Dark Silver

[Steerpike]

On the topic of system, just looking at your sources of inspiration, I wonder if Lamentations of the Flame Princess might work pretty well?

[Kindling]

I would still love to run a one-shot! I've even made a couple of attempts at prepping an adventure for it, but stupid real life hasn't really left me with enough head-space to get very far with it unfortunately. Maybe in January I'll be able to sort something out.

LotFP is actually the system I thought I'd be most likely to use - it's available free, D&D-based, not too rules-heavy, and actually fits the tone of the setting very nicely once you dial the assumed tech-level back a few centuries.

The only thing that stops me being as big a fan of the LotFP rules as I am the LotFP adventures is the relative redundancy of the basic ability scores. I've yet to run any LotFP so maybe I'm missing something that would make more sense in actual play, but from my reading of the rules it looks like your STR/DEX/CON/INT/WIS/CHA have very little impact on gameplay - beyond a few bonuses or penalties here and there - compared to things like saving throws and the x-in-6 skill system.

There's nothing wrong with the focus being more on saves and so on of course, it just makes me wonder why the ability scores have such a central place in character generation if they're not going to be equally central during play. Other aspects of the system appeal to me a lot though (for example the Fighter being the only class with a to-hit progression) so it's still the most likely choice for when/if I do run this Dark Silver game.