Poll of the Day > I think Zoids could make a pretty cool tabletop game

(+) Yeah! (+)

pretty cool library, good weapon options. I think it could be fun

Its possible they already have one. Lots of stuff online. I never knew how many TTRPGs there were until after listening to Terrible Warriors

https://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=16935

Is it any good? No idea. I just googled "Zoids TTRPG" and that was one of the first results.

LinkPizza posted...

I never knew how many TTRPGs there were until after listening to Terrible Warriors

There are quite a few. I spent several months playing a Starcraft one with some buddies about a year ago, which was a pretty good time. Very mechanically dense, though, and pretty much all of the game design went into building a complex combat system. I ended up converting my character sheet into a pretty fancy Excel file that included equipment selection, the ability to select a bunch of different modifiers for rolls, and macros that rolled skill checks for me with all of the applicable modifiers so I didn't have to keep track of them manually. It was fun, except I was away for a week and the rest of the party ended up rolling a very unfortunate series of natural 1's that resulted in our spaceship blowing up with us in it. I was one mission away from being able to afford my Marauder armour, too.

adjl posted...

There are quite a few. I spent several months playing a Starcraft one with some buddies about a year ago, which was a pretty good time. Very mechanically dense, though, and pretty much all of the game design went into building a complex combat system. I ended up converting my character sheet into a pretty fancy Excel file that included equipment selection, the ability to select a bunch of different modifiers for rolls, and macros that rolled skill checks for me with all of the applicable modifiers so I didn't have to keep track of them manually. It was fun, except I was away for a week and the rest of the party ended up rolling a very unfortunate series of natural 1's that resulted in our spaceship blowing up with us in it. I was one mission away from being able to afford my Marauder armour, too.

Yeah. When listening to Terrible Warriors, they've done a bunch. Even stuff like Pokemon, Ghostbusters, Sailor Moon, and Doctor Who... I still have to catch up. And for almost any series you like, you will probably have some kind of TTRPG... And some of them work in unique ways, as well...

https://www.target.com/p/gkr-heavy-hitters-core-box-game

LinkPizza posted...

And for almost any series you like, you will probably have some kind of TTRPG... And some of them work in unique ways, as well...

Now, unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily mean any of them are any good. There's unfortunately not a very strong correlation between interest in a franchise and game design ability. There are plenty of good ones out there, certainly, but it can take some digging to find them, and there's no guarantee you'll find the setting you want.

That said, if you're struggling to find a proper one, there are several game systems out there that can be readily adapted into any story or universe you want to use. My friends and I have used Risus to run several one-shots that we just made up ourselves, since it's a very simple, flexible system. You're not going to get much by way of deep mechanics that way, but if you're just looking for a way to tell some stories and have some adventures in a universe of your choice, it's a viable option.

adjl posted...

Now, unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily mean any of them are any good. There's unfortunately not a very strong correlation between interest in a franchise and game design ability. There are plenty of good ones out there, certainly, but it can take some digging to find them, and there's no guarantee you'll find the setting you want.

Not all of them are great, but plenty are. There are usually multiples, too. Being able to pull from more than one can help. And you can always homebrew another homebrew... But in the end, it can still be fun to play series that didn't have one...

adjl posted...

That said, if you're struggling to find a proper one, there are several game systems out there that can be readily adapted into any story or universe you want to use. My friends and I have used Risus to run several one-shots that we just made up ourselves, since it's a very simple, flexible system. You're not going to get much by way of deep mechanics that way, but if you're just looking for a way to tell some stories and have some adventures in a universe of your choice, it's a viable option.

You can always just use certain homebrew rules, too... The group I played with used a pretty basic one that would probably work for a good portion of others ones... At least, it would for the way we played... Haha...

Zoids certainly has a rich enough universe for it, and an existing parts roster that would facilitate it well. And figures (including model kits), figurines, etc, for that aspect. The only thing really missing is a rules set.

LinkPizza posted...

Ghostbusters

Ok now that sounds fun.

Pokemon sounds fun

Metalsonic66 posted...

Pokemon sounds fun

Pokemon would honestly be pretty easy to adapt into a TTRPG even if you can't find somebody else that's done it. The fact that it's already a turn-based RPG helps a lot with that; you really just need to adapt the damage/accuracy mechanics to use dice instead of flat values (though even that isn't altogether necessary). Heck, you could just use Pokemon Showdown to handle the whole battle system, with the GM making teams for each encounter and requiring players to find (or otherwise earn) a Pokemon before being allowed to add it to their own team. That would leave the issue of group battles not really being a thing, but I'm sure that wouldn't be too hard to finagle in some way.

I never liked group battles in Pokemon anyway

The game's kind of designed around 1v1, but that doesn't necessarily translate well into a TTRPG because those are generally cooperative endeavours.

adjl posted...

Pokemon would honestly be pretty easy to adapt into a TTRPG even if you can't find somebody else that's done it. The fact that it's already a turn-based RPG helps a lot with that; you really just need to adapt the damage/accuracy mechanics to use dice instead of flat values (though even that isn't altogether necessary). Heck, you could just use Pokemon Showdown to handle the whole battle system, with the GM making teams for each encounter and requiring players to find (or otherwise earn) a Pokemon before being allowed to add it to their own team. That would leave the issue of group battles not really being a thing, but I'm sure that wouldn't be too hard to finagle in some way.

There have been several licensed tabletop games for Pokemon already, including one where the figures have a spinner base (which conceptually is reminiscent of the mechanic from the coin game).

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/14777/the-pokemon-trading-figure-game

And you have a lot of potential ways to adapt it, considering the other physical versions already out there. You could use the CCG's mechanics as a baseline, for instance.

The other obvious benefit is the sheer availability of figurines (although the TFG's figurines were stupidly overpriced -- iirc, the single figures were $8 back in the early or mid 2000s)