Zero Magic C&C

[AntiquarianAspirant]

Is there support for play of Castles and Crusades in a purely medieval setting, with bare minimum magical content if not zero magic? I tried searching the forums and it didn't seem to like me searching for 'no magic.'

[Lurker]

I can't think of any official low magic setting for C&C.

However, if you use the historic books they tend to be lower magic at least to a point.

Now, I personally lean toward lower magic settings, so it is easy to house rule. Just limit the spells available - I'm doing that with the Amazing Adventure Masque of Red Death game I run.

Also, since C&C is easy to convert old D&D based games into, if you have any of the old AD&D 2e history books, you can use those. I ran them (Viking and Charlemagne adventure arc, and a short 'Mighty Fortress' Musketeer game) and they are VERY low magic.

The only issue with that low of magic I remember having is the lack of magic healing spells. That severely changes D&D and the characters have to be careful not to get hurt toooooo badly, or be ready for a longer than normal time to be down slowly healing all those lost HP. Of course, if everyone is ready for that change to the feel of the game, then it is less of a problem.

[AntiquarianAspirant]

I'll definitely look into those, hopefully DriveThruRPG has them.

I was wondering if there was any sort of medic/herbalist class that's been made, heck even an alchemist I think would make a nice low-magic feeling healer or secondary healer. Do you know if such a thing exists?

[Lurker]

I am fairly sure Drivethru has the old 2e history settings ... yeah just checked, $9.99 each, so fairly cheap at that.

For a healer type class, I'd bet there is some home brews around here that would fit.

I know one thing that us Monday Night Ne'er-do-Wells tend to do is have classes like Ranger, Barbarian, Cleric, and maybe one or 2 others have a 'ditch medicine' skills. Sort of a hedge wise medical knowledge. I think it is a wis check for the skill and if successful then you heal ??1d4/1d6?? I can't remember specifically plus your wisdom bonus. One limiting factor is a character can only benefit from it once a day. So it is better than natural healing alone, but does not replace magically enhanced healing.

[AntiquarianAspirant]

I was thinking of getting the Adventurer's backpack, I got a peek and saw a few options for basic healing...

And after taking a peek at the Crusader's Companion I think I just found what I was looking for in the apothecary class, which has me psyched. I am still curious as to what the historical books could offer me; do you remember what all they covered?

[Lurker]

The C&C history books do a great job of tying in the 'myth' of each timeframe/culture into the game . With that they are not strictly historic, and are not no magic, but they tend to be lower magic than average, or at least put a twist on magic outside the normal default

For the old 2e history books, they tended to be more historically focused, so are significantly more low magic than the default setting. Plus if I remember correctly, they give kits for classes that more fit the time / culture and modify the equipment list etc to fit the timeframe - Soooo no crusader knight with 1400s - 1500s full plate armor.

[Captain_K]

Why no magic? Think Viking?

[AntiquarianAspirant]

About a combination of spellcaster fatigue from 3.5 (ever added up how many base classes use some form of casting/ki/auras/manifesting/incarnum use/binding/everything else, vs the ones that have nonmagical goodies? It's absurd), a reflection on how magic in modern fantasy in general feels cheap and overly abundant and thus no longer wonderful or awe-inspiring, and also a simple desire to run or play a campaign about knights and highwaymen and scholars confronting the very lowest-fantasy threats (orcs and ogres, wicked princes and scheming anarchists). Oh, and curiosity to see if it's possible for its own sake!

[Ancalagon]

Is there support for play of Castles and Crusades in a purely medieval setting, with bare minimum magical content if not zero magic? I tried searching the forums and it didn't seem to like me searching for 'no magic.'

Not sure if there is but the idea has a certain appeal. It caused me to remember the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves film. Definitely miss Alan Rickman...

[Grandpa]

It isn't hard to take a magic setting like Greyhawk and just use the bare geographic and political data, ignoring actual magic components (you can leave in long ago historic magical stories) and you have a no magic setting.

I don't know that any more support is needed. C&C can handle all non-magical aspects of a medieval, no magic RPG.

[Fizz]

I can't think of any settings that are explictely no-magic. There are several that are low or rare magic (such as Birthright, where magic exists but is certainly special, and often not accepted).

But there are a number of books that offer historical games as an option. The AD&D 2nd Ed Historical Reference books all included options for running historical games. And since 2nd Edition used kits, even if classes are limited, the kits make sub-classes available.

-Fizz

[Persimmon]

The old TSR Conan modules were low magic and had pretty bare bones guidelines for playing that way. And having converted some of the Modiphius stuff to AS&SH, I don't think it would be hard to convert that to C&C if you wanted a setting that was inherently on the low magic side. Most of their spells are more like rituals.

[serleran]

Its going to depend on what you actually mean by "no magic."

Is that "no casting by the player characters?"

Is it "there is no magic, at all?"

To a medieval person, even something as innocuous as a headache could be magical in origin - some vicious demon come from the blackest pits to avenge a sin committed but unspoken, for example and it just gets worse from there... as anything not obvious is attributed to witchcraft or something equally vile.

[Kayolan]

You could run a Planet of the Apes type setting, there isn't any magic but psionics exist (see Beneath the Planet of the Apes). Apes Victorius by Goblinoid Games https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/daniel- ... pageSize=4 could easily be converted to C&C as it basically uses the B/X D&D (Labyrinth Lord) system.