The Kingkiller Chronicle RPG

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

How would you go about making such a thing?

[valadil]

I think I'd just do a custom magic system in a game system that already exists. Off the top of my head I can't think of anything but the magic that struck me as overly unique. I guess you'd need some custom monsters.

[Draz74]

Sadly, I think there is far too much we don't know about the setting for anyone (not closely connected to Rothfuss) to be able to run such a game.

Seriously, I think these books may be LotR's all-time best competition for "the books where the author is best at using viewpoint to conceal from the readers the VAST MAJORITY of what is actually going on." And that's if you ignore the non-LotR writings on Middle Earth that solve many of its mysteries.

Rothfuss has stated that he plans to write separate stories, after the Kingkiller trilogy is complete, in the same setting. That tells me that even after Kvothe's third volume comes out, a lot about the world's magic/history/angels/demons/fey/astronomical bodies will still be too enigmatic to know how to play in.

It's like asking for a sci-fi RPG system that deals with exploring the dark matter portion of the universe. Where do you even start? With pure speculation. Which might make for a fine setting & game ... but the chance that it will line up with real dark matter exploration is pretty slim.

So if you want to play a game that feels similar to the Kingkiller stories, awesome. You can copy the map, draw up a very complex array of categories and factions for the fey, figure out some way to emulate the magic systems, and include a lot of unreliable (and often contradictory) accounts of the world's history. Just don't expect that your setting will still look much like Rothfuss's once he comes out with a few more books.

If I were to try such an ambitious venture of a campaign myself, I'd probably go with a more rules-light/narrative system, such as giving Fate Core a whirl.

[Treblain]

I would think it would need some kind of point-buy talent tree system. The rules for sympathy are pretty doable, though its use would be limited since using sympathy in combat would probably get you hunted and killed by the proper pitchforks-and-torches-wielding authorities.

Draz's point is the real problem. There are something like seven whole magic systems we know nothing about, the world's mythology and history was probably fictionalized by the church, and several intriguing areas for adventure can't be explored at all based on the information in the books. And that's not even getting into the "Jedi in the party" problem of making characters for this world. Someone, probably everyone, will want to be a Namer.

[Amaril]

And that's not even getting into the "Jedi in the party" problem of making characters for this world. Someone, probably everyone, will want to be a Namer.

The easiest solution to this would be to make Names available to everyone, but give more of them to Arcanists, to represent the fact that they specifically study to learn Names. However, since Arcanists really can't fight (at all), I don't think an Arcanist who knows four Names would be overpowered compared to a warrior who knows maybe one.

[Amyana]

As for Naming, you could require a tangential mini-campaign of Chasing the Wind. You can only chase for one Name at a time and it takes game time and resources to do it. I'm thinking of homebrewing something...