[Silander]

So has any one attempted to run or write an RPg game (paper and pencil or larp even) in this world?
Give me a shout if you have. I've written one for our local con (in Galway). It went well. I set in the original siege of Y'ghathan. I've got tonnes of ideas and indeed opinions on systems and styles and so on.

[Valgard]

If you look back there was a large effort for this a couple of years ago that stalled but there was a lot of work done on it at the time I recall. I have tried using a slightly changed version of the silcore systyem but found it to hard to scale up to the levels of ascendents etc. as the system starts to bog down then. Tried again with a kind of home brew system but in the end not enough is really fully described to work out how to do it properly.

Would eb interested to here what you used to create it and run it as would love to have a malazan rpg system.

[caladanbrood]

We had a number of RPGs here on the forum, but they always seemed to fade out a bit quickly:(

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

It seems like if you really wanted a malzan rpg, the easiest way would be to just adapt D&D. It wouldn't be too hard. The magic system would be tricky. If you had a competant DM who was familiar with the books, i should work fine. Of course, one problem you would run into would be players complaining about inconsistencies between the game and the books, but oh well.

[Obdigore]

Raymond Luxury Yacht;180865 said:

It seems like if you really wanted a malzan rpg, the easiest way would be to just adapt D&D. It wouldn't be too hard. The magic system would be tricky. If you had a competant DM who was familiar with the books, i should work fine. Of course, one problem you would run into would be players complaining about inconsistencies between the game and the books, but oh well.

No, the problem is the players thinking that they are either too powerfull or too weak, especially if one refuses to read the books...

I myself went ahead and set it 200 years in the past from the 'current day' part of the books. So, before the malazan empire was founded, lots of tribes and city-states, and still have moon's spawn and other random things running around.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Obdigore;181520 said:

No, the problem is the players thinking that they are either too powerfull or too weak, especially if one refuses to read the books...

I myself went ahead and set it 200 years in the past from the 'current day' part of the books. So, before the malazan empire was founded, lots of tribes and city-states, and still have moon's spawn and other random things running around.

Sounds fun. have all of the players read the books?

[Morgoth]

I spose the best would be to use GURPS as that is the system the story was originaly developed from

[Fiddler]

I use D&D 3.5 to run malazan adventures, the players have read the books but are having fun nonetheless. I use the D&D deities and demigods system to run the ascendants and gods and it works rather well. The system of specialist mages works awfully well for the warrens and characterizing the warren travel as the teleport spells(available at higher levels) has worked out rather well. For example, we have a diviner specialist mage, which after some thought that translated to the warren of Serc, then instead of calling it 'magic missile' it was hailstones launched out of the warren. Sorcerers as hedge wizards, higher level druids as soletaken (that one kinda makes sense actually), fighters, barbarians, clerics as priests with access to high denul, and low denul is a cleric as well but without the healing domain, rogues (duh), rangers, anyways you get the point, the system isn't nearly as important as the setting, which with erikson is layered and i've found really helps verisimilitude. Anyways my group is really having fun with it at the moment, hope yours does.

[blewin]

as the books are so complex, it'd be very difficult to play the rpg without having read the books...

I think I might be going a bit off-track here. You guys aren't talking about a play-by-post rpg, right? that's the first thing that leaped to my mind since I'm more familiar with that type of rpg and only have the faintest idea on what pen and pencil is about. uh, are they similar?

play-by-post would be fun too...

[Tsundoku]

If you check the threads in this forum from 'beginning' you'll find HEAPS of discussion on this very same subject.

My own preference is for something that was mechanics-low and RP-high that was splat-less or splat-minimal (like Shadowrun chargen) with a White Wolf Mage:The Ascension-style magic system for flexibility, rather than having a bazillion spells.

Cheers,

La Sombra, 15th Level Forum Snark

[Silander]

Cool, i didn't realise that there had been previous discussion about it (being new to the Forums and all) but most of what ye are saying makes sense.
There is of course a Black company game in d20 system (the books heavily influenced the Erikson esp. the bridgeburners).
My problem with d20 is that...well first I don't really like the system that much its too rules heavy and about a million books are needed to run it. Its said however that Erikson ran his Malazan world in a HEAVILY modified version of AD&D then in gurps when it came out.
i don't like the way hit points scale up in D&D, even extremely injured fighters just keep going like nothing was wrong and the system seems to rely on 'generic' damage. No one ever loses a limb. We are supposed to believe that damage manisfests as some kinda rash!! Whereas we all know how brutal combat is in the malazan world. There is a Game of thrones d20 game which I have been using for a d20 game which has a 'shock value' and rules for hacking arms off etc. (its based on the Tri-stat system). Its not bad.
My other problem with hit points is that it becomes near impossible for some one to die from a cross bow quarrel or single attack. As happens often in the malazan books.
Now as for magic, erikson seems to have several kinds in mind. Bottle displays several kinds,: warrens, older witchcraft and various other types (I guess n D&D he wud be multiclassed).
The game I ran was in white-wolf storyteller. It works well if the players are all the same race so the scale is right plus they have enough games out on supernatural types to give lots of inspiration. The dynamic magic style of the mage system as pointed out by Sombra works really well but relies heavily on good narration from the DM.
For ascendant types I'd reccomend Nobilis.
GURPS is tough to scale up right once you get past 700pts but still pretty good if ya can keep track of everything neatly.
I think I'm gonna try TRI-Stat next, its GURPS younger, faster even more compact little brother and as far as I can tell scales up pretty well.
If any one would like to swap game plots or systems let me know. Is there a way to swap contact details without displayin them to all-and -sundry?
Oh ya, Paper and pencil is just sitting around a table with a concept for a character and guding him/her thru the nefarious plotting of the storyteller. I've ran play by post. I think it works great for a small group of people.

[Fiddler]

I would like to point out that D&D really only needs the player's handbook and dungeon master's guide to play, and you really don't need the dungeon master's guide all that much. No one loses a limb in D&D? heh you've never played in one of my games, lots of people die from single crossbow quarrels and such, it's just not usually the player characters. Also, think on this, let's say you whack off the arm of a player character due to a bad roll of the dice, the player then freaks out cause he's spent god knows how many hours playing this character and now sees him as unplayable. Don't rely purely on a system of rules to populate the combat and action. As DM I like to kind of characterize the combat by providing the details of what happens when the players tangle with something. For Example said guy attacks, rolls a natural 20 and obliterates his foe, instead of saying, 'ok after that damage it's dead' I say something along the lines of 'You fient low with your blade appearing unused to it's weight, your opponent smirks to himself as he takes the opening you provided, then your main gauche rips him from groin to gut. As the last light of life leaves his eyes he realizes his mistake' a bit wordy perhaps, but much better than simply quoting damage tables about where the dead orc falls. But anyhoo, find a game system that you can keep a good quick pace at and go with what works for you.

[Silander]

Any one I've run a D&D game for has insisted on at least 4-6 books taking feats from this one and that one. Now obviously the Dm cud just ban that but if you were running a malazan game in it, then its not official Dnd then people begin to winge that they should be allowed do this and that and then come the arguments and of course (and not to be to general or even offensive here) the type that own every book ever love to argue..endlessly.
My real problem anyways with the combat is that it is way to mechanical 'I take a 5' step and power attack for 7 (half a dozen minor calculations) then I attack twice, of course I have 4 levels of ranger so I attack twice at my full attack bonus, then I cleave and take another .....blah blah". Crossbows killing some one with one shot? I'd say it unusual seeing as the quarrel only does 1d6 (for a light one). Unless it was a peasant (or a pheasant) then it doesn't do much. Then there is the fact that shields don't do anything. They just sit there and enchantments are just draped on them. having said that the d20 game of thrones system is the closest i've seen to what i consider ideal, it's fast, character driven, combat is extremely lethal and everything is proportional, the only thing is its hard to integrate the Sorcery. I've found that a decent wizard will just mop the floor till its all nice and shiny with everyone else.
I have to say I like TRI-stat, mechanic light and very versatile. A friend is running a game called Wild talents, a sequel to Godlike. That system might have some promise as well, its a novel system, if ya get a chance check it out.

[Fiddler]

Thanks I will definitely check it out. Sounds like you've been saddled with rules lawyers and that lower form of life in role playing circles known as the 'munchkin' who has no interest in story just in 'beating xxxx monster'
Well, I'm just a DM who spends more time on story than mechanics, heck sometimes I still have to look up a spell's description to see what it says.
I hate math, it just clutters up the game. And everyone's total insistence on idiotic miniatures and large hex maps just annoys the crap out of me, that's why I stick to my four man D&D group I've been DM'ing for the last 12 years. They seem to like it so much they've not gone to other groups, and I've not paid for the pizza since high school. As to the whiny people, they should just die off and let the rpg race get stronger for it. anyways that's me two peso's this evening.

[Karsa Orlong]

Heya

I was one who always participated in these threads in the past... . I read through this one and found some interesting ideas and i like the convo you two, Fiddler and Silander, had.
Unfortunately, a lot of attempts to make a malazan rpg together failed after a time. The first excitment run its course and it died off. If you two would be interested in sharing some more ideas, please feel free to come by this Forum here http://z15.invisionf...elain/index.php?

We had some discussions on system and what would make a good malazan rpg. Maybe we can infuse it with new life.

And on the D20 front i totally agree with Silander and Fiddler I don't like the mechanics behind D20 and i do not see it as a good match for malazan as it is. But if you have storydriven Games and a mature group of players, you can do it with every system.
And a last word at the end: I'd really like to play with you guys one time, Fiddler. Alas, the distance in real world will probably make that an impossibility (even if you'd agree to have me, Fiddler).

Hope to see you guys over at Starvald Demelain

Cheers
Karsa

[Tsundoku]

Hmmm ... nice to see some activity on this front.

I'm all for a system that's mechanics-low and customisation-high. One thing I loathe about D&D3+ is the fact you have to build your character from day 1 towards whatever you want to it be, there's no allowance for tangents. And all the gorram prerequisites mean that your 14th level whatever with such-and-such feats is pretty much the same as everything else with the same or similar class.

I've heard good things about A Game of Thrones, but I looked at the book and went "Gah!"
Give me the 25 words or less version any day.

I don't know anything about tri-stat or Nobilis. I hang out at rpgnet occasionally, but they're waaaay too mechanics happy, and most threads degenerate into techobabble pretty quickly.

If tri-stat is GURPS-lite as you say, maybe that could be the way. I think it can be done with skills and combat, and magic can be a totally different system. I mean, WHY does magic have to work similar to the rest of the game? I say get the best system and shoehorn it in.

@Karsa
Is it possible for me to just have a look at the SD board without having to register?

Cheers,

La Sombra, KISS

[Valgard]

I looked at tristat before with a view to creating a malazan game with it and it has a huge potential also it is free to download so that helps immensely. The system from what I remember was simple and there were several power levels that could be played at, so you could have all ascendent groups or all soldier groups etc. but they wouldn't mix well together. There was also a load of speical abilities several of which could eaily be subsumed into the warren system. There was even a shapeshifting ability that could easily be converted into soletaken, the divers would be harder, but should be possible. I ran out of steam and time and so never actually got round to doing anything about it, which was a shame. I will have to get back into this again when I have more time.

I am also not a fan of D20 I must admit it is just to complicated for me but it can be done right as I played in an awesome star wars D20 game but it did involve almost completely ignoring the rules.

Other than that goo luck with this people will try to help out if I have more time soon.

[Karsa Orlong]

Malaclypse owns the site, Sombra. You'd have to ask him. I think at the moment it is viewable only by registered members. But hey, the registration is free, so where's the problem, right?!

Yeah, Mal and I also talked Tri-Stat at the beginning of our project. We put up a Thread on rpg.net and a lot of MBotF Fans were highly interested but not if it is Tri-Stat so we decided to go custom-made. Our results so far (it's not much, unfortunately) are viewable on starvald demelain.
What seems to be sure is that it will be a non-linear system, emulated with dice-pool . Sources of inspiration were WW Storyteller, GURPS and R&K of AEG. I really like to add the D6 Engine to the pool because it is very scaleable imo. The old Star Wars game used that engine and there were characters of extremely different powerlevels possible (let's say the emperor vs Luke at the beginning of ANH).

Enough for now

P.S.: Sombra, you a Firefly fan?! A gorram good series!

[Tsundoku]

Yeh, Firefly rawks.

Hmmm ...

Thanks for that Karsa. Is Mal still around? If so I'll PM him - seems the polite thing to do.

I've also heard good things about the Legend of the 5 Rings system, if any of you have had a stickybeak at it. I must admit I love the simplicity of the storyteller system as well.

I've lent my spare copies of GotM and DG to my regular GM in the hopes he will run a game at some point, but he's so busy he doesn't get much chance to read novels. Then I'd have to get 3 of the other 4 in my group to read the series. One has already and loved it - and hates me for addicting him to a series that isn't finished yet, because he hates waiting (turned off by Jordan and Martin schedules).

Cheers,

La Sombra, combination pimp AND bastard

[Karsa Orlong]

You're welcome, Sombra
And you know, Mal --> Firefly I just noticed that ... funny, eh? *g*
I haven't seen Mal (as in Malaclypse ) in a long time. So not sure if he still frequents this site regularly. But it's worth a try, I think.

And yeah, Firefly rulez ^^ Coolest dialogues of all the shows i ever watched and the characters are diverse and cool.

"Inara, this is shepherd Book, shepherd Book, this is Inara....she's a whore..."

Aehm...back on topic...

Legend of the 5 Ring also uses the R&K System from AEG. So yeah, i like that system a lot. I am also fond of Storyteller...it's a neat mechanic. Check out the D6 Fantasy Book if you get the chance. As i said, it uses a dice-pool variant (obviously with d6 *g* ) and is very scaleable.

I also brought some of my friends into MBotF...not sure if they hate me now But one of these days I hope that we can kick off a Malazan RPG...that would rock in all kinds of ways!

Cheers
Karsa

P.S.: And thanks for the rep, Sombra :cool: