What is the best low-magic fantasy system?


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Low Fantasy Gaming PRODUCTS & CONTENT does low magic D&D. Unlike AiME PCs can still have spells and it's towards the sword & sorcery side of fantasy.

Players can have some magic in AiME, though not entirely in the form of "spells".

The one game I'm surprised not to have seen mentioned is Modiphius' Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of. It's on the higher side of complexity (less than Gurps, more than Runequest or Mythras) and it is very much Sword & Sorcery, but it does low-magic rather well.
 


Crypts & Things.

It's a heavily modded version of Basic D&D.
Health and Healing are interesting.
Magic does exist, but casting comes at the price of corruption.
 

I love, and have used, the WH setting many times. But the system in any edition is junk.

100% true.

For a game that supposedly uses a straight forward d100% system - they always seem to make things too clever by half. And I've seen better play tested indie rpg's sold at conventions in the early 90's that came in a 3 ring binder, than what they did system wise with WHFRP 4e.

If I got my hands on WHFRP for version 5 fixing it would not be hard. I'd start with the OpenQuest d100 system, and adjust for flavor. Then follow it up with a 6 month open playtest to iron out the kinks. It just isn't that hard to get a playable system for WHFRP.


I'm using Mini Six in my low magic Primeval Thule campaign, it works very well - Mini Six: Bare Bones Edition - AntiPaladin Games | DriveThruRPG.com
There is a spell system but it's a lot less ubiquitous than 5e D&D.

Low Fantasy Gaming PRODUCTS & CONTENT does low magic D&D. Unlike AiME PCs can still have spells and it's towards the sword & sorcery side of fantasy.

I'll second these, Low Fantasy Gaming hits a really decent sweet spot, and is worth a hard look. There is even a free PDF version you can get to see if you like it enough to plunk down cold hard cash for the dead tree version.

For me, AiME is still a little too 5e ish… Yes, magic is heavily toned down, but they still keep the hit point bloat to level 20, and the character creation/class ability thing is still a bit of a hot mess.

Mini Six for something a bit different, but more legwork to tune it to your campaign.
 

I'll second these, Low Fantasy Gaming hits a really decent sweet spot, and is worth a hard look. There is even a free PDF version you can get to see if you like it enough to plunk down cold hard cash for the dead tree version.

For me, AiME is still a little too 5e ish… Yes, magic is heavily toned down, but they still keep the hit point bloat to level 20, and the character creation/class ability thing is still a bit of a hot mess.

I downloaded the free rules for Low Fantasy.

AiME is my current choice as I plan to run it with just the six classes listed for it; literally no spellcasters. Plus a different armor systemto replace the awful AC system.

Using VTT at the table, we already have a highly tactical game, and I believe that removing spellcasters should eliminate a lot of the 5e issues.

But whatever system we use, it must employ much of the standard dice, because my players have as of late been buying high-dollar sets, and they will not tolerate losing the ability to use them.
 


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