Guild Wars 2

So I’ve had ~8 years of Tabletop RPG experience since my good ’ol days with AD&D back in the day.

I’m curious if there are any Tabletop RPG fans out there who would like to see a GW2 adaption.

And not a d20 clone either.

I’m thinking more of an original system that best captures the feel of GW2 yet transitions well to pen and paper. Note, I’m thinking along the lines of a tabletop storytelling, character-building, roleplaying game, not a stat-crunching, number-stacking, miniature wargame.

Any Tabletop fans out there that have been wishing to trek across Tyria with their buddies away from the computer screen?

Maybe that is what Heart of Thorns is going to be. That would be hilarious.

If I had friends who’d play, absolutely! Alone it is a little hard to do.

I would only play a tabletop game if it was in digital form.

Like this guy here .

JustTrogdor.7892:

Maybe that is what Heart of Thorns is going to be. That would be hilarious.

Hilarious. I would get a stool and a beer keg and watch ANet’s headquarters burn during the riots.

Oh, and some popcorn too. You gotta have popcorn.

A well done GW2 Tabletop RPG done would be epic!

nah, I´d rather dust off good ol Earthdawn. Some similarities, just done way better.

I’m considering drafting up a team of like-minded individuals with some great community input.

Pretty much have a core team of people who would all co-develop the project but also keep a big open forum community for every fan and player to pitch in. Everyone’s experience with both tabletops and GW2 is very different and distinct. Garnering all of that experience would be extremely beneficial to the project I believe.

I might do it if I could get enough people on board.
I have a fondness for systematic development and would enjoy it if I had a team to help the whole thing along. =)

MithranArkanere.8957:

Oh, and some popcorn too. You gotta have popcorn.

Jiffy-Pop, if they still make that stuff, so you can cook your popcorn over the fires of the burning HQ. =P

Interesting speculation, at least! Heart of Thorns doesn’t really capture a GW2 tabletop game book, though.

But I’d buy it. Because Six know I can write better characters than the biconics. (Not that it’s hard.)

NO

because unlike WoW which is a licensed DnD Tabletop RPG set,

GW2 doesnt feature deep class lore like WoW does.

I’d like a GW2 tabletop game, just so there’s a specific place I can tell RP’ers to screw off to. =P JK I’m not mean to RP’ers, though I do think it’s silly.

Knighthonor.4061:

NO

because unlike WoW which is a licensed DnD Tabletop RPG set,

GW2 doesnt feature deep class lore like WoW does.

That’s very true. There is, however, a substantial amount of world lore.

Also, one of the reasons people play tabletops is because they wish to insert themselves into the game world an experience more than what pre-programmed events and dialogue can bring.

Chris Pramas and Green Ronin did a fantastic Dragon Age tabletop translation a few years back. I own it and have played it and I find it extremely wonderful.

The classes themselves don’t have that much lore, but what is there fits in nicely.

Rich lore? Warrior? Rogue? Priest? Magic-User (er, uh, Mage)? At least half the WoW roster is a rip-off of D&D anyway. XD Not that GW2 is treading any unique ground, conceptually.

cloudjsh has it right. You grab a roleplaying book for the world as much as the system itself.

GW1 would be a great table top RPG due to the heroes and henchman system. GW2, not so much.

But I can picture a stack of 1mil cards called “RNG LOOT” where you pick a card to find out what loot you get — where a legendary item takes 10 cards piece. If you get all of the pieces, you can exchange it for a legendary.

Rauderi.8706:

Rich lore? Warrior? Rogue? Priest? Magic-User (er, uh, Mage)? At least half the WoW roster is a rip-off of D&D anyway. XD Not that GW2 is treading any unique ground, conceptually.

cloudjsh has it right. You grab a roleplaying book for the world as much as the system itself.

yes Rich lore.
http://www.wowwiki.com/Warcraft_RPG

Lore for game worlds and their constituent parts develops over time. No one should be shocked if Warcraft has more background material. It’s been around a long time. It’s had multiple tabletop games developed which contributed to that background.

Why disdain an intent to develop such background for a newer game because it hasn’t had the time to develop as much as the Methuselah game? When you break that down, it can be reworded as “You shouldn’t develop background for X because it doesn’t have background.” Silly. If the company that developed the first Warcraft tabletop game had taken that counsel, there would be no tabletop game.

Before anyone starts thinking about a GW PnP RPG, the question about ANet/NCSoft’s intellectual property has to be answered. I doubt they’d get upset about people using the GW2 world as a setting for a game using an existing or home-brew system, even if the GM blogged about the campaign. They might get upset if the game were to be published without their authorization. They might let it go if it were to be published at no cost to the end-user, but they might not. I doubt they’d treat it as fan fiction, but they might.

I’m not sure what you’re really going for here.

You could easily run a GW tabletop game by reskinning any version of D&D, although 4th edition would have the closest feel to an MMO. If you want something a bit more flexible you could adapt some Savage Worlds modules or even use the FATE system.

If this is a pet project for a home game that would be much simpler than developing your own ruleset to mimic the feel of GW2 and possibly more rewarding for the effort.

Or are you thinking of making something you could sell?

Oh gods no.

I tried that with the last MMO to RPG I bought. (EverQuest the RPG) It translated poorly. Could have been because the publisher didn’t care about it except as a stab for cash. That’s really the problem – anyone doing it is going to be pressured to have it make money rather than make it good.

I’d love to play or DM a GW2 campaign in a table-top setting. However, the existing GW2 rules would not translate well. Rather than inventing a new system, ANet could pair up with an existing table-top RPG game and add a campaign setting to it.

Regardless of whether they do that, I would really like to see ANet release a line of 25mm miniatures for table-top game play. With advances in 3D printing, they might be able to just sell the print-models to remove the need for a production facility or physical sales of the minis.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

GW1 would be a great table top RPG due to the heroes and henchman system. GW2, not so much.

But I can picture a stack of 1mil cards called “RNG LOOT” where you pick a card to find out what loot you get — where a legendary item takes 10 cards piece. If you get all of the pieces, you can exchange it for a legendary.

I can see what you mean.

However, over the years I have seen many people try to convert popular video games to the tabletop. I believe, however, that therein lies the main problem: they try to convert the game onto a tabeltop format.

The computer can run millions of formulas, RNGs, and variables in a half of a second. On the table, you would have to roll each of those individually.

The biggest problem with video game tabletops is that people think they need to convert them.
The truth of the matter is, for the game to make to it to the table, it doesn’t need to converted but rather it needs to be translated and adapted.

GW2 has a great feel for speed and fluidity.
Though the game itself revolves heavily about gathering materials for the next biggest piece of exotic or Ascended gear, there is no reason that a tabletop should reflect that.

I stated that it would be more of storytelling game than a number-crunching math game.
Most people don’t like Lord of The Rings and such because of the genre. That genre is everywhere.

They enjoy it for the story and the world.

There are some people who love the Guild Wars land and lore of Tyria.
There are some people who love the history from both Guild Wars 1 & 2.
There are some people who love the different races in the land.

And some of those people would, perhaps, love to write their own Living Story with their closest comrades in arms.

Honestly? I think it’d make a better adventure board game. Not unlike “Wrath of Ashardlon” via Wizards of the Coast. Or “Descent” the board game I will never . . . ever . . . get enough people interested to play.

cloudjsh.7814:

So I’ve had ~8 years of Tabletop RPG experience since my good ’ol days with AD&D back in the day.

I’m curious if there are any Tabletop RPG fans out there who would like to see a GW2 adaption.

And not a d20 clone either.

I’m thinking more of an original system that best captures the feel of GW2 yet transitions well to pen and paper. Note, I’m thinking along the lines of a tabletop storytelling, character-building, roleplaying game, not a stat-crunching, number-stacking, miniature wargame.

Any Tabletop fans out there that have been wishing to trek across Tyria with their buddies away from the computer screen?

It might actually work fairly well with the Whitewolf system. Even a generic D20 system can work rather well, if the GM does it right. Of course one could always just run a GW themed game themselves and use whatever system they like the best.

Guess what I am doing for my next Pathfinder session

IndigoSundown.5419:

Lore for game worlds and their constituent parts develops over time. No one should be shocked if Warcraft has more background material. It’s been around a long time. It’s had multiple tabletop games developed which contributed to that background.

Why disdain an intent to develop such background for a newer game because it hasn’t had the time to develop as much as the Methuselah game? When you break that down, it can be reworded as “You shouldn’t develop background for X because it doesn’t have background.” Silly. If the company that developed the first Warcraft tabletop game had taken that counsel, there would be no tabletop game.

Before anyone starts thinking about a GW PnP RPG, the question about ANet/NCSoft’s intellectual property has to be answered. I doubt they’d get upset about people using the GW2 world as a setting for a game using an existing or home-brew system, even if the GM blogged about the campaign. They might get upset if the game were to be published without their authorization. They might let it go if it were to be published at no cost to the end-user, but they might not. I doubt they’d treat it as fan fiction, but they might.

Money would never be involved.
It would simply be a project for fans by fans— released via free PDF for everyone to enjoy.

The biggest tabletop project that exploded and is extremely popular is right here: http://forums.pokemontabletop.com/forum/3848682/

No official licensing.
Just fan-made community gaming.

Don’t think so.

I don’t think Guild Wars 2 would be interesting enough as a tabletop RPG.

The d20 system is built for combat primarily and doesn’t handle much else rather well. The White Wolf d10 system, from what I’ve seen, handles combat poorly and handles most other things decently enough to get along.

I . . . don’t trust either of them with Guild Wars.

I’d buy it, maybe not play it. My group plays TSSI and Cyberpunk 2020, its not their style.

Also don’t forget that any of the systems under OGL can be used to create fan made game

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OGL_Publishers

I love and have played a myriad of different systems.

The reason why I’m interested in an original system is because Guild Wars is Guild Wars.

It is not D&D, NWoD, or anything else.

Though it is easy to latch onto similarities from other systems, I think creating something original and unique would best honor the game. You also wouldn’t have to think of how to “fit” things into pre-established mechanics. (ex. Should ‘Traits’ in GW2 be ‘Feats’ in D&D? Maybe put them in the class table?)

By creating its own system, you create more room for it to truly be its own unique experience rather than the Guild Wars world to be ‘window dressing’ for a different system.

You’ll notice that the word honor is bolded above.
That is because that is what making a GW2 tabletop would be about.

You want to play the GW2 tabletop because you love tabletops and you also love GW2. Wanting to develop a tabletop says *"Hey Anet, we love your game. We love the world. We want more! The world of Tyria inspires us and our creativity!"

Again, it would be a game made by fans.
For fans.

Because we love Guild Wars 2.

Roll 5D20s twice. If the all the numbers on one set match the other, you found a precursor. Otherwise you found 2 blues and a green.

Behellagh.1468:

Roll 5D20s twice. If the all the numbers on one set match the other, you found a precursor. Otherwise you found 2 blues and a green.

Usually for me it’s two greens and a blue.

But you forgot to add your Appraise skill to the rolls. Tsk.

If I were to run a GW campaign I would probably use a point-based system rather than class-and-level-based. I believe that a point-based system places the burden of fitting the character into the milieu as much on the player as the GM and class-and-level-based systems place the burden mostly on the publisher (or GM).

I run a lot in the Hero System. The system allows you to build pretty much any character you’d like. However, I dislike their combat mechanics for non super-heroic games. Having studied the martial arts, I find random hit-location generation a deal-breaker. Otherwise, I might use Storyboard. I don’t think that game is available any longer, as I cannot find it online. I might also adapt Mutants and Mastermind character development to D20 combat mechanics, thus allowing for character customization without having to invent or adapt umpty-seven prestige classes and feats.

If I were to want to develop a system, I’d go for simple combat rules to simulate the fast flow of GW2 combat, with robust point-based character creation to allow for detailed characters who are more than their combat stats.

However, I’d probably be more interested in using the original GW setting, back when Charr were for rugs. :O

You know, it’s interesting, but GW2 is probably the closest to a traditional pen-and-paper, non-strategic RPG of any major MMO because it doesn’t have the trinity. Pen-and-paper RPG’s generally don’t either, because that would be amazingly boring. (In fantasy ones you do get healers, but rarely tanks.)

From what I’ve heard the newest D&D went all WoW class roles though, so I suppose that’s different now. I haven’t played tabletop for years. But I remember the first time I ever played an MMO I was like, “wait, why aren’t they just killing the wizard?”

I was thinking using Fate Core, as that is my favorite RPG engine nowadays. The rules from the Atomic Robo RPG would work very well, as would the rules from Jadepunk. Possibly, I might used Cortex+ or Powered by the Apocalypse, though (Dungeon World could work pretty well with a set of custom playbooks.)

So yeah, I have been putting a bit of consideration into this. However, I need to finish the RPG from my Kickstarter before I can tackle any more big projects.

IndigoSundown.5419:

If I were to run a GW campaign I would probably use a point-based system rather than class-and-level-based. I believe that a point-based system places the burden of fitting the character into the milieu as much on the player as the GM and class-and-level-based systems place the burden mostly on the publisher (or GM).

I run a lot in the Hero System. The system allows you to build pretty much any character you’d like. However, I dislike their combat mechanics for non super-heroic games. Having studied the martial arts, I find random hit-location generation a deal-breaker. Otherwise, I might use Storyboard. I don’t think that game is available any longer, as I cannot find it online. I might also adapt Mutants and Mastermind character development to D20 combat mechanics, thus allowing for character customization without having to invent or adapt umpty-seven prestige classes and feats.

If I were to want to develop a system, I’d go for simple combat rules to simulate the fast flow of GW2 combat, with robust point-based character creation to allow for detailed characters who are more than their combat stats.

However, I’d probably be more interested in using the original GW setting, back when Charr were for rugs. :O

I couldn’t agree more. =)
I like to build my characters with purpose and story, not from a pre-determind table.

You would have to have weighted dice so only white/blue/green drop, after 5000 throws you could use the unweighted die once, to really emulate the game.

Vax Tezhme.7128:

I was thinking using Fate Core, as that is my favorite RPG engine nowadays. The rules from the Atomic Robo RPG would work very well, as would the rules from Jadepunk. Possibly, I might used Cortex+ or Powered by the Apocalypse, though (Dungeon World could work pretty well with a set of custom playbooks.)

So yeah, I have been putting a bit of consideration into this. However, I need to finish the RPG from my Kickstarter before I can tackle any more big projects.

I love Cortex+.

And yes, I would seek to garner more influences from those types of tabletops rather than your standard “XP, level up focused, dress-up in magic items” type of games.

cloudjsh.7814:

I love Cortex+.

And yes, I would seek to garner more influences from those types of tabletops rather than your standard “XP, level up focused, dress-up in magic items” type of games.

Cortex+Action, similar to the Firefly RPG, could really be a lot of fun. GW2 has a sort of archetypical, class-based feel to it, so a PbtA game might reflect it better: profession and race specific moves, for example.

Gurps (general use role-playing system) was made with this sort of thing in mind. That is to say it’s a set of RP rules that can be used with pretty much any universe?

I haven’t played a table top game in years, though I did write my own that my friends and I played for about twenty years.

Good times.

I’ve made a couple good stabs at crafting a GWRPG from scratch. It’s a fun puzzle. The franchise started as a hybrid of Diablo and Magic: The Gathering, after all. So the less you expect it to play like D&D, the better it’ll be.

Eight? Pffft. Whippersnapper. Although, to be fair, my own experience is almost completely D&D and derivatives.

You could probably do it in d20, although you’d probably want to design the classes from scratch and use something like the Book of Nine Swords system for representing skill cooldowns. Give everyone the opportunity to refresh their skill list at least once a day if they so choose. If you’re doing it pen and paper, one might as well at least make an attempt at covering professions from both games to give players a choice of what time period to play in (also, some of the professions that are currently not playable may still exist, particularly if someone was to, say, set their campaign in their imagining of GW2-era Cantha).

GURPS would probably also work as a basis, possibly with skills each being assigned a particular school and rules that make it easier to develop by learning new skills in a single school rather than branching out.

As a tabletop RPG collector, I would definitely get a copy of any tabletop translation of GW2.

Not sure if I’d play it though. My friends have lost interest in GW2 and I’m not invested in GW2 lore.

cloudjsh.7814:

So I’ve had ~8 years of Tabletop RPG experience since my good ’ol days with AD&D back in the day.

I’m curious if there are any Tabletop RPG fans out there who would like to see a GW2 adaption.

And not a d20 clone either.

I’m thinking more of an original system that best captures the feel of GW2 yet transitions well to pen and paper. Note, I’m thinking along the lines of a tabletop storytelling, character-building, roleplaying game, not a stat-crunching, number-stacking, miniature wargame.

Any Tabletop fans out there that have been wishing to trek across Tyria with their buddies away from the computer screen?

I had to google it to learn what a tabletop rpg is.

No.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Honestly? I think it’d make a better adventure board game. Not unlike “Wrath of Ashardlon” via Wizards of the Coast. Or “Descent” the board game I will never . . . ever . . . get enough people interested to play.

I feel your pain, TT. My friend owns Descent, and we still can’t get him and our gaming group to play it. :\

GW2 as a Dungeon World setting thing would be awesome. =D

I’d play any good tabletop rpg. I’d need an Asura mini though…

Tabletop RNG? :O

Personally, I don’t understand the tabletop RPG craze. Most of my close friends stopped gaming with me so that they could partake in weekly DnD meetings, and I have joined them for quite a few to see what it was all about. However, I stopped going because it was terribly boring for me. I am someone that enjoys visual aspects of gaming and constant immersion, not any of this turn-based storytelling where I have to roll dice and imagine everything that is happening.

I think GW2 is better as a video game. I don’t understand why anyone would want to tabletop a video-game when they could just play the video-game itself…

Though, to each their own. For those that love tabletop RPGs, I guess Tyria would be a good setting for an adventure.

The more I think about this, the more I actually want to start putting together something. I think the simplest way would be to use the GURPS system. I would love to start working on races, and racial abilities and stats. Of course aside from the playable races, one could also make stats and stuff for the non-playable races (i.e. Kodan, Skritt, Dredge, Quaggen, etc.) Of course I would also need to translate the professions to a tabletop friendly version. For starters I would just stick with the current professions of GW2 and go from there.

Anyone interested in collaborating with me on such a project? Being a fan made, non profit creation, I am pretty sure we can use names, lore, etc. from the game itself without fear of reprisal from Anet. Although I would want Dev confirmation beforehand.

Sirendor.1394:

Tabletop RNG? :O

Sir Vincent III.1286:

But I can picture a stack of 1mil cards called “RNG LOOT” where you pick a card to find out what loot you get — where a legendary item takes 10 cards piece. If you get all of the pieces, you can exchange it for a legendary.

Kross.6428:

Personally, I don’t understand the tabletop RPG craze. Most of my close friends stopped gaming with me so that they could partake in weekly DnD meetings, and I have joined them for quite a few to see what it was all about. However, I stopped going because it was terribly boring for me. I am someone that enjoys visual aspects of gaming and constant immersion, not any of this turn-based storytelling where I have to roll dice and imagine everything that is happening.

I think GW2 is better as a video game. I don’t understand why anyone would want to tabletop a video-game when they could just play the video-game itself…

Though, to each their own. For those that love tabletop RPGs, I guess Tyria would be a good setting for an adventure.

Tabletop gaming for many is more about the social aspect then immersion. A chance to get together face to face with friends and do something everyone enjoys. Many people also enjoy the chance to step away from work, kids, daily pressures of life and have some fun with friends without spending a ton of money. Also such games tend to bring people closer together and strengthen relationships. If you have a dedicated group of people that play on a regular basis, you are going to become close life long friends. Of course it’s not for everybody, but I would encourage you to at least try a few sessions before making a judegment on it.

I’ve gotten a few of my friends into it, who before held a similar view as yours. And these are people who generally thought of tabletop RPGs as something for “nerds” and those with “no life”. Once they got started, and we had a few sessions, they become excited about it and wanted to do more. If for no other reason then just for the social aspect of the game.

For fluid combat systems I’d suggest taking inspiration from Flashing Blades (available in PDF format now). Here is a review http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/06/retrospective-flashing-blades.html

I played it in college while I was doing a lot of fencing and this is the only tabletop system I’ve ever found that really felt like rapid swordplay with reactive parries. I’d also suggest Runequest 3 for spell casting inspiration, though I don’t recall details of that so well. I do remember that spells were malleable. You had daily mana and you could tweak a base spell’s parameters on the fly each time you cast it, so you’d have a core fire spell that you could make into fireballs, walls of flame, pretty dancing images in a cookfire, etc. Flexibility of application is much more fun to me than rigidly defined limits.

Yes, I’d be keen on a tabletop GW2. If. If it has emphasis on story over mechanics. If it allows one to immerse without having to look up a million tables. If it is true to the lore while encouraging creativity. Though really, I can (and do) just RP in GW2 itself; my only tabletop group just now is running an Exalted campaign that I attend for the social aspect, not for the game (I have never liked playing super godlike power).