Which video games should and shouldn't influence it?

[Stormonu]

I see nothing rong withh taking story and character elements, but I would advise agaist mechanics derived from video games.

D&D has been directly involved with video games since the Pool of Radiance game back in the 80's. There's even a sourcebook that utiilizes 2E's and 3E's rules to play in the Diablo world. But even those books realized they shouldn't attempt to clone the mechanics.

 

[Glade Riven]

It depends on what you mean by "videogamey." I had this argument here on Enworld several times after 4e's release.

But, on what I would look at...I would look first at what good videogames do well. Then I would look at what they don't do well. Then I would look at whether or not what they do well can translate to a different format.


Skyrim
1. A fairly open world where you can do anything is a good thing. Tricky to do at the table, but I am a fan of sandbox.
2. One class to rule them all isn't D&D. However, perk trees are very reminicent of D20 Modern's and Saga's Talent Trees. I like talent trees, and think they should be brought back.
3. While I do not support a One Class to Rule Them All approach, it would be nice if D&D allowed a player to "dabble" in minor abilities normally avalable only to other classes, either through feats or talent trees.
4. Skyrim (sometime soonish) will be coming out with a Creation Kit. A A "Sandbox" Construction Kit (Campaign Construction Kit?) for 5e would be friggin' awsome. Distill it into a book or box set instead of the whole "points of light" thing, to give a DM tools to build a campaign setting of their own. Split this from the DMG, and leave the DMG for things like running a game.


Legend of Zelda
1. I learned dungeon design from Zelda games. It is one thing that series does exceedingly well, and using what I learned from Zelda at the table has had very positive results.
2. Really, skip everything else from the series. Except maybe the hookshot. Or a few other artifacts.


Dragon Age
1. Having only played the first one and never played the second one, I...have no idea what it would even really have to offer beyond a few fluff ideas. They do have the coolest take on dwarves.


Neverwinter Nights
Hey, wait-a-second...


Guild Wars II
Yes, the game is not out yet. But - I love what I am reading of the design philosophy behind Guild Wars II. I'd like to see some of that reflected if not with 5e, then with a 5e compatable revamp of d20 Modern.

Most JRPGs
Too grindery, and most plots are esoteric to the point where the Game Designers forgot what they were doing by the end. Or ran out of budget.

 

[DonTadow]

Oh my,

what a closed minded bunch of folk we become. I talk all the time in MMO forums of how the next generation of MMOs needs to bring more tabletop ideas. Well vice versa.

If your goal is to grow the medium, and people who would be interested in your medium play video games, then you need to figure out the things they like about it and incoprorate. No, you dont want battlfield earth

The ONE thing that they need to borrow is the ease of making a character. This is what folk are use to in RPGs. The goal is, how to do this, and keep the option of being complex.

In every game i play, i make 4 or 5 decisions and voila , i am playing the game and playing a character i enjoy playing.

As i play the game, i make furhter decisions to make my character, slowly.

Both 3.5, 4e and pathfinder force a strong understanding of the character making progress and the entire game before i make a character.

i have to either memorize or have on hand at all times a chart that doesn't follow mathematical convention to make a character. Wait, why do i get a +1 here and not one here, wait this is going up 2.

That's why i like the module approach and hope it is more stripped down than all inclusive. The class structure is cumbersomeness. ONly a handful of folk will want to come in fresh (no outside intervention) and play the game. And there aren't enough rpgers out there to bring in all the players that hasbro needs to make this lucrative for them.

 

[GSHamster]

I think that D&D could stand to take a look at combat resources used in a lot of modern games. For example, WoW uses mana (net-loss resource), energy/rage (cyclical resource, starts at full versus starts at zero), linked opposite-phase resources. Some SWTOR classes use cyclical resources where the rate of regen varies depending on how much of the resource you have remaining.

I think one of the problems with D&D combat balance is that D&D classes have a very primitive view of costs. The only real cost is how often you can use the ability. It's not very granular, and leads to the only consideration being the effect of the spell.

Compare to a game like Magic: the Gathering, where cost can be expressed in much greater variety of ways. This spell costs 2 mana, this spell costs 2 colored mana.

 

[TwinBahamut]

D&D can learn a lot from videogames. They're both games, and they share a lot of key elements that are essential to both that make useful comparisons very easy to do. Of course, the videogame industry is also a lot bigger, better funded, and more competitive than the tabletop RPG industry, so some of the mechanics and ideas in videogames have had to evolve much more rapidly than tabletop mechanics have. Sure, some of those ideas don't translate well, but a much greater number do, and D&D rules could learn a lot from those.

As for specific examples...

Square's SaGa series is something of an odd duck, but it is a gold mine of creative ideas and intriguing mechanics. I personally think the HP/LP it developed is both easier to use and more effective than many systems like the old VP/WP system or 4E's Healing Surges. One particular entry, Romancing SaGa for the PS2, also had a really interesting system combining resources that accumulate mid-battle (Battle Points) with resources that are only restored when resting in towns (Weapon Durability), with varying degrees of how easy it is to even restore the latter (powerful weapons are much harder to repair, forcing the player to use them sparingly). SaGa Frontier 2 also had an interesting system that created a divide between magic-enabling equipment made from strange, fragile materials and magic-negating equipment made from durable steel.

The Suikoden series has its share of good ideas. Certainly, its idea of Short, Medium, and Long weapon ranges is a relevant concept for those people who were discussing using battle order as a replacement for the grid, earlier. Some of its ideas on how to implement mass-combat. It even has some interesting ideas on magic item slotting and Vancian magic with its Rune system.

Several videogames have all kinds of very fun ideas for things like class promotion (from Fire Emblem or some Shining games) and reincarnation (from Disgaea), which lets a character return to first level but acquire a lot of new power in the process. Final Fantasy 11 and Dragon Quest 9 also have some similarly interesting ideas of being able to level up in separate classes with each class having its own level tracked independently, with the character being able to borrow a limited amount of power from one class to another (which leads to some fun and flexible multiclassing).

Different videogames are also a valuable resource for inspiration for new kinds of races and classes.