Runequest/Legend: Malazan Empire Project

[Mage]

Following on from the thread in 'What Should Mongoose Publish Next' I am going to add my two cents here, at least in regards rules.

For a start, I submit rules for a race.

I must point out I have only read the first book so far, and some people may not agree with the design I present below.

Let me know what you think. I tried to make a balanced playable race. My inclusion of d8s below is that I vaguely remember a mention of them linked to a Chaos/Chaotic Warren, and since the greek symbol for Chaos is an 8-sided star, I thought it would be cool to do. I figured their INT and POW would be above average as they live so long, thus buliding up their repetoire of knowledge, and some Tiste Andii seem to tend toward magic in the books. As for their phsical stats, I see, maybe have not read enough, no evidence they are particularly better than humans in the book (with the exception of speed in combat, which seems to be magically boosted in most respects).



Tiste Andii Draft 1:
============

The Tiste Andii are taller than humans are, though of similar proportions. Their skin is ebony-black, with slanted, epiphantic, almond-shaped eyes that change colour with their moods. Their hair is silver, white, black, or rarely red, and generally kept long. The Tiste Andii are extremely long-lived (one of their leaders is rumoured to be at least 300,000 years old), and aging is slow. Barring accidents or death through violence, they may live forever. Some Eleint Andii (Dragon mix-blood) keep a younger appearance normally between twenties and forties. The Tiste Andii are close kin to the Tiste Edur and Tiste Liosain, though they do not share genetic descent or respect.


Characteristics
===========
STR 4d6 (drop the lowest) (12)
CON 4d6 (drop the lowest) (12)
DEX 4d8 (drop the lowest) (12)
SIZ 3d6+6 (17)
INT 4d8 (drop the lowest) +2 (17)
POW 4d8 (drop the lowest) +2 (17)
CHA 4d6 (drop the lowest) (12)

Special Rules
==========
Movement: 5m
Traits: Life Sense, Night Sight

 

[Mixster]

Erm, your averages are a bit off.

The average of 4d6 drop lowest is about 12.5. 4d8 drop lowest is around 15~16.

They are probably a lot better than humans if played alongside them. If not, they are probably fine, but would grant you a higher powered game.

 

[Da Boss]

I am not sure that the average Tiste Andii would have markadly different statistics to a human - except for Size - maybe go for 3D6+6.

As I read it most of an indivuduals power comes from the fact they don;t age in the same way as humans and hence can amass power and skills over a very long period.

IIRC Tiste Andii are children of Darkness rather than Chaos?

Soletaken probably should be a whole different stat base - a bit like D+D Half Dragons but with the ability to Veer into Draconic form (or other)?

 

[Mage]

@ Mixster

Probability noted, and post edited.

I agree they would be more powerful in some regards, living so long, and having time to build up an array of skills, but do we actually see that much of the day to day life of an 'avereage' Tiste Andii. I'd assume that not all of them are soldiers and mercenaries, and even then, I wouldn't be inclined to assume they all practice magic, unless the source material says so.

I'm trying to go for balance as a Player Character. I see nothing wrong with making more powerful ones as NPCs, be it as opponents, or whatever use they may provide to a game.


@ Da Boss

Your comment on size has been noted and included.

That's what I reckon to, its more down to skills and time then their stats, and magic too. I know they are Children of Darkness, but I remember some other vagure reference somewhere about a connection between them and Chaos. I could be totally wrong on the other hand.

I agree with Soletaken, but would they make a suitable player character race with such abilities?

This thread also raises some interesting points:

http://forum.malazanempire.com/index.php?showtopic=14081

 

[Silvereye]

I must point out I have only read the first book so far, and some people may not agree with the design I present below.

The get reading!

Broadly OK, I've no idea what the stats mean someone else will need to check through that, but the background seems to be a basic introduction. The Tiste are 'Invader Races'. They are 'children' of the Elder Warrens (Light, Shadow and Darkness). I'd just copy the stat block for Tiste Andii and make them the same as Tiste Edur and Tiste Liosan and replace the traits ae appropriate.

The Eleint (dragons) and Soletaken (minor shapeshifting) are complecated.

 

[DramaticExit]

I am not sure that the average Tiste Andii would have markadly different statistics to a human - except for Size - maybe go for 3D6+6?

I'd agree with this. Although certainly longer lived, the Tiste generally didn't seem that much more capable than the surrounding humans. Take the battle on the shore in the final book as an example.

There are certainly exceptions - such as Anomander Rake - who, for want of a better word, 'adventured' in their younger days and actively interacted/interfered with the human-dominated world around them.

jm2c

 

[Da Boss]

Midnight Tides has lots of background information on the Tiste Edur - including population size on that continent - 1/4 million in various tribes

The "common folk" of all three races don't appear really superior to humans in physical or mental attributes but with the removal of the degredation of ageing can increase their knowledge and skills over a very long lifetime.

 

[Mage]

@ Da Boss

True, regarding their ageing, but I think building a more advanced adevnturer would cover that well.

@ Everyone

So, does this seem like an ok stat line for a Tiste Andii so?

And also, regarding the other Tiste, if the stats are the same for them too, what traits would they have instead?

 

[Mage]

Tiste Races of the Malazan Book of the Fallen


Tiste Andii
========

The Tiste Andii are taller than humans are, though of similar proportions. Their skin is ebony-black, with slanted, epiphantic, almond-shaped eyes that change colour with their moods. Their hair is silver, white, black, or rarely red, and generally kept long. The Tiste Andii are extremely long-lived (one of their leaders is rumoured to be at least 300,000 years old), and aging is slow. Barring accidents or death through violence, they may live forever. Some Eleint Andii (Dragon mix-blood) keep a younger appearance normally between twenties and forties. The Tiste Andii are close kin to the Tiste Edur and Tiste Liosain, though they do not share genetic descent or respect.

Tiste Edur
=======

The Tiste Edur are taller than humans, though of similar proportions. Their skin is a dull grey colour of a hue not found in humans, with slanted, epiphantic, almond-shaped eyes. Hair ranges from dark red to dark brown, and greys with age. The Tiste Edur are close kin to the Tiste Liosain and Tiste Andii, though they do not share genetic descent. The Tiste Edur are looked down upon by the Tiste Liosan, and with hatred by the Tiste Andii on Lether. The Edur are extremely long-lived, but unlike the Andii and Liosan are not immortal. Female Edur mature more quickly than males.

Tiste Liosan
=========

The Tiste Liosan are not one of the four founding races. They only have contact with the Malazan world due to a breach of the barriers surrounding their Warren of Kurald Thryllan possibly through the human use of Telas, the Path of Fire and the Imass use of the Tellann, the Warren of Fire.

The Tiste Liosan are taller than humans, though of similar proportions. Their features are similar to Tiste Edur's, apart from their white, almost luminous skin and silver, slanted, epiphantic, almond-shaped eyes. Their hair is silver or gold and generally kept long. The Tiste Liosan are close kin to the Tiste edur and Tiste Andii, though they do not share genetic descent. Internal anatomy differs from the human norm; specifically, the heart known to be buried deeper in the torso.


Characteristics (All)
==============
STR 3d6
CON 3d6
DEX 3d6+2
SIZ 2d6+6
INT 2d8+6
POW 3d6+2
CHA 3d6

Special Rules
==========

Movement: 5m (All)

Traits:

 Life Sense (All)
 Night Sight (Tiste Andii)
 Dark Sight (Tiste Edur)
 Earth Sense (Tiste Liosan)

MRQ 1st Edition Characters: Roll an extra dice to those listed for characteristics, dropping the lowest.

 

[Da Boss]

For you avaerage Tiste, I would go, as they are pretty human stats wise.

Characteristics (All)
==============
STR 3d6
CON 3d6
DEX 3d6
SIZ 3d6+6
INT 2d6+6
POW 2d6+6
CHA 3d6

but then maybe go like Dragonnewts and have "age" catergories

so

Mature, Eldar, Ancient with increasing stats, skill pool and additonal past experiences rolls? Drop the species maximums as well

Add 300,000 years of improvements rolls should get a pretty experienced character?

 

[Mage]

With regard age, I agree, but as a player character race, having one who has lived for thousands of years or who is ancient, or solektaken, or who is an uber mage would be very, very un balanced, as I present these stats as balanced PC races.

You couldn't have a character like Rake in a party, let alone a chracter who is even a tenth as powerful, even if you take away his sword and his shapeshifting ability. On the other hand, you could, if the rest of the party were high level characters too.

My take on it would be that Tiste who are that old and wise, and powerful, are too precious to just wander around the world and expose themselves to unnecessary dangers, nor would they give trivial or unimportant quests any notice, they would have underlings capable of fulfilling such things.

I'm happy enough with the stats I have done so far. I mean, I don't see anything wrong with them. In my opinion, a Tiste should have a higher INT and POW than a human, as they are a long lived race.

If your interested in a Mature, Eldar or Ancient Tiste, why not write the rules rather than suggest things? I would be interested to see what you come up with.

Not sure if the last line with the menion of 300,000 years is a joke or sarcasm.

Edit:

I have modified the above entry to take into account some suggested changes, and added a modification for MRQ 1st edition.

Question:

What other races, aside from Eleint, could be added?

 

[DramaticExit]

Question:

What other races, aside from Eleint, could be added?

I'm not sure Eleint could ever really be used as a PC race, more as antagonists - a bit too powerful and alien

For other races, how about (otoh):
- Barghast (/moranth)
- Trell
- Thel Akai / Toblakai / half

and then a whole set of backgrounds to distinguish the huge range of different human-types.

 

[Da Boss]

With regard age, I agree, but as a player character race, having one who has lived for thousands of years or who is ancient, or solektaken, or who is an uber mage would be very, very un balanced, as I present these stats as balanced PC races.

yes true - but then thats a descison to make - is the idea to present the basic characters or the people in the novels as these vary massively in power?

You couldn't have a character like Rake in a party, let alone a chracter who is even a tenth as powerful, even if you take away his sword and his shapeshifting ability. On the other hand, you could, if the rest of the party were high level characters too.

Well to be fair - the older editions of Stormbringer gave us PCs who were not far off in power and I had no problem running games?

My take on it would be that Tiste who are that old and wise, and powerful, are too precious to just wander around the world and expose themselves to unnecessary dangers, nor would they give trivial or unimportant quests any notice, they would have underlings capable of fulfilling such things.

I'm happy enough with the stats I have done so far. I mean, I don't see anything wrong with them. In my opinion, a Tiste should have a higher INT and POW than a human, as they are a long lived race.

surely only if they are in fact older? Use what you feel is right - I'm only making suggestions

If your interested in a Mature, Eldar or Ancient Tiste, why not write the rules rather than suggest things? I would be interested to see what you come up with.

Mature characters wouldprobably start at Hero level - giving an additonal 400 skill points, and 1D8+4 Charaterstic points plus 12 Hero points and 3 Heroic Abilities
Roll 3 more times on the background event table than normal to represent the increasingly complex life he or she leads

Eldar - hmm lets suggest

Free Skill Points: 1000, 2D8+4 char points, 18 Hero Points, 6 Heroic Abilities
Roll 5 more times on the Backgorund events table than normal

Not sure if the last line with the menion of 300,000 years is a joke or sarcasm.

Just a bit of fun

Edit:

I have modified the above entry to take into account some suggested changes, and added a modification for MRQ 1st edition.

Question:

What other races, aside from Eleint, could be added?

I agree there are lots of subraces of humans - aagin this could eb modelled like previous editions of Stormbirnger with regional stat bonuses Mazlan Heavies could get +6 Strength and Con?

Eleint and other shapechangers could be modelled as Heroic abiltiies?

 

[DramaticExit]

Eleint and other shapechangers could be modelled as Heroic abiltiies?

Aye, though 'Eleint' is not the same as Soletaken, which is what I was getting at in my other post I wouldn't think you could play an Eleint (see final book), but a Soletaken (as a Heroic ability) - sure.

 

[Da Boss]

Yeah Eleint are a bit different and I know what you mean about the last book

 

[Mage]

@ DramaticExit

I agree with the Eleint, but thats why I said aside from Eleint. Sorry if I wasn't clear about that, but I completely agree.

Moranth sound like fun to do next.

I saw that Wikipedia article indeed, a lot of info there to assist with it.

@ Da Boss

Point 1: Experience

Both would be good. I mean if this is going to be a Malazan RPG for Runequest, rules for basic charactes, as well as the makers and shakers of the world would both be included. While I have no doubt how much fun it would be to make rules for Rake, I don't think I could do it justice, personally.

Point 2: PC power levels

I never played Stormbringer, so I couldn't comment either way, but high power level games are fun too.

Point 3: Stats and things

Well, yes, with older or more skilled pcs. Suggestions are always productive though.

Point 4: Age, level and experience

They sound good, better copy and paste them into the 'master file' if you don't mind. Maybe with regular Tiste characters, due to age, they could roll an extra 1 or 2 times on the background event table?

Point 5: A bit of fun

That's cool. I have a tendancy to rub people the wrong way, and read people incorreclty. Meant no disrespect by asking. It seems like theres going to be a lot of work for the human subspecies and stuff.

Maybe there could be add ons on top of cultural backgrounds, like regional backgrounds or something for Mongoose Hawkmoon first edition, but it could be stat increases and other things, not necessarily just skill increases?

 

[Mage]

Since there does not seem to be all that much going on here, I thought I'd post some more rules.

Barghast Draft 2:
===========

The Barghast are a pasotral nomadic warrior society found on numerous continents. Their society is organised into Tribes, further split into castes. Clan markings are applied to different hunter groups in woad tatooing. Barghast are also known for having an odd sense of humour.

Characteristics
==========
STR 3d6 + 6
CON 3d6 + 6
DEX 3d6
SIZ 3d6 + 6
INT 3d6
POW 3d6
CHA 3d6

Special Rules
==========
Movement: 4m

 

[Mage]

Jaghut Draft 3:
==========

The Jaghut are one of the founding races. They are solitary, powerful beings who once dominated much of the world after the eradication of the K'Chain Che'Malle.

The Jaghut are taller and broader than humans, with tusked lower jaws. Their skin is grey-green and hair is generally grey. They possess two hearts, and possibly duplicates of other organs, in a manner similar to that of the Thelomen Toblakai. The Jaghut are extremely long-lived (essentially immortal in the sense that they will not die except through violence or accident), and capable of inter-breeding with humans and Thelomen Toblakai. Whether the offspring are viable is unknown.

They are adapted to living in a cold climate, and generally prefer an Arctic environment. The Jaghut primarily use the Warren of Omtose Phellack, an Elder racial Warren that allows them control over great areas and is generally tuned towards magics of ice, cold, stasis and preservation. The Warren can also produce effects of 'stagnation', isolating whole continents from the rest of the world. In one case, this prevented the magic of the continent of Lether from evolving for over 300,000 years.

The Jaghut do not gather in locations or create communities. They see community leading to power over others (by the civic leaders), leading to dominance, hunger for power, slavery and a downward spiral into tyranny over all other living things. Instead, they prefer solitary towers as dwellings, usually living with only their closest family. Despite this tendency towards isolation, their parental instincts are very strong, which has resulted in a scaling up of conflicts with the T'lan Imass - if a parent is attacked, their spouse and children will come to fight with them, and vice versa. This can result in considerable devastation due to the scales of sorceries involved.

The exception to the rules of isolation are the rare Jaghut known as Tyrants, for whom conquest and rule is an unslakable thirst. These individuals will use their powerful magical capabilities to enslave and dominate other races. In the most recent novel, "Toll the Hounds", it was hinted that Jaghut once had great civilizations. The reasons for why their fall happened and why the Jaghut live in solitude is due to the uprising of their slaves, the Imass.


Characteristics
===========
STR 3d6 + 3
CON 3d8 + 9
DEX 3d6
SIZ 3d6 + 3
INT 3d6
POW 3d8 + 9
CHA D6 + 2

Special Rules
==========
Movement: 5m
Traits: Nautral armour 1 on all locations, natural weapons.

*Changed Traits, move value, CON and DEX.
**Added Natural weapons, removed bracketed numbers.

 

[Mage]

Here is a draft on the Moranth, not quite finished, but here goes.

Moranth Draft 1:
===========

" In our eyes deeds have measure. We judge. We act upon our judgements. As in Pale, we match spirit with spirit...Eighteen thousand seven hundred and thirty-nine souls departed in the purge of Pale. One for each Moranth confirmed as a victim of Pale’s history of enmity towards us. Spirit with spirit, Bird That Steals...There are worms within your empire’s flesh. But such degradation is natural in all bodies. Your people’s infection is not yet fatal. It can be scoured clean. The Moranth are skilled at such efforts."

The Moranth are a mysterious and reclusive race of humanoids residing upon the continent of Genabackis. They reside in cities built in their native territory of Cloud Forest, though no outsider has ever claimed to have seen these settlements. The Moranth are never seen without their armor, which has been described as making them look insect-like. They are one of several races descended from the ancient Imass, and are divided by a strict caste/clan system. Different clans are determined by the color of armor they wear. They are a divided people, each caste in fanatic competition with each other. During the reign of the Malazan Empire, the Silver Moranth clan dominated the Moranth clans. The Moranth defy the cliche of barbaric peoples, and are said to have Annals and written histories dating back seven thousand years.

The Moranth are renowned for their alchemical prowess.The Moranth munitions they gave to the Malazans completely changed the practice of warfare for the Empire, being a major contribution to the success of the Genabackian campaign. Their method of transport is unique among Genabackian society, having tamed the airborn insect-like creatures, the Quorl.

The Moranth have contributed greatly to many Malazan military campaigns. Notably, in the books we have seen the Moranth and their sense of vengeance when they breached the city of Pale, after the bloody siege that took place there. Also, they are noted for their contributions during the siege of Coral, where they transported the Bridgeburners into the city. During that battle, they dropped munitions on the city and also transported more soldiers into the city after the Bridgeburner's preemptive strike.

The Moranth share ties with the Barghast, due to their mutual ancestors, the Imass. They consider the Barghast their Fallen Kin, though the Barghast see otherwise. They speak the same language as the Barghast shouldermen, which Cafal claims is: "the language that rose from the pit of darkness from whence all thought and all words first came."

Considering their ancestry, it is fair to say their language is possibly derived from the ancient tongue of the Imass, and may even be that same language. Cafal's claims to it being the first language are suspect however, due to the K'Chain Che'Malle race of sentient lizards predating the rise of the Imass. All in all, it is fair to say the Moranth speak a language derived from the Imass tongue, and is probably one of the oldest tongues among the manifold human populations of the Malazan world.

The Moranth have had contact with the Tiste Edur as well. The Edur appear to have arrived at Cloud Forest due to the presence of a piece of the shattered warren, Kurald Emurlahn, where they encountered the Barghast who came to be known as the Moranth. The Edur were few and the Moranth welcomed them. The Edur exchanged ideas with them, and taught them alchemy, without which, they may never have come to prominence by producing their explosive munitions.

The Moranth are broken down into a caste based clan system, colours denoting different clans.

Green Moranth - Mainly a courier and transport clan
Black Moranth - Main Infantry
Gold Moranth - Elite Infantry
Blue Moranth - Sailors and Traders
Silver Moranth - Moranth mages, thought to be the creators of Moranth munitions

Characteristics
==========
STR 3d6 + 3
CON 3d6 + 3
DEX 3d6
SIZ 3d6 + 6
INT 3d6 + 3
POW 3d6
CHA 3d6

Special Rules
==========
Movement: 4m
Traits: All Moranth characters start with a suit of armour made from Insect Hide. This provudes 3 armour to all locations and is fully enclosed, but anything checks made relating to sight are at a -10 penalty due to the helmet.

 

[Mage]

Assuming people are still following the thread, I have a suggestion for the provision of Otataral. Namely, that it be given out at GM discression. I mean, being immune to magic is pretty good. How much would it cost? I unsderstand it's pretty rare. Just wondering what people's thoughts are.