Fantasy and SF books form a rich source of material for role playing games. A Man Of His Word, a fantasy series by Dave Duncan, is no exception.

This series, and the sequel series, A Handful Of Men, describe a fantasy world with various races, magic, and mysteries. The books themselves are terrific reading, and highly recommended even if you don't plan on basing a campaign there.

If you do plan on basing a campaign there, here are some of the key elements you'll be dealing with.

Races

Some typical names are used for the various races in the world. Fauns, imps, djinn, elves, merpeople, etc. In this world, though, these are all human derivatives, and can generally interbreed. Imps, for example, refers to the race of humans that form the Impire, the government controlling the majority of the world. The Djinns are Arabian Nights type of humans, living in a harsh desert land.

If your players have not read the books, they may find themselves with some misconceptions based on the use of familiar names. You'd be best off by creating a capsule guide to the races, and explaining each one on the context of the world. Otherwise your players might expect Djinns to grant wishes!

Magic

Magic is the biggest element that keeps the world from being a humdrum medieval society. And it's the biggest potential problem for running a campaign there.

Magic works according to the possession of magic words. These are multisyllabic nonsense words that contain power. Some words are more powerful than others, and shared words have that power divided among the people who know them. Families tend to pass the words they know from father to son, mother to daughter, down the generations, hoarding the knowledge of the words.

Knowing a single word enhances a person's natural talents. A weak word may simply make them an expert at whatever they're already good at, while a powerful word may make their skill seem supernatural. Generally only one, or perhaps two, talents are thus enhanced by a single word.

Two words makes the person an expert in all talents, even the first time they use them. Possession of two words makes a poet an expert swordsman, a swordsman a perfect diplomat, etc. The person can perform any mundane task better than pretty much anyone else who doesn't have magical assistance.

Three words creates a magician, able to weave magic into temporary effects.

Four words creates a sorcerer, able to use far more magic and for permanent effects. Powerful words create powerful sorcerers, and the pecking order between sorcerers is determined by the power of their words.

Five words makes a...well, you'll have to read the books for that one. Let's just say it'll take a PC out of the game, one way or another.

This style of magic makes things pretty simple for a GM. You'll need some way to evaluate the power of a person's words, but after that the person with the higher number of words wins. If they have the same number of words, the person with the more powerful words usually wins.

This style of magic is also a game balance nightmare.

Players tend to metagame, to make decisions based on more than what their characters would use. Give one PC a word, and before too long they'll have it shared amongst themselves. The books established that a word that is shared too widely can die, and that the power of shared words falls off rapidly. Use those to create a system where players will be reluctant to share a word except in dire need.

Note too that the power of a shared word is increased if one of the people who knows it dies, which might create some interesting inter-party stresses.

Other Issues

Players like to accumulate power. In this world, where four words makes the mightiest sorcerer, without any other training or effort, you can bet that will be the goal of every player. It doesn't really matter what plots you throw in front of them, they'll be looking for an opportunity to get more words.

And in general, once they start getting words, there's no going back. They'll be operating on different levels of society, and you'll need different plots.

I think this would be a great setting for a campaign, but go into it knowing that you'll have to deal eventually with escalating power.

While these books can be hard to find in print, you can often find them at used bookstores. Online, Amazon.com is your best bet to get hooked up with used bookstores who'll ship to you, although only a couple of the books are marked as available. Or, if you don't need a paper copy, you can find the series at FictionWise.