Yes, I kept magic items, but they're each unique: Cloak of the Serpent-folkd, Atlantean Dagger of Shapeshifter-bane, Amulet of Set. My players now know what each does, but it took them some time to figure out. Just make each unique and keep the numbers low. 

I had toyed with the idea of removing spells that to me didn't reflect (my vision of) sword and sorcery.  I'm not fond of the spells like fireball and lightning bolt even though they are staples of the D&D universe.  

Insanity in casting to me should be a long term process brought on by the casting of higher level spells.  Hedge wizards that cast 1-2 level spells may never feel the effects but Mages casting the 5-6 level spells may start losing wisdom or gaining insanity traits unless of course they make pacts with other worldly and alien beings.

It's easy.  Don't use all the magic.

Seriously.  I ran a one-shot set in Lankhmar.  I just didn't use any magic "stuff" (spell casters, etc...).  If I were to run a campaign set in Lankhmar, I'd do the same and just make up whatever magic stuff/powers the protagonists/antagonists needed.

To recap: if you find there is something in the game you don't like, don't use it.  Make up whatever else you need which isn't already in the game.  I really can't think of playing D&D and similar games in any other way.

I mean, it's not like Ghul is gonna summon Me, HandyHaversack, Gizmomathboy, and Rumplechainskin to gather at your house and use our superpowers to force you to use the magic in the game.

Last edited by francisca (9/16/2015 10:14 am)

Thank you for the tips, I guess I will just cut out the magic then (leaving only essentials) Hopefully it won`t ruin the game balance.

JorgePedraboa wrote:

I skimmed trough the book and I really liked the setting and all, but I felt it had too much magic. I am looking for pulpier alternatives of D&D, so I got quite disappointed to see so much magic in there. How other DM's overcame this without hurting the fun? Did you still keep magic items?

Welcome to the forum.
Out of curiosity, have you read the Zothique or Hyperborean stories by Clark Ashton Smith?  The reason I ask is because they're a major influence on the game, and I don't think they support the idea that pulp fantasy is "low magic".  I might say the same thing about the Dying Earth stories or the Elric stories.  For that matter, Conan met a new sorcerer in practically every story - one of whom dropped a bunch of cliffs on Conan's army, and then attempted to revive a lost kingdom from the dead with magic!  Meanwhile, in Tolkein, there were... what, five total wizards in Middle Earth?  Two of whom we never saw, and none of whom cast many spells (I think Gandalf lit some pine cones on fire with magic, but he could have just used a tinderbox for all the difference it made).  To be quite honest, I believe some people have the amount of magic found in pulp fantasy and in "high" fantasy exactly backwards.  Or to put it another way, D&D is already a pulp fantasy game, which is why attempts to turn it into "high" fantasy (a la Dragonlance) have always rung hollow.
All that said, I think you should remove anything and everything that doesn't fit with your particular vision of pulp fantasy.  I don't give a wererat's left buttock about "game balance" myself, so tough luck if it shafts the spellcasters.  Either people won't play them, or they'll live with the restrictions.  In any case, enjoy the game!

Good idea.  Always best to try it and see how it works!  That's what writers like Howard, Smith, and Lovecraft did.

Last edited by Blackadder23 (9/16/2015 9:59 pm)

francisca wrote:

It's easy.  Don't use all the magic.

 
If only it were that easy.  :D

When people start talking about excessive magic in D&D-type games, they usually either go straight for "excessive numbers of magic items" or "fireball-type spells" and, yeah, both of those are easy to get rid of.

But then there's healing magic.

D&D and its clones are heavily based on characters being able to be beaten down and bounce back repeatedly, in rapid succession, often within the span of a single combat.  If you take away clerical healing spells and barrels of healing potions, characters are no longer able to do that, instead taking days, weeks, or even months to recover from their injuries after combat.  This, in turn, requires significant changes to adventure design to compensate for the radically-reduced durability of the PCs.  Which is a good deal more trouble than just saying "this magic doesn't exist".

Scalydemon wrote:

Chainsaw wrote:

francisca wrote:

Rumplechainskin

Is that a real  word?

Since March 2015!  Come to GaryCon, and expand your vocab!

francisca wrote:

Scalydemon wrote:

Is [Rumplechainskin] a real  word?

Since March 2015!  Come to GaryCon, and expand your vocab!

So, quick story: bunch of us are standing in front of Gary Con having beers late on Wednesday or Thursday night, like 1AM or something. Random dude rolls up to the front door with his luggage bag. I'm double fisting beers, drunk and feeling generous, so I give my extra to the dude. He happily accepts it and slams it quickly, so he's OK in my book. This prompts me to jokingly follow up with, "You owe me for that beer, man!" and Rumplechainskin was born. Good times.

Anyway, welcome to the forum Jorge - want a beer? As for your question, without thinking about it too much, a few possibilities come to mind: 
- increase the required intelligence/wisdom scores (making magicians/clerics less common)
- limit maximum character level (or significantly increase XP requirements per level), limit maximum spell level or limit maximum number of knowable (or memorizable spells) or some combination (making magician/cleric PCs much less powerful, especially compared with similarly leveled melee characters)
- selectively remove any spells that don't fit your vision of low magic
- require some sort of wisdom check with difficulty indexed to spell level and then have cumulative failures mapped against some list of detriments ending in insanity
- make magic items unique and rare (as a consequence, maybe make creatures that are immune to non-magical weapons take half-damage from non-magical weapons instead or reduce the XP they're worth)
- refluff healing potions as being herb-based rather than magic-based or allow jugs of booze to return hit points (this helps survivability during the day, between nightly rests where AS&SH has more generous hit point recovery than D&D)
- eliminate some monsters that may have too much "magic" as part of their working

nDervish wrote:

francisca wrote:

It's easy.  Don't use all the magic.

 
If only it were that easy. :D

When people start talking about excessive magic in D&D-type games, they usually either go straight for "excessive numbers of magic items" or "fireball-type spells" and, yeah, both of those are easy to get rid of.

But then there's healing magic.

D&D and its clones are heavily based on characters being able to be beaten down and bounce back repeatedly, in rapid succession, often within the span of a single combat. If you take away clerical healing spells and barrels of healing potions, characters are no longer able to do that, instead taking days, weeks, or even months to recover from their injuries after combat. This, in turn, requires significant changes to adventure design to compensate for the radically-reduced durability of the PCs. Which is a good deal more trouble than just saying "this magic doesn't exist".

Have HP come back more quickly with a rest and swig of ale or even more with a nights sleep.  The system is a game and not necessarily a simulation of the literature.  Re-jigger to taste and if you're having fun then the recipe works.