Now this isn't specifically about the game Low Fantasy. I haven't read much of it. There are TONS of games that want to do sword & sorcery or low fantasy or gritty fantasy, etc. They all seem to uniformly suck in one singular way. The most important way.
Don't have a fucking magic user class if your game isn't intended to be high fantasy. Hell reading the webpage for buying Low Fantasy says "has 9 classes, only two involve magic". That's 22% of the options, asshole. For a game that's not supposed to be about spellcasting. Cut those fucking classes. Magic isn't dangerous if your character can put it on their fucking LinkedIn profile.
"But whatever will we do if we want rare magic but cut all the magic classes?" You'll then have RARE magic.
The real problem is the same as 5E: a complete inability to tell players NO. Here's an interaction that could and should happen exactly as I am saying it:
Players: Hey you have to GM for us.
GM: Ok, but I want to play a Sword & Sorcery game, meaning magic is rare and dangerous.
Player 1: Ok, I want to play a Sorcerer.
GM: No. Magic is rare and dangerous. Go fuck yourself, then pick something else as a character.
Player 2, after spending an hour making a Wizard or Bard or some shit after clearly hearing magic is going to be rare and dangerous: I made a Warlock. His name's Grimlock, and...
GM: Ah thanks I figured your dumb ass would ignore me, let me just have that. Looks like your first villain you're coming across used to be named Grimlock the Wise, but he had a terrible turn and now he's known as Lord Maggotface the Cruel.
Player 2: does that mean I have to make another character?
GM: Yes and keep in mind restrictions unless you want Lord Maggotface to have an underling/disciple.
The only people who will know how to do magic in S&S are either insane or undead or both, and let players be able to cast spells regardless of class but it's got a good chance of turning you insane, undead, or both. Also put up a language barrier for learning spells. Also put up consequences for each cast that are fucking Permanent with a capital GO FUCK YOURSELF. Require specific locations, times, costly material components, caster's blood, caster's soul, etc. Basically put up every goddamn paywall you can think of around magic that just screams "go away". At that point, you've made a fucking Sword & Sorcery game. Of course these don't effect NPCs because why would you do that? Well they do affect NPCs, the baddies, because that's who's Magic-Users in S&S settings. Good guys doing it 1) are fucking with shit they shouldn't be and 2) will be consequenced straight up their asshole because of it, and sometimes have to do it anyway to stop the villain.
Crypts & Things similarly is a shit product that fails at inception with 1 core class and 2 non-core classes of it's 9 classes being magic-using, or 1/3, which is barely better than B/X which is fucking high fantasy D&D.
Drop those fucking classes, then we'll talk.
I walk to my shelf and pick up Fantastic Heroes & Witchery to compare. 25 non-spell classes, 17 classes with spells. Showing again that it's better than everyone else's fucking OSR game and criminally underrated. If I add appendix 3 of Dark Albion it adds 5 more non-spell classes and 3 more classes with spells, that's 40% spellcasters (in either case) in a game that's gonzo kitchen sink science fantasy with 666 spells in the corebook. Even if half of the martial classes are impossibly fantasy or science-fiction specific, that still leaves 12-13 viable non-spellcaster classes. Versus the bullshit coming from those other games. It's pathetic how bad they are in comparison. Let me half-ass a Sword & Sorcery game by only allowing some FH&W classes that have nothing to do with miracles or magic or non-humans:
Fighter
Berserker
Knight
Ranger
Mystic
Templar
Thief
Acrobat
Assassin
Bard
Wild Brute
Witch-Hunter
Crusader
Preacher
Scary Monk
Sea Dog
Thick Brute
17 classes, better options than both of the above games for non-magic characterization without bothering to have any bullshit magic classes. FH&W still wins.
If you have to have spellcasters, Nightmares Underneath actually has the balls (given the magic supplement) to Permanently fuck up your magic user with miscasts, which is a step closer than I see most "Sword & Sorcery" games going. Even with several magic using classes, you can try to cast a spell and have one of your fucking hands fall off. Don't like it? Don't be a spellcaster, stupid.
