Low Magic Campaigns?

[molonel]

To illustrate, let me tell you a bit about it: the campaign started with the PCs (all 1st level) going to a great festival, then getting waylaid at sea by interplanar felinoid raiders (based on Kzinti). Once they were overwhelmed (after a fight they almost won), they were taken to the private hunting preserve of the Emperor, and set free. Naked & unarmed. And then told that in honor of their fighting prowess, they were being given a 24 hour head start before a hunting party would be released. (The cabin boys were roasting over an open fire.) Some of their gear had been strewn about the island to give them a slightly better chance- the hunt requires challenging prey, after all! The PCs had to improvise weapons, evade and/or kill off their hunters. Oh yeah, the local fauna and flora weren't too nice, either. And of course, all the while, they were searching for their gear. Sometimes, they even found gear from previous prey... With teamwork, they survived, eventually gathering most of their stuff. The wizard had it toughest, not being able to rememorize spells without his spellbook. As he gained XP, he took Ftr levels. The party's first magic item was a +2 Flame Tongue sword, found when the party had reached 5th level.

Ah yes, the "Start the game naked and unarmed in prison" trick. A true classic. I don't recommend using it too often, though. That one gets old real fast.

 

[DM-Rocco]

If you want low magic with lots of blood, death pending on every battle and not have to learn a whole new system, try Grim-N-Gritty.

It uses the regular D&D rules with a few alterations to make combat more deadly, namely you get very few Hit Points but weapons do relugar damage.

It has magic rules too, suggestions for limiting the effects of magic, since the rules for G&G by there very nature tend to be low magic in design. If you played by the G&G rules and used the Arcana Unearthed spells in the book by Monte Cook, you will have a low magic world with a bit of an edge.

I would caution though to use this version of the rules and not use the most current rule set. IMO the creator of G&G has a double strike against him for the updated versions. One, he went a little nuts on what a system can handle and took the rules too far, two, he released the first versions without wanting pay, the more current versions you have to pay for, thus IMO I think he only made the outlandish updated rules because he wanted money.

Money rules all for some I guess.

Anyway, at least give it a read through. The rules sound harsh at first, but you can make characters that can succeed, you just have to play smarter... ...which, depending on your players, might not be an option.

 

[mfrench]

. . . the more current versions you have to pay for, thus IMO I think he only made the outlandish updated rules because he wanted money.

Money rules all for some I guess.

Wow, that's . . . pretty harsh. Even after putting up versions for sale, he made a simplified version of GnG which is freely distributed (it's even hosted here on Enworld). He also took the time to respond to questions about the system on that thread, and give details of his design philosophy for people trying to tweak the rules.

Of all the things I can imagine him being accused of, being all about the money is not one of them.

 

[jbuck]

What i had wanted was a setting where magic spells and items were rare, expensive and very weak. Howver i also wanted to have monsters and other creatures that were magical beings that while they could not use magic were aided by it (lycanthropes, vampires, trolls).

After reading through all the replies i think I'll end up using Iron Heroes, after taking the suggestion and ban the spellcaster class because it a) doesn't fit the setting and b) is apparently horribly broken.

Would it fit this kind of campaign?

 

[Aus_Snow]

What i had wanted was a setting where magic spells and items were rare, expensive and very weak. Howver i also wanted to have monsters and other creatures that were magical beings that while they could not use magic were aided by it (lycanthropes, vampires, trolls).

After reading through all the replies i think I'll end up using Iron Heroes, after taking the suggestion and ban the spellcaster class because it a) doesn't fit the setting and b) is apparently horribly broken.

Would it fit this kind of campaign?

It sure could, in my opinion, and (more helpfully, perhaps) in my experience. If you did want to go this way, the Iron Heroes Bestiary could be handy too, though not strictly required.

Either way, I would personally suggest [also] posting "at the source" (i.e., at publisher- and/or system-specific forums), like here for IH, for instance.

EN World is excellent for attracting a wide variety of [often relevant] information and opinions, but if you're needing more of the IH-specific Q&A, I'd say Monte Cook's boards trump these ones.

Likewise, the True20 forums are especially useful, for questions and answers regarding that system.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[jdrakeh]

If you like the themes of the Warhammer FRPG but would rather stick with the d20 System, you may want to look at d20 Warheart. It's just as mechanically rich as most of the commercial games mentioned here, but entirely free for the taking.

 

[sedarfaery]

Grim Tales: This is more flexible than D&D but generally low-magic (or no-magic if you want). It's a tweaking of the D20 Modern rules into a more flexible form, using talent trees and feat trees to customize characters. Probably your best choice if you want low magic, but that probably depends on how you define low-magic (since it could mean low-powered magic, infrequent magic use, rare magic use, or very limited magic, such as long and costly rituals or whatnot; I think GT is more of a low-to-medium level of magic power, and with less frequent magic use than in D&D, due to magic-induced fatigue or backlash damage or somesuch; I can't remember now what its magic limitations were exactly).

Grim Tales is a great sourcebook for playing gritty low magic adventures. I just wished that some of the pdfs would be available through Lulu so I could get a nice bound version.

 

[sedarfaery]

If you like the themes of the Warhammer FRPG but would rather stick with the d20 System, you may want to look at d20 Warheart. It's just as mechanically rich as most of the commercial games mentioned here, but entirely free for the taking.

Ooh, I love Warhammer, but I also love D20. I'm going to have to give this a thorough read.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

What i had wanted was a setting where magic spells and items were rare, expensive and very weak. Howver i also wanted to have monsters and other creatures that were magical beings that while they could not use magic were aided by it (lycanthropes, vampires, trolls).

After reading through all the replies i think I'll end up using Iron Heroes, after taking the suggestion and ban the spellcaster class because it a) doesn't fit the setting and b) is apparently horribly broken.

Would it fit this kind of campaign?

If it's an actual setting you're after, then it's time fo me to jump in and recommend Hârn. As a magic and critter rare setting it's my favourite. For a feel of the setting check out some of the free downloads available from www.Lythia.com

The location information is stats free, as are many of the scenarios.

 

[Arkhandus]

What i had wanted was a setting where magic spells and items were rare, expensive and very weak.

Sooo........what you mean is, you want your setting to include a little magic, but have that magic be completely irrelevant, impotent, and a total waste of lots of time and money and effort on the spellcaster's part for no gain? If magic is going to be rare and expensive, it should at least be somewhat worthwhile (wasting a lot of time and effort to summon a dire rat would suck).