Veeky Forums, I need a system. A low fantasy RPG system

OP here, I think I might give the flaming disk a go. I've heard a lot of good things about it.

Though I'm a bit surprised nobody suggested warhammer

Look for the following
>weapon damage that can easily take out 1/4 to 1/2 of HP or equivalent in a single blow
>HP or equivalent that does not increase or increases slowly
>magic works slowly, has a non monetary cost, is difficult and/or dangerous
Incidentally, remember that magic should have more of a cost than just in-game money or character options. Trying requiring 1-3 drawbacks that will last - anger issues, lowered health (originally the reason behind wizards having a d4 hit die), and a favor owed to a dark being is a good, classic, combo.
The rarer magic users are, the rarer magic items are.

Why not just play OD&D or 1e?

What dis?

pretty much any OSR game

alternatively, WFRP 2e or maybe Zweihander

OP what you want is Dungeon World.
It's fast, with a strong core mechanic built to enhance the story, not restrict it like the shitty D&D mechanics. Failure in Dungeon World is actually interesting, and all of the abilities are codified into the core mechanic to make it fast, fun, and easy to use. The combat is also much, much better. A dragon doesn't need 300 hit points to be challenging like it does in D&D, it can do stuff that's actually terrifying, like rip a character's arm off. Also, armor is damage reduction so no more of this "less likely to hit, but still does full damage if it does hit" bullshit. The monster stats are incredibly light, character creation is extremely fast and fluid, with just as many options as D&D when you consider that most of D&D is trap options. There is no powergaming in Dungeon World, just a fast story-based game that still has the mechanics from D&D that you love (hit points, classes, etc) but with much stronger mechanics that lead to a more fulfilling roleplaying experience.

My last session of Dungeon World, my human fighter wrapped a vampire in a bear hug and wrestled him out a window into the castle moat. This is real roleplaying we're talking about here, not babby D&D shit where you have to make two different rolls and then have some autist look up how far you can move about while grappling. Dungeon World is about fun and good story, not rules and combat bullshit.

Pretentious trash. Dungeon World is better.
Basically a ripoff of Dungeon World, without the innovative mchnics that Dungeon World has. Also, Conan setting is boring.

I swear to god I've seen this comment before. Is this a meme?

it's a pasta, yeah

some advice for first time Burning Wheel
>all human
>no magic
>4 lifepaths
>make sure the group agrees on an interesting central premise which everyone can come up with an interesting character concept based off of
above all, hang in there, I've definitely noticed the game has a learning curve, as such, it can feel a little awkward to begin with but you and your group will get better at playing it

Yes. Dungeon World in general is a meme.

Sword path glory

Reskin Legend of the Five Rings should work, at least for 'fights should be avoided'. Beyond that, both WFRPG 1e (or 2e if you prefer less shitposting but also less soul) or Burning Wheel should work

The most powerful tabletop roleplaying game is Dungeon World. If you can't run Dungeon World (or any games of its family, PbtA), you don't know what it means for a ttrpg to be powerful and elegant. Once you learn Dungeon World, you will see what is lacking in all other RPGs.

Every Magic Item being an achievement is on the GM not on the system.

Burning wheel is a good choice. I'd go for GURPS. Highest of the high end human might have 16 HP.

A weedy street urchin (6 ST, 10 is average human) with a knife, sneaking up on you and stabbing you in a gap of your armor with an all out double attack (assuming she's not taking other actions to buff her damage) can do 4 damage to you, that's 1/4th your HP gone. On your next turn all IQ and DX skills are tanked by 4 points at which point she runs away with your purse and you pray no one finishes you off.

I am not kidding:
Of all the dozens of systems I have played or at least read, this was one of the worst.

Excluding stuff like FATAL ofc

Define low fantasy. Are you asking for a grounded fantasy setting with low magic, or something that's basically humans + monsters?

If it's the former, I'd recommend The One Ring. The rules are quite excellent and it's generally encouraged to avoid combat if you can (for practical and sometimes moral or psychological reasons; even if you were just defending yourself from bandits, killing a lot of men can do things to you in the long run). The skills are very heavily on the social side with ones such as Inspire, Awe, Courtesy (all different kinds of social interactions), but also knowledge of Lore, Hunting, Craft etc.

Magical items are an important part of the game, as they're basically the only magic you'll ever be using with the exception of some broken spells (as in half-remembered) that dwarves can learn if they're wise enough. Some good examples from the books being Orcrist, Glamdring, Sting, Black Arrows of Numenor, the Barrow Blades etc., you get the picture.

But then again, you got dwarves, humans, elves and hobbits as playable races, though several of these only make sense within a certain context, so you're free to restrict your campaign to, say, a human kingdom and basically include no other races.

This.

Yes, but also with way higher lethality, even at high levels.

Why is Dungeon World a meme? Is it just that the rules are a hot mess or is it unbalanced or some other issue?

This.

Also Call of Cthulhu: Dark Ages, WFRP 2e, and with some effort, Unknown Armies.

You're being kinda broad here.

You want gritty and grimy medieval fantasy? Use WFRP or Zweihander

You want Tolkien style high fantasy with a heavy emphasis on roleplaying?
Use Burning Wheel

You still want combat to be a decent focus, but more grounded?
Use Mythras

You want pulpy action with extremely powerful but costly magic?
Use Barbarians of Lemuria

Hârnmaster, unequivocally. Fucking amputation rolls are a constant threat and even if you survive a fight, any wound can get infected and cause horrible, slow, agonizing death much later on.

Weak, limp-wristed systems intended for candyman GMs.

Torchbearer

>ripoff of Dungeon World
It's been around at least since the mid 90s, long before DW even existed

That's assuming she didn't target a vital through the chink (further -2 to her roll), which would hit for like 12 hp, likely leaving you bleeding to death on the floor.
God I love GURPS

It's a meme because of two things:
First, it's not that good of a game, but it got popular because it was an early PbtA adaption. You could say its popularity is memetic.
Second, some grogs (or maybe one very dedicated one?) got really upset about filthy narrativists getting their grubby hands on their superior simulationist dungeon-crawling, dragon killing games, and started false flagging as devoted DW hipsters who obviously never played any games ever, including DW.

The One Ring ?

It's as much about the GM as the system. D&D assumes your GM will hand out magical items like sweets on Halloween night.

>Basically a ripoff of Dungeon World
In what way? Just because it uses 2d6? Is Traveller also a Dungeon World ripoff?

>really upset about filthy narrativists getting their grubby hands on their superior simulationist dungeon-crawling, dragon killing game
There is some truth to it, even though D&D and company are more gamist than simulationist in nature.

>D&D and company are more gamist than simulationist in nature

You wouldn't know that by how some grognards treat it.