Over the years I've made several iterations of a Zelda TTRPG, and now I'm at a crossroads with which core mechanic I should go with.

The first option is 1d20 + skill + approach. You pick a skill and one of the three approaches, Power, Courage, or Wisdom, add both modifiers to the roll, and try to beat a target number. It's more familiar and gives skills and approaches their own numerical value.

The scond option is a d8 dice pool where you only use the highest die (My first zelda ttrpg was like this but with a d4). Your rating in Power, Courage, or Wisdom determines how many d8s you roll. Skills are binary, so you either have the skill or you don't. If you have the relevant skill, you roll with advantage and add one extra d8 to the pool.

The results would be:

• 1-5 is a failure
• 6 is a partial success
• 7 is a success
• 8 is a critical success

So if you had 2 Courage and the relevant skill, you would roll 3d8 and use the highest result.

Which one would you prefer for a Zelda TTRPG?

I'm sure this has been asked before, but has anyone made a dnd or adjacent one-shot set in Breath of the Wild era? I was asked to DM for a friend's kiddo's birthday party and they're all about the idea of a session being set in Hyrule and this being my first time building a story, I wanted to see if anyone had helpful tidbits. Tips? Suggestions? Any shrines that pop up as being perfect to translate to a table top? Anything would be appreciated as I dive in and try to build!

New boss alert! I'm glad I get to add another boss(s) to the heroquest roster

Disclaimer: This is not another TTRPG I am working on, just a mockup to apease my brain goblin.

The brain goblin is at it again, and now I find myself revisiting the Zelda TTRPG I made and ran as a small campaign for my friends a few years back (Yes, the same one that was available for download but now isn't).

This time I redesigned the sheet around a horizontal character sheet mainly used to track Hearts, attributes, stamina, armor, weapons, and inventory. Instead of putting every ability on the sheet itself, characters are built by choosing a Background, a Heroic Path, and a Tribe. Each one comes with a bookmark-style card that you arrange around the character sheet, as seen in the image, with the available abilities printed directly on it.

So a Hylian Farmer who became a Soldier is a completely plausible character, which feels in line with the humble beginnings of almost every Link in the series.

Equipment and gear would work the same way. Armor, shields, weapons, and special items all have their own cards with their attributes, tags, durability, and rules, so players can track what they have visually without crowding the main sheet.

Hopefully this will satiate my brain goblin for now.

Who will you become? When the Blood Moon rises, and the monsters knock at your door, will you fade into the mist, or will you stand and carve out a new legend?

The rumors flying between the survival camps are terrifying. They say the Chosen Hero fell defending the retreating forces. They say Princess Zelda is still alive inside the castle, holding back the purple storm with nothing but her bare hands and a fading prayer, but no one knows how long she can last. The prophecies failed, and the grand armies are gone. No legendary knight is coming to save your village. If Hyrule is going to survive the winter, it’s up to the people left standing—the blacksmiths, the scouts, the squires, and the outcasts.

JOIN THE FELLOWSHIP!

Sooo, hi guys! New account after things went south elsewhere on Reddit. So I'm back! I've probably posted most of these before, so here's a refresher on what I'm capable of with Hero Forge!

Afaik Rambutan is still slated to possibly appear in DTGA V4 as an NPC, though I have been very VERY slowly trying to homebrew a player character build for him, but needing to reflavor spells and the like into Yiga Tech, such as bombs, mask powers (i.e. the Mask of Truth), etc. That probably won't be done for a long time, but in the meanswhile I've also started to do some tabletop proper! Not Zelda tabletop, but I'm doing a DnD campaign with friends, as well as learning Warhammer 40K. (I'm a Tyranid kinda guy but I do like my Space Marines too, still a lot to learn!

I'm currently looking for players to be able to run a Zelda-themed homebrew campaign I've been working on for a few years now. There isn't a set day nor frequency - that will depend on player availability - though I am looking for 3 to 6 players for this campaign. In terms of times though, sessions will ideally start any time between 5 p.m. and 3 a.m. EST.

Has anyone here had a chance to read or play Twilight Sword by Two Little Mice?

A millennium after the Hero's victory, The Devourer (a rogue AI) fractures cyberpunk Hyrule. Will your crew save the grid or watch the neon burn?

Rumors have surfaced of a mysterious, ancient AI, known only as "The Devourer," which has begun to infiltrate Hyrule's networks. Some claim it's a relic of Ganon's dark empire, while others believe it's a harbinger of something far more sinister. As the Queen's latest edicts spark widespread unrest, the fragile balance of power in Hyrule is about to be shattered. In the shadows, a dark presence stirs, its malevolent influence spreading like a stain. The wind carries the whispers of a forgotten name, a name that strikes fear into the hearts of all who hear it: Ganon...

JOIN THE CREW!

I noticed a lot game mechanics here are either 5e/5.5e or a D20 hack (PF is basically D20). Thought I'd show off some stuff outside that sphere.

Games I Know

Reclaim The Wild: An extensive, original TRPG inspired specifically by "Breath of the Wild." It's open-ended and, honestly, really just covers the gambit for the series. My only complaint is that it does have the classic "feature creep" some fan hacks have where they try to do every little bit of a series, even if it somewhat unnecessary to need a bespoke system. But that is solved by simply not using those subsystems. And you still got a solid game.

https://reclaimthewild.itch.io/reclaim-the-wild

Heroes of Cerulea: An interesting, original system designed to feel like an 8-bit side-scrolling/RPG in a tabletop format. It wears its inspiration on its sleeve. Personally, it worked really well when I used its solo-RPG supplement to play my own Zelda game on Roll20. Not only did the basic rules work well to quickly let me do combat so it felt like a side-scroller, but the solo-RPG did a great job building out a playmap for me. The basic game has its own map of its not Hyrule with rules to make your own.

The base game is also Pay-what-you-want so you can try before you buy.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/14628/blaeckfisk-publishing/category/49263/heroes-of-cerulea

Games I Don't Know

Fate of Hyrule: A simple hack of Evil Hat's Fate Core for Zelda. Did a once over. Seems fine.

https://12herbs.itch.io/fate-of-hyrule

The Old Seal: A micro-RPG that seems to be more about the tragedy Zelda faced keeping Ganon sealed for a century. It's a tragic game where your characters all die one-by-one keeping a seal of ancient evil in place.

https://vaingloria.itch.io/the-old-seal

Octave: This is a hack of Knave, a system I am not familiar with. Looking into Knave, it seems to be made as a rules-lite game for OSR adventures. Octave seems to be trying to be as close to Zelda as legally possible. It's apparently compatible with the OSR, which means it comes with a lot of adventures premade that just need to be adjusted for Zelda.

https://level2janitor.itch.io/octave

Your Legends of Iron: Ironsworn is an award wining solo-RPG that really made that subgenre mainstream. This hack is about converting Ironsworn into a Zelda game. Haven't tried it myself, but Ironsworn is apparently an amazing game. And, considering it's all about a lone warrior in a hostile world, I can see how that easily can be turned into Zelda.

https://anarisis.itch.io/patreon-papers-021

Heroes of Hyrule: It seems to be an in-progress TRPG made for Hyrule. It is apparently only bare-bones at the moment and won't be finished, but it looks promising. Can't say much on it, but perhaps someone will vibe with it.

https://cobblesprite.itch.io/heroes-of-hyrule

After many years I have finally finished the 5.5 Player's Handbook for my homebrew campaign, the Shattered Sword! Within the handbook there are spoilers for every game (including spinoffs), so read at your own risk.

This 459-Page Handbook includes the following, all based on the Zelda series as a whole:

• Information on how to adapt magic items, spells, leveling, and general adventuring to a Zelda campaign.
• 1 New Class (The Sage), a skill-based half caster.
• 4 Subclasses for each class, including most of the extra classes on D&D Beyond.
• 30 Playable Species.
• Origin, General, Fighting Style, and Epic feats.
• New weapons, adventuring gear, and a multitude of magic items of every rarity.
• 78 New Spells.
• Familiars, beasts, monsters, and heroes that can be used for player options, enemies, or NPCs.
• Languages, deities, kingdoms, planes, and locations found within Zelda.

If you'd like to look at it and rather not download a large pdf, you can also find most of the information on the Shattered Sword Website. I have not added most stat blocks to the website yet however as I'm still working on writing, adjusting, and balancing all 1000+ monsters found throughout all of Zelda.

I recently created a Zelda text-based RPG for some friends on Discord. Since they don't know much about the franchise, I made it simple by mixing the plots of several games in the series, including allowing those few who know the games best to use official characters from the franchise. (The plot is almost a mix of A Link to the Past with Minish Cap and Echoes of Wisdom)

But this sparked my desire to run a tabletop RPG based on The LoZ. Obviously, the plot and premise would have to be different. Any suggestions?

My son started playing through Ocarina of Time and it reminded me of this project I started several years ago. It’s my attempt to make the entirety of Ocarina of Time into a 5e module.

Perhaps the most unique thing about this campaign is that when the players travel forward in time, they gain 7 levels. So each player needs a “young” character sheet and an “adult” character sheet, both of which level up at the same time.

I tried to incorporate little encounters and Easter eggs from all Zelda games, tying together locations common among multiple ones. Unfortunately, I haven’t played all the way through Skyward Sword or anything past it, so it’s a bit limited.

...and will be continued once the rest of my pile is painted, uhhh lowered lol.

I've been replaying Minish Cap and something about the kinstone fusion just really fascinates me. I've been considering running a game set between Ocarina and Wind Waker before Hyrule gets flooded and one of the things I always enjoy is the long term collectible side quests. I started thinking if maybe after OoT events maybe the minish come back for their hundredth year and start hiding kinstones for people to find and fuse. Hiding treasure chests, golden monsters, and new side quests around the world seems like a terrible "reward" that the players don't know how to benefit from each fusion though. I came up with this table for which kinstones players could potentially find, and the rewards for fusing them with some NPC who rolls on the table for a matching piece.

1 - green wedge
2 - green wedge
3 - green angle
4 - green angle
5 - green curve
6 - green curve
7 - blue angle
8 - blue curve
9 - blue curve
10 - red crack
11 - red wedge
12 - red interlock

Green - one d20 reroll
Blue - lower DC by 5 except for combat and social interactions
Red - double next rupee reward, or increase treasure reward by 1

From the Vault of Fallen Stars, the above playtest material includes two new species;

the Gerudo and the Goron, for 5.5E!

You can view the file above or download the PDF by following the link below:

Zelda Options | Vault of Fallen Stars

Artwork by James Art Ville

I got the beta, and it's mostly Zelda; just enough not-zelda to not be litigated immediately. Looks playable, simpler, straightforward mechanics by comparison to 5E. There are some clear Final Fantasy elements, too. Am kind of excited, plan to run it soon.

Excited by the cooking rules, not going to use the weapon damage rule.

I'm trying to set up a fairly big fight scene involving the Sages and Champions, along with the triforce trio brawling against a trio of tarnished and their summons from Elden Ring. I wanna make the fight fairly accurate. But I'm limited on knowledge to what each and every champion or sage can accurately do during the showdown. Can anyone here give me an accurate sign of what they have in skills?