The Deck of Dragons- Erikson's Malazan books

[megatron46]

Okay, I DM a reasonable amount of Dungeon World, and also love Steven Erikson's Malazan series of books. I'd like to develop something like the deck of dragon's he uses but adapt it to have a mechanic in game. The joy of Dungeon World is that it is so narrative based, so I can just describe stuff, but I'm interested in developing it so it will have a different impact depending on class, eg a magic user's effect will be different to a divine character, which will be different to someone who is not magic at all.

Any ideas would be welcomed.

For those who don't know what The Deck of Dragons is- It is a deck of cards, with each card representing a God or one of the God's avatars. It works sort of like a tarot deck, but it also allows some element of influence over the gods themselves and often it will add new cards to itself if a new god arises, or someone ascends and usurps a god or a god's domain etc. (In the books some characters play cards and gamble with a copy of the deck with mixed results!)

Ta for any help!

[theoverlord]

It sounds quite similar to the 'Deck Of Many Things', the main things that I will need is how many cards there are per deck, and if there are any specific gods/domains that are particularly needed or used within the world. I assume that there are normal domains such as fire, water, earth, air, life, death, etc. But if there are any more please let me know. Also, I assume that only core classes will be used to generate these, otherwise I will never be done.

[megatron46]

Thanks for your help. I'm currently building a new campaign world. Here's what I have so far on the Deck;
Yes, only core classes! Although I was only thinking of dividing into three- Divine, Arcane, Martial.
There are 6 decks of 6 cards plus 4 cards which are unaligned. Each deck has 1 card to represent the god and 5 to represent the avatars/ascendants; I have named some, not others yet.
None of the decks are intrinsically good or evil.
Life- Domain
1. Yannis- Goddess
2. The Builder
3. The Mother
4. The Bird
5. The Dawn
6. The Tyrant
Death- Domain
1. Meliore- Goddess
2. The Raven
3. The Lover
4. The Skull
5. The Whisper
6. ?
Nature- Domain
1. Huw- God
2. The Tempest
3. The Beast
4. The Hunter
5. The Tree
6. The Wave
Order- Domain
1. Bastion- God
2. The Scribe
3. The City
4. The Scales
5. The Judge
6. ?
Chance- Domain
1. Teak- God
2. The Jester
3. The Dice
4. The Cup
5. The Madman
6. The Nail
Rot- Domain
1. Merrick- God
2. The Leper
3. The Chain
4. The Mound
5. ?
6. ?
Unaligned-
The Soldier
The Dancer
The Crown
The Tower

[theoverlord]

Thanks for this, it really helps. Just to check a couple of things:
does the questions marks mean that the avatar will be eventually filled in by you, or will they stay relatively unknown/blank until filled.
Do the unaligned cards need to be separated into the three decks. I have sort of an idea to separate everything else, but I am not entirely sure about the unaligned set.
Are the benefits/debuffs of the cards permanent or do they only last a set period of time.
Finally, are these cards all set by alignment (e.g. Life will be better than death, chance will be more random) stuff like that, or will they all provide slight benefits but with slight debuffs.

[megatron46]

Thanks for helping me out. No the unaligned don't need to be separated out they are something apart. The benefits/debuffs are all temporary, although there will be opportunities for characters to align themselves with a domain and take on aspects of the god/domain/avatar and those be permanent should the players choose that.
No one domain is better than the other, although some avatars may be more powerful than others depending on how the narrative plays out, so all have benefits/debuffs as I don't want the domains too rigid at the beginning.
The blanks will either be filled in by me or the players as the story progresses, although if you have any suggestions feel free to fling them into the mix.

[theoverlord]

This is all brilliant, is there anything particular that you want for each god/avatar to do, or is there anything set In stone that they must do. Also is there a set period of time you want for these benefits/debuffs. Other than that I'll see how much I can do over the weekend.

[theoverlord]

As I had some time on my hands, I started to attempt to write the cards. these are all very general and work for all classes, I have also not included the gods/goddesses within this, as I'm not quite sure how to Impliment them. Also not all cards are included due to their difficulty to balance properly.
Card name- benefit / debuff
The builder- increase to craft or building items / decrease to any speech based skill check
The bird- gains ability to fly / while under a roof or inside player can only chirp (people must make linguistics check to understand)
The dawn- player regains hit points and spells per day as if resting fully for 1 night / player must rest 2x as long the next night to gain benefits
The Raven- increased sight based perception / people tend to stay away from character (due to Ravens image as bad luck)
The lover- increased diplomacy and bluff / decreased damage and attack rolls
The skull- increased damage and attack rolls / lower diplomacy, bluff and linguistics
The whisper- increased stealth / cannot speak above a whisper, increased spell failure chance with vocal components
The beast - handle animal buff, higher starting relationship with animals, can communicate with animals / lowers standing with common speaking races (or core races depending)
The tree- boost to CMD for bull rush, reposition, trip or overrun / lowers movement speed
The scribe- increase to lingusitics / decrease to attack rolls or damage
The judge- increase to intimidate and diplomacy / cannot perform anything against the law during this time
The dice - rolls 2 dice, with one giving a benefit to an ability score the other giving a debuff to a ability score
The leper- increased resistance to poisons, diseases adm sicknesses / lessened perception, visually appears disfigured
The soldier- increased attack rolls / lowered speaking skills
The dancer- increased bluff acrobatics and perform (dancing) / lowered stealth and disguise
The crown- everyone sees you as a lord or high ranking official / after period of time ends, lowered diplomacy, ride and knowledge (nobility)
The tower- increased perception, increased AC against melee attacks / lowered AC against ranged attacks, increased perception against player.

[megatron46]

My friend, this is awesome thankyou!!!
As for duration of effects that will probably be decided by the narrative, unless it's in combat then that will probably be decided by turn or for that combat specifically. However as it's Dungeon World it can be flexible, (one of the reasons I love the system so much).
The Gods themselves are tricky, I see them as a more narrative device, giving knowledge or understanding- maybe a boost to Spout Lore or Discern Reality rolls. Or as invoking a God is dangerous maybe a massive benefit/debuff but I'd probably play that out through story telling. Still if you have any ideas I'm open for suggestions.
Nothing's set in stone yet, thought I'd get some ideas and see what other people think of the idea/do all the work for me

[theoverlord]

Sorry about the use of pathfinder and other D&D terms, it was the set that I know well and was able to access quickly enough. I will see what I can do for the rest of the cards that I haven't written stuff for yet. If I do I will probably just edit the original document.

[megatron46]

Don't worry about the pathfinder/dnd terms. They're still applicable to dungeon world. I'm really interested on concepts and ideas- which you've helped with loads.

[theoverlord]

As I have had some time, food, and large amounts of alcohol I have managed to finish the list for the cards, this basically follows on from my previous cards post:
The mother- increased AC, increased sense motive / decreased bluff, forced to sleep for 2 more hours than normal (i.e. 8 hours becomes 10 hours)
the tyrant- Increased intimidate, as well as benefits of the crown / people will not reveal information unless intimidate check is made
the tempest- increased damage w/ melee / speaks at a constant shout (loud enough for anyone to hear), lowered stealth
the hunter- increased stealth, increased ranged attack / increased perception checks against if not stealth-ed
The city- bonus to linguistics, bonus to AC against melee, increased gold gain / lower attack roll, penalty to damage rolls
The scales- everything becomes balanced, skill rolls go to nearest value, all enemies encountered become same level as player
The Jester- increased acrobatics and perform / people do not take seriously, decrease to speaking skills
The cup- Gain excess knowledge, temporary life points and gold / After time ends, gain less gold, lowered knowledge checks, 1/2 nonlethal damage is auto taken
the madman- player gains perception benefits as well as benefits on invisible enemies / player seems to see nothing, forgets certain things
the nail- Increased AC against bludgeoning damage / increased chance to hit for bludgeoning damage
the mound- increased ranged perception and ranged attack rolls / increased perception against player
If I can suggest a card I would suggest the nomad, where you would gain benefits to survival checks anywhere, but people would see you as a savage and treat you as such.

[megatron46]

My friend! This is great thankyou! I especially like The Scales- I love the concept of everything becoming balanced and gaining or losing levels to match the player.
I'll let you know how I shape things in regards to the gods themselves and what new cards I add, I like the nomad idea too, just need to think on where to place it.