Midkemia d20

[Son_of_Thunder]

Alrighty then,

Since it would appear that we won't be seeing a version of Midkemia for awhile, if ever, my question is this. What elements have you used from Feist's series in your game? It doesn't have to be D&D either. Just what have you taken and adapted to your game?

 

[JoeGKushner]

Carse and Tulan have made apperances in my games.

So have some of the gods.

So have some of the ideas from the first set of books. The old not quite gods but still powerful enough to kill 'em bits and ancient dragons, etc...

Heck, I stole the whole plot from the King's Buccanear with the invasion plans and all that.

As far as IP concerns, are they kidding? Are they saying that A Game of Thrones, Black Company, Thieves World, and other professional author settings are somehow different than Midkemia, which as others have noted, is pretty close to the old generic core and crust of the old AD&D days?

 

[iwatt]

Carse and Tulan have made apperances in my games.

So have some of the gods.

So have some of the ideas from the first set of books. The old not quite gods but still powerful enough to kill 'em bits and ancient dragons, etc...

Heck, I stole the whole plot from the King's Buccanear with the invasion plans and all that.

As far as IP concerns, are they kidding? Are they saying that A Game of Thrones, Black Company, Thieves World, and other professional author settings are somehow different than Midkemia, which as others have noted, is pretty close to the old generic core and crust of the old AD&D days?

What I need is more Midkemia fluff. More about Great Kesh. More about the pirates. etc...

I think it's simple to come up with a True Sorcery variant for Lesser Path magicians, just by using the old: you can only take half your character levels in the Sorceror Class. That would stop them from taking the higher level talents.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Well, the Fluff is kinda all over the place. Aparently there were some books in the UK that didn't make it to US shores where he did some stuff with some co-authors.

And the timeline of the setting has advanced well beyond the initial trilogy of books making the thing more 'alive' but more difficult to really get a feel for because if you're trying to 'capture' a certain mood of one of the books, your options quickly become more limited.

I haven't had any problems making stuff up on the fly for different systems ranging from Hero, Rolemaster, and Runequest to old AD&D 1st and 2nd edition. As it's a high fantasy low magic world, most of the magic items and other bits common in standard D&D aren't a problem but in 3e, for balance sake, you'd probably have to add something like defense bonus and action points.

 

[Banshee16]

I would buy it and play it if it was D20. Not bothering with any non-d20 games right now. Old and set in my ways I guess.

Thanks,
Rich

You and me both

I've got too much invested in the D20 system...both financially, and simply time. When will I have time to not only learn a new system, but train a group of players in the new system, and get them to play? I've got a life outside of gaming..

But Midkemia D20? I wouldn't even blink before buying.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Last I knew, the plan was to design their own system. And the issue wasn't so much with d20, as it was with the OGL -- the publishers (perhaps wisely) didn't want to risk opening up any content unique to Midkemia for use by others, as doing so would arguably dillute the IP.

That's not what I heard. The last note I heard, from their mailing list, I think, was that the magic system of D&D was unsuitable to simulate the way it works in Midkemia. And I'll give them that. It *is* very different. Just like it is a little like fitting a square peg into a round hole to use it for Dark Sun 3E, and other settings.

But there are tonnes of alternate magic systems, and as discussed above, I'm sure one of them could work.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Last I knew, the plan was to design their own system. And the issue wasn't so much with d20, as it was with the OGL -- the publishers (perhaps wisely) didn't want to risk opening up any content unique to Midkemia for use by others, as doing so would arguably dillute the IP.

That's not what I heard. The last note I heard, from their mailing list, I think, was that the magic system of D&D was unsuitable to simulate the way it works in Midkemia. And I'll give them that. It *is* very different. Just like it is a little like fitting a square peg into a round hole to use it for Dark Sun 3E, and other settings.

But there are tonnes of alternate magic systems, and as discussed above, I'm sure one of them could work. If they can make Black Company and Games of Thrones work for D&D (and Conan!), I don't see why they couldn't make Midkemia work.

I'd also heard that Feist isn't a big D&D fan, although the world was originally their D&D campaign world back in the 70's, but became more and more houseruled until it no longer fit D&D.

I'm sure it's a combination of factors, but I don't think IP has anything to do with it.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

I can't really see much point in developing a whole new system for Midkemia. The world existed as an RPG/D&D setting first, and Feist's work is very much post-D&D-style fantasy. Someone with Feist's resources should be able to get a good lawyer who can guide them in the art of releasing an OGL/d20STL product that doesn't mess with Midkemia's IP.

"Midkemia's IP" is even a funny phrase to me, given how much Midkemia borrows from D&D (not to mention Tolkien) and Kelewan borrows from Tekumel. I found the characters far more unique than the world.

I agree with J-Dawg that you could cover things pretty well with a Dragon article. A whole new system would likely end up being another fantasy hearbreaker that collects dust on a shelf.

I agree...somewhat. I think the core differences are the fluff, and the magic. Plus it appears to be a relatively low-magic item density world.

Heck, they've even got red and blue and gold and bronze and silver dragons. I mean, how D&D-based is that? The only differences are that, similar to Eberron, the colours aren't tied to particular alignments.

I think you could use regular D&D, but add:

1-Lower hp or massive damage threshold. Even famous, experienced characters in the novels can get killed by a lucky shot, which isn't compatible with regular D&D.

2-Reduce magic item density....similar to what's done in Midnight.

3-Change the magic system. Lesser Path and Greater Path magic are very different from each other. It's not like Lesser Path magicians are just weaker....their magic is very different. I'd probably make the Lesser Path magicians some sort of blend of the Eberron Artificer and the Birthright magician class. Greater Path magicians might be some sort of blend of Sorcerer and AU magister. Or use the True Sorcery system.

4-Lots of fluff....city and NPC descriptions, stats, etc.

5-I might make magic feat based...as in, you need a feat (sort of like Force Sensitive) before gaining access to the magician class. That feat might provide the Detect Magic ability....in Midkemia, it seems that magic is detectable, naturally, by magicians, depending on how powerful the magic was being cast. A 9th lvl spell might be detectable hundreds or thousands of miles away, whereas a 1st lvl spell might only be detected a few feet away.

Heck, I'd be willing to undertake some sort of web project for this....but Feist, as I understand it, is not afraid to issue cease and desist notices when protecting his IP....and I think the guy's a great author, so I'd not want to piss him off. That really limits the ability to work on it.

I think they actually shut down a MUD or something, or someone trying to do an unofficial adaptation, because they asked him for advice, and he said that it was one thing when he didn't know about it, but as soon as he became aware of their project, because it was unlicensed, and he was trying to negotiate an official version, he had to put a stop to it.

Banshee

 

[Aus_Snow]

So how did magic work in that setting again? It's been too long for me to remember any of those kinds of details.

This might help in deciding upon a magic system or two.


Otherwise, True20 could work exceedingly well, in all likelihood.

 

[Banshee16]

Well, most magicians on Midkemia were lesser magicians rather than greater. Greater path magic only returned when Pug was captured during the Riftwar, and learned it at the hands of the magicians of Kelewan.

My understanding is that lesser path magicians are more like hedge mages....lots of divinations, simple enchantments and stuff, very good with creating and using magic items. Many of their spells use foci...staves, scrolls, crystal balls etc.

Greater path magicians were more scholarly. They had the ability to manipulate raw magic, and create the earth-shaking, city destroying type magic. They used very few magic items/foci at all.

It's a little weird. Lesser Path magicians were known to produce lower powered effects, yet at the same time some of those lower powered effects were ones that the most powerful Greater Path magicians could never replicate.

That's my understanding of the division.

I found the thread I was in on the WotC message boards....two years ago.

http://boards1.wizards.com/archive/index.php/t-45489.html

Lots of info in there, if you can get past the mini-argument in the first few posts. Worth reading though.

Banshee