Low Magic Campaigns?

[Errant]

Contemplating a low magic campaign set in a medieval europe where witches, demons & lycanthropes are 'real' perils. I feel magic should be subtle & much more rare element (at least for the population in general, if not for the circles the PCs mix in) but I'm not sure how to tone down the flashy fireballs & lightning bolts type magic though.

Looking for a "if superstitions were true, what was the medieval world really like?" type feel.

So, I'm curious if anyone has run a low magic campaign, how they varied the rules, and how it turned out.

Ideas I've considered:
- Eliminate some or all spells with dramatic/visible spell effects completely.
- Increase all casting times, either doubling them or increasing them by one step (Steps being: Instant -> Standard Action -> Full Round -> Turn -> Hour -> Day -> etc).
- Eliminate minor permanent magic items (magic items are rare but those that exist are reliably powerful).

Also, since healing magic will consequently be harder to come by, I've considered some tweaking to 'natural' healing rates, a topic I'll leave for now.

Any ideas or experience out there I can draw upon?

<edit typo>

 

[AeroDm]

Look at Ravenloft. Honestly it sounds like exactly what you want. Also, if you want to make healing more grim and what not, the Midnight forums at againsttheshadow.org have some houses rules for just that.

 

[cptg1481]

Torn Asunder

It's from Bastion Press

Has some great rules for natural and herbal healing, even a good set of mechanics and items for non-magical healers to use to help them.

It has a couple of classes for healers too that do not use magical means.

It's

Torn Asunder "Critical Hits"
By Bastion Press
ISBN 1-59263-007-3
22.95

I got mine from BAMM for 15.95 + shipping, however, its a special order and took 4 weeks.

Cheers

Captain G.

 

[Errant]

Thanks for the replies guys, but I am familiar with Ravenloft and its not quite what I'm thinking of. I'm wondering about campaigns where magic users and magic items are rare. Where PCs feel lucky if they've got one magic item each & where its not unusual for groups to have no magic users in their midst.

I think Fritz Lieber's Lankhmar setting, world of Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser, comes closest to what I'm thinking. If you could fuse that world with, say, 14th century europe.

I probably shouldn't have brought up healing rates, as I've got a pretty simple fix to keep PCs from running home for a week after their first fight (with no healers or cure wounds potions around):
- HPs are much more a measure of fatigue and endurance than ability to withstand damage (you lose HPs because of the effort it takes to hurl yourself away from the blow etc);
- Natural HP recovery is accelerated so that a full hour of rest cures the damage you would officially recover in a full night/8hrs rest;
- Serious wounds are incurred when you run out of HPs, further damage inflicts Constitution damage, which reduces the PCs' max HPs & takes 1 day of complete rest per point recover naturally.
- Zero Con means you're unconscious, negative Con means you're dying (a/p current HP states).

 

[Heretic Apostate]

How about a mix of Grim'N'Gritty and d20 Modern?

In d20 modern, you can't start out as a mage or cleric. You've got to take a few levels first, and earn the right to cast arcane or divine spells. And even then, you can only cast up to 5th-level spells... (I don't know about PrCs...)

I'd kind of like a not-so-Grim'N'Gritty mixed with GURPS, Wheel of Time RPG, Star Wars d20 RPG, and a couple other d20 supplements... Of course, it'd be a mess, but it'd feel right to me. (I'm a mess, too. )

 

[DaveStebbins]

The challenge is how to make it 'feel' like a lower-magic campaign without nerfing spell-casters so much that no one would ever want to play one.

For my perpetually-in-the-creation-process campaign I decided to eliminate evocations completely. All arcane spell casters must be specialists with evocation as their barred school (possible within the rules in 3.0, haven't yet decided whether to require a 2nd barred school in 3.5).

Most evocations are simply removed from the game, though some few have had their effects and school changed. For instance, many clerical evocations like hallow and spiritual weapon are still spells I want in the campaign, so I created a 'sacred' school for them. A couple other spells changed school (shatter became a transmutation, I think, with a range of touch).

For me, this acheived the feel I was looking for. Wizards are no longer artillery batteries, but the changes are actually somewhat minor and covered within the core rules, so I'm not worried about balance issues.

Just one idea. HTH.
-Dave

 

[Red Spire Press]

Errant, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Dark Legacies was made for you. The bad news is that its not due out until next year. (But I guarantee it'll be worth the wait)

Dark Legacies is a true low magic setting. Magic is rare, deadly, and steeped in evil. Priests take the place of divine casters and use a completely distinct, scaled down, elegant mechanic - "the word of god" - for calling upon miracles. There's plenty of upgrade alternatives for conventional items beyond simple masterwork. And there's grit and challenge aplenty, without being dismal and impossible.

 

[SylverFlame]

I have to say grab copies of the great myths of europe. I'm talking about Beowulf, Siegfried, anything celtic especially Cuchalain (is there an official spelling of that guys name?), and good ol'King Arthur. Saint George is another good one, and Charlemagne as well, though Charlemagne is real, which means historic figures work wonders to. Another good source is the movie Excalibur (1982), not bad, and it has Patrick Stewart. Neat look at basically NO magic and has some neat looking scenes, especially ALL the pitched battles.

The core thing you see is that mages take a back seat and they are RARE. Most are born with their powers, play around for a few years and disappear forever.

The other thing is that heroes aren't normally running around with "magic" weapons. They are either family heirlooms, imbued with "special power", or are artifacts used by only the greatest of persons. The key here is to encourage players to keep weapons and after a few levels, have a bonus come into effect. Now, how you control this bonus is that it only works in the hands of the blades "true owner". Which means that the players will hang onto weapons allowing you to easily control their power. Besides, you won't see heroes carting around every weapon from a monster that hit good on the assumption "At least one has to be worth a lot."

As for spells, I'd say keep them flashy, just make it more sparks and smoke (again, see Excalibur for visual examples). Also, increase casting time. Nothing weakens a spell quite like making it take longer to cast. It also increases the "Mage with staff/wand" stereotype we all know and love as taking one round to cast magic missile tends to spell death for mages. This means only the truly "worth it" spells will be chosen and people will be careful about showing their magical nature if the townsfolk have a solid couple of rounds to rush them.

 

[S'mon]

Another good source is the movie Excalibur (1982), not bad, and it has Patrick Stewart. Neat look at basically NO magic

NO magic in Excalibur?!

(Spoilers for the movie)

Spoiler

The movie is *full* of magic - magic spells, swords, armour (Lancelot's armour at least is clearly intended to be magical IMO). Merlin casts lots of spells - illusionary appearance on Uther, air walk on his horse, summoning the dragon's breath (fog cloud), possible polymorph into raven-form, all in the prologue! Later on Morgana casts extended charm persons on the Grail knights, and an Entrapment on Merlin, Merlin (atrally?) projects and casts Suggestion on her near the end, getting her to summon the dragon's breath again. That's off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more. Arthur uses a True Strike power from Excalibur to take down Lancelot, and regrets this 'dishonourable' use of magic to defeat the honourable foe.

I guess there aren't any D&D fireballs or heal potions in the movie, if that matters - the magic is appropriate to the genre, and presented as having serious consequences for wizards who over-extend themselves. So it's 'low magic' in D&D terms, but certainly not NO magic.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Look at Ravenloft. Honestly it sounds like exactly what you want. Also, if you want to make healing more grim and what not, the Midnight forums at againsttheshadow.org have some houses rules for just that.

Check my sig. The Tome of Sorrows has additional info about the Midnight spell system and healing.