Sword and Board

I'm just about done reading "The Crippled God" by Steven Erikson, book 10 of the Malazan: Book of the Fallen. Damn it's epic and awesome. Easily my favorite book series ever.

But why oh why doesn't he publish a setting book? He's a gamer, damn it! Give us a big book of maps and pictures of characters, with some bio for each. I'd buy it, and I daresay a whole lot of other people would, too.

Been reading Malazan books again, and I am just thinking about high powered characters. I suspect the only systems that could really pull off characters such as Draconus, Kallor, or even Tehol would be a supers game. Hero 5th is likely the best option, since it is presented as more generic than supers. (It's also a pretty fine game).

Gurps was apparently used as a real-life campaign for the Malazan setting, but I don't think it would scale well at all once you get to the really powerful guys.

I love D&D, but it just doesn't seem to do high level characters well (BECMI would probably be ok, but other versions get too complex). Anyone else have any recommendations?

I've been reading the Malazan series by Steven Erikson and there is just a ton of stuff in it I'd love to see in a published campaign world. Fact is, Malazan is based on a D&D/Gurps campaign, so that probably really adds to this feeling.

Anyways, stuff I'd love:
1. Soletaken. Powerful shapechangers that are generally resistant to magic and many of whom are mages. Some of them are dragons, others turn into a horde of rats. All of them are vicious, nasty bastards.
2. Warrens. Magic is aspected to warrens. Many mages can only access one warren, though cases certainly exist where mages can use a bunch of different ones (Quick Ben and Bottle being the primary examples).
3. Ancient races that are still around, though very rare and generally extremely powerful. Examples include the Toblakai, the Jaghut, and the Tiste variants. This would also work fine with elves if they were not just the tree-hugging recluses most settings use that mid-level adventurers can kill without a ton of effort.
4. A real live Empire that includes multiple cultures and is generally quite effective at accomplishing it's goals. Most settings either have the empires long vanished or generally collapsing (Forgotten Realms is a prime example).

I've been reading the Malazan books by Erikson, and I found a bunch of great pics based upon his world. Here's a few (click on them for much larger versions):

Tattersail meets with Quick Ben, Kalam, Whiskeyjack, and Sorry at the very beginning of Gardens of the Moon.

Karsa Orlong riding around in the Seven Cities, being awesome.

Segulah warriors, with Lady Envy in the background.

Mappo Runt, looking suitably barbaric.