What Licensed RPG Do You Wish Existed But Doesn't?

[Ruin Explorer]

I'd have to add to those saying Mass Effect.

It's kind of mystifying that it hasn't been licenced yet, especially as Dragon Age was. I think you'd need a system which actually suited how Mass Effect plays out, which is very much in an action movie vein, rather than a serious vein, or a "zero to hero" style. Shepard & co are already badasses and only get more badass. Something like a D&D-type approach would thus be dreadful - a major part of why Mass Effect: Andromeda is so poorly regarded is that it's precisely this kind of tale. Ryder starts as a pretty "level 1"-type person, and gradually becomes a badass over the course of the entire game (really only reaching that status at like, 60-70% of the way in, maybe later), and that just didn't fit with ME1-3's vibe at all. You want highly competent and confident PCs from the get-go, even if there is room for growth.

Personally I cobbled together an ME RPG from Cortex Prime, and it works pretty well, but I'd love something more professionally designed and balanced and also less work for me!

 

[Lilcamper]

Starcraft, using something like the old Star Wars d20 Saga system, but with some warts removed.

 

[payn]

I'd have to add to those saying Mass Effect.

It's kind of mystifying that it hasn't been licenced yet, especially as Dragon Age was. I think you'd need a system which actually suited how Mass Effect plays out, which is very much in an action movie vein, rather than a serious vein, or a "zero to hero" style. Shepard & co are already badasses and only get more badass. Something like a D&D-type approach would thus be dreadful - a major part of why Mass Effect: Andromeda is so poorly regarded is that it's precisely this kind of tale. Ryder starts as a pretty "level 1"-type person, and gradually becomes a badass over the course of the entire game (really only reaching that status at like, 60-70% of the way in, maybe later), and that just didn't fit with ME1-3's vibe at all. You want highly competent and confident PCs from the get-go, even if there is room for growth.

Personally I cobbled together an ME RPG from Cortex Prime, and it works pretty well, but I'd love something more professionally designed and balanced and also less work for me!

The gameplay didnt bother me in Andromeda, it was more the writing. It just didnt hit the bar the original series set.

I didnt like 4E and stopped playing it. However, for a time I was thinking of adapting it to just levels 1-10 for ME. Bloodied became shields/armor down, healing surges were medi-gel applications, etc... The 4E tactical power stuff worked well as a rock, paper, scissor style to match the combat vs tech vs biotic nature of ME combat. I gave up though because I never would have found anybody to play it. None of my gamers seemed to like anything but D&D/PF.

 

[Dreamscape]

Arcane. I mean, it would be sooo easy... the lore is there, the artwork is there, the maps are there - and lots of room for expansion into the rest of the world.

 

[Grinton]

Because Gurps New Sun exists, I'll have to go with a Malazan Book of the Fallen RPG (though, I'd go for an RPG based on the unfinished Kharkhanas trilogy, too).

There's also a new French RPG recently out for New Sun. The lore, maps, and art are great but the dice mechanics are a bit much (trying to be Wolfe complicated but more just too much rather than deep).

 

[billd91]

The gameplay didnt bother me in Andromeda, it was more the writing. It just didnt hit the bar the original series set.

I didnt like 4E and stopped playing it. However, for a time I was thinking of adapting it to just levels 1-10 for ME. Bloodied became shields/armor down, healing surges were medi-gel applications, etc... The 4E tactical power stuff worked well as a rock, paper, scissor style to match the combat vs tech vs biotic nature of ME combat. I gave up though because I never would have found anybody to play it. None of my gamers seemed to like anything but D&D/PF.

We did Mass Effect with Star Wars Saga Edition. I don't think we changed much about the Jedi power to make them biotic powers, but they'd have been easy enough to curate and modify to fit the bill. I was playing a Turian using the Zabrak as my base template. We used the shields from the KotoR sourcebook, I believe.
It worked much better, in the end, than the GURPS version we started out trying.

 

[Grinton]

Barb The Last Berserker. Not for me directly but my daughter is obsessed with the books and I'd love to play with her.

 

[Undrave]

At some point it would probably turn into a Tokusatsu game.

Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle

Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle (ウルトラギャラクシー大怪獣バトル Urutora Gyarakushī Daikaijū Batoru) is the first season of its series that is the 21st entry in the Tsuburaya Productions' long-running Ultraman Series. It is an adaption of the video game Mega Monster Battle: ULTRA MONSTERS. The show first...

ultra.fandom.com

Battlenizer

The Battlenizer (バトルナイザー Batorunaizā) is a device used by Reionics, such as Rei and Kate, that allows its wielder to summon a monster through a system called MonsLoad (モンスロード Monsurōdo). The user is able to command the monster until it is damaged too much, in which case it will have to be called...

ultra.fandom.com

 

[Undrave]

What about the Disney Afternoon stuff? Or is stuff like Gargoyles and Talespin too character focused to work?

Narnia. Lemme play a mouse swashbuckler pls and thanks.

Does Redwall have a TTRPG?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

The gameplay didnt bother me in Andromeda, it was more the writing. It just didnt hit the bar the original series set.

I'm talking mostly about the writing, gameplay-wise Ryder is pretty competent from day one.

But in the writing (which includes dialogue options) you start as this very milquetoast character, who can be sassy but only in a cheap way or bossy but only in an ineffectual way (people ignore you), and gradually make you more respected and commanding through the game, and it's like, nobody asked for that. It's like if they made a James Bond game and you played a nebbish, loserly Bond for 2/3rds of the game. Ain't no-one wants that.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Does Redwall have a TTRPG?

Not officially.

Mouse Guard does though, and there are others inspired by it.

Re: Gargoyles etc. I think most RPGs are essentially that sort of thing. Certainly the distance between Gargoyles and a WoD game played with a fairly light heart is not very far.

 

[payn]

I'm talking mostly about the writing, gameplay-wise Ryder is pretty competent from day one.

But in the writing (which includes dialogue options) you start as this very milquetoast character, who can be sassy but only in a cheap way or bossy but only in an ineffectual way (people ignore you), and gradually make you more respected and commanding through the game, and it's like, nobody asked for that. It's like if they made a James Bond game and you played a nebbish, loserly Bond for 2/3rds of the game. Ain't no-one wants that.

Yeah, ok, I can see that. Both in how you are a rookie thrusted into a leadership position, and how it just is portrayed poorly in game. I could go on and on but this isn't a thread about ME:A.

 

[Jer]

My actual answer - Legend of Zelda.

My not as serious answer - Super Mario Bros. Mostly because I want to see what kind of game they'd make for that license.

My stupid answer - Super Mario Bros. the movie. As a Storyteller/World of Darkness supplement.

(EDIT: And I mean the original live action Super Mario Bros. movie, not the upcoming cartoon one.)

 

[James Gasik]

A good sci fi/science fantasy rpg would be nice. I'd like to see Phantasy Star, personally.

Also, why isn't there a Gargoyles RPG? It's such an awesome world, with deep mythology (ok, a lot is drawn from existing mythology, but still! Making kids care about Shakespeare is a tall order!) and lots of possibilities for characters. Though I'd have a hard time giving David Xanatos a stat block...

 

[Jer]

Also, why isn't there a Gargoyles RPG? It's such an awesome world, with deep mythology (ok, a lot is drawn from existing mythology, but still! Making kids care about Shakespeare is a tall order!) and lots of possibilities for characters. Though I'd have a hard time giving David Xanatos a stat block...

Not officially licensed, but IIRC back when the cartoon was on the air there was a fan created Gargoyles book for the Storyteller system that was passed around on the internet. I wish I still had a copy - I remember it being pretty good. But a lot of my old 90s downloaded fan creations succumbed to bitrot before I could get them off floppies and onto other media

(There was also a Highlander fan book for Storyteller. Which, honestly, felt like White Wolf really missed the boat in NOT licensing that franchise for an adaptation. A closer fit to their usual product than Street Fighter was at least).

 

[Velderan]

My actual answer - Legend of Zelda.

Please no, my wallet can't take it! lol

My not as serious answer - Super Mario Bros. Mostly because I want to see what kind of game they'd make for that license.

Mario RPG for SNES was a fantastic game, so it wouldn't be too hard to adapt that concept to a TTRPG imo.

 

[A2Z]

Hannu Rajaniemi's The Jean le Flambeur series. Also, Iain Bank's Culture universe or Asher's Polity universe.

The combined universe of She-Ra, He-man, Thundercats, and whatever other old space fantasy cartoons were happeneing around that same time. I think there is an unofficial She-Ra game, but not a licensed one, IIRC.
Do a chapter or even a small book on each one, with a core rules book that they all run off of, and that presents The Known Universe connecting them all.

This would be cool, but isn't there a He-Man rpg coming out?

 

[thullgrim]

Peter F Hamilton’s Reality dysfunction series would be a choice for me.

Malazan was mentioned up thread. Ironically it started as a GURPS game.

Simon R. Greens books, The Deathstalker series, Hawk and Fisher, or pretty much anything else. All are very gameable I think.

 

[TwoSix]

Any sort of isekai LitRPG with one of those class systems with hundreds of classes and skills. Just a really hardcore crunchy book with 500+ pages of mechanics.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Re: Gargoyles etc. I think most RPGs are essentially that sort of thing. Certainly the distance between Gargoyles and a WoD game played with a fairly light heart is not very far.

Back in the day, Gargoyles was probably second only to Highlander for its' number of WoD fan splats.