What Can We Learn from Computer RPGS?

[MGibster]

I think it's fairly obvious that table top role playing games have had a profound influence on computerized gaming over the last fifty years. The earliest example I can find dates from 1975, where an unlicensed version of Dungeons & Dragons, creatively titled Dungeon, was was created on a DECsystem-10 mainframe server by Don Daglow. I'm not going quibble overly much about the exact definition of role playing game, but generally speaking an RPG seeks to immerse you in a setting, there's a narrative, and character development as you progressively grow more powerful as that narrative advances. I could sit here typing all day and probably not come up with all the computer role playing games (CRPGS) that have been influenced by table top role playing games (TTRPGS), but a few examples would include Ultima (1980), Might and Magic (1986) the Gold Box series of AD&D computer games produced by SSI from 1988-1992, Fallout (1997), and many, many more games.

I've been thinking about this for a while, and once again while playing Cyberpunk 2077 I thought to myself, "What can I learn from this game that might make me a better DM or player?"

Side Quests: These are quests, tasks, jobs, etc., etc. that usually don't have a direct relationship with the main narrative of the game. As a DM, I tend to be somewhat myopic when running the game in that I tend to focus most of my attention on the main plot to the exclusion of most other things. In part, this is because I have players who have a laser like focus and tend to ignore anything that isn't directly related to the main narrative which is too bad because I can't help but think we're all missing out on something. Side quests can be a great way to introduce setting elements in game rather than exposition, an organic way to meet new NPCs (antagonist or allies), to accumulate wealth or experience, and most importantly for the players to have a little fun. I'm thinking I'd like to introduce more side quests to my games for these reasons.

Cyberpunk 2077 has a very simple side quest called "Burning Desire" where you pick an NPC up in your vehicle and drop him off at a ripper doc (clinic). When you arrive to pick up the quest, a man shuffles up to you slowly, hunched over in obvious pain while holding his crotch and begging you to take him to a clinic. On your way to the clinic, you learn the black market Mr. Studd™ cybernetic implant (you figure out where that goes) he had installed is faulty, a known problem with that model, and burst into flame. It's rather humorous, but the mission gives the player a chance to drive around and get to know the city, establishes that cybernetic implants can be anywhere, and reinforces the idea that there's a black market for cyberwear.

So are there any CRPGS you've played that gave you some ideas on how to improve your TTRPGS?

 

[payn]

The old Sierra adventure games taught me a lot about how to meld story with a game. I used that template to this day when planning out an adventure with fun encounters that are more exploration and less violence and mayhem. They also taught me that not every puzzle must be important, not every way forward has a single path.

 

[Campbell]

One of the biggest things I think we could learn is a slower introduction to both settings and game mechanics. Video games are much better at giving you a small piece of the overall game to work with and expanding the scope as play moves forward.

 

[MGibster]

One of the biggest things I think we could learn is a slower introduction to both settings and game mechanics. Video games are much better at giving you a small piece of the overall game to work with and expanding the scope as play moves forward.

I think a lot of us are guilty of raining massive exposition dumps upon our players at some point or another. And while I wasn't thinking of mechanics you bring up a good point. A lot of games have a short tutorial to teach players how things work. It's not a bad idea to include such things in a TTRPG to help players get used to how things work.

The GM's guide for the original Legend of the Five Rings had an introductory adventure allowing players to make a variety of skill rolls such as etiquette, archery, performance, etc., etc. It helped introduce new players to the setting and get used to the mechanics. One of the best introductory adventures for new players I've run across.

 

[aramis erak]

It is easier to ask for confirmation of a bad choice at the time it is made than to inoculate against it before it's relevance is clear.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I think the most important lesson is that nobody wants to sit through the cutscenes.

Keep your exposition short and to the point.

 

[Retreater]

The importance of a good journal to keep quest notes.

 

[Bilharzia]

Nothing which I can see has not already been said in other media. All computer rpgs do is take a sample slices of RPGs and re-present them in some form. There is no "lesson" I have seen coming from a videogame which might be useful for a TTRPG which could not be found in earlier games or other media, like novels or film or theatre.

This is not to say that videogames are not any good, just that they are a different medium and provide a different experience, one which is famously and spectacularly bad at facilitating person to person games - which is what TTRPGs are about. I see a lot of "what is the best TTRPG for the ____ videogame?" and it might be one of the Dark Souls games or XCOM, or whatever. There is no good answer for this as 90% of a Dark Souls game is timed action combat / rolling around, for which TTRPGs are singularly bad at, you can't meaningfully represent DS mechanics as a table top game without it being stultifying dull.

I think the most important lesson is that nobody wants to sit through the cutscenes.

Keep your exposition short and to the point.

A man named William Shakesman once said "Brevity is the soul of wit" and I am pretty sure he came up with that before the PS1 era. Oh for a muse of fire and so forth.

 

[Mind of tempest]

mechanically not much but thematics and what works setting wise are better areas also how to make races interesting without stat boosts.
some areas of class design, why we should make the wizard wide instead of tall magic also that a none magic control caster is technically possible.

 

[MGibster]

Nothing which I can see has not already been said in other media. All computer rpgs do is take a sample slices of RPGs and re-present them in some form. There is no "lesson" I have seen coming from a videogame which might be useful for a TTRPG which could not be found in earlier games or other media, like novels or film or theatre.

But I didn't ask what could we learn from computer RPGS that we couldn't learn from any other source.

This is not to say that videogames are not any good, just that they are a different medium and provide a different experience, one which is famously and spectacularly bad at facilitating person to person games - which is what TTRPGs are about.

You're right, they are different mediums and what works for one won't necessarily work for another.