Table-top Ideas From Video Games

Recently I found myself reminiscing about some of the old video games I used to play as well as how video games have progressed to what we have on the market now. I started to realize that many games had great ideas that have been under-utilized in the table-top environment. And especially in D&D. I am going to make it a point to incorporate at least some of the following into the next campaign that I run.

Going all the way back to the mid 1980’s, we have “The Bard’s Tale. While this was typical of many computer FRPGs of its day, it had one unique feature: a bank that paid interest. Why should adventurer’s have to buy a portable hole just to store their treasure? Or convert everything to gems the next time they go to town? Instead, characters could deposit the money into the bank and gain interest on it. The bank may even give them a magical card that can be used in shops in some of the largest town to directly pay for items.

If you think that this makes things to easy for the players, then contemplate this scenario. Remember, I suggested adding banks. I did not say to also add banking insurers such as the FDIC or FSLIC. A plot scenario could be that the bank that the characters use was robbed and they no have no money. They could find this out while trying to pay for dinner with their magical card.

Moving a little later in video game history, we find ourselves at "Sorcerian". There were many notable things about this action / adventure game. But the most novel concept was that when characters were in town for extended periods, they worked at jobs. This employment paid various wages depending on what the character was doing. The job also affected stats; jobs that involved a lot of thinking would increase intelligence but decrease strength for instance.

Obviously, when converting this concept to D&D, the characters would have to be in town for more than a day or two for their muscles to atrophy, or for them to learn vast amounts of new knowledge. However, they could make some money in a short amount of time. I was considering treating the characters as having been in town for two days between role-playing sessions that ended with them in a town. Players would have to pick from a list of jobs that were available in that town based on their abilities, skills, feats, etc. Each job would pay a differing amount and affect stat points by a small fraction. If a character worked at the same kind of job for a month without taking a different kind of job in the middle, I would then allow the stats to be adjusted.

In other words, if the play session ended in town 15 times, and a character worked at the same job (or same kind of job) at each session break, their character could raise one ability and lower one other ability (based upon the job) when the next play session resumed. Taking a different kind of job at any one of those session breaks would reset the fractional ability points.

Finally, we can learn from new video games as well. “Fable II” allows characters to own rental property and make money even when they are not actively doing anything. If a character owned a house or store, they could have a steady source of income. This may make some players less reluctant to take long missions with little promise of treasure, as they will have money coming to them when they get back. In fact, if a character had a house in the game that they normally lived in, they could rent it out during long adventures and make some money while ensuring that squatters did not take over.

I hope you find these ideas useful. And, if you have found inspiration for your D&D sessions in video games, please feel free to post your own suggestions in the comments. I’d love to hear them.