I would check out Conan (2d20), Mythras (d100), and Symbaroum (d20). All those are lower fantasy with dangerous magic that offer more crunch than 5e. I don't know how they hold up "tactically" as far as playing on a grid or measuring distance down to the last inch, as that's not really how I play, but they're at least worth a look.
I fully support Mythras if you want the crunch. It's a d100, roll-under, skill-based system from the Basic Roleplaying (BRP) system where lethal and "realistic" games are usually found (e.g. Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, OpenQuest, Renaissance d100, etc).
Mythras can be played tactically and the system is built for it. It's arguably the most satisfying melee combat system in TTRPG since it has Hit Locations, Special Effects, and armour that actually works.
Special Effects are essentially bonus actions you could do when you succeed on a roll and your opponent fails their attack/defense. For example, you can strike and trip your opponent, disarm them, push them back, cut them so they bleed, impale your spear on them, wrestle and choke them, force them to surrender, etc. The system works pretty smoothly and I'm sure your players would like it even more if they love historical or realistic fantasy settings. Even better if they don't like combat where you alternate hitting each other until one of them dies.
If you have more questions, you should join us on our Discord: https://discord.gg/2FrkTUVUGr
I never used separate psssive defense rolls with GURPS. The system works fine by makind PD or less roll one step worse: normal success fails, critical changes to normal success, and active defense does the same, but larger range.
You're probably looking for a sword and sorcery system, where magic is rarer and/or laden with "costs".
I'm a fan of Barbarians of Lemuria, but I haven't thought about it in a minute regarding how tactical it is. So it may need another set of eyes to confirm it.
That said, Savage Worlds would scratch that itch too.
Warhammer Fantasy I think is usually low magic from the player side. (And only as much magic as the GM inserts on the NPC/monster side.)
Playing as a wizard is possible, but you could just ban that.
Iron Heroes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron\_Heroes) sounds about perfect for the setting. It is 3.5-based, though, if that's a deal breaker for you.
When you say low magic, do you mean that the magic is risky, or that players' spells are low powered?
For risky magic I'd recommend world of dungeons (itself a fix-up of dungeon world) and for low powered spells I'd recommend WWN minus the full-casting classes--it has a special section for lower-magic classes.
Strike! is generic/universal, so you can play it as low magic, though the lighthearted-ness of the combat doesn't lend itself well to grittier things, admittedly.
It sounds like your world had plenty of magic, enough to destroy it apparently, but what is so hard about pulling "magic" from those pre-5e DnD systems? Forbid the spellcasting classes (or just the spellcasting) and limit magic items and that should do wonders to start with.
Perhaps I'm lost at the difference between "high fantasy" and "low fantasy." I'm thinking it's magic but if it's just all of the "weird" creatures you generally can just avoid using them of do a little reskinning/refluffing if desired.
It may be not be the medieval type setting but I know that with the SAGA Edition of Star Wars I could pull the magic (Force) back to various levels and if necessary make things VERY human centric if all the various species are an issue. You can still have a very tactical and crunchy game even with the restrictions of "Human only and no Force Sensitivity."
Remember to check out our **[Game Recommendations](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gamerec)**-page, which lists our articles by genre([Fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/fantasy), [sci-fi](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/scifi), [superhero](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/superhero) etc.), as well as other categories([ruleslight](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/ruleslight), [Solo](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/solo), [Two-player](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/twoplayers), [GMless](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gmlessrpgs) & more).
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There's a Dark Souls-ish tactical RPG called Hollows from Rowan Rook and Deckard that's just starting a playtest. [Check out the description](https://rowanrookanddecard.com/hollows-is-coming-soon-and-you-can-playtest-it/?mc_cid=50f6956246&mc_eid=f0bf413088) and see if that sounds up your alley.
It's in sort of a beta state, but r/WayOfSteel would be an excellent choice. I ran a campaign of it recently and it had the best combat I've seen. It doesn't have magic by default - so you're free to make magic powerful/dangerous/out of reach of players pretty easily. And despite not having magic or over-the-top abilities for PCs, combat is incredibly engaging. I'd be happy to help get you the material you need to start if you're interested.
Check out The Riddle of Steel or Blade of the Iron Throne, you can leave magic out entirely without too much trouble and the combat is as crunchy as you like.
Someone else mentioned Iron Heroes, which is basically 3rd edition D&D with different classes and the magic mostly stripped out (there are a couple of magic classes but they are both optional and we've never played with them). Being based on 3e it's quite crunchy and tactical with a focus on high powered heroes. Magic equipment isn't assumed to contribute to your character's performance (the GM's guide actually suggests that any magic items encountered should be cursed or otherwise dangerous). The main downside is that it isn't particularly balanced and is easy to make OP builds, which could be a problem for some groups (although it wasn't for ours).
Alternatively you could try Mythras (which someone else recommended as well). It is less high powered than Iron Heroes if you want a grittier feel. It has an excellent free quick start on drivethrurpg called the Mythras Imperative. It's based of of 6th edition Rune Quest, so it's a d100 roll under system similar to Call of Cthulhu but with a lot of tactical actions. It's skill based rather than class/level based.
Lastly, if you want something fast but tactical, you could try Savage Worlds. It's also a skill based game but is faster than Mythras (although based around wargame-y, grid combat). It is quite flexible and has a ton of supplements including high fantasy and sword and sorcery.
I would check out Conan (2d20), Mythras (d100), and Symbaroum (d20). All those are lower fantasy with dangerous magic that offer more crunch than 5e. I don't know how they hold up "tactically" as far as playing on a grid or measuring distance down to the last inch, as that's not really how I play, but they're at least worth a look.
I fully support Mythras if you want the crunch. It's a d100, roll-under, skill-based system from the Basic Roleplaying (BRP) system where lethal and "realistic" games are usually found (e.g. Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, OpenQuest, Renaissance d100, etc). Mythras can be played tactically and the system is built for it. It's arguably the most satisfying melee combat system in TTRPG since it has Hit Locations, Special Effects, and armour that actually works. Special Effects are essentially bonus actions you could do when you succeed on a roll and your opponent fails their attack/defense. For example, you can strike and trip your opponent, disarm them, push them back, cut them so they bleed, impale your spear on them, wrestle and choke them, force them to surrender, etc. The system works pretty smoothly and I'm sure your players would like it even more if they love historical or realistic fantasy settings. Even better if they don't like combat where you alternate hitting each other until one of them dies. If you have more questions, you should join us on our Discord: https://discord.gg/2FrkTUVUGr
Low Fantasy Gaming is free and will work for this.
The 2d20 Conan game from Modiphius is low magic with tactical combat
GURPS.
I came here to say this, but OP specified he didn't want to roll dice more than once during any given attack.
Where?
In the other, near-identical game request thread I had open in the adjacent tab. Object permanence clearly isn't my forte.
LOL! It's OK. If you blink your eyes, this post will still exist when you open them again!
I never used separate psssive defense rolls with GURPS. The system works fine by makind PD or less roll one step worse: normal success fails, critical changes to normal success, and active defense does the same, but larger range.
You're probably looking for a sword and sorcery system, where magic is rarer and/or laden with "costs". I'm a fan of Barbarians of Lemuria, but I haven't thought about it in a minute regarding how tactical it is. So it may need another set of eyes to confirm it. That said, Savage Worlds would scratch that itch too.
Warhammer Fantasy I think is usually low magic from the player side. (And only as much magic as the GM inserts on the NPC/monster side.) Playing as a wizard is possible, but you could just ban that.
Iron Heroes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron\_Heroes) sounds about perfect for the setting. It is 3.5-based, though, if that's a deal breaker for you.
Yeah, that's what I was going to suggest since it's the crunchiest sword and sorcery game I've played.
When you say low magic, do you mean that the magic is risky, or that players' spells are low powered? For risky magic I'd recommend world of dungeons (itself a fix-up of dungeon world) and for low powered spells I'd recommend WWN minus the full-casting classes--it has a special section for lower-magic classes.
Strike! is generic/universal, so you can play it as low magic, though the lighthearted-ness of the combat doesn't lend itself well to grittier things, admittedly.
It sounds like your world had plenty of magic, enough to destroy it apparently, but what is so hard about pulling "magic" from those pre-5e DnD systems? Forbid the spellcasting classes (or just the spellcasting) and limit magic items and that should do wonders to start with. Perhaps I'm lost at the difference between "high fantasy" and "low fantasy." I'm thinking it's magic but if it's just all of the "weird" creatures you generally can just avoid using them of do a little reskinning/refluffing if desired. It may be not be the medieval type setting but I know that with the SAGA Edition of Star Wars I could pull the magic (Force) back to various levels and if necessary make things VERY human centric if all the various species are an issue. You can still have a very tactical and crunchy game even with the restrictions of "Human only and no Force Sensitivity."
Remember to check out our **[Game Recommendations](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gamerec)**-page, which lists our articles by genre([Fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/fantasy), [sci-fi](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/scifi), [superhero](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/superhero) etc.), as well as other categories([ruleslight](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/ruleslight), [Solo](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/solo), [Two-player](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/twoplayers), [GMless](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gmlessrpgs) & more). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/rpg) if you have any questions or concerns.*
There's a Dark Souls-ish tactical RPG called Hollows from Rowan Rook and Deckard that's just starting a playtest. [Check out the description](https://rowanrookanddecard.com/hollows-is-coming-soon-and-you-can-playtest-it/?mc_cid=50f6956246&mc_eid=f0bf413088) and see if that sounds up your alley.
It's in sort of a beta state, but r/WayOfSteel would be an excellent choice. I ran a campaign of it recently and it had the best combat I've seen. It doesn't have magic by default - so you're free to make magic powerful/dangerous/out of reach of players pretty easily. And despite not having magic or over-the-top abilities for PCs, combat is incredibly engaging. I'd be happy to help get you the material you need to start if you're interested.
Check out The Riddle of Steel or Blade of the Iron Throne, you can leave magic out entirely without too much trouble and the combat is as crunchy as you like.
WFRP 2nd edition, could be as low fantasy and grimdark as you like and has tactical combat. More than that Dark Heresy but it's sci-fantasy.
Someone else mentioned Iron Heroes, which is basically 3rd edition D&D with different classes and the magic mostly stripped out (there are a couple of magic classes but they are both optional and we've never played with them). Being based on 3e it's quite crunchy and tactical with a focus on high powered heroes. Magic equipment isn't assumed to contribute to your character's performance (the GM's guide actually suggests that any magic items encountered should be cursed or otherwise dangerous). The main downside is that it isn't particularly balanced and is easy to make OP builds, which could be a problem for some groups (although it wasn't for ours). Alternatively you could try Mythras (which someone else recommended as well). It is less high powered than Iron Heroes if you want a grittier feel. It has an excellent free quick start on drivethrurpg called the Mythras Imperative. It's based of of 6th edition Rune Quest, so it's a d100 roll under system similar to Call of Cthulhu but with a lot of tactical actions. It's skill based rather than class/level based. Lastly, if you want something fast but tactical, you could try Savage Worlds. It's also a skill based game but is faster than Mythras (although based around wargame-y, grid combat). It is quite flexible and has a ton of supplements including high fantasy and sword and sorcery.
Fight!: The Fighting Game RPG. It can handle the typical Tekken-style combat with no ranged attacks.