What systems do you guys use to play in a Zelda setting? I know there have been threads in the past about this but I wasn't planning on running a game at that time.
What do systems usually get wrong about running a game in a Zelda setting?
Currently planning on doing 5e with spellpoints instead of casting slots because it's the most accessible.
Probably not the answer you were looking for. But for adaptions of established franchises and properties. I typically just go for generic Tristat systems, and then just Freeform everything.
This exactly. The franchise has so much it's probably just easier to bake a casserole with your favorite elements with players who already are familiar with the setting. I just want to play as Gerudo Link
> Gerudo Link
Like, desert Amazon chick Link or desert one-in-a-million male Link?
>desert one-in-a-million male Link?
Before the Treehouse literally botched the translations to own the chuds, that was the Gandondorf of BotW and ToTK.
Really?
That's always been Ganondorf's origin though, right? At least since Ocarina of Time.
Also- it's less so much being an extreme rarity, so much as being something that occurs once a century.
No. The Treehouse literally cut out content to change Ganondorf's backstory to be a mirror of the one from OoT.
The translation website the cutting room floor.
I am browsing their articles on these games right now, and I don't see what you're talking about. A number of other games on tcrf have sub-pages for different language versions as well, but those two games don't. There isn't one for Ocarina of Time either.
Here are the two, but I can't find anything about Gannon's backstory being changed.
https://tcrf.net/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Breath_of_the_Wild
https://tcrf.net/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Tears_of_the_Kingdom
[Citation needed]
what are you talking about?
I have to admit, I do not know what those are. I know d20, d10, and 3d6, but this is the first I've heard of tri-stat
Try not spamming AI slop first
>5e
have a nice day please
The FATE Core System.
Already mentioned it here on various threads, but I personnally did my own system. Wrote a full rule-book and item-book.
It tries to emulate the Zelda feeling in a TTRPG way, with stamina like the more recent games for exemple. It also replicates some game systems like cooking and various item effects.
It's still a bit of a beta but it's playable.
Looks like it is in French as well.
Didn't expected that much answers !
Yes. I initially planed to translate it, but seeing how long it would take, I just abandoned the idea completely.
Thanks. It was hard and long indeed, took me more than a year, and it still needs updates for various reasons. I call it Legends of Hyrule. I realized too late it was also the name of a D&D 5e module, but it has nothing to do with it.
Sure Anon. You can find the complete files by searching Legends of Hyrule TTRPG on your favorite web browser. There is an English presentation on r/ZeldaTableTop too. I'd prefer not to post it here because it uses separate files for the different manuals (rules and items), + a PDF for character sheet and finally one for a quick reference A3 sheet, among other additional text files that are less interesting but can have a niche use.
I went to a small printing office in my town. The guy running it was very professional and nice, and printed it. It was a bit expensive for two books (85-90€ if I remember correctly) but I absolutely wanted to have a print version. It's around 200 pages long in total (100 for the rules, 100 for the items). In additional text files mentioned in the last paragraph, there are the specifics on how to print it.
That looks pretty anon. I bet that was a lot of hard work. What's it called?
possible to have a pdf copy, even if it's in french, mon ami ?
How'd you get it printed and bound like that?
>5e
>slop
>asking about a system to run a setting
This thread is nothing but bait
The important thing is that you're upset.
So very upset, you have me tearing my hair out in frustration instead of just sitting here bored.
Why the frick did you give her an afro?
>pic related
>also because frizzy hair+dark skin means afro for AI I guess
Thanks! I am really looking forward to this. Is it your own Hyrule setting or one of the established time periods?
>>pic related
>>also because frizzy hair+dark skin means afro for AI I guess
>he doesn't know about negative prompts
Does bingsigner even allow negative prompts
This is more a system than a setting : altough the manual does mention and describe what you can find in most regions of the games, it's more here as inspiration for aspiring GM or for quickly setting out a game.
The key idea is that it's made to appeal to any fan of the serie : you prefer OoT over TP ? You can ditch the Twilis freely. You specifically want an OoT adventure ? Use less weapons, but give more special equipments (I call them artifact here to differentiate these from any type of gear, but that's anything like grappling hook, bombs...), give some spells, even without rods, and give all player at least one point in a music instrument.
You want a BotW like adventure ? Take BotW map and races, ditch some monsters of the bestiary, put emphasis on Sheikah powers and slates, often give new weapons and gears to your players, play more outside than in dungeon and include a bit of survival, and here you go.
You can even do a Wind Waker campaign if you want (tho I never described how bigger locomotions like boats should work, so it'll be up to you).
In my campaign we play a BotW inspired setting because my player are more familiar with it, but I put many things from the older games here and there to surprise them, like talking and pacific monsters.
They just got sent to Kokolint after helping a band to find magical instruments and playing a song with it. They know try to get back to their world.
GURPS.
GURPS
The issue I have with GURPS is the players I have, not the ideologically pure "true scotsman" gamers that tg sometimes fixates on, are casual. These are Nintendo fans. So I'm worried about them getting overwhelmed by GURPS. Not a comment about GURPS, just the players I am working with. If I try something too crunchy the game will bog down as I have to answer every question, and being a GURPS expert on top of managing the game is just more than I want to deal with.
Can you elaborate further?
>ai slop
>5e
die.
Serious answer, but Riddle of Steel might do a great job with some adapting.
seconding these especially over 5E
Reclaim the Wild
Perfectly fine, if you want to run a game with running around in the wilderness doing survival shit. Not everyone does.
Can you elaborate further?
Reclaim the Wild, inspired by and sort of attempting to emulate Breath of the Wild, involves a good amount of resource tracking and exploration. This can be pretty open-ended and involve a lot of bookkeeping and finnicky bits about whether you've gone out of your way to acquire stuff you want to use or turn into other things. This game has things like weapon durability and crafting.
Survival type games, where you are constantly managing your resources along the way so you can stay afloat, are not everyone's bag. Some players would rather minimize the bookkeeping of the little things and focus on the greater details of going on the adventure.
Can you elaborate further?
Ryuutama
>Lighthearted world
>About the journey rather than the destination
>Decent enough skill checks
>Class system so everybody doesn't all play the same Link wannabe
What about a Zelda crossover campaign, what system(s) would work best for that, and with what settings besides Final Fantasy?
Anyone else remember all the rumors that Square was going to make a cyberpunk Zelda game back in the 00's? I remember people having a bunch of fake concept art for it. Right before Twilight Princess was revealed. Remember people saying Epona was gonna be a motorcycle.
here
btw im trans
How the frick do you get triggered on a post like that?
I don’t remember it. It definitely sounds cool though. I would have played it.
No you wouldn't. You don't play games, bumpcuck
Sure do. If it had come out a couple years later we'd have hundreds of AI mockups of it.
I wonder if we're past the era of elaborate fake rumors since everyone will today just assume everything is fake. I also remember how everyone bought into that fake Switch mockup some guy made with a 3d printer (which to be fair was based on an official patent by Nintendo). I was the only guy I think who knew it was bullshit because I understood how horrible the design would feel in you hands to play with (people were saying it would be 100% touch-screen controls, and not having the tactile feedback of button presses sucks).
Refashion Zelda mythos locations to resemble locations from Middle Earth. As a proof of concept I made this illustration of a loosely interpreted Temple of Seasons.
Can you elaborate further?
Would you prefer to use Ganon/Ganondorf, another canonical LoZ antagonist, or an original one as the main villain of your campaign? I’d pick Veran myself, the franchise needs more female major villains and she’s got an awesome design. Speaking of, how would you design said original villains if you go that route?
Can you elaborate further?
Not really sure what there is to elaborate on, but I’ll try. I do like how Veran can possess people, and that she’s canonically a dark fairy, which never got fully explored, so that could be a good campaign hook I guess?
Can you elaborate further?
Op here, but my plan was to play in a time when none of the regions of Hyrule were united. I was thinking each area/race would have a few groups that the players would have to deal with in the hope to bringing them under the Hyrule umbrella. Each area/race would have elements that are either openly, secretly, or unknowingly serve Ganondorf.
For the gerudo I'm planning on having a male born and everyone freaking out because Ganon is back. Control over the male is causing war between factions, and the players have to learn that the faction that has kept him the longest are hoping to use him as a vessel to bring back Ganon. I'm thinking a combo of Mother Gothel from Rapunzel and Twinrova leads them. Basically rough goth Gerudo shepherds that live in Petra like fortifications in the Highlands and plot to overthrow the decadent merchants in Gerudo town.
But I would love ideas for a Giron villain, I'm struggling there
Definitely use Ganon as an overarching threat but he's not the boss. He's game over. Characters are preventing plots from all the other forces attempting to bring him back. Once he's back its a job for the Hero of Time.
I miss Midna, is the Rebuild the Wild system mentioned below capable of capturing the feel of a Twilight Princess game, complete with not!werewolf PCs like Link in that game, or should I just use something more generic like Fate instead?
Reclaim The Wild may be the system you want. It uses the Zelda Games logic (ex: Falling into pits puts you back to your latest location). Pretty fun to play and easy to use.
If/when I want to play in a "Zelda setting", I'll base the game on one of my other projects, building it as appropriately to the Legend of Zelda as possible.
I have the most fondness and nostalgia for the Gameboy Color Zeldas, so I'd base it around Koholint, Holodrum, and Labrynna as opposed to setting it in Hyrule.
But I've never been much for producing "fan content", so I probably won't do it; I'd rather do something loosely inspired by Zelda and combine it with other concepts I think are neat instead of trying to stay faithful to the one IP.
From my understanding, one thing systems that try to portray a Legend of Zelda aesthetic get wrong is in essence, the portrayal itself.
To be clear: The Legend of Zelda is meant to follow a single Hero of Time's journey through his era to stop the return of Ganon. In its essence, it only works as a one-on-one (GM and one player) or as a solo game.
Already, you have to make the concession that the group elects one Hero of Time and the rest play as less prominent ally characters, or there's no Hero of Time.
In either case, instead of having a Legend of Zelda game, you're having a TTRPG campaign set in Hyrule. You aren't adopting its aesthetic, you're just putting a coat of paint on your game.
Personally, rather than copy the formula of an IP I enjoy, I'd rather embody the spirit that Miyamoto felt when he explored the woods in his childhood, and put that into something I want to create.
There's nothing more accessible than something that comes from your own experiences, inspirations, and thoughts, which is why I will always be free to make what I want, unbound by what's popular and what other people can't properly process.
I've done a sorta World of Darkness Frankenstein and a D&D monster before.
The Frankenstein worked better, mostly pieced it out of World of Darkness, but pared the attributes down to Power, Wisdom, and Courage, with several attribute-ey like things moved over to Skills, and just generally up the durability of players a bit.
Expand equipment to include the various Items, that includes spells, and encourage creative applications with those tools, since it's Zelda, after all.
The D&D worked quite a bit more awkwardly and had tons more effort required to make it work, and at the end of the day felt like D&D with Zelda taped over it, while the WoD monster felt much, much more immersive. Combat was a bit more in depth, but felt a lot more sloggy.
The main issue with D&D for Zelda is the skew towards combat and away from skill use, the difficulty of getting Zelda items and magic to work in the system, and the difficulty with wrangling D&D to behave with its guts scooped out.
Zelda isn't really about mass combat, and it kinda loses momentum if people are falling into combat luls. In my experience, at least.
What's the best way to homebrew weapons and other items while still keeping that Zelda "flavor"?
I always feels a little sad that whenever this topic of running Zelda in a TTRPG comes up nobody ever mentions The Dark of Hotspring Island.
It's essentially a very polished Zelda game in TTRPG form. It's system agnostic and you can use whichever you like, but it comes with a lot of content to use and run.
That would require anyone in this thread to actually play games
I heard about this, but I never could get my hands on it. Then again, I prefer to write my own settings than use premade ones.
We did a simple "Triforce was shattered, worlds and timelines fused" type of thing. It would explain why the Triforce isn't around, why the Lorule, Hirule, the Twili's, everyone is around, and working together, and why the PCs are heroes, not Zelda, Link, and Ganon.
I think what occurs to me is utility. A hookshot can be used to attack, yes, but it also lets you get to places you couldnt before. A special hammer has strong attacks, yes, but this specific one lets you destroy a barrier in the player's way.
>What systems do you guys use to play in a Zelda setting?
I don't because Zelda has the most shallow setting imaginable and is only beloved because of nostalgia and brand worship.
I find that the greatest difficulty in setting up a Zelda game is that elaborate dungeons with puzzles are iconic in the series, but not necessarily easy to pull off. Your players are not necessarily going to figure out what the frick the solution is, and just handing the smart characters the answer outright can be underwhelming.
Not to mention the dungeons would no longer be limited to video game logic, so characters can use rope, carry ladders, throw stones, and dig to overcome many standard Zelda dungeon progress gates. Plus half of the items for the games are just giving you basic functionality like "climb high place" and "hit object far away"
I think it's fine if dungeons have different progress gates than "do you have X specific item." But you do still have to set up a dungeon that creatively challenges them to do things from room to room in a way that's more open-ended.
>Go in here and hit the target
Is simple and boring, and easy for characters to trivialize, sure.
>Kill all of the enemies here to loot them for a key
Is also simple and boring, but at least you can maybe get alternate solutions via a rogue/thief pickpocketing or something.
So you need to figure out a cool way to design a dungeon so that there are several challenges that need doing to accomplish a means forward the players couldn't just do on their own. The mechanisms are too elaborate, it's held in place with magic that needs the right key to bypasss, etc. This is also to say that, like a Zelda story, you are looking for fairly limited access to really ludicrous feats or magic. It's a low to maybe mid-level affair, realistically.
I think no matter what system you have to make sure you have decent playable races. At a bare minimum you need a Hylian, Goron, Zora, and Rito expy.
Can you elaborate further?
I don't know, it just seems pretty obvious that whatever system you use for Zelda has to give you the tools to play as the iconic races of the game. You can do dungeoneering in a ton of ttrpg, but I don't know many that will let you turn into a ball and roll down enemies like a Goron should be able to.
Can you elaborate further?
No.
>I don't know many that will let you turn into a ball and roll down enemies like a Goron should be able to.
Literally any generic.
What could have been...
The real irony is that Gerudo grow up quickly compared to Hylians. Riju is not really gonna get any bigger than she is in TotK.
It's such a shame
I want a desert queen who looks like a true leader
Disgusting ogre
How would you guys have a Goron be a villain? Hylians is pretty clear, they're just human. Gerudo, likewise, are similar plus the whole bringing back their alpha male/Ganon angle.
What about Gorons? They seem to be incorruptible like Kender in Dragonlance. They can for a time be corrupted like we see in TotK, but what are some ideas for true Goron villains?
I don't think it's in their demeanor to be "evil" per se, but antagonists absolutely. You have to remember that Gorons are sometimes depicted with things like honor codes, and are pretty mighty. So what you really need is a reason that they CAN'T back down from causing the problem they're causing.
I like that angle, but do you really think a Goron villain is not doable? You could do some dwarf gold lust shenanigans, where the Goron villain doesn't care who gets hurt as long as they get all the israeliteels.
Or is having non hylian/gerudo villains like that something that would break the setting? Like can we get Ruto/Zora/Kokiri villains?
I agree with the other anon; it's better if the Goron in question can't back down and has to enforce something like an exile, until the ridiculous conditions of return are met by the PCs.
I think that due to their nature/culture, Gorons just aren't suitable as being evil. They're stern at best, in terms of their natures.
In a not dissimilar fashion, the other cultures you listed don't have obvious openings for characters to be evil. This isn't so say there's no room for conflict. At some point prior to Ocarina of Time starting properly, Hyrule was not a united kingdom of all of the races, even excluding the Gerudo. But the King of Hyrule was able to put down the fighting after an amount of conflict.
Individuals can sometimes be evil, but this is usually a trait you see in demons or people who are borrowing from demonic influence. That allows all of the civilizations of Hyrule to be seen as fellow victims of the greater problems at hand (usually caused by demonic influence via Ganon). If they were unsympathetic and bad, you wouldn't feel like you ought to help them for any reason other than progression.
Break!! rpg
Isn't that the one where hobo flashers have exactly the currency required to hire two little boy hirelings for a day, which just so happens to literally be pieces of candy?
With the Mirror seemingly gone for good, how can we justify Twili PCs in Zelda games, let alone their survival in Hyrule's plane of existence?
You tell me, bumpgay
You are the cancer killing /tg/.
Learn the timelines, newfriends. The mirror was destroyed in only one of the timelines of the three and if there really was a Dragon Break like Aunuma implied in the BotW interviews, then it still exists because it was never destroyed in the other two.
BotW is kind of its own beast. It can't actually make sense as being from all timelines, especially given how much prehistory that TotK sets up and the sealed Ganondorf. We'll have to see to be sure, but I get the impression that it's supposed to not coincide with the timelines from the previous games at all.
Cry about it more, bumpcuck
Actual fatherless NPC behavior.
BotW eater exists in the downfall timeline or after a dragon break. There are no other ways it can work. The latter was hard namedropped by series director Aonuma so you can't completely disregard it completely out of hand.
I can dismiss literally anything until it's either directly confirmed to be the case or the games give us evidence that correlates the things.
You can try, but your conclusions will a fruitless endeavor of wasted time that will never feel complete unless you take into account the creator's intent.
It's a waste of time to say "I won't count anything for sure until the answer is confirmed" but not to insist that it COULD be a certain way because the director discussed some influences?
NTA you were responding to, but perhaps Hyrule Warriors can be borrowed from despite its lack of canonicity. True Form Midna is a DLC character with no given explanation for presence related to all the other shit going, but she carries a large mirror with her which is used as a focus for magic. The goddesses originally used the Mirror of Twilight as the gateway, and that was destroyed, but perhaps it's not impossible for someone with the right deep knowledge of sacred lore to use other things the goddesses left behind to forge a new mirror. One that's not so effective for making a sizable gate, but one that still carries magic that links the two realms.
When you get a clear answer of "I was playing a lot of the Elder Scrolls when we started working on the story scenario, and I feel like a Dragon Break explains everything" you can't shy away from that.
>npc behavior
>coming from nogames bumpgay
L M A O
>Getting this tilt over being outed as an NPC
Stop using a mongolian basket weaving forum as a replacement for human interaction.
Gaslighting only works if you’re subtle about it, Literary Lord
I know you don't want to acknowledge your thoughts, but I'm interested in what you believe to be gaining by parking in threads you deem unworthy and then complaining about the other posters throughout the thread. Do you think the other posters who enjoy talking about LoZ on /tg/ are going to be dissuaded from posting by the threat of being called bumpgay? If so, what led to this belief? It doesn't seem like you've ever been successful at stopping a thread from being bumped.
I mean, there's no obvious way to do this with what the canon provides. You need a plot device, because they are BANISHED, and are supposed to be separated out from Hyrule.
I mean, someone made the mirror in the first place. I can see the Twili figuring out how to survive and then making their own weaker version.
In fact that could be part of the plot, Twili are spilling through but their rate of transfer is limited because their mirror is not as strong as the old one. Their forces are scouring the different lands to find the resources to make it larger and more permanent, Warcraft style.
Side note, I like the idea of a Hylian or Twili villain that is attempting to steal the triforce of power away from Ganon's spirit, only to realize how big of a mistake they made in even trying and drawing his attention.
fellowship would be a pretty good fit I think for a LoZ game based off the "past" in BotW where each society has a hero that become part of a crew to try and gather together to stop Ganon. Of course in the game they fail because the whole thing is a setup for the player in the "future" to finish things off and be a solo hero
The only downside is that you wouldn't be getting to describe your culture as much as in a normal game of fellowship, but noting how your version of the rito or the gerudo or whatever is slightly different might be okay.
There are a few fan made versions. There's... two 5e ones that I know of. If you like 5e try any of those. There's Zelda Breath of the Wild, and Legend of Zelda 5e. If you like 5e this is fine, but Zelda isn't the best suited for 5e honestly. I enjoyed it when I did it, but no, not really.
Crimson crest is fine if you enjoy more freeform stuff. A lot of it is "make it up", so for more story driven. It uses three stats in the three Virtues and it's a roll under your stat system.
I personally prefer Zeldatama. It does exploration very well. Though the combat of Ryuutama is a bit weak by itself, Zeldatama fixes a lot. I would also maybe add Fabula Ultima to that (there were some conversion rules floating about here ages ago, I just don't know if either anon actually finished and posted them, but I do have the short notes if you want them).
Did you do more planned out campaigns or improv with Zelda Tama?