Comments on: Boardgames and Roleplaying

By: Stargazer

Stargazer — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:35:42 +0000

Alas I haven't been able to try this out with anyone. I often lack either the time or the people necessary for something like that, so a lot of my "crazy ideas" stay untested for quite some time. We did actually combine Mechwarrior and Battletech (that was of course intended by the designers) a couple of years ago, and it worked pretty fine.

By: C

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:46:46 +0000

Board gamers and role players are not always the same people, so this won't appeal to everyone. But for those who happily coexist in both worlds, this is concept sounds BRILLIANT. Even so, you could take it still another level with some creative blending of the RPG and combat rules. For instance, you could allow the use of FUDGE/FATE points or Aspects within combat, or apply experience from fights back to the character's RPG stats. Stunts from Fate 3.0 seem tailor-made for this- they exist specifically to add extra panache to battle-specific maneuvers. Also, on a cosmetic level the checkbox tracking systems of Battletech and FATE seem made for each other. It's been five months since you first wrote this- have you been able to try it with anyone? If so, how did it work? Cs last blog post..Practice

By: Stargazer

Stargazer — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:15:27 +0000

Hehe, I agree that D&D combat can feel a bit detached from the rest of the game sometimes. And I agree Talisman and similar games can provide inspiration for roleplaying adventures or settings. But you probably won't use Talismans "combat system" in that roleplaying then, unlike in my examples where I thought about how you could make use of the original board game rules.

By: greywulf

greywulf — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:05:22 +0000

If I was feeling snarky I could suggest that the 4e D&D boardgame could be made into quite a good role-playing game Good thing I'm not feeling snarky today.

Talisman, the venerable rpg-inspired boardgame would make a terrific fully fledged RPG, and I'm sure it's been homebrewed more than once.

I'm probably alone in loving the idea of a Chess RPG where the characters play the parts of Knights (fighters), Bishops (clerics) and Rooks (wizards in their towers) leading their Pawns (minions!) into battle to kill the opponent's king and defend their own. I keep suggesting it to my gamer group, and they just look at me funny.

Yes, just like that.

greywulfs last blog post..Character du Jour: Redhawk