My new LOW MAGIC game idea!!!

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

I am thinking of running a variant Harn d20 game, replacing the standard DnD magic with the Call of Cthulhu magic and sanity system. All wizards are considered evil devil worshippers, drastically limiting them. Clerics have no magic unless they worship evil demons like the Great Old Ones. There is NO magical healing. There is no teleport, raise dead, invisibility, fly or other game-breaking magics. Almost all magic will appear to have no visible effect or at least won't be flashy---no fireballs or magic missiles but plenty of charm person, hold person, blindness, etc. Spells must be learned from crumbling old tomes that blast sanity (and take weeks to learn a single spell) or are imparted directly into the caster's mind by evil demons or gods.

Magic items are so rare as to be virtually unattainable, and you wouldn't want to advertise that you own one... not only will you be accused of devil worship, but evil people will seek you out to murder you and claim the item for themselves... Potions and charms (protective amulets) are an exception, though they will still be quite rare unless you happen to frequent the creepy hut of the old witch on the hill who can provide that which you desire... for a soul-damning price!

I will also use Cthulhu's "classless" idea for characters:
2 feats, 8+Int mod skill points, choose offense or defense option for saves and base attack bonus... Anyone can learn spells but loses sanity for learning them, and again for casting them each time!

Also, there will only be around 30,000 gp in circulation on the continent. Everything will cost silver pieces. Poverty is rampant! Hehe!

Opinions?

 

[S'mon]

Nice.

If it's what the players want, it should be excellent. Just let them know in advance it's going to be like Pendragon or Conan, not regular D&D.

 

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

Actually, it's a tough sell for some reason. I've got a bee in my bonnet to do some real gritty low fantasy; had the itch for years but always met with some resistance. With the group's co-DM burned out and wanting me to take over, I really want to give this idea a try. Maybe it will suck and we'll all slap our foreheads and go "what were we thinking? pass the meteor swarms!" but I'd at least like to see it in action for once, LOL.

 

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

Here is my basic idea for D&D/CofC character creation...

Ability Scores: Roll 4d6 for each ability;discard the lowest die and add up the remaining
three dice to determine your ability score.

Sanity Score: Your sanity score is equal to Wis score x 5.

Base Save and Attack Bonuses: Pick either the Defense or Offense option.

Defense Option: Pick two saving throws; these each receive a +2 bonus, but the third
saving throw receives +0. Your Base Attack Bonus is also +0.

Offense Option: Pick one saving throw; it receives a +2 bonus but the other two receive a
+0 bonus. Your Base Attack Bonus is +1.

Defense Bonus: Pick either the Defense or Offense Option.

Defense Option: +2 AC bonus (scales

Offense Option: +0 AC bonus, but pick one fighter bonus feat.

Skill Points at 1st level: 8 + Int mod x 4.

Skill Points at 2nd level and beyond: 8 + Int mod.

Skills: Pick any twelve skills as your “class” skills. All other skills are “non-class” skills
and cost two skill points to raise one rank.

Feats: Pick any two. If you chose the “Offense Option” for your Defense Bonus, you
receive an additional fighter bonus feat.

 

[Numion]

I have hard time imagining any player really wanting to submit himself to such a campaign, but if your players have given you the green light, go ahead by all means!

If you can pull this off, you can really call yourself the gamer '1337', like you did on that other thread.

Or if this was a joke that I didn't get, forget all.

 

[Erekose]

Sounds to me that the proposed magic system would also be an ideal one for an Elric/Young Kingdoms campaign. Might be problems with the level of magic as it would be a high fantasy campaign but the underlying principles of sanity checks and magic from demons would work.

 

[Tom Cashel]

Sounds far too "elite" for my taste.

(Umm...this is a troll-thread, right?)

 

[Mordax_sighs]

I'm gonna do something like this after the current game is over. (We almost did this instead of what we're doing now.)

Some advice:
- If you're gonna have much combat, you may want to allow PCs to take NPC classes (Aristocrat, Expert, and Warrior only), with the defense bonus.

This is because Investigators have to spend precious Feats on Weapon Proficiencies, (making them *far* less effective in a fight than their D&D counterparts), and partly 'cause the Hit Die can be better than d6, if the player wants to sacrifice skills.

If the players are supposed to be the cream of the crop (like in a Conan story), you should go ahead and allow them nonspellcasting Core Classes. They'll have heroic mad skills against ordinary men, but still be pretty helpless against Mythos creatures.

- Understand that characters can go insane really fast, and that the lack of asylums makes that pretty grim.

- Remember to make monsters as rare as magic, both for story reasons and because they are worlds tougher when the PCs don't really have any magic.

 

[Tom Cashel]

Aristocrat, Warrior and Expert will be the only classes allowed in my next campaign.

Imagine the thrill of attempting to move fourscore barrels of ale before the evening rush at the tavern! Best make a Dex check, and a Con check to see if exhaustion sets in. Whoo, now we're having fun! Trying to get the harvest into the silo before a storm hits! Aiding the tax collector in beating up peasants for their coppers! Engaging in the time-honored chess match that is Castle Management! And in a world like Harn, we can spend more time fending off plague than silly outlandish monsters and over-the-top magic users. And just like CoC, we can make new characters after every session! What fun!

 

[SHARK]

Greetings!

Yeah, apparently it is a standard in Call of Cthulhu that your characters either die quite frequently, and easily, or your character is always on the brink of being a gibbering idiot.

When my wife and I played COC many years ago with some of our friends, it always seemed like the mythos and the environment was really neat and interesting, but the seeming requirement that your characters die or go insane so frequently and easily became very frustrating to say the least. My wife is of the opinion that COC, while evocative, at the end of the day is an exersize in frustration and futility. I like COC, but it does have that particular environment.

As for the grunge style of D&D, while I think there are some aspects of low-magic campaigns that I think are interesting, and even essential, I have seen others who seem to eschew all of the higher-magic elements of D&D, almost in such a way that they seem to desire an entirely different game. Still, it seems to come down to what style of play that you are in the mood for.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK