My best friend and I are writing an AD&D 2E setting book titled Myths of Malignost. Malignost is unique in that it’s designed around every table being different. The world that they play in is unique to that table. To accomplish this, we decided to have the party start at the end of creation. Their characters wake up and are instructed by the god that created them. At the beginning the players vote for the race they want to play and are limited to that race until the other races are discovered. There are 11 different races with quite few having a unique take on them. They are separated by thousands of miles to give them a chance to build a civilization unique to them.
The races are the following:
Èlaz: A race of miners that are similar to the Elves everyone is familiar with.
Annunaki: A race of angelic beings that were thrown out by their respective good deities for fighting a war against the Gallu.
Gallu: Are a race of demonic beings that fought to control the good gods at the behest of the evil gods. They were also thrown out and placed on Malignost as punishment.
Sisulu: Quadrupedal humanoids that resemble Centaurs.
Dumillu: A race short beings that have the natural inclination to being sailors, water based merchants, and pirates. They are akin to Dwarves in other settings.
Awilu: They are the humans of the world. They are the high god Malignost’s prized creation. They are the first born.
Gudu: They are a race of bipedal bull-men and cow-women. Think of them as the early version of Minotaurs.
Kitharians: They are a bipedal feline race where women are the dominant sex in their society.
Alipharians: They are bipedal canines.
Sur-Èlaz: In Malignost, Èlaz can breed with any other race. Sur-Èlaz’s are the offspring of these pairings. They are not able to chosen at the start of the game due to none of the races having met yet.
Sur-Dumillu: Like the Sur-Èlaz, Dumillu’s can breed with any other race to create half breeds. Like the other half breed they can’t be selected at the start of the game.
Malignost does have sexual dimorphism. Women of the race are weaker physically, but they get a bonus in other stats. The only exception to this are the Kitharians. There the men are the physically weaker of the two.
A big part of this world is the generational play. The players will have a pool of 3-5 characters of all different classes to have in case their main character dies. Their characters will get married, grow old, and develop their civilization. These characters are responsible for the creation of cities, castles, temples, and wizard academies. They are also responsible for creating dungeons and the like. When the character reaches 9th to 11th level they are expected to retire and the player selects from their children to play. In order to facilitate this changing of characters, the training rules are used where in order to advance to the next level it requires someone of a higher level. In the first generation, they will be taught by their creator deity.
At the start of the game, every class has an associated kit that is titled Savage (Class). This class represents the uncivilized beginning.
Deities are very involved in the world. They will look at the first generation and ensure their survival. As the races live through the generations, the deities may be more hands off or keep the same level of interaction. It’s up to the GM and the players to decide.
Thus, in the beginning the entirety of the world is a blank slate for the GM and their players to build upon. As play proceeds, the tech levels will change from the Stone Age all the way up to Tech Level 5 which is the Age of Sail. A core component of this setting is one of the players being the leader of the tribe. As the ruler, the get to decide how their county is built with the addition of settlements that can be run by the other players. Technology and the character’s class determines what they build. The overall goal of this part of the game is to build an empire. The settlement is the smallest title that can be held. The highest title is empire. A county has a max of 9 settlements. A duchy will have 4 or more counties. A kingdom is 3 or more duchies. Finally, the empire has a minimum of two kingdom titles.
We are looking for 4 players to help playtest the rules. I may open the fifth slot if my best friend declines to participate.
The game will happen on Saturdays every other weekend.
The time for the game will be at 1230 PM EST[UTC-5]/630 PM [UTC+1].
We will be using Discord for voice chat and Tabletop Simulator for the actual game. I have all the AD&D 2E books put into TTS and there is a mod that has the character sheets. There are mods that have all the miniatures etc…
For helping with the playtest and having fun your name will be in the credits as playtesters.
I currently have 3 players and looking for 2 more. First come first serve.
Finally, any spells etc… that your characters create will be immortalized in future supplements for the world. You will get credit for them as well.
Now for the rules of the game.
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If you make a commitment to play in a game you are expected to be at every session. If you have a family emergency and the like that’s an acceptable reason to miss, but when you cancel at the last minute you are not only impacting the GM/AM you are impacting your fellow players.
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I will no longer tailor adventures and stories for characters due to players not showing up. It’s too much work on my part for very little return in the long run since if you miss then all the other players are left hanging. With no storylines tailored to your character I am free to create adventures that are character agnostic.
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I use Discord Events, so when an event is shown please use the Interested button to let me know that you will be playing.
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Have fun.