What Can We Learn from CRPGS?

[MGibster]

Table top role playing games have influenced computer games since the 1970s. University students created games on mainframes similar to D&D and by the 1980s computer users at home enjoyed Wasteland, BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception, Ultima, and of course the Gold Box series of D&D games including Pool of Radiance. And just a few days back, Cyberpunk 2077 was released based on R. Talsorian Games' Cyberpunk from 1988. It's obvious that CRPG creators have taken quite a few lesson from table top game creators.

But what can the TTRPG crowd learn from CRPGs? For this thread, I'd like you to give us an example of what a computer game did right and how you can apply it to traditional table top RPG. For the purpose of this thread, let's not quibble too much on what constitutes a CRPG and instead focus on how the game inspired someone to improve their own tabletop experience. I'll go first.

Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011): In ToR, if you're on the Republic side, once you complete your character's starting area you head to Coruscant and the adventures begin. Even though you're a relatively low level character, your adventure doesn't feel like low level nothing quests. Your character is rubbing shoulders with senators, Jedi masters, etc., etc. and the adventures you go on have galactic implications.

There's no reason you can't bring that to table top games even in something like D&D with 1st level characters. Maybe one or more of the PCs has a connection to the king, a noble, or a ranking member of a church? There's no reason to send PCs out to clear a pack of goblins, giant rats, or spiders, tie in the bad guys to the big plot. Make whatever the players are doing seem as though it has consequence.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

All campaign should begin with adventurers killing rats in a basement.

 

[zarionofarabel]

In my opinion after 30+ years with various campaigns and systems and mechanics and player personalities...absolutely nothing, except how to run a fantastically restricted railroad where the only thing you get after a lengthy campaign is changing the color of the explosion at the end of the game.

 

[Zsong]

All campaign should begin with adventurers killing rats in a basement.

I think this is in jest
But those are the adventure starters I swore to never do again as a DM starting in the early 90s

although i eventually reintroduced giant rats. But they were more like grizzly bears in city sewers.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Absolutely nothing.

Every thing CRPGs do well, they do better than TTRPGs. The strength of TTRPGs is in the things that CRPGs can’t do (yet) that use a human DM and allow for a limitless world.

 

[MGibster]

All campaign should begin with adventurers killing rats in a basement.

It worked for A Bard's Tale and one of the Baldur's Gate games.

 

[MGibster]

In my opinion after 30+ years with various campaigns and systems and mechanics and player personalities...absolutely nothing, except how to run a fantastically restricted railroad where the only thing you get after a lengthy campaign is changing the color of the explosion at the end of the game.

Boo! Too soon. I still have bad dreams.

 

[Retreater]

Pick up and play. Quest logs. Accessibility. Sandbox freedom. Regular, small progression. Fast loading (compared to unprepared GMs).
Honestly, several times other players and I had the debate "why are we here playing lame D&D when we could be playing Skyrim?"

 

[hawkeyefan]

I think different modular elements can be ported over.

The idea of Heat in Blades in the Dark, for instance, is a measure of how much unwanted attention your crew is getting. Each job you complete winds up giving you some Heat. The more Heat you have, the harsher any Entanglements you deal with are likely to be, and if you incur enough Heat, your crew gains a Wanted Level. That means the Law is actively looking for you. The more Wanted levels you get, the more actively and aggressively the Law will come after you.

It’s a great mechanic and seems lifted from Grand Theft Auto.

Currently, I’m running a sandbox game where different areas within the sandbox serve as territories, with different factions present and one that’s currently in charge of the area. The idea of the game is that the PCs may liberate the area by completing certain missions. I’m largely looking to Far Cry, Assassin’s Creed, GTA, and similar games for inspiration.

I mean....it’s still game design. You should be able to pull inspiration from other tabletop games, video games, boardgames....and probably many other kinds of media, too, honestly.

 

[Argyle King]

What can we learn?

That polyhedral dice currently do a better job of running Cyberpunk than Playstation or XBox.