Malifaux RPG - nWoD or...?

[Jonas Albrecht]

Been putzing around with the idea of running a Malifaux RPG for Tuesday and assembled geeks, and am shopping around for a system to use. The current front runner is the core rules for World of Darkness. It's a simple enough system that I'm already familiar with, that has a number of rules to cover abilities that pop up in Malifaux, plus rules for zombies, spirits, magic, etc. I also figure crowd sourcing some alternatives might not be a bad idea.

So let's hear your thoughts on the matter.

[nilus]

Savage Worlds would be my first choice. Its quick and simple and you can easily adapt anything Malifaux has into it.

If you wanted to go more complicated you could adapt classic Deadlands as well and use the fate deck instead of standard cards.

[edonil]

I had thought about using DnD 3.5 and using the Iron Kingdoms rules for a lot of stuff...restrict the classes available, limit the spells, and just adapt in Malifaux specific monsters.

[Jonas Albrecht]

I had thought about using DnD 3.5 and using the Iron Kingdoms rules for a lot of stuff...restrict the classes available, limit the spells, and just adapt in Malifaux specific monsters.

I want to avoid classes, as I feel Malifaux is a game where people tend to fall into their jobs through Fate. I'd love to utilize something like WFRPG's career system.

[Doctor Amos]

I would use Mage, I think. Well, I'd use old WoD Mage, of course, but I would definately use Mage.

[ispep]

You could probably work something out with RIFTs or HERO. Both are pretty flexible systems.

[Jonas Albrecht]

I would use Mage, I think. Well, I'd use old WoD Mage, of course, but I would definately use Mage.

Funnily enough, Gifts seem to approximate Malifaux magic more than Spheres.

[the imp]

If you do go with World of Darkness, look at the new Changeling. Its magic system is flexible enough to cover about everything you would need.

I'd honestly be more inclined to use an Exalted variant for it. The over the top style, open-ended die pools, and charm trees seem like a really good fit to me. I'd model the casters on celestials and the minions on terrestrials, with most effects being charms and some of the bigger stuff following the rules for sorcery.

[Soundwave]

My vote is for WoD as well. Vampire: Dark age has a lot of material ready for a'rippin'.

It's a damn smooth rule system at that and I feel that it promotes actual roleplaying far more than say, DnD.

[Jonas Albrecht]

My vote is for WoD as well. Vampire: Dark age has a lot of material ready for a'rippin'.

It's a damn smooth rule system at that and I feel that it promotes actual roleplaying far more than say, DnD.

I don't really buy into the argument that rules promote roleplaying. What they will do is determine how simulationist a setting is, but not how players behave. Hell, the much derised "rollplaying" game, D&D 4th ed, is where I've spent the most time fleshing out a character and concentrating on his backstory, which is terribly fun to bring to life on the table. It doesn't matter if I'm using a grid map and tactics style gameplay to beat foes, I'm still in character as a country bumpkin who set off to bring his sister home after she ran away to become a feared pirate.

[longshanks]

Savage Worlds would be my first choice. Its quick and simple and you can easily adapt anything Malifaux has into it.

I also recommend Savage Worlds. It is extremely flexible and rules light.

[LonelyPath]

I'd go with the UniSystem (like All Flesh Must Be Eaten) myself. I found the WoD system very cumbersome and it implodes under its own weight. Failing that, write up your own simple RPG system or use d100.

I guess it shows I'm not much of a fan of the WoD system, but I think it's one of the worst (of more than I can remember) systems I've played. the only worse system that comes to mind was Justifiers which I switched for the BESM system instead. Oh, and D&D 4th edition is extremely rubbish (many disagree, but it's a miniatures game with RPG rules tagged on).

Of course, there's always using the D&D 3.5 Masque of the Red Death book as a basis, which restricts the magic and has characters based n what they know than fighting potential. Thebook had its flaw, but was still better than WoD

[nilus]

You could probably work something out with RIFTs or HERO. Both are pretty flexible systems.

I don't mind HERO but RIFTs. Yuck Just because its a setting that has everything and the kitchen sink in it doesn't make the rules flexible. Plus I never want to hear the words "How many MDC does Sonnia Crid have?"

[nilus]

What about adapting Mutants and Masterminds system(I think it has an official name now). Its loosly based on D20 but it gets rid of a lot of the D&D elements. No classes, No hit points. The system is designed to let you create any super power at any level. So you could easily stick the points value at the Street level and create "super powers" for character that mimic abilities in Malifaux.

[Wurmwood]

I don't really buy into the argument that rules promote roleplaying. What they will do is determine how simulationist a setting is, but not how players behave. Hell, the much derised "rollplaying" game, D&D 4th ed, is where I've spent the most time fleshing out a character and concentrating on his backstory, which is terribly fun to bring to life on the table. It doesn't matter if I'm using a grid map and tactics style gameplay to beat foes, I'm still in character as a country bumpkin who set off to bring his sister home after she ran away to become a feared pirate.

The Dread Pirate Roberta, who never takes prisoners?

[Jonas Albrecht]

The Dread Pirate Roberta, who never takes prisoners?

Red Rose Creek, who takes whatever she pleases.

[Hoyled]

I'm a big fan of the Fate system myself. Its more for a story based campaign then a dice rolling loot collection sorta game. It shouldnt be hard to tweak The Dresden Files rpg version of Fate into a Malifaux game.

[Ciaran]

I'm a big fan of the Fate system myself. Its more for a story based campaign then a dice rolling loot collection sorta game. It shouldnt be hard to tweak The Dresden Files rpg version of Fate into a Malifaux game.

If you're going with a dice based game I would definitely suggest this one!

[Dolomyte]

Prodigal punk is a huge fan of "Leverage: the roleplaying game" you should ask him about it =p

Seriously though, mage would work fine.

[Hedningen]

I've had some decent success with a modified version of Deadlands Reloaded; the biggest issue is allowing the use of magic for players without overly gimping them.

I'm also about 30 pages into a homebrewed Malifaux RPG using the basic statistics of the system. At the moment, it's still in hideous, hideous development; it mostly feels like using individual models, but playtesting has been fairly positive so far.

Generally, point-buy is the most logical method of doing things, along with allowing for flexible spell/ability generation.

Balance is always a problem with considerably homebrewed systems, however, and so nailing down what a 'basic human' in Malifaux is, to allow for proper costing and differentiating effects that have an effect on the skirmish game as opposed to an RPG is interesting.

For those wondering about mechanics and other such things; you get a control hand per 'scene', which means that players tend to hang onto them until necessary for tasks. Skills are done using relevant statistics, and things are doubtlessly going to change as time goes on. Trying to keep it as close as possible to the game, but more stats are definitely necessary.