D&D 5E Mining Video Games for D&D

[Ralif Redhammer]

Inspiration can come from so much, including videogames. For me, the God of War series (while problematic in other aspects) provided a major inspiration to my combat encounters, as far as creating interesting battles goes. For example, why have a fight with a hydra in a plain cave, when you can fight one on a wrecked ship in the middle of a storm?

Assassins Creed 2 definitely inspired some of my urban adventures, too.

 

[MarkB]

Dishonored is a good source of inspiration if you're looking to mix a little steampunk into your setting while keeping a unique look and feel. Its take on magical abilities also makes a good source of unique powers.

The recent XCOM games do some great things with tactical turn-based combat, and have good character class designs, most of which could be translated into a pen'n'paper RPG fairly handily. The heavy emphasis on cover-based mechanics may be a stumbling block, though if you like to use detailed battlemaps it could turn into a selling point.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

Dark Souls is a game worth looking at for the way it builds its world and tells its story. The game's director grew up reading fantasy novels that were written in a language that was not his first, so he often didn't get the whole picture clearly. This is reflected in how many details within Dark Souls are described in very vague terms and almost nothing is fully explained to the player. When an answer to a question is given it often leads to more questions. This really engages the player and makes them curious about the setting.
Of course, when developing material for D&D I try not to be that opaque about things, but it has shown me how effective it can be to withhold details and create an air of mystery around certain things.

Another game series that influences my ideas a lot is Monster Hunter, mostly from an aesthetic point of view as the narrative in those games is somewhat anemic. But it has given me cool ideas such as a ship that sails on sand through a desert and a group of gutsy rangers that try to keep the local threats in check.

 

[Guest 6801718]

Video games are a great source of inspiration for D&D. Especially if you take some game tropes, like being chased by the giant monster, and make them encounters. Trying to flee the giant monster while tunnels collapse and bridges snap is great fun. I've had an itch to run a boss D&D encounter like the God of War battle where you take on Chronus. Use something huge like a dragon and have the party end up on top of it when it happens to take flight. Have them battling it while trying to stay on and get it to crash land somewhere safe for them. Make the entire encounter a mix of skills, wits and combat rather that have the PC just shoot some arrows until the dragon lands so they can melee it. Chronus was so huge in God of War that he was the entire level. Putting the PCs in that kind of situation on that scale would be a blast. I've used game sub quest ideas, monster encounters and even some NPCs from video games. Take inspiration for anything and everything. I ran an undead themed campaign that I based very heavily on The Walking Dead and a bunch of zombie survival games. Unfortunately it got a little too scary for the PCs and we switched to something else. That was a real shame, as I was just about to get to The Governor inspired part of my campaign...

Anyway, some games that inspired my D&D campaigns are Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, Dead Island, Dead Space, Uncharted and Torment. Uncharted was great inspiration for some treasure hunter/pirate style adventures.

 

[hopeless]

Does anyone remember the d&d animation that came with one of the older d&d computer games that involved a mage and a rogue having to try and sneak inside an old temple usurped by the villains to recover an ancient artefact in the form of a holy symbol that when used caused the lich to fall apart and the red dragon he commanded to flee by bursting out of the massive cathedral window?

Its been a heck of along time but was wondering if this was available anywhere on youtube?

I think it dates back to 2nd edition ad&d I think it came as part of either a character creation game disc or possibly as part of a freebie released with maybe dragon magazine?

I recall there was a dungeon creator involved and it gave you the opportunity to walk through a level like you could in Eye of the Beholder but the stairs didn't allow you to go up or down a level just show where its located.

Was wondering if anyone can help confirm what I'm recalling and as this is about getting inspiration from various movies and games figured this was a good place to ask?