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.
Quick Note: MOM uses Akkadian as a basis for the names of characters and monsters.
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 3-6 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 AM and the players to decide.
Thus, in the beginning the entirety of the world is a blank slate for the AM 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.
Myths of Malignost features the discovery of technology that is done as a kingdom action by the king. Malignost has five distinct ages to progress through. They are Tech Level 1: Stone Age, Tech Level 2: Bronze Age, Tech Level 3: Iron Age, Tech Level 4: Medieval Age, and Tech Level 5: Age of Sail. Once a race has completed 90% of the inventions for their tech level they can advance to the next one.
The setting book contains an expanded selection of Nonweapon Proficiencies for all classes. It has rules for managing a kingdom and running tabletop miniature battles for when wars happen.
The year is broken up into 12 months that are 28 days long. The year begins in what is our March. That year is broken up into 4 kingdom turns of 3 months each. Each month is an action round. Everything is done either as an action round or takes up a full 3 months. The possibilities for what the players can do are construct a new barony, upgrade their current barony, technological research as kingdom actions or they can pursue character actions like training, spell research, or even plying their trade to earn cash.
Baronies are the smallest holding within the kingdom. Every class has a corresponding base building that defines what the barony type is. Warriors like Fighters and Rangers can build castles which are law baronies. Clerics can build temples while Druids build sacred groves. Thieves and Bards construct cities. Finally, Wizards construct Arcane cities with a center of learning at the center. Paladins are unique in that they can choose to create a castle or a temple barony.
Every barony has a base building that functions as the core. There are specific add-ons that improve the barony from population to defense to trade to military. The add-ons are Walls, Residential District, Merchant District, Craftsman District, Religious District, Arcane District, Tax Office, Barracks, Aeries, and Stables. These upgrades are locked behind tech research.
Characters will have to be trained by their creator god and goddess for the first generation. After that, the characters have to establish class guilds to train younger characters. In my game I'm having the players be able to get to level 20 so they can learn all the spells needed for an advanced stone age civilization with like teleportation portals. Subsequent generations would be limited to level 9-11.
Magic is not fire and forget. Spellcasters have the Spellcraft NWP. For wizards they get Spellcraft, Arcane and divine get Spellcraft, Divine. In order to cast a spell they must succeed in their NWP check. If they fail then the spell slot isn't lost but the casting is fumbled. If it does succeed then the spell is cast. Using this allows spellcasters to be subject to critical failures or successes if you use them which I do. My players enjoy the fact that their spellcasters can achieve the same feelings of crits as the melee characters do.
Starting population of each race is only 150 people. It's up to the Adventure Master and the players to determine how many of each sex. In my game, I have 4 players that have 3 men and 3 females as couples to form their house. The other two players have 1 man and 5 women as their house.
There is a pdf of the manuscript for the setting that is currently being playtested. It is done for the most part and just needs art. Yes, I will be putting Myths and the core rules for sale when they are done.
