I'm looking for game system suggestions and/or ways to run specific game systems to meet the following criteria: 1. medieval fantasy setting - castles, dragons, kings, etc 2. strong emphasis on atmosphere and scene creation to better immerse characters like a horror or investigation systems tend to do 3. Gritty/low fantasy - a weighty close to realistic system and game mechanics that make player choices very important to their overall survival and growth. survival horror games tend to have this. 4. fighting ability - the game needs fighting mechanics and the characters need the chance to fight their way out of some situations. I do not want a game where the characters are doomed from the start and running or going crazy are their only options. 5. fast combat - fights should not take an hour to resolve a minute long scuffle. they should be dangerous and quick so players are more likely to weigh avoiding the fight entirely vs going in with a solid plan. 6. flexible character creation system that allows the players to grow the skills and knowledge they wish over time. If they want to be a swordsman scholar, an acrobatic poet, or a great axe weilding seductress, those options and several more should be possible with the system. Many systems i see generally slot a character into a class and limit their ability in other areas or stunt their growth into those areas. I'm hoping for a more open system than that where their character concept/backgrounds dictate the skills they can use if not allowing them to freely pick the skills without limit. 7. The system should support open world navigation, exploration, sandbox so the players have a world they can run around in and explore even if they don't feel like immediately pursuing the quest at hand. 8. the system should give weight to moral choices and support character to npc/faction relationships. I've seen some systems that actually note the on a scale how good or bad specific actions a character takes are and how that affects the character. something like that and a way to track how a character is percieved by a town, npc, or faction would be good to further support #3 in giving player choice weight 9. many systems do this, but I will specify that the system should start characters at human levels of ability and allow for growth over time. No powerful characters at the start or even renowned characters that have done enough to earn significance in their home town (unless concept permits). point is no mechanical system advantage over a regular human until character starts advancing. 10. For the sake of immersion, the power of the players should never stray far from human ability. Magic may be possible and they may become very skilled fighters, but they should never be able to simply stand while several lower level creatures stab them and just brush it off. An emphasis on teamwork for survival should never be replaced with the single swordsman that can single handedly decimate armies and dragons even at late levels. Any help/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
