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Settings to Tabletop

Thanks to the release of Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance on Netflix, my site (especially my War of the Dark Crystal Fate Core write-up) has been getting a lot of traffic lately. It got me thinking about some of my other favorite settings in media (games, TV, and movies) that I like and what systems I’d use were I to convert them to tabletop.

Many of these settings have officially licensed tabletop RPGs. My list focuses on settings that I think would have fit better in a different system. There were some settings I consider in my list of favorites (Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who) that I did not list as I felt they had systems that fit them well enough to not be touched (again).

FarScape

Alderac Publishing released a d20 official write-up for a FarScape RPG. As the show is one of my favorites, the book swiftly made it to my library. But as much as I love the show, this tabletop write-up didn’t survive past a single RPG purge. (I do a lot of library clean-up, especially before a move.) Putting FarScape into a class-based, combat-focused engine like d20 didn’t really satisfy the more narrative- and character-driven universe. Fate Core would be a better choice for a FarScape game, especially adapting Bulldogs! Fate Core. Another solid option would be the Forged in the Dark-based system, modifying Scum and Villainy; while class-based, FitD is less about combat as it is about the adventure and the narrative within.

Mass Effect

There have been a few unofficial conversions of the Mass Effect video game universe: Fate (pre-core, using the Diaspora write-up)d6, and d20. All three conversions have their strenghts and weaknesses, but one can see the labor of love that went into the write-ups. That said, I think Fantasy Flight Games’s Genesys system, as used in their Star Wars games best suits Mass Effect. Both universes are space opera with a heavy dash of magical abilities (the Force vs biotics); not surprising given the creators of Mass Effect were previously involved in the Knights of the Old Republic Star Wars game.

Dead Space

I loved the first two Dead Space games and there were a number of moments in the third that I quite liked. There are a number of space horror games available that would take very little effort to adapt to the universe. Cold & Dark is really the best choice. It practically is Dead Space from the get-go; the mechanics and setting adapt to Dead Space with almost no work. Runners up include Eclipse PhaseCthulhu Rising, and The Void Core. All four systems are focused on handling horror in space but the lease amount of work for world conversion is Cold & Dark.

Buffy/Angel and Supernatural

This trio of humans vs monsters shows all have their own official releases. Buffy and utilize Eden Studios’s Unisystem engine, while Supernatural is based on the Cortex system (an oft-used system for licensed TV properties). Honestly, these games hold up well in their engines; both Unisystem and Cortex are cinematic-style systems that allow for dramatic mechanics. That said, the Apocalypse World RPG-based Monster of the Week amps up both the investigation and action aspects seen in the shows and, from my experiences, feels more like the shows than their official counterparts.

Riddick

Three live-action feature films (soon to be four), a direct-to-DVD animated film, two video games for PC and consoles, one motion comic, one mobile game, and two novelizations; starring an avid D&D player. How does this franchise not have a single tabletop adaptation? I’ve yet to discover even unofficial adapatations. While the series is focused on the titular character, there’s enough in the series to present a universe of role-playing ideas outside of the last Furyan. This is a settting that I think would adapt best using the action-focused Savage Worlds Adventure Edition system.

Miscellaneous

There are other favorite media settings that I didn’t feel the need to expound upon, these are settings that fit right into a system with almost no work or tweaking. So, keeping this short and sweet:

Now that I’ve written up my ideal parings, does anyone want to do the work to make them happen?