[Kromm]

"Know your players" is, as always, crucial. A well-known GURPS author and I recently discussed the matter of non-hack 'n' slash fantasy worlds. A subject that came up was that there's a risk that if magic exists and the heroes can use it, certain players will do their best to turn secret magic or subtle magic into hack 'n' slash. If magic is present but the heroes can't use it, as in traditional sword-and-sorcery stories, certain players will get miffed at what they see as GM heavy-handedness – especially if NPC villains get to use magic. Fundamentally, if the players expect a hack 'n' slash experience, they'll attempt to engineer one and grow unhappy if they cannot.

So . . . If the players actually like magical worlds where all the magic is subtle and almost entirely in the hands of NPCs – or are willing to try that as a new experience – great! If they were raised on D&D-like games and expect hack 'n' slash, it's usually easier on everybody to run dungeon crawls with magical pew-pew. And if the players equate fantasy with magic to hack 'n' slash but are comfortable with fantasy completely without magic – say, a cinematic historical or quasi-historical setting where there's lots of non-magical hacking and slashing – that might be a good compromise.