Need some help to choose a system

[Trolleitor]

I'm preparing a campaing set on a low magic, mildly dark/gritty, world. This world has access to technology that makes sense on the 18th century. The players characters come from a goblinoid empire, their races are typical goblinoids (hobgoblins, goblins and bugbears). Players will have access to firearms (like the musket). Magic should be something hard to come by and it should be expensive to cast. The history will resolve in settlements, thus is main focus is an urban setting on human settlements. It will have some long and meaningful travels. The campaign will have a good amount of intrigue and players will be expected to solve problems using their brains, because they'll have limited resources.
I would like it to achieve a fine level of lethality/drama, something like "visceral duels" situations (for example, Solo and Greedo scene in the cantina).

Lately I've been wondering which system will fit this idea better, and that's the reason I'm making this thread.
My ideas so far:

a) D&D 5e: Gritty realism variant rule and some houserules on the "duels" situations
b) Savage worlds: Nerfing the magic regeneration
c) Cypher system: Banning options to keep the "low magic" atmosphere and using cyphers as scrolls and potions.

What do you guys think? I'm open to other system aswell (except fate, my players hate the fate system economy)

Sorry for my english and thanks for your answers!

[neonchameleon]

Two systems that might work for you are Apocalypse World (2e) and Blades in the Dark. Both are visceral, gritty, and work to a slightly obscure magic - and both run to players solving problems using their brains (combat frequently being a mug's game).

On the other hand both systems are going to mean that you have a lot less control of the world than you are used to. And both systems (especially AW) have a habit of derailing any long term plans in favour of a rolling mess of consequences. So I'm not sure they are what you want - but they are both worth looking into.

[Berenger]

https://lowfantasygaming.com/ works ok for that, I think. It has neither playable goblinoids nor 18th century tech, but both would be quite easy to homebrew.

[Yora]

Lamentations of the Flame Princess also comes to mind, but it doesn't have a real risk of using magic unless the spell specifically say so.

[LibraryOgre]

Savage Worlds would be a good option, especially if you added some rules regarding magic use... something like "If you roll a 1 on your action die, this negative effect happens", leading to people with magic either being corrupted by the side effects or being very, very careful.

(Just thought of a mechanic for that: Every spell cast requires you to have a Benny, and you can't spend bennies on spells. Succeed, and you get the Benny back. Fail, and you lose the Benny. Roll a 1, and you permanently lose the benny... you now start with 2 Bennies, not 3. Or 1 Benny, not 2. Or no Bennys, not 1. You can still EARN Bennies, but you don't start with any.)

[Koo Rehtorb]

Burning Wheel.

Game is made for low fantasy intrigue. Getting hit in a fight typically results in characters being wounded for months. Magic is rare, hard to cast, and very dangerous. The fighting subsystem is designed specifically for big dramatic duels between two people.


If you want the goblinoid races to have a vaguely medieval human feel then then you can use or tweak the mannish lifepath rules. If you want them to feel different then you'll need to make some custom ones, but it's doable.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I'd be careful about low-magic changes that are basically "you can play a wizard, but you barely get to cast spells." Often systems require a lot of investment to be a mage, so if you can't cast magic you wind up bored and having trouble contributing. Something like 5e's Ritual Caster feat is probably your best bet; a minor investment for a relatively minor ability.

5e sounds all wrong for a game like this, by the by. It's heavily magic-infused, and it's not terribly good at social stuff, and it still has issues with hit point inflation.