I think it'd make the great basis for something. We could call it Plagues and Peasants, a game where one misstep in football, a single night with the wrong whore, one bottle of poorly distilled alcohol, or casting too many spells in attempt to heal a desperately bleeding fighter on the battlefield can permanently end your adventuring career. It would be great for roleplaying, since most of the time will be spent on the long and tedious recovery from injuries sustained in combat so as to encourage players to forge a real connection with their characters. Moreover it will instill a sense of real accomplishment in them when they finally manage to defeat their archenemies, as the many character sheets they will go through will no doubt impress upon them the difficulty and magnitude of the glorious task they have accomplished. When the man who has killed five of your characters finally dies at the hand of the sixth, there are no words to describe your feelings.
I know, it's like lethality can add something more to the game, besides just sarcasm
I've had an NPC recently be responsible to the death of 7 PCs (well, 2 weren't killed, but they left the party due to him). When he did die, it was during a TPK. The players did, in fact, chalk it up a win. Yes, they had to make an entirely new party, but they did, in fact, feel great accomplishment when that NPC was killed. I might also add that after playing with the same group for 7 years, they were due a TPK (first and only thus far).
Sometimes having a heroic death is really, really awesome.
At any rate, you purposefully paint a rather bleak picture. But then again, hyperbole tends to do that.
You know what you get in a campaign even if you implement
every single option I've listed above? A game world where magic is rare (low magic fantasy), but it is powerful. Throwing out spells is no longer common for magicians (it
is supposed to be low magic fantasy, after all), but when it is used, it's powerful.
Do all of those options all together gimp spellcasters to the point they can't be played? Nope. I mean, they're obviously much, much worse than they were before. No doubt about it. However, since magic will be a lot rarer, the abilities granted through spells will seem magnified in power. Spells will be even more powerful when compared to how they were before.
Yeah, you can make a game where drinking some bad ale could kill you (discounting poison). You can work in a lot of what you described above in your exaggerated reply. Of course, you're edging towards a medieval game, rather than a fantasy game. If you incorporate some or all of the options I presented, you are still well within the realms of fantasy, it's just a lower magic setting now.
Broken bones? Long recovery times for wounds? Having drawbacks to casting magic? These are well within the fantasy theme, especially a low magic setting. Object all you want, I didn't bring those options up as the
Ten Commandments That All Must Now Adhere To.
If you like some of the ideas, you can work them in. If not, then don't. Saying "well, if you make magic worse, more mundane things will happen" is exactly what many people who ask about low magic settings want. You don't have to use them, Dandu, but at least make a contribution to the conversation when you reply. Hyperbole isn't helping. Well, I suppose it made me post this, so maybe it is
At the end of the day, I like normal D&D, as per RAW, and I like heavily houseruled games of low magic. As for whoever is reading this, play what you like
