Yesterday I had a chat with some friends about the new Dark souls TTRPG that has been announced, there is almost no information about this TTRPG so far only that Steam forged games (https://steamforged.com/) the same company that made the Darksouls board game will be making it. This announcement has lead to a handful of articles and much speculation one of the big topics is what system will it use?
Steamforged games have produced a considerable number of video game tie in board games and card games, in terms of TTRPG related products they have Animal adventures a system neutral/5e compatible campaign setting and adventures? Adventures and Academia which seems to be a line of miniatures and miscellany for 5e designed for playing in a magic school(so Strixhaven) and their epic encounters series for 5e D&D,
so... Elephant in the room they have made a fair bit of 5e compatible stuff, many of the aforementioned article's have taken this to mean that the new Dark souls TTRPG will be based off 5e or at least be a d20 system. Personally I don't think that a 5e hack or d20 system can do Dark souls justice, in fact many such fan made systems already exist, for instance Dungeons and dark souls and the Dark souls D&D wiki, both are homebrews of 5e D&DS being a collection of homebrew rules, spells and items for the 5e D&D system and the DSD&DWiki being a hack of 5e trying to be as faithful to dark souls as the system would allow.
Looking at these systems a few issues arise, firstly its trying to cram the feel of DS into 5e in many ways making the system Less deadly (like adding Estus Flasks, giving abilities to avoid dyeing at 0hp etc) or trying to shove Dark souls character progression into a class based system or trying to interpret Darksouls mechanics through the lens of 5e mechanics (And often poorly such as with the rolling mechanics they insist on making just use the dodge action its pretty much the same thing as rolling in DS)
My main reason for dreading a d20 adaption of DS is combat, DS combat isn't just a ,matter of d20+bonuses v AC, when you swing your weapon or block a hit in dark souls it costs you something, you are constantly having to manage your stamina bar when attacking and defending, this of course doesn't have to be a total that you manage like hit points, maybe each turn you have small number of points to spend on actions based off your stats? some actions cost more than one point like swinging a heavy weapon or running and at the end of your turn any points you haven't spent can be used to try and roll of parry attacks?
level progression and classes are another big factor, DS has starting classes which basically are just starting stats and equipment, after you start playing you can invest your points where you pleases so starting as a sorcerer you can add more points into Dex and use a magic infused rapier for example, this would lend itself well to some form of skill based system like a d100 system (but without skills?) but you would also want to avoid having to change your derived stats every level (too much book keeping)
anyway I'm interested in seeing what becomes of this Dark souls TTRPG, I have been a fan of the Dark souls games for years now so I hope that they come up with something innovative and I'm sure there's plenty of other fans who would equally be interested in such an adaption,
tell me what you think in the comments, I would love to hear what type of system you think would capture the feel of Dark souls as well as how faithful or innovative the system should be I'm leaning more towards innovative personally
P.S. another Dark souls inspired game I found is Grave a hack of the Knave RPG, it gives a more rules light adaptation of a Dark souls TTRPG, my opinion is divided about some of the house rules but its worth checking out https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/336550/Grave
M.C.
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