Low magic

Someone on the OSR reddit asked a few questions that I thought would be interesting to answer. And since my blog is at least a little bit less ephemeral than reddit, I thought I'd cross-post it here.

What is the general magic level of your setting? My magic is more Lovecraftian rather than Vancian. There's no class associated with magic. In theory anyone can learn to cast spells. If they're willing to pay the cost and doom themselves, most likely unless they are extremely stingy with using their magic, to going insane or dying in the blaze of a failed or botched spell. Needless to say, my magic level is accordingly rather lower than D&D overall. Also; if you publicly flaunt your magic, most likely you'll be lynched or burned at the stake. The ability to bypass the cost is more limited to undead and other monsters, not PCs. Also, monsters/NPCs are less bothered by being insane of course, which is an unplayable position for a PC.

What magic are commoners exposed to? Almost none, as a rule.

How is magic managed (a guild, a conglomerate of arch-mages, are all mages self-taught hedge-witches who pass their knowledge to an apprentice)? Lost artifacts and spellbooks like The Necronomicon. A handful of discrete folks, but in almost all cases these are the villains, not friendly or helpful NPCs. I also look to Glen Cook's The Black Company series as a major inspiration for magic and how it works in my world.

Are magic creatures common? Not exactly, but as in The X-Files or Supernatural, the PCs will tend to seek them out and associate with them in one form or another much more frequently than anyone else in the setting.

How common are dungeons, actually? Non-existent. I've never had any interest in dungeons, except as a few rooms below a castle where the lord keeps his prisoners.

Do sightings of mythical creatures happen often? No. And if it does, it's often not credible. That said; they do exist...

Is believing in magic a childish tendency? No. But some people don't believe in monsters or magic as a real thing, and that's possible in my world. Not PCs, mind you. Nobody's as stubborn as Scully in the face of the evidence that PCs stumble across all the time. But for normal people, most are superstitious, but what exactly they believe will vary wildly.

How hard would it be for a reasonably smart person with a bit of cash and time on their hands to become a mage? The safer way to practice magic would be to find rechargeable magical items. Which are still rare and prohibitively expensive, but these kind of pseudomages, or "mechanics" as Robert Asprin called them (Massha), certainly are safer because they won't have the risk of botched spells or insanity lurking around the corner. They probably have the risk of loan sharks and shady black market dealers to keep off their backs, on the other hand...

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Anyway, yeah... my setting is much more dark and ghost story and fantasy The Godfather feeling than D&D. Even the Dresden Files would be too magical a comparison for my setting. The TV shows Supernatural or The X-Files in a fantasy setting is more what I'm going for.

Typical dude in my setting meeting a typical wizard