, possibly even both in the same group, it can be quite a compelling game.
The heterosexual characters issue is the dynasticism; non-hetero characters don't generate heirs. This can be an issue, or not, as the group decides, but it's a "faithful to the setting" default state.

The 4th ed has two alternate settings: Saxons! and Land of Giants. Both of these change the social classes up, but have many of the issues, as well, but both also make allowance for 4th ed Core's magic users as PCs.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Zweihander meets all those conditions.

 

[Crusadius]

I was going to jump in and echo "Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay!" but then I realized the 5th part of the Enemy Within Campaign that has just been released in electronic form has, on its cover, a flying ship (a dwarven dirigible to be exact) which breaks rule number 4 - "Un-exotic: no flying ships...".

So I'm going to ignore rule number 4 and suggest "Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay!" anyway.

 

[jdrakeh]

(cue Huey Lewis...)

What I'm looking for, in rules & setting & campaign:

1. Low magic, in the sense that by design casters are either rare as PCs, or even exclusive to NPCs, and magic items are special/rare.
2. Low-to-medium crunch. I lean toward fewer rules but with complex implications/interactions.
3. Flat-ish progression. Low level characters can adventure with high level characters. What's the opposite of "zero to hero"? Whatever it is, that.
4. Un-exotic: no flying ships, planar travel, floating cities, or tons of exotic races to choose from ("humans only" would be fine). And absolutely none of that steampunk crap that seems to be infesting the whole genre.
5. Save the Village, not the World: I'm also pretty tired of every adventure path being a race to save the world from destruction. It's fine if there's a Sauron out there, but the players shouldn't be setting out at 1st level to defeat him.
6. Suspense and fear.

Things I do like:

• Trudvang, thematically. (I'm just not familiar with the rule system). Viking-inspired games in general I'm finding appealing.
• The dice mechanic in The One Ring (one roll, but with various grades of outcome)
• Dungeon World mechanics/classes. (I just struggle with the overall Dungeon World playstyle, which requires a lot of improvisation.)
• Straightforward dungeon crawls

But other than that, whatever. I'm not picky.

Yarnmaster Fantasy Roleplay may be for you!

1. Low magic. By default, in-setting, magic is the result of successfully petitioning a god (you must make a successful dice roll). Out of setting, the gods may not actually exist and magic practitioners are merely manifesting their own will into being.

2. Low crunch with complex interactions/implications. Yarnmaster uses a simple yet robust unified dice pool system to resolve all action/conflict, with an eye toward low crunch verisimilitude.

3. Flat progression. Characters grow via in-setting accomplishments. Accruing reputation, wealth, etc. No levels. No XP. No build points. Think fantasy Traveller.

4. No gonzo stuff (unless you add it yourself). One of Yarnmaster's two main influences was Harnmaster and it plays like it.

5. Not high fantasy by default. The ruleset is geared toward low fantasy adventure in the tradition of Harnmaster.

6. By virtue of PCs being mostly regular folk, suspense and fear are pretty easy to engender. Monsters are, by default, rare and when (if) they appear in your game, they are just that - monstrous.

Anyway, you can buy the game at the following link for the low price of $3. Or claim a community copy (it'd sure be swell if you bought it, though).

Yarnmaster Fantasy Roleplay by jdrakeh

 

[Aldarc]

I apologize for only now seeing this thread.

(cue Huey Lewis...)

What I'm looking for, in rules & setting & campaign:

1. Low magic, in the sense that by design casters are either rare as PCs, or even exclusive to NPCs, and magic items are special/rare.
2. Low-to-medium crunch. I lean toward fewer rules but with complex implications/interactions.
3. Flat-ish progression. Low level characters can adventure with high level characters. What's the opposite of "zero to hero"? Whatever it is, that.
4. Un-exotic: no flying ships, planar travel, floating cities, or tons of exotic races to choose from ("humans only" would be fine). And absolutely none of that steampunk crap that seems to be infesting the whole genre.
5. Save the Village, not the World: I'm also pretty tired of every adventure path being a race to save the world from destruction. It's fine if there's a Sauron out there, but the players shouldn't be setting out at 1st level to defeat him.
6. Suspense and fear.

Things I do like:

• Trudvang, thematically. (I'm just not familiar with the rule system). Viking-inspired games in general I'm finding appealing.
• The dice mechanic in The One Ring (one roll, but with various grades of outcome)
• Dungeon World mechanics/classes. (I just struggle with the overall Dungeon World playstyle, which requires a lot of improvisation.)
• Straightforward dungeon crawls

But other than that, whatever. I'm not picky.

Based on a number of these elements, I have a fairly strong recommendation to make: Stonetop.

It is a Dungeon World hack that self-describes itself as "hearth fantasy." This is to say, that the game is about the human inhabitants of the vaguely Celto-Germanic Iron Age village of Stonetop and the adventures to help defend and support the growth of this village and its people. The village of Stonetop has its own playbook. As you play, the village may shrink or grow with time (e.g., seasons, years, generations, etc.) and through the successes/failures/complications of the adventurers. The village can also acquire steading improvements and upgrades (e.g., mill, inn, palisade, well-trained militia, irrigation improvements, etc.). The threats you deal with are the sort that could endanger the lives of the villagers: e.g., drought, floods, cattle-raiders, dangerous creatures (e.g., beasts, fae, spirits, monsters) of the surrounding forest, illness and plague, etc. But at the same time, there are still ancient ruins in the surrounding area to explore.

Likewise, there is still magic and magical characters (e.g., the Blessed, Lightbearer, Seeker), but it's much flatter, more subtle, and rarer. There are also a variety of "Arcana," which are strange magical artifacts and locations that the players can acquire or learn about. Interestingly enough, you can also tell by the gods and playbooks that despite this being a Dungeon World game, it clearly came out of 4e D&D: e.g., Aratis (Erathis), Tor (Thor/Kord), Helor (Helios/Pelor), the Marshal (the Warlord), the Blessed (Druid), the Heavy (Fighter), etc.

The spoiler contains Stonetop's more setting-appropriate playbooks:

Spoiler

Despite it being (at heart) a Dungeon World game, there is also a lot of guidance and support for GMs. For examples, monsters and locations have some possible hooks, and they often have relevant questions that the GM can ask the players or think about themselves. There is useful and interesting lore about these places as well. So it comes with some support and assistance with improvisational side of things.

The game has technically not been released yet in a published form, but the author Jeremy Strandberg has released a lot of their game already for free on their blog and the Dungeon World Discord before the Kickstarter. I've seen late comers ask for access to the playtest materials and get it despite not being part of the Kickstarter.

If not this, then I would also recommend Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures, but I genuinely think that Stonetop should be a Top 3 contender for your consideration.