What Is Low Fantasy Gaming?¶

Low Fantasy Gaming is a tabletop RPG built for gritty adventures in low or moderate magic settings.

Simple Rules¶

LFG has simple rules, flexible PC customisation, and an emphasis on Games Master (GM) rulings. It's a heady mix of the best old school, modern, and new game design, wrapped around a familiar d20 based core.

Fast & Engaging Combat¶

Combat is designed to be fast and engaging, with minimal waiting between turns. Creativity is encouraged via unique abilities, martial exploits and magic.

Dangerous & Gritty¶

LFG is genuinely dangerous; every skirmish takes a toll and the threat of persistent injury or death is never far away.

Quasi-Realistic World¶

LFG settings tend to mimic our own classical or medieval periods, with humans as the default PC race. Magic and fantastic monsters exist, but are relatively rare.

Treacherous Magic¶

Magic is not only rare, it is perilous and uncertain. Be it arcane sorcery or divine blessing, magic is a power not meant for mortals, and adventurers engage with it at their own risk.

Bold Adventurers¶

LFG is about exploring the unknown, delving into the lost places of the world to unearth new mysteries. Player characters are not epic heroes charged with saving existence; they are bold adventurers seeking fortune and glory.

Open Sandbox¶

LFG is made for short, episodic adventures in an open world. Mechanics and random tables support GM improvisation, empowering the referee to handle any situation or side trek.

Generic Ruleset¶

LFG is a generic ruleset, easily adapted to most low or moderate magic worlds. Some roleplaying aspects relating to the Midlands Low Magic Sandbox Setting (p.273) are incorporated however (eg: gods and spell names).

Core Features¶

LFG is d20 based, with the following features:

• 9 Classes: Artificer, Barbarian, Bard, Cultist, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue & Magic User; only two of which involve magic.
• 12^th Level Max eliminates the most powerful spells, and keeps the mightiest monsters scary.
• Unique Features: every 3^rd level design your own PC ability in conjunction with your GM, or choose from 36 examples.
• Roll Equal or Under for attribute checks (inc degrees of success), making every stat point matter.
• Skills provide access to a level based Reroll Pool, smoothing the fickleness of d20 probability distribution.
• Willpower & Perception attributes replace Wisdom.
• Diminishing Luck attribute replaces saving throws and powers some Martial Exploits.
• Minor, Major & Rescue Exploits on top of damage, not in lieu, promote improvised stunts and moments of greatness.
• Dangerous Combat: Dropping to zero hp requires a roll on the Injuries & Setbacks table and healing is delayed by 1d3 minutes (magical or otherwise). Players don't roll to find out if their PC is All Dead or Mostly Dead until the battle ends, and someone checks the body.
• Party Retreat & Chase rules allow the GM to throw whatever makes sense at the party, unshackling them from balanced encounters and quarantined zones.
• 5 minute Short Rests allow PCs to attempt Willpower checks to recover hit points and class abilities, encouraging the party to push on rather than camp.
• Long Rests take 1d6 days (or 1d4 in a safe, comfortable environment), mitigating the nova, rest, repeat problem for adventures with long periods between battles (eg: wilderness treks).
• Dark & Dangerous Magic tests and Divine Rebuke tests make all spell casting inherently uncertain. No at-will, teleport, mind reading or resurrection magic. Magic Users are less reliant on spells, proficient in one handed weapons and light armour.
• Evocative Spells: Spells have been tweaked and renamed, eg: Silent Image, Invisibility, Magic Missile and Hold Monster are instead Silent Image, Invisibility, Magic Missile and Hold Monster.
• Rare Magic Items, with obvious and discreet attunements, that unlock as users level up.
• A host of GM Tables (weather, traps, treasure, exploration, random encounters, madness, hirelings, disease, ship combat, mass battle, NPC quirks, etc) for easy improvisation.
• Online Play Support: an LFG character sheet is available for online play via Roll20 (we are exploring options with Fantasy Grounds).
• Open Game Content: 99% of LFG text is "Open Game Content" under the Open Game Licence.
• Rules as Guidelines. The GM is the final authority on all LFG rules, which are expected to be tweaked to fit table preferences.

How to Play¶

The basics of playing a tabletop RPG are very simple. One player is known as the Games Master (or "GM"); this player runs the overall game and plays all the characters the other players don't (the Non Player Characters or "NPCs"). For example, the GM plays the world's monsters, merchants, inn keepers and evil sorcerers.

The other players control a single adventurer each, also known as a Player Character or "PC"; a Fighter, Barbarian, Rogue, Bard, Ranger, Monk, Artificer, Cultist or Magic User. The player characters are the central protagonists in the game, like the main characters in a novel, TV show or movie. The players might also control NPC hirelings and pets (if any).

The game generally unfolds with the GM describing the situation at hand, including where the adventurers are and what they can see and hear. The players then tell the GM what they want their PCs to do. The GM decides whether the attempted action succeeds, fails, or if some dice need to be rolled to determine the outcome.

An example of play appears below.

GM (Steve): Okay, as you stroll down the alley way, you hear a sudden squeal, then a body falls from the sky above you, landing on the cobblestones with a bloody thud!

Tom: What? A body? Where the hell did it come from?

Jessica: Is the guy dead? Is it a man or woman? What are they wearing?

GM: The inn beside you is two storeys high. Your torchlight just reaches the rooftop; you can make out two humanoid shapes withdrawing from the roof's edge.

Tom: Hold up - as soon as I see the humanoids on the roof, I throw my spear at one.

GM: OK, so Kruncor is throwing his spear. Tom, make a Dex check to see if Kruncor reacts fast enough before the figures disappear. Jessica, to answer your questions; the body is a man, in wealthy merchant robes of red silk. Definitely dead. . You notice he's missing three fingers on his left hand.

Mia: I crouch next to the body and search it. Anything good?

Jessica: Hey I was about to do that - we split whatever she finds!

Tom: OK I made my Dex check with a 12, so I react quick enough. I throw my spear, yelling out "What the hell, berk!" ... let's see ... I hit AC 18, and damage is 8, assuming that's a hit?

GM: Yep you easily hit, even with cover . Your spear strikes one of the figures, who yells out in pain... .., and he topples off the roof, hitting the ground with a horrible splat!

Tom: LOL! Classic Kruncor!

Jessica: Yeah that's the Kruncor we all know and love. Right, I loot the new dead guy!

GM: OK then; Mia - you don't find anything of much value on the dead merchant. Interestingly his money pouch has been cut from his belt. Jessica - the latest dead body is a man wearing street rags, there's a bloody knife, 3 gp in loose coins and a money pouch with another 82 gp.

Jessica: Haha oh yeah!

Mia: We're splitting that!

GM: Tom - what does Kruncor do while Damasus and Tylithius are looting?

Tom: Can I climb up the side of the inn?

GM: Of course you can. If you want to do it in a hurry though you'll need to make either a Strength or Dex check, your choice. The athletics skill applies if you have it.

Tom: Great, I'll go Strength . Ah damn it. But I've got the athletics skill, so I can use a reroll - let's see, it's a 5, phew.

GM: Sweet! <the GM knows a roll of 5 means a great success, as it is less than half Kruncor's strength score of 16). Kruncor scales the side of the inn like a monkey, leaping from one windowsill to another then hauling himself up onto the tiled roof. You see a one eyed female in street rags, menacing you with an iron baton. She hisses at you in common: "New to these parts, is ya? I'm with the ..."

Tom: I grab her and throw her off the roof.

GM: What?

Tom: I grab her as she's talking, and fling her off the roof down to where Damasus and Tylithius are waiting.

Mia: Yep, Damasus stands up and draws her shortwords, ready for trouble. She knows what Kruncor's like.

GM: OK. Everyone roll initiative, we're about to start combat.

Game Dice¶

LFG uses several kinds of dice, identified by how many sides they have. For example, a single six sided die is referred to as "1d6", while 4d6 means roll four six sided dice and total the result. The four sided die is "1d4", eight sided die is "1d8", ten-sided die is "1d10", twelve sided die is "1d12", and the twenty sided die is "1d20".

If you need to roll "1d100", roll 1d10 twice using the first throw as the tens and the second throw as the ones (eg if you rolled 3 and 9, the result would be a 39). 1d66 is similar but uses 1d6s instead. For 1d2 roll 1d4 and divide by two (round up), for 1d3 roll 1d6 and divide by two (round up), and finally for 1d5 roll 1d10, divide by two, and round up.

Round Down¶

If a rule instructs you to divide an amount, round down unless indicated otherwise.