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Key Notes

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METAL IS RARE

Weapons & Armor grade metal has limited availability due to rareness and / or specialized knowledge to effectively work metals. Metal armor is very rare and expensive in the Realm and most metal armor is bronze or iron (in short supply and at least double base cost) rather than steel. Steel is very highly valued for both armor and weapons (rare, at least triple base cost), and the knowledge to forge it is rare and very protected; a fine steel sword would be something that many would literally kill for. Non-metal armors such as leather, hide, lamellar, and even bone is the typical fare and several cultures still use primitive stone based weapons.

BULGING HEWS AND THIGHS CAN RUIN THE GAME

As a side effect of the focus of the paradigm, high strength characters will tend to be extremely prevalent. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but it can have some unintentional side effects that can do anything from destabilize the game to outright ruin the GM's intended tone and feel.

Aside from the boring sameness of many meat puppet warrior types, one of the main issues is that high strength allows characters to effectively ignore Encumbrance, which allows them to strut around in full plate as if it were flannel. Most Sword & Sorcery campaigns are slanted at more of a bare-chested barbarian feel, and characters strolling around with an ironmongery on their back is obviously counter to that intention.

The rarity of metal in the Realm of Barbarica addresses this by making high-grade armor relatively unavailable.

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MAGIC ITEMS ARE RARE

Magic Items of real power tend to be very rare, and are frequently relics of a bygone (and more powerful) Age. More prevalent Magic Items tend to be lower powered and/or expendable. If a character acquires an actual Permanent Magic Item (as opposed to an Ephemeral Magic Item with limited uses) with a useful ability they should consider themselves lucky but will also likely need to defend it from the avaricious. Often a character with some pluck that is fortunate enough to acquire a useful Magic Item will go on to make a name for themselves, and many such items have well known histories surrounding them stemming from a string of notable owners.

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WEAPON CONSTRUCTION IS SIGNIFICANT

Due in part to being a warrior dominated paradigm, and lacking quantities of magical and high quality weapons, subtle differences in the construction of mundane weapons is often an important subject in Sword & Sorcery campaigns. A GM should consider giving some weight to the materials used to construct weapons and a few minor pros and cons for good or shoddy craftsmanship.

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SKILL TRUMPS TRICKS

The order of Sword & Sorcery should be taken literally. Magic is present but takes a back seat to muscle and skill; in a direct confrontation, a swordsman will usually defeat a Spellcaster. Magic is often insidious and capable of noteworthy effects, but powerful effects are rarely fast, or combat practical, or reliable. On the plus side however few people have any defense against Magic, or Magic Items of their own, so Magic Users have an effective near-monopoly on Magic.