u/Himynameispill

I'm currently reading up on the Baltic Crusades and the Teutonic Knights and it just screams TTRPG campaign. More specifically, I want to do a story about the PC's on a mission to apprehend a crusader who went rogue deep in enemy territory. The further they travel, the more violent and bizarre it gets, the more their faith and values are tested. Basically Apocalypse Now but set in a snowy medieval forest

I'm hitting in a wall in finding a system that fits with this idea though. The players will constantly be fighting, so the combat systems need to be really interesting. But most TTRPG's I know with deep combat systems assume a high fantasy setting and there weren't a lot of warlock halflings casting cantrips and drinking healing potions in 13th century Lithuania.

I know lots of good low magic systems, but they also tend to be rules light and high lethality. So players just end up saying "okay, I attack" and we roll dice until one side is dead. If a PC dies, you replace them. Simple but lethal combat is no problem whatsoever if your PC's are merchants peddling goods along trade routes and rarely ever fight anyway. But it's a big problem if they're elite warriors in the middle of a warzone, far from friendly bored adventures looking to replace dead party members.

Tl;dr: help me find a system for Kingdom of Heaven meets Apocalypse Now meets Name of the Rose meets icy winter forest