The Best and Most 'Stealable' Mechanics from Tabletop RPGs

Station Blue...like the podcast? We are intrigued.

I'm in the middle of the video. He's making many points but does he actually come back to them and close these points? The times he mentions "how we gonna implement that" opens so many threads

Not sure why the initial hate for the Cypher system—I’ve recently gotten into cypher and it seems very rules-light and intuitive from what I’m reading.

I loved this talk last year!!

Check out Oblivion Oddities Project Studios game. They are literally implementing all of these Ideas into one game called Oblivion Oddities & plan on making it a template standard for video games to use.

BTW Alphyna of the Pathologic fame also worked (and led, if I'm not mistaken) on translating Disco Elysium to Russian

im so confused why would obsidian make a second outer worlds though???

Advanced Crimson Dragon Slayer + CHA'ALT

I also find it interesting that these "stolen" ideas can be embedded very deeply into the gameplay and narrative, as core design principles or pacing mechanics or you name it. And they can be implemented on a very much a surface level, as a visible UI and reference to its predecessors, moment to moment resolution mechanics.

My friend runs and co-runs LARPs from time to time and every time he asked me for advice I couldn't help myself, but steal from card-based video games. "You need magical abilities, that are invocative of Fae and Pride and Prejudice? Why don't you write some cards and give them to your players?"
"Portents and visions? Why not give them the sealed letters with precise time?"
"Predestination? Just reward them for being at the right time at the right place and say certain things."

Players still largely get freedom, but they would feel larger forces at play and they could be empowered by deciding and where and when the powerful curses can be uttered.

So it is very enjoyable to see the video game design do the opposite.

First Fallout was supposed to be based on Gurps system but was denied the licence "because it was too violent" so they made a derivative SPECIAL. First 2 Elder Scrolls games also take some aspects of that point buy system with ability to take advantages and disadvantages at the cost of slower exp gain.

Well damn, have been thinking of getting into mousegard for quite some time now that I know it's based around burning wheel I'm definitely going to pick it up

I really feel like they should leave out the "who am I" parts of these talks. I don't think anyone really cares who you are, they only care if your ideas are good or not.

Great talk. Whether it's ttrpg's or videogames, or even boardgames, I'm always fascinated with game mechanics of all sorts and how they do and can intermingle.

well shit. I developed a stress mechanic for my game based on Darkest Dungeon, but made key changes.....that ended up looking a hell of a lot like Blades in the dark. I never had never even heard of Blades in the dark! Jeeez

Citizen Sleeper is an awesome video game that yoinks clocks from Blades in the Dark awesomely

Most of these "mechanics" are just the GM making up stuff on the fly.

My main problem with this talk is that it's quite regressive but pretends to be progressive.
Tabletop games are designed that way because of limitation, not creativity.
We're talking about pieces of cardboard and plastic here, not some high tech machine capable of more calculations in a second than a billion humans can do in an minute.
The fact videogames even use stats or dice rolls or anything which comes from a physical game is a huge crutch which needs to end.
Using a number to communicate a stat like intelligence makes sense when all you have are scraps of cardboard and dice.
Videogames on the other hand are made with one of the most advanced types of technology humanity has ever created.
They can do better and should do better since they have so much more to work with.

Thank you!

LOVE ✊🏿

A cool game that came to mind when I saw the jenga tower is Icarus. It's a world building game about a city and its inevitable fall. The mechanic that I love is that the dice you roll and that represent decisions, resources, peopple and more, get stacked on top of each other in the middle of the desk. As the consequences of the player's actions pile on the dice tower becomes more and more unstable until at one point it will fall. When it happens nobody knows. But everybody gets more and more tense, more and more careful to not shake the table. And the fall, as is often the case, comes sudden and unexpected. I think that is a great mechanic that adds not only to tension but also to replay value as you're always left wondering "what if I could've stacked one more dice, one more event?"
Maybe that's something videogames can implement too?

SHOUTS TO THE MIND MAP FROM PATHOLOGIC 2, ALL MY HOMIES LOVE THE MIND MAP FROM PATHOLOGIC 2

Having not played the games, I am surprised that a mechanic that reinforces its use is a good thing. That seems like it would take away options and be less interesting? How does it get around that?

I think the method I like most from tabletops are the ones that are good for people who AREN'T good at improve by providing both the prompts and answers to them - like apples to apples or cards against humanity.

Nice

I'm definitely not okay with trivializing trauma by making it a choice.

Im gonna use this as my notebook:
- Flashbacks, using a system of "Stress" to meassure how much they can do it and how it affects them. (Checking Blades in the Dark)
- Clocks.
- Beliefs and Instincts. Points that the DM can use without the player declaring it. This one sounds cool af.
- Vice Stat. An stat that is better and grows the more you use it, but it causes on-rol consecuences. Cool af too.
- Nature. Bonuses by the nature of the character, and it must be balance betweeen the esscence of the character. If you act according to nature, you get a bonus, and against it too, but with the possibility of failing the roll and loosing nature. You can tap that number as a raw bonus.
- Those game where you use a Jenga. Basically, mechanics that build tension over time until the boot hits the vent.
- Games with dice alocation.
- One page systems. Great and simple and cool.
- OSR, Pick up and play. KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid.
- Story Logic as Mechanics. Using dice and a tracker and thats it. Check Out Powered By the Apocalipse.
- Mind Map to desing quests?
- Learn and Steal from the best.

Thank you very much Evan Hill!

Having designed and helped to design some game mechanics mostly for live action rpgs/events I will say there really is no such thing as "theft" in game design. Game design is about ease of use and adaptability. You can have the coolest ideas and rules for your game, but if they dont move smoothly and feel natural its never a good game. Creative writing a good combination of hooks, callbacks and customization and good editing is what makes most games great.

It is refreshing to hear a Millennial admit that they don't have the talent to do anything other than steal.

wish he was able to talk more. this was a cool listen

PATHOLOGIC 2 MENTIONED OMMGG

Funny how perspective matters. He sees the negatives associated with the choices in the mouse game as "interesting back and forth". I see it as Pavlovian conditioning, "stay on the path we decree as righteous or be punished". There is a very real difference between choices mattering and choices mattering. By which I mean, if I do choose to be greedy too often it is entirely plausible that others will no longer want to be around me. It is entirely implausible that being greedy too often should mean I am never again capable of being not greedy. I see nothing of value in that game. Especially not the idea of rewarding players with XP for simply acting on instinct even when that instinct is counter to your current goals and needs.
Similarly, he sees flashbacks as a way to open up a "rich tapestry of possibilities" while I see it as a cheap way of letting players cheat their way past an obstacle they otherwise couldn't deal with.
But, this is why there are so many games. What appeals to some annoys others.

I dont understand stealing mechanics from tabletops.

Computers let you make much cooler and complicated game mechanics that would make more sense and be more pleasant than tabletops.

TTRPG experience is fundamentally diffirent in many regards.

I've never understood why horrible AD&D mechanics got adapted for PCs, almost any other cRPG I played had better mechanics than it.

Dan Harmon's Story Circle is basically a progress clock, where the goal is "Return, Changed."

The best game mechanic worth "stealing" is from a kid's tabletop RPG, Magical Kitties Save the Day: During the character creation stage players read through a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style story, where their choices determine both their character's initial stats and backstory.

insightful

Thanks a lot! I really think that video games would benefit from looking at ttrpg more, and getting away from d&d as a reference for everything! Because there really are some wonderful mechanics

Pathalogic 2 mentioned

Wow. This video is so weird. I expected it to talk about the common mechanics that transferred over to video games. There are things like classes, races, attributes and all that jazz. This video talked about obscure things that are far stranger and more unique. No single example got me that interested specifically. However I love how this video thinks way outside the box. It is so refreshing. I am thinking about tabletop games I like with stealable mechanics.

The main example that comes to my mind is the card game Magic the Gathering. I am a huge fan of this game. It is possible to play a digital version of it. However I am thinking of stealable mechanics. There are a lot of wonderful things about Magic the Gathering. I think the super special and enjoyable mechanics boil down to resource management. That is the stuff I end up "stealing". This is actually my favorite take on magical resources. Magic the Gathering has five different colors of mana. It is brilliant for making a lot of variety. A deck of cards is determined by the color combo. I am used to video games, like World of Warcraft, having a mana bar that depletes over the course of a battle. The video talked about stress and a secondary health bar. Mana is kind of like that except that it is depleted by casting spells. Also there is no immediate penalty for getting low on mana. It's only an issue when mana runs completely out, and then the character can't cast spells at all any more. I did have a spin. There are still mana bars that deplete through mana use. However I use four types of mana, and they are color coded. So I use the color variation mechanic that Magic the Gathering has. My classes don't have specific spell lists. Instead they are mainly defined by using one or two colors of mana. Then that determines what spells they get to use. Each spell has a certain cost. Some of the cost needs a specific color of mana, and some can be paid by any mana. This system is far more freeing and that leads to a lot more variety. That is fun. Cards themselves are a resources. They determine what actions a player can do. Everything in Magic the Gathering is represented by cards. I just use cards for spells, and other materials to represent other things. I do like having cards to represent spells. There are things like deck, hand and discard piles. I think of it as adding Vancian flavor to the magic system, but it isn't as clunky as the spell slots of Dungeons and Dragons. Magic the Gathering has fun spell effects to mess with resources. One can create extra mana or destroy the opponents mana. They can draw extra cards. They can deplete the opponent's card through discard and mill effects. One can even take cards from their discard pile and reuse them. There are a bunch of shenanigans involved with using, managing and messing with resources. I would like to take these ideas and use them for different game. It can really liven up an RPG with these systems.

For me This ended up being more of an ad for some of these games mentioned 😅

In a Realm where eye-patches are not allowed.

You really should've called it "How to tell that you love Disco in 1 million different ways as GDC talk"
But really it's a great talk. I found even more examples of what you've talked about. Like inspiration points from BG3 is very much inspiration points, and souls uses XP system that is both stats and resources.

Schmitt Meadows

Beliefs and instincts is very interesting. I kinda had a thought like this but immediately discarded it.

This dude yapped for 30 mins with the premise of " how u can take mechanics from TTRPGS " but it was more of an advertisement for all the games he mentioned. He never really went into detail on how u could use these mechanics

>'Stealable' Mechanics
Starts talking about PBtA...

Listening to this as I plat Palia

A whole lot of words to say next to nothing. This is the first GDC talk I've ever listened to and felt baffled. I had to ask myself several times, what is this man saying?