-featured-image.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=120&h=80&dpr=2)
Tabletop games have become increasingly popular over the years, thanks to Dungeons and Dragons reaching mainstream media via the likes of Stranger Things and Critical Role. Those that decided to dive into the pen and paper RPGs might have even gone on to explore other systems, such as Call of Cthulhu and Vampire: the Masquerade.
These systems have also had video game adaptations, though not nearly as many, and arguably not of the highest quality. Baldur's Gate 3 has raised the bar for RPGs with its boundless amounts of creativity and interactivity. Every action has a reaction, and the amount of effort Larian devoted is impressive. But now, it's time for other TTRPGs to be given a game of the same level of quality.
Tabletop Games To Play If You Like Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons and Dragons may be the most famous tabletop RPG, but these other games will also keep fans happy.
7 Coyote and Crow
A Welcome Rewriting of History
On the surface, Coyote and Crow doesn't seem much different from the direction the world is hurtling towards, as Earth is much transformed following a global crisis. However, Coyote and Crow does a creative retelling of human history by presenting the world as what it might be like if colonialism never happened. Now, players control the inhabitants of one of five Indigenous nations as they survive the now inhospitable world.
An RPG based on Coyote and Crow could add some much-needed representation to the world of gaming, if done correctly with the respect this TTRPG deserves. Plus, including survival elements such as making it through tough winters could make an in-depth and realistic RPG with additional challenges.
6 Call of Cthulhu
Cosmic Horror RPGs is an Empty Market
Cthulhu is a creature born from the mind of the cosmic horror writer himself responsible for the Lovecraftian genre. The tabletop game spans an impressive amount of books that take players on adventures that always revolve around some sort of supernatural phenomenon that threatens to strip them of their life or sanity.
11 Best Cosmic Horror Games, Ranked
Cosmic horror has birthed some truly unsettling and fantastic games, and these games are absolutely worth checking out.
Many horror game developers have made a horror game loosely based on the tabletop game to varying levels of success, but there is yet to be an RPG made. The marriage between horror and RPG is exceedingly rare, and a cosmic horror role-playing game is all but unheard of. As such, it could be a risk to tap into this new market, but if it holds even half of Larian's creative quality, a Call of Cthulhu RPG could shake up the gaming industry.
5 Mork Borg
Perfect Basis for a Dark Adventure
D&D more often than not involves heroes saving the world, or players rising to that status through enough life-saving endeavors. This is where Dungeons and Dragons and Mork Borg differ, as in the latter, the game isn't about heroes, but rather looking for a last tether of hope to cling to in a world where humanity and hope are but dying embers, as the end of all drags closer and closer.
With a clock counting down to world-wide disaster and a dark, dangerous world, Mork Borg as a game would be closer to Dark Souls than Baldur's Gate 3, but this is all part of its appeal. Most RPGs veer in the direction of high fantasy, but Mork Borg could shine as a unique, gritty and grueling adventure as players try to stop the coming doomsday while not losing themselves to darkness and despair.
4 Shadowrun
Gamers Need More Futuristic RPGs
Shadowrun is a pen and paper game set in a dystopian, cyberpunk future, but it is not to be mistaken for the Cyberpunk TTRPG itself. In this sytem, players can upgrade their physical form with cybernetic implants, but there is still a magic system in place for those that want to sling spells in the streets rife with corruption and crime.
As such, Shadowrun is a game ripe for an RPG similar to Baldur's Gate 3, as such a game could be fantastic in its own right. Not only that, there aren't nearly as many sci-fi RPGs as there are fantasy games, leaving a market in desperate need of filling.
3 Blades in the Dark
A Unique Setting to Explore
Taking place in a Steampunk world rife with crime, corruption, gangs and even the spirits of the dead, Blades in the Dark boasts a unique setting that is all about underdogs crawling their way up from the bottom. Players mostly take on the roles of thieves cutting out a living by skimming the cream from the fat cats living it up at the top of the city, making it the perfect game for rogue players.
With a setting this unique, Blades in the Dark could definitely serve as a basis for a fantastic RPG, and introduce gamers to the fantastic TTRPG it is based on. But as it is one of the lesser known pen and paper games, its unlikely players will ever see this hypothetical RPG.
2 Vampire: the Masquerade
The Bloodlines Fans Crave
VtM has thus far been given one RPG released back in the early 2000s, with a sequel slated for release in the coming year. Bloodlines wasn't entirely finished on its release, with fans taking it upon themselves to release a mod to make it work. With the troubled and pained development that the second game has been subjected to, fans are worried history is doomed to repeat itself.
-featured-image.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=422&h=268&dpr=1.5)
The Best Vampire Games (That Aren't Castlevania)
Castlevania might be the most iconic vampire gaming series out there, but it's not the only one.
As VtM is such an imaginative and fantastic tabletop game that places a focus on story and RP, it is deserving of an RPG that can facilitate the feeling of a pen and paper game in a video game format. It's long-suffering fans deserve a game of the same quality D&D has gotten, so fans need to hold out hope Bloodlines 2 will smash pessimistic expectations.
1 Pathfinder
D&D's Closest Rival
Pathfinder might be the tabletop system that is closest to D&D in terms of world-building and lore, but it is disparate enough that tabletop gamers are often divided over which one is better. Pathfinder tends to be crunchier when it comes to numbers, which can be off-putting to some players.
Yet still, Pathfinder proved to be popular enough to warrant games based on the system, such as Kingmaker or Wrath of the Righteous. Given how Larian delivered the fantastic Baldur's Gate 3 for D&D, its definitely in the realm of possibility an equally fantastic RPG could be developed for Pathfinder.
