Since I got back into gaming, one of the things I noticed was the talk about "low fantasy" gaming. In the past, I never really thought about it, but I absolutely understand where the idea is coming from. The trick for The Fantasy Trip is to implement it in a way that preserves the rules for magic as much as possible, while giving the campaign the feel that the players and GM are looking for.
What Is Low Fantasy?
So what exactly is "low fantasy"? Low fantasy is a style of fantasy fiction or gaming where events take place in a generally realistic medieval setting, with little or no real magic, and action centering primarily around humans. This is opposed to "high fantasy," with a great deal of magic, many other non-human races, super-powerful beings and non-realistic settings. Low fantasy stories also tend to focus on poor or lower class people, struggling to survive, while high fantasy tends to deal with upper class rulers and leaders.
To me, the limit on the amount of magic is the major key. With a limit on the availability of magic, the occurrences and effects when it does appear are much more apparent. Magic should be a source of legend, of wonder–or fear. It should not be considered just another source of artillery for the players to use.
On a side note–this could also have religious implications, too. While low fantasy tends to not have active gods that dispense divine power every Monday through Friday, when the magic of divine power does happen, it would still be rare and have a huge impact on the PCs and their story.
Personally, I like low fantasy gaming. When I think of high fantasy, I think of The Lord of the Rings. But when I think of low fantasy, I think of the Thieves’ World novels. Yes, they had more magic and gods than most would consider for low fantasy, but the world–and the feel–was dark, gritty… and deadly.
Everyone was desperate, trying to survive. It was great! (Don’t get me wrong–I love The Lord of the Rings. But to me, the brand of gritty fantasy in the Thieves’ World novels appeal to me more…)
Roleplaying vs. Worldbuilding
In many ways, low fantasy is really a state of mind, too. Yes, there are large parts that are played by the campaign setting design, but a lot of it is in roleplaying as well. That gritty, knife in the dark feel is more about how the GM and players approach each session and the actions they take as well as any rule changes.
And that is what the roleplaying side is all about–how the players and GM approach the campaign and play the game. Not only is magic less likely to be found, but it should be a surprise as well. Even with TFT as it is, when a PC sees zombies or other undead, it should be played with fear–not just another orc to slay. All of the darkness from low fantasy should go into character creation, what actions the PCs take–even what their goals are… these are critical to making a low fantasy campaign work.
For the worldbuilding side, though, that is really on the GM to control. The two biggest questions the GM needs to answer is how common magic or gods are, and what is the scope of their powers? Wizards and other sources of magic should be much more rare than in a high fantasy campaign. Not only should they be more rare, but also have less power. There should not be wizards that can blast down entire mountains or cast spells that control the minds of thousands–think tactical, not strategic.
Another factor to consider when worldbuilding is the presence of non-human races, and even monsters. In most low fantasy settings, the focus of the story is on humans. Non-humans either do not exist, or are very rare. When one shows up, it is a cause for surprise, wonder or even fear. That needs to be considered in an any campaign.
Along with that, magic creatures should not be found on every street corner. They should be legendary–very rare. Most monsters will be of the non-magical variety. This does not mean they have to be beasts from our real world, just that they need to have non-magical abilities. Magic monsters should be the subject of major quests or adventures, and be very deadly. And summonings should be almost non-existent. When a wizard summons a creature from somewhere else that should be a huge thing!
Recommendations For Tailoring TFT For Low Fantasy
And that brings us back to The Fantasy Trip. To me, TFT is already a low fantasy game. I say this because the wizards definitely have limits on the amount of power they have.
Some have argued on various forums that wizards are already too powerful, but what I’m talking about is the level of spells that TFT wizards have vs. the Earth-shattering spells found in other games like D&D. The way the TFT canon rules handle religion also lends itself to low fantasy settings–there is just not much influence on the game world.
But if you really want to tailor TFT for a low fantasy campaign, there are still a few things you can do. One obvious change is to limit the number of wizards. In TFT:AW, it mentions that wizards are common, at about 1 in every 300 people. Just change this number to 1 in 1,000-5,000 (or more). Do what makes sense for your campaign, but be careful–if your campaign setting has a limited number of people, and there are only, say, 50 wizards in that population, you run the risk of killing off ALL of your wizards. Then magic would really be legendary!
Another change is to limit the availability of spells. This can be done in a few different ways, from simply eliminating spells from the list available, to making it harder to find someone to teach them to a student. The bigger the spell, the more it should be suspect in a low fantasy setting. The goal here is to limit the availability of The Big Magics, so take care and have fun with it.
One other way to make magic in TFT more gritty for low fantasy is to make the spell cost actual damage, and not just fatigue. This idea has gotten a lot of discussion on the forums, both for and against. For low fantasy settings, though, there is a lot of precedent in novels and movies. To do it right, though, the higher IQ and bigger effect spells should be allowed to offset the cost in casting them. This is also where the concept of corruption from evil spells comes in handy, too. The idea is to force the wizard to really think about whether he wants to cast that spell–there are very real costs!
Again, ultimately this depends on the campaign, and needs to be agreed upon by the GM and the players. Everyone’s expectations need to be considered and met. If this is not discussed fully up front, the campaign will be doomed from the start.
Still, low fantasy campaigns can be very fun, if done well. I myself like the feel of that kind of fantasy more than that of high fantasy. From the cost of magic to the deadliness of combat, every action by the players has a very real price. And in my mind, that fits The Fantasy Trip just fine.
Marko ∞
(Originally published on inthelabyrinth.org, on 7/6/2018.)
