Video games are often a great source of inspiration for the beleaguered DM. These five unlikely candidates show inspiration is everywhere.
Video games and D&D go hand in hand. They’ve each inspired the other and back and forth for literal decades now. Whether it’s D&D influencing video game mechanics, or video game mechanics getting adapted to D&D (looking at you, Heliana’s Guide to Monster Hunting), it’s a fine tradition.
But you don’t always have to look at the usual suspects. Because, while sure, you can find plenty of inspiration in games like the Witcher or Dragon Age, there are some more out there titles that might serve your imagination well too.
So let’s take a look at some games that show that looking a little further afield can bring back a bountiful harvest.
Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is probably the closest to a tabletop RPG game on this list. And for good reason, it started in tabletop, as a homebrewed D&D campaign and grew from there. So the line of inspiration isn’t that far. But Disco Elysium is much further afield than the typical cRPG. There’s no elves, swords, or even a single castle to be found anywhere.
Instead, the streets of Revachol are littered with a murder investigation, mouthy children, karaoke, and communism. But, in Disco Elysium’s worldbuilding there’s plenty of lessons to take for your tabletop game. Whether it’s finding inspiration in the rich tapestry of NPC’s internal lives – every NPC has an idea and a feeling about something, especially where the main character is concerned, or in the moody dialogue, there’s a lot to mine.
It is, hands down, the best example I can think of to demonstrate how to make failure fun. And how failing can sometimes be just as rewarding as success – if you spin it right. Anyone who’s spent any time as Detective Raphael Ambrosius Costeau knows exactly what I mean.
The Outer Wilds
Now let’s leave behind the world of RPGs altogether. The Outer Wilds is one of the all time greats for gaming. If you’ve never played it, you should. And you should look up nothing about it. But, while we won’t spoil anything here, there’s all sorts of inspiration to be mined in the interconnected world of The Outer Wilds. Each place you visit feels like it’s own distinct environment, while also linked everywhere.
It’s a masterclass in what you can do when you limit your scope and really dig in to the space you carve out for yourself. When you start drawing in just a few places on your map, but really really detailed where you do, your game can feel alive. Vivid. Plus, it’s a great example of how to handle environmental puzzles.
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 is a bombastic, chaotic experience. It is an unfolding rollercoaster ride of a game where you’ll often end up dead to the ill-timed airstrike your teammate has called in, as you will a surging rush of giant, heavily armored insects that spew acid on you.
It’s a fantastic example of what can happen when you embrace the chaos of your party’s actions, and just let things unfold where they might. If someone has an idea they want to try, especially one in desperation, it can lead to magic moments if you let it all ride on the roll of the dice.
Katamari Damacy (Any)
Speaking of rolling, let’s talk Katamaris. Katamari Damacy is a weird one to think about in terms of your D&D game. But hear me out. This is a perfect way to find inspiration for making the cosmos/heavens of your world weird. And your own.
Because there is nowhere else like Katamari. Weird little guys roll stuff into balls that get bigger until they become stars. The King of All Cosmos goes on drunken benders. The cosmic whimsy of it is a great reminder that not every pantheon of gods has to be “one for magic, one for elves, one for warriors, one for the moon, one for the sun, one for healing, one for death (positive), one for storms, one for oceans, and one for death (mean).”
Journey
Finally there’s Journey. Which brings us back to the environment. You can tell a whole story with your environments. And while you don’t have an art department to rely on to depict your world for your players on the most powerful graphics card in the world (the imagination), Journey is a great way to get you to start thinking visually with your dungeons.
Maybe you have some moments for the player to come across that paint a picture of what has happened here before. Or maybe you just think “hey how would I make this dungeon in Journey.” And then you’re thinking about the experience your players will have in the dungeon, not just what they’re going to fight next.
What are some of your favorite “unlikely” video game inspirations?
