Creating an RPG System for The Name of the Wind

[Amaril]

As the title implies, I'm interested in creating a D&D variant designed to be played in the setting of Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Trilogy. I've never really done any homebrew of the more mechanical elements of the game before, however, so I'm looking for any advice people might be able to give on how I might go about making this idea a reality. Even if you haven't read the novels, your help is welcome in whatever regard you can provide.

Here are some of the ideas I have so far, along with some issues I'd like to resolve:

Character races. The Four Corners of Civilization are inhabited only by humans (and the Fae, but I'd prefer not to make them playable), which, depending on how it's handled, could annoy some players. I have two ideas for how to handle this. First, keep the humans' racial stats identical to those in D&D, which is simplest. Second, implement a system of "backgrounds" as an analogue to races, so that, for example, a native of the Commonwealth might get different innate bonuses and penalties than one of the Edema Ruh. Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this?

Classes. First of all, I'm still not sure whether I want this game to be class-based or skill-based. On the one hand, the setting design of the books supports some classes excellently, such as Arcanists (essentially wizards) or Adem mercenaries (essentially monks). On the other, whenever I try to come up with ideas for classes, it occurs to me that there really aren't very many unique class archetypes that feature in the books, which leads me to think that a skill-based character ability system might be more suitable.

Further, if I end up going the class-based route, I'm not sure whether some classes, like the Adem mercenaries, should be prestige or base options, or even whether to have prestige classes at all. The Adem definitely seem rare and powerful enough to fit as a prestige class, and there are other similar possibilities (like the Amyr), but if I use these as prestige classes, it leaves me with even fewer base classes to work with.

Can anyone offer any guidance regarding how I should handle these problems? Even if you can't, any ideas you think would be good to include in this project would be welcome additions. Thanks everybody :smallsmile:

[Grinner]

Before going forward, could you describe the elements and atmosphere of the novels first? I'm afraid that I haven't read those particular books, and the same may be true of others.

[BladeTempest]

First off sadly I do not know of the books of which you speak. Sadly. I assume these books are a fairly "standard" "sword and sorcery" type deal which maybe have airships?

One way to handle this that immediately pops into mind is to use d20 modern rules but fudge the rules a little when it comes to advance classes so if a player wants to play as one of the more "prestigious" aspects of the game.

d20 modern is not only generic enough in their base classes, but certain classes are also more "skill-focused" than others. If a particular player wants something a little narrow minded classes like the fighter and rogue wouldn't break the formula too much and could be included but make sure to keep an eye on the rogue's skills.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

As the title implies, I'm interested in creating a D&D variant designed to be played in the setting of Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Trilogy. I've never really done any homebrew of the more mechanical elements of the game before, however, so I'm looking for any advice people might be able to give on how I might go about making this idea a reality. Even if you haven't read the novels, your help is welcome in whatever regard you can provide.

Awesome. The novels are fantastic.


Character races. The Four Corners of Civilization are inhabited only by humans (and the Fae, but I'd prefer not to make them playable), which, depending on how it's handled, could annoy some players. I have two ideas for how to handle this. First, keep the humans' racial stats identical to those in D&D, which is simplest. Second, implement a system of "backgrounds" as an analogue to races, so that, for example, a native of the Commonwealth might get different innate bonuses and penalties than one of the Edema Ruh. Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this?

I wouldn't go with bonuses or penalties, but I WOULD go with additional minor abilities, if we can find abilities evocative enough of the separate areas.


Classes. First of all, I'm still not sure whether I want this game to be class-based or skill-based. On the one hand, the setting design of the books supports some classes excellently, such as Arcanists (essentially wizards) or Adem mercenaries (essentially monks). On the other, whenever I try to come up with ideas for classes, it occurs to me that there really aren't very many unique class archetypes that feature in the books, which leads me to think that a skill-based character ability system might be more suitable.

Agreed. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that D&D is a poor system: we don't see the equivalent of "high level" characters in the system. Highly skilled characters yes, but I get the feeling that most if not all of our characters would be severely challenged by the same threats, and all would go down pretty quickly if hit with a sword. Making a new system and/or picking a different base system would be recommended.


Can anyone offer any guidance regarding how I should handle these problems? Even if you can't, any ideas you think would be good to include in this project would be welcome additions. Thanks everybody :smallsmile:

Again, I would definitely pick a different base system, as D&D is a game of gritty low levels and superheroic high levels...the latter isn't part of The Name of the Wind. You'll also want a magic system based on either individual word knowledge or, as I'd recommend, based on knowledge of specific sets of sympathies, combined perhaps with a few names for powerful effects.

This makes me feel that the World of Darkness system might actually be a decent way to approach the game, or possibly a FATE hack.

[Amaril]

I'm starting to agree that possibly d20 Modern might be a better fit, although I definitely think there is a place for high-level superheroic characters in the world of the books (just think of 30-year-old Kvothe, or Taborlin the Great), and for epic-tier threats (the Chandrian, the Cthaeh). As far as the magic system, I'm thinking that it'll favor sympathy more heavily than Names, at least in the sense of sympathy being more common and versatile. Assuming, for the moment, that I do end up going with some sort of classes, my idea is to have an Arcanist class which can have varying levels of skill in sympathy, with access to the full range of bindings, and to have a bard-type class that can optionally learn some small amount of sympathy to complement their other skills. Names, on the other hand, I would probably make available to everybody, but I would limit the number of names different characters can learn based on their abilities, since characters with the kind of intensive mental training that Kvothe and other Arcanists have seems to make them easier to learn and use.

Unfortunately, I'm not really all that familiar with d20 Modern, so it would require that I learn the ropes of a new system. However, for this purpose, I'd happily put in the time and effort (especially since I was already thinking of learning d20 Modern anyway).

Also, for those commenters who haven't read the books--the Kingkiller Trilogy is fairly standard fantasy, but slightly more low-magic, and no, it doesn't have airships. I'd strongly recommend the novels to anyone who frequents this site--they're some of my all-time favorites (sadly, I'm now stuck waiting for the third and final book).