Help me /tg/. What system would you pick to run a gritty medieval

Palladium 1st edition.
Has a great flavor for the source of arcane power (in the second book). A dedicated system to magical runes and circles and an alphabet/vocabulary/set of symbols you can use to make your own.

>>49081839
Aquelarre, of course, but it is in spanish. Barring that, there was a free title some years ago with the same premise. Danse macabre, I think.

>>49081892
Looked into it a bit and seems interesting, I might give it a try. Is the book all I need or is there other reading I should do before diving in to the first session?

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>>49081839
The game I am developing. But since publication is still a few months away: Harnmaster.

GURPS w/any combination of Horror, Thaumatology, Martial Arts, and Low-Tech.

>>49082414
1st book is all you need, second book has more information on the source of magic, maps, and info about the great old ones (lovecraftian stuff)

>>49082473
Seconding gurps
You literally just described my current game. So I can assure it's playtested

>>49081839
Pendragon

Warhammer Fantasy rpg 2nd edition, Lamentations of The Flame Princess and DCC all have high fatality gritty fantasy and demonic magic that comes at a cost.

DCC is 3pf/osr mashup with its own dice. Lots of tables and gonzo fantasy level 0 play. LotFP is a more traditional b/x osr game with an intuitive encumbrance system and a weird horror 30 years war setting. WHFRPG is its own thing, career based advancement, winds of magic, old games workshop style.

>>49082473
>>49082506
Any specific bits from those books that you'd recommend? There's a lot of stuff in there to sort through.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2e fits your description perfectly.

Stormbringer does,or did, gritty and demonic, with a whiff of the gonzo.

>>49085116
Horror: Just read through the relevant chapters; it's 60% tone advice, 20% examples of horror stuff using existing mechanics, and 20% new mechanics (altered fear tables, stress/derangement, and corruption spring to mind), and the tone advice is the most helpful part (though a game about demon magics just begs for corruption mechanics).

Thaumatology: This is Alternate Magic Systems: The Book. Glance through it to see if something fits what you're looking for and ignore what doesn't. I'd say that the rules for Assisting Spirits, Threshold Magic, the Black Magic Critical Fumbles table, and maybe something like the Syntactic magic system (if you dislike the default magic system's laundry list of discrete spells and want something more open-ended) are the most likely candidates. Note that if you use Assisting Spirits, you may not need Horror's corruption system.

Martial Arts: If this is your first game in GURPS, ignore this for the most part. It adds in extra detail that can be a huge help when going for gritty deadly tone, but you should be 100% comfortable with the basic set before you start adding in more things. GURPS combat is "heroic realism" by default, which is already *way* more lethal than most fantasy RPGs.

Low-Tech: This is just an equipment guide, use what you will. Armor pricing is the most complex part, and if it turns into a hassle just have your players stick to the armor from Characters instead. Just because the book lists flintlock firearms doesn't mean you have to let your players buy them.

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>>49081839

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>>49081839
Why gritty, my man?

>>49081839
I'm making a Shin Megami Tensei fan homebrew, where the main mechanic is attempting to contract demons into your service in the middle of them killing you and then using them as your minions in combat.

>>49081839
Shadow of the Demon Lord is also spot on with the setting. Mechanics are rather rules light but the feel of the world fits.