It's much rarer to see the influence of other roleplaying games in the wider culture, even within nerdy domains like video games. Examples exist, of course – I believe the Fallout series has some connection to GURPS? – but they're comparatively rare. That's why I was quite surprised to discover that Bethesda Game Studio's upcoming science fiction roleplaying game, Starfield, is inspired by GDW's Ttraveller.
I'm no longer a huge player of video or computer games, but this news certainly has piqued my interest. I played the first Paragon Traveller computer game in the early 1990s and enjoyed it well enough for what it was, but, in the years since, I can't recall any SF video games that showed much similarity to Traveller, either in concept or in game mechanics. If Starfield turns out to be such a game, I'll certainly take notice. The game won't be released until September, so I'll have to wait and see how things unfold.
Yes, Fallout was originally designed as an adaptation of GURPS rules to computer game format, but disagreements with Steve Jackson regarding some story elements involving violence caused Interplay and SJG to sever relations and Interplay replaced the game with the so-called "SPECIAL" system, named for the initials of the characteristics that define a character.
ReplyDeleteBethesda are undeniably talented. They are also undeniably good at missing the point of things they like by miles.
ReplyDeleteSo this could be very good, very good but nothing like Traveller, very bad, very bad but nothing like Traveller...
“ even within nerdy domains like video games.” video games are a major mainstream cultural pastime now. They bring in more money than Hollywood and music industry combined. A game like Red Dead Redemption 2 made $175 million on sales in 3 days of launch. Since its launch it has sold an additional 30 million copies. I can only imagine how much World of Warcraft has made in its years of existence. They really have grown into their own.
ReplyDeleteThey're also largely responsible for the growth of tabletop gaming of all kinds over the decades, and without the rise of electronic gaming I doubt the overall RPG community would be half the size it is today. There's no social stigma associated with e-gaming any more, and folks claiming there is winds up looking outdated or (in the case of those screaming for censorship and similar pearl-clutching) simply insane.
DeleteYou could also make a pretty fair claim that tabletop games are now emulating their more successful electronic cousins rather than the other way around. One of the most common criticisms of D&D 4e was that it drew inspiration from WoW, and there are dozens of board games, miniatures rules and RPGs that rely on licensed e-game IPs for their success. It's very much like Marvel Comics and the MCU - print books are changing to fit the movies rather than defining them these days, because the movies have far larger fan base. Tail wags dog.
Bethesda's flagship series, The Elder Scrolls, is strongly influenced by Runequest. And they're also now the owners of of Fallout IP which you mentioned. So, we should not be so surprised. The folks in charge there are clearly full-blown geeks.
ReplyDeleteI believe Ken Rolston was heavily involved in the development of The Elder Scrolls, so the RQ connection makes a lot of sense.
DeleteYes, Rolston was a writer in spin-off Elder Scrolls games before becoming lead designer for Morrowind and Oblivion, so he has had a big influence on the series. Interestingly, the learn-by-doing d100 skill system was already in place before that, so the Runequest connection might be older than Rolston's involvement.
DeleteI'd also like to point out another tabletop veteran working on the series : Lawrence Schick was lore master on Elder Scrolls Online for five years or so, if memory serves.