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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mkill" data-source="post: 5128944" data-attributes="member: 55985">I'll quote in italics for convenience.1. Sword and Sorcery, like Conan.We'll, that's fantasy, isn't it? Shouldn't be too hard.2. PCs limited to Martial classes only, human race only.Races:Players lose a lot of variety for their character building this way. All humans by story is no problem, but you should still allow choices. You can do that by reskinning different races as human cultures. Elves could be natives from the jungle, half-orcs and goliath could be nomad or barbarian tribes, dwarves could be stocky mountain people. Half-elves come from the mechant cities at the coast. Just assign appropriately when world-building.You can even explain Tieflings or Deva this way, they are born from human parents, but under some auspicious sign, a family curse or something similar. An eladrin is a human child stolen by the fey at birth.If you do that for half a dozen races, that's enough. You don't have to come up with explanations for everything, just tell your players that if they want to play another race, they need to come up with a backstory how a human ends up with these abilities themselves.Classes: Meh. I'm a strong believer in a DM style that gives players maximum freedom to imagine their characters. Your campaign will be much richer from it.You're better off declaring classes like Wizard super-rare, a secret lore only transmitted from master to apprentice. You can create the necessary low-magic athmosphere by how the common people react to wizards, even without limiting player abilities themselves.Don't forget that the PCs are special - they are expected to be. Whether there is a Sorcerer in every village, or only one per continent, depends entirely on your game world. And if there is only one per continent, it's even more natural that he'll be (or become) a hero of legends, i.e. a PC.3. Monsters (non-humanoid) would be quite rare, non-Minions, hopefully custom.4th edition monster stats are pretty generic. You can reskin everything easily. For example, I used a Hobgoblin Warcaster when I needed a human wizard, and all I did was change the name. 20%-30% of my monsters are like that. I don't think I've custom-created a 4th edition monster yet, I usually find old code to repurpose.4. Human/oid adversaries would be @90% Minions.I tend to use a healthy dose of minions, but don't overdo it. It's nice to wade through armies of enemies once in a while, but don't expect anybody to get excited about it when it happens every session. There is only so much fun in "you hit, remove minion from battlemat".Most of the time, you're better off narrating it like this:"You slash through the first line of the incoming army, piling up bodies. The soldiers behind them respectfully move to the side, and clear the path for you to face off against their champions. Roll initiative."5. Magic items would be rare.That is really no problem. The PCs can still wield magic items, it's just that these will be legendary weapons handed down by the gods themselves, rather than enchanted by some wizard (another DM in our group does that). These items will grow in power as the PCs level up.Or, you can just declare the items as created by a master smith, soaked in dragon blood, made from purple worm scale or eternium rocks, possessed by the spirit of a great warrior, or whatever you want to come up with. In my campaign arc we've had an item that was a ripped out eye from the carcass of a demon. It floated around the head of one character. Now that I think of it, arcane enchantment is probably the most boring explanation for a magic item, and you're better off without it anyway.You can also check DMG2 for benefits that don't depend on items, as someone already stated. All in all, by design, 4th edition characters need a weapon, a set of armor, and a neck slot item, you can remove the rest without changing the game balance much.6. Magic spells would be limited to Rituals.4th edition handles combat spells and rituals as completely different things.You're better off leaving the combat spells in and more-or-less removing rituals. The reason is that combat spells are the same as martial attacks with added special effects. Shooting someone with an arrow and shooting someone with a magic missile looks different, but accomplishes the same.It's the rituals where stuff happens that goes beyond what mortals can achieve through training. No matter how much you practice and study, you won't bring someone back from the dead without divine intervention.7. Assume that I'd just handwave XP; maybe only up to Level 10.No problem at all. I do that too, no difference.I hate long combats... if we have 1+ hour to do a boardgame, let's play an actual wargame that I enjoy. I'm shooting more for like @20 minute combats except for really important ones.Just consider 4th edition the "wargame that you enjoy" (and if you don't, no need to bother DMing it, really)In 4th edition, a combat that lasts 20-minute was probably unnecessary. You're better off planning one big, awesome fight per session and spend the rest exploring and interacting in character.1. I don't know from Rituals. In the 4E game I played, I only saw 1. How cool can they be? How S&Sy?[...]Especially on Rituals - how much mileage could a campaign get out of only those? Keeping with the Conan theme... spells are not for blasting, though they may be for summoning tentacled monstrosities or commanding legions of ravening man-apes. Some magician's tricks are really caused by rare and powerful magic items.We've been playing since 4th edition came out, and I can't remember a time where a ritual did much. They're mainly window dressing. If I was to DM a low magic campaign, they are the first to go.Of course, rituals could still exist as a plot device, since someone still needs to create that undead army that the PCs will fight.If you're used to 3rd edition D&D, remember one big change: NPCs DO NOT USE PC RULES.As a corollary:NPCs ARE NOT BOUND BY PC LIMITATIONS.If you need a legion of ravening man-apes created by a mighty wizard, there will be a legion of ravening man-apes created by a mighty wizard. You don't need to think about how a PC wizard would create one. You don't need to check whether a there is a ritual for creating a legion of ravening man-apes in the Player's Handbook. You just tell the PCs that there is a legion of ravening man-apes and let them roll initiative.</blockquote>

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