Video games are amazing, but there’s nothing quite like a great tabletop game. That’s why it’s always exciting when a big video game title like Diablo gets its own TTRPG, but that doesn’t happen often.
I’ve spent enough hours trying to force various role-playing systems to carry the weight of my favorite game settings to know that some games should just get their own TTRPG already.
Pokémon
It’s genuinely hard to believe that there’s not an official Pokémon TTRPG already. Pokémon is one of the most popular gaming franchises of all time, and a quick Google search reveals fans with an appetite for a Pokémon tabletop game. A Pokémon TTRPG could give role-players the perfect tools for sinking into life as a trainer while also giving power gamers access to some serious crunch.
In a perfect world, a Pokémon TTRPG would let players level their character and their Pokémon separately to open up a huge variety of builds. Trainers could have specializations with support abilities that would stay relevant in combat where players could take control of the Pokémon directly. There could be sourcebooks for settings and, of course, a dedicated Pokémon Manual or two. So many people have tried homebrewing their own systems, but an official game would bring everyone together to experience Pokémon in a whole new format.
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda has been practically begging for a TTRPG adaptation for a long time, but Breathe of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom make it more obvious than ever how great a tabletop game set in Hyrule would be. Zelda would be perfect for players who enjoy deep exploration and building custom campaigns based on their own headcanons.
The video games also already have some mechanics that are ready-made for a TTRPG. There’s a variety of species for players to choose from, and the two most recent games have really opened up options for character classes too. You could play as a Hylian scientist, a Gerudo fighter, or a Goron chef. Mechanically the game could take some inspiration from the Sheikah and Zonai powers. I know I’d love to build a roving death canon before a climactic battle with a BBEG at the end of a campaign. Everything a TTRPG needs is already on the table; we just need Nintendo to literally put it on the table for us.
Shin Megami Tensei/Persona
The Shin Megami Tensei games would be a great jumping-off point for a dark urban fantasy TTRPG campaign. Recruiting demons could make for an interesting progression mechanic that breaks from the level-based or skill-based progression of most other TTRPGs. Because many of the games make conversation a part of combat, an SMT tabletop game could take a rules-light approach to combat and increase opportunities for role-playing.
Speaking of role-playing, the Persona series already has a method for making social interactions matter in combat. Social Links would probably need a bit of an overhaul in a TTRPG. Relationships at the table progress a little more haphazardly than they do in a video game, but they could definitely help fans of combat stay invested in a conversation-heavy session. Overall, any SMT or Persona adaptation would make for a great roleplay-heavy tabletop adventure with plenty of opportunities for making character choices in social scenarios that factor into combat and progression in unique ways.
Mass Effect
Why should fantasy stories get to have all the fun? From Traveller to Stars Without Number, there are already quite a few great space-faring TTRPGs out there, but all of them would require some serious homebrewing to fit right into the Mass Effect universe. Existing space TTRPGs either lack some of the mechanics to easily depict biotics and tech abilities, or they’re much too deadly to make players feel like Spectres. Looking at you, Traveller, for killing my last character during character creation.
The species and locations in Mass Effect could fill a few books on their own. DMs would be delighted for some detailed maps of iconic locations from the games. There’s so much fodder for a tactics-based game that focuses on combat while also throwing big moral decisions at the characters. Alignment might be losing favor with D&D players, but a Mass Effect tabletop game could get some good mileage out of its own version of the system.
Castlevania
Vampires are cool, and that’s why they constantly show up in TTRPGs. We’ve got D&D campaigns like The Curse of Strahd to scratch that horror movie itch and games like Vampire: The Masquerade to become creatures of the night ourselves. But there’s nothing out there that quite captures that Castlevania vibe. The Castlevania series borrows the aesthetics of a great horror movie, but the games are all about the power fantasy.
Classes here could be based on fighting techniques, with whips, magic, and swords taking center stage. Having a specialized vampire class would be an absolute necessity, and that would leave room for some really interesting “bringing the party together” stories. Aside from having killer combat mechanics, it’d be great to see a Castlevania TTRPG embrace the games’ sense of style – maybe with an actual style mechanic, à la Cyberpunk 2020. It’s also easy to imagine a core rule book containing a detailed floor plan of Dracula’s castle as a base setting, but we’ve already seen that Castlevania can work in plenty of other settings.
