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11:15, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Zelda rpg.

Posted by Hakazu
Hakazu
member, 45 posts
Tue 16 Jan 2018
at 17:44
  • msg #1

Zelda rpg

Greetings everyone! I wonder if there is someone would be interested to be a Gm in the Breath of wild world.

I personally believe it have great opportunities where the players try to make the bleak world better, like securing travelroads, raiding goblin lairs, fending off hostiles from settlements or even manage to create a somewhat safe haven from the darkness.
rgrnwood
member, 68 posts
Tue 16 Jan 2018
at 18:11
  • msg #2

Zelda rpg

I'd thought about starting one, but there were three issues that stopped me.

1) I felt self conscious not knowing all the lore (BotW is the only Zelda game I've played but I love it). How much lore would the GM has to know? Would this take place before Link awakens? Would the GM need to Jane completed the game? How much leveling up would there be and how would it be justified in-world without the spirit orbs?

2) What system would fit? I only own Savage Worlds and D&D 5e. I tend to heavily homebrew things (not that those ever see a table, I just enjoy tinkering, and even thought about how to model the mechanics of BotW in tabletop).

3) A lot of BotW is visual/spatial and Mau not translate as well into a written format. I'm thinking of things like the moment-to-moment gameplay of climbing, spotting korok puzzles, and completing shrine puzzles.
This message was last edited by the user at 18:19, Tue 16 Jan 2018.
Hakazu
member, 46 posts
Tue 16 Jan 2018
at 19:30
  • msg #3

Zelda rpg

Personally I believe it would be best to only circle around the BOTW, ignoring the most lore to skip confusion etc.

The spirit orbs I personally believe is only for Link and the players "level up" in usual ways, they are after all not champions of a goddess (?).

What I believe the game should focus on is the survival of the people of Hyrule, like finding a way to make weapons to safeguard the civilians or alike. For this to work best the best option would be some years after the first battle with Ganon, but several years before links return. The  puzzles and alike is for Link to grow not the players.
Athenry
member, 14 posts
Tue 16 Jan 2018
at 20:10
  • msg #4

Zelda rpg

Pardon my two cents on the matter, as this pitch did rather grab my attention.

1) Given the overall nature of BoTW's story and how it relegated all the previously-existing lore from older games to various retellings of legends, a deep understanding of LoZ's lore wouldn't be mandatory.  It would certainly help enrich the game, but it's not required for players since they would reasonably be playing characters who have grown up in a post-Hyrule world.

2) For the sake of simplicity, I feel D&D 5e would be an excellent fit for BoTW.  It is a very low-threshold system that is easy for new players to understand, and it has a lot of room for customization.  However, since BoTW is a rather low-magic setting (where characters other than Link, Zelda, and Ganon are concerned), it would perhaps require some tweaking to give mundane explanations for otherwise supernatural elements.  Sheikah technology would certainly be a reasonable stand-in for magic in many cases.

3) I would personally set the game a few years after Calamity Ganon's final defeat, where both Link and Zelda roam the land to establish a new Hyrule.  This would allow players to be aware of the events of the game and help in rebuilding a new kingdom, which offers a more hopeful tone than if there was still Calamity Ganon looming on the horizon all the time.  The players wouldn't necessarily ever need to directly interact with Link or Zelda either - just having them being a known force in the land would be enough.  Further, all the other normal threats (roaming Guardians, bands of monsters, environmental hazards, etc) would all still be in effect to challenge the players.
Hakazu
member, 47 posts
Tue 16 Jan 2018
at 21:44
  • msg #5

Zelda rpg

In reply to Athenry (msg # 4):

Playing after the game would work and be fun in it's own way, but I think it would also make some problem. As Zelda is back she is the ruler of Hyrule and everyone will turn towards her and the players will then simply be another person doing her wishes. The fun part of before Link comes to life again is that there is no major ruler part of Hyrule, sure Zoras and the other races have their own territory to rule but still face their own problem.

I have very little experience with DoD but I have heard it's fun  ;)
rgrnwood
member, 69 posts
Wed 17 Jan 2018
at 03:11
  • msg #6

Zelda rpg

No apologies needed; the more cents the better.

So what about this:

1) Taking place immediately after Link's defeat and the fall of Hyrule. The plot would focus former citizens of empire defeating Ganon's allies (guardians, Yiga, bokoblins, moblins, lizalfos, wizrobos, etc.) Basically this would explain why there's anything left for Link and Zelda to save. Ganon's blood moon can't being back everyone?

2) using homebrewed D&D 5e to include Legend of Zelda species and playstyles.

3) Have most magic be reflavored as Sheikah technology.

4) use material from outside the basic handbook to provide more non-magical and low-magic options for players (like alchemists and robot makers).

5) Leave out towers, shrines, and Spirit orbs; characters level up normally.
Athenry
member, 15 posts
Wed 17 Jan 2018
at 07:47
  • msg #7

Zelda rpg

I would hesitate to put the game in the period before Link's revival simply because it limits what the players can do by default.  They would know from the outset that they can ultimately accomplish absolutely nothing that wouldn't have already been in the game by the time Link wakes up, which was very little.  A few towns and scattered settlements at best.

The BoTW world is a very large one and there's plenty of room for exploration after Calamity Ganon is banished, in my opinion.  Just because Zelda is acknowledged as a legendary Princess by the population doesn't necessarily mean that they would all rally behind her.  A major plot element could be a revival of the Yiga clan trying to kill/capture her again to finish off the royal bloodline once and for all, or a rival political faction refusing to acknowledge Zelda's right to rule and seeking to claim control for themselves.  Or, given Zelda's characterization throughout the game, she might not even want to rule the new kingdom herself at all.  Placing the events of this game after the conclusion of the main BoTW quest leaves the world much more open-ended for what can happen and what sort of impact the players can have.

As for 95% of the stuff Link does in the game, I'd agree to keep it exclusive to him.  I would, however, personally suggest opening up Towers to all players - the remaining Sheikah could popularize their function and it could become a common means of rapid transport around the huge world map.  At least Tower-to-Tower jumps as opposed to Link's whole "teleport from anywhere" bit.  Same with the Sheikah Slate - the Sheikah scientists could find a way to mass produce a lesser version of the device with limited capacity for the sake of replacing/replicating magical abilities some character classes would have.
This message was last edited by the user at 07:48, Wed 17 Jan 2018.
Hakazu
member, 48 posts
Wed 17 Jan 2018
at 10:59
  • msg #8

Zelda rpg

That sounds quite good to me :)

And while I want to be a player, I can always help out as a co-Gm
Hakazu
member, 49 posts
Wed 17 Jan 2018
at 11:07
  • msg #9

Zelda rpg

In reply to Athenry (msg # 7):

The problem with Zelda is that even if she does not want to rule, she would do that anyway just to ensure that the line of goddes still exist when Ganon return once again.
Athenry
member, 16 posts
Wed 17 Jan 2018
at 15:16
  • msg #10

Zelda rpg

In reply to Hakazu (msg # 9):

The line of descendants from Zelda to pass along Hylia's bloodline doesn't require a royal standing though - just a steady line of offspring.  It just so happens that, until BoTW or Wind Waker, all those successors happened to be within the current ruling faction of Hyrule.  In BoTW and WW, the very concept of a ruling royal class is entirely destroyed yet Zelda still has her divine powers.  The lineage continues on regardless of whether or not Zelda is in charge.  She could just as easily uphold the process and raise future generations to face the threat of Calamity Ganon's return the same way the Sheikah have all these years; as quaint, unassuming villagers tucked in an out-of-the-way farming community.

Further, Zelda's depiction in the BoTW's narrative showed her as having little interest in actually being a ruler in the first place.  She was far more interested in engineering and research, and took every opportunity she could get to shirk her royal duties.  She was forced into the role of "divine princess" by circumstances and a lot of the game's story was centered on how that caused her a huge amount of grief.  With the way the game ended, it seemed to impress the idea that Zelda was more interested in making a direct contribution to the restoration of Hyrule rather than being its leader.

Besides, it's not as though BoTW currently has a unified government anyway.  Right now the population is scattered and overseen by town elders, mayors, and the like.  Even if she is the legendary princess from a long-dead kingdom, it's not like Zelda could just go "Okay, I'm the boss now!" and the entire population would just instantly obey that without question.
This message was last edited by the user at 15:17, Wed 17 Jan 2018.
Hakazu
member, 50 posts
Wed 17 Jan 2018
at 19:47
  • msg #11

Zelda rpg

You make a good point, if that is the setting that will be chosen we better be sure to make spoiler warning, in the same manner that you just revelead something I didn't know yet.
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