Goodman Games

I'm currently reading and enjoying the Malazan series. I'm now putting thoughts together on running a Malazan game. I've been giving thought to which system to use - RuneQuest 6, Warhammer 3rd, Fate Core, Burning Wheel, Savage Worlds, GURPS, A Song of Ice and Fire, and The Black Company d20 rpg are all under consideration.

But after giving DCC and Tales From the Fallen Empire another look, it might be a fit as well.

How well do up you think they could pull off Malazan? What would they do well and not so well?

How would you go about adapting it?

Finally, which system would you choose?

Tush Hog wrote:I'm currently reading and enjoying the Malazan series. I'm now putting thoughts together on running a Malazan game.

I'm not familar with these books. Who wrote them and what are they about?

Tush Hog wrote:Finally, which system would you choose?

I'd pick whatever system you feel most comfortable running, or whatever your players are most comfortable playing. Looking at your list of RPGs I note some which are more numbers driven and others more story driven, so maybe game style isn't much of an issue.

finarvyn wrote:

Tush Hog wrote:I'm currently reading and enjoying the Malazan series. I'm now putting thoughts together on running a Malazan game.

I'm not familar with these books. Who wrote them and what are they about?

Steven Erickson -- he writes doorstopper fantasy books in a series called Malazan: Book of the Fallen. You should check them out. Very intelligent, very violent, awash in weird magic, hundreds of thousands of years of history, gods playing with men, men becoming gods, dinosaurs with swords for arms... very DCC.

ragboy wrote:

finarvyn wrote:

Tush Hog wrote:I'm currently reading and enjoying the Malazan series. I'm now putting thoughts together on running a Malazan game.

I'm not familar with these books. Who wrote them and what are they about?

Steven Erickson -- he writes doorstopper fantasy books in a series called Malazan: Book of the Fallen. You should check them out. Very intelligent, very violent, awash in weird magic, hundreds of thousands of years of history, gods playing with men, men becoming gods, dinosaurs with swords for arms... very DCC.

Succinctly described!

Malazan is a Modern Appendix N must read. Great concepts and unlike other modern epic fantasy, Erickson finished his instead of going off and riding out an HBO series...


Some setting work would be needed - the part that leaps to mind is the Cleric class goes bye-bye as a ll casting is through Warrens (although that included Denul as a Warren for healing).

Halflings out. Dwarves too. Elves too, as the Malazan version of elves (Tiste races) is crazy powerful; Dark (Andii), Shadow (Edur), or Light (Liosian) - but maybe you could play the kids?

Barghast may be a good new race as class (Trotts was a tough but on par with humans in Gardens of the Moon).

Thinking some more about it, clerics could still be played, just as wizard of healing or earth warrens. Ascendants would = patrons (same as Gods, but the goods would have a church/worshippers)...

Darujistan could easily be adapted from Punjar (just on a the big lake vs the sea).

Spell effects could be grouped based on Warren, and a higher level teleport-type spell could be modified to open a Warren for travelling.

Hmm. I may have to write all of this up ...