
Game Guide
Adapting Series, Anime and Games to RPG!
05/11/22 0 comments
Want to play in a setting that hasn't been adapted yet, but think it's going to be too much work to do the job? Let's solve this problem!
need
to play it. Relax, that's just normal. You can be the most classic of players, and one day that story will emerge that will make you think:“Wow, I need to adapt this for my next table!”
And that's great because adaptations are at the roots of RPG as we know it! If you read my complete guide on classes (check out HEREAd
Define Your Goals

The Purpose
What will your adaptation do? Is it just for the group's entertainment, or do you intend to publicize it? How professional and detailed do you want andcan
be? These are not random questions. Knowing exactly the purpose of your project will avoid wasting time, exaggeration and disappointment, making you focus only on the chosen objective. A quick adaptation for a one-shot with friends can be done in minutes, while a quality published e-book will takemuch
more time and preparation.Start Small
It's normal to get excited about turning a small project into something huge that, honestly, doesn't usually end well, so… Take it easy. Do the necessary and only then think about growing if there is space and need for it, most of the time you will only need the basics to make good stories. Even if the idea is a one shot, you will want to see the tips from thisThe Scenario

Content and Complexity
. Let's see a bit of each:Content
The amount of information in a fictional universe varies greatly. From minimalist scenarios to entire worlds full of kingdoms, personalities, historical events in the most varied media. When starting an adaptation it is necessary to know how much of that world will be used for the game, this is the first and most important stage of your project. Imagine you want to adapt a content-rich story like Lord of the Rings or One Piece, if you have a focus in mind of what you're going to play it may not be necessary to adapt the entire universe at once.Tips for setting limits on your adaptation
– Does the setting have a long history? At what point in this story will your game take place? Focus on it. – Does your setting have many locations with different cultures? Choose a region for your games to take place, and gradually expand as needed. – Are there many races, creatures and cultures around the world? Focus only on the region and season chosen.Ad
Complexity
If the content is linked to the amount of information in a work, the complexity, in turn, indicates howdifficult
it is to work its rules within the game. Thus, complexity is not linked to the size or quality of the work, only the difficulty of adapting it to a system. Using the examples above, it would be much more difficult to adapt in detail all the rules of One Piece, a high fantasy with unique superpowers, races and environments than Lord of the Rings, which is a more realistic low fantasy and therefore easier to adapt to. If you follow the tips in the previous topic about content, you will automatically reduce the difficulty of adapting the rules of the world in question. But later in this article when we get to the systems part we will come back to this topic, sostay tuned
. Now that we've talked about the main points of a scenario, we need to talk about what will give us the information to adapt, we must talk about…What sources to use
If the adaptation is literary, you can think about re-reading the book to adapt your scenario. If it's a movie, reviewing the work should be enough, but are these really the best sources for your content?Not always.
Of course, if you're thinking of an old or lesser-known scenario, revising the original might be the best route, but it's also the most labor-intensive of all. This is because a work aims to entertain and not just present its information in an objective way. In this way, important information can be saved for the end, and others as relevant as being presented slowly, in a fragmented way throughout the plot. As entertainment this is great, but as research work it isterrible
.And that's where the internet comes in.
If your research material is recent or famous enough, there are likely to be sites, forums, and wikis specializing in the subject, made by fans all over the world. These sources are designed to quickly and instructively present information about that world and its characters, so using them to adapt the work will save you hours, perhaps days, of research you would have had otherwise. Don't be afraid to use all available sources to gain knowledge and don't ignore YouTube channels, podcasts or any other media that can quickly delve into the subject.Look for adaptations already made
There's nothing wrong with wanting to create a project, but if the idea is just to experience that world, maybe someone has gone to the trouble of doing it before.Ad
The System

rules
. Knowing which rules to use, change and delete will make your job easier and will increase players' immersion in the world not only through the setting, but also in the creation of characters and game mechanics. So, before we even start this editing process, we need to decide some points:Which system to use
There are an infinity of systems around the world… Big, small, famous or indies, each one of them will bring mechanics, game views, gameplay loops and a whole series of features that will affect our adaptation deeply. In this way, knowing which one to use as a base is essential for a quality project. We previously talked about the complexity of the scenario, and now wereturn
to it. The more complex the rules of your world, the harder it will be to adapt them for the RPG, as the harder it will be to find official mechanics who accurately emulate what you want. Adapting a ring that makes you invisible like inThe Hobbit
is easy, most systems will be able to do this. Precisely adapting theOne Ring
fromLord of the Rings
(which ironically is the same artifact) is a bit more difficult, and adapting everything a pirate stretching fromOne Piece
can do will simplybreak
certain systems. Does this mean that adapting complex systems is doomed to failure or mechanical imbalance?Of course not
. But you will need to follow some tips that are valid for any scenario, but that especially in these cases become even more valuable.Does your scenario already have a game?
This possibility has grown a lot in recent years. You may not know it, but it has become a standard for the adaptation of major movie, TV and animation franchises in general to win themed RPGs. Alien, The Last Airbender, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and many others have their own high-quality material with scenery and rules made specifically for their universes. Before you go to the trouble of creating something, it's worth looking into whether something isn't already made and how affordable it is to get it. Many even have free trial versions.Generic Systems
If you don't have an official system, the second-best way is generic systems. These systems have a set of tips and rules to adapt any type of story, just what you want to do. Each will have certain styles that emulate better, so it's worth researching and studying some of them to make your project. Some generic systems are 3D&T, FATE, GURPS, Savage Worlds, C4, Risus, FU RPG, Mutants & Masterminds and Dominus.Adapted systems
You may be a fan of D&D and really want to play Star Wars, but also not want to learn a new system, generic or focused on the franchise in question.Ad
Your favorite system
Yeah, you're alegend
playing Call of Cthulhu, and you've decided you're going to adaptGodzilla VS King Kong
into it. First, I congratulate you on your courage. In general, the chances of it being a terrible adaptation are huge (the movie being terrible contributes to that) but you guarantee yourself, your knowledge transcends reality in that specific system, and you know it's possible. And well, maybe it is. If his prior knowledge of a given system is extensive, he can overcome the difficulty of adapting something outside the scope of the game in question and doing something not ironically well done. Still, I recommend that you research what I indicated in the previous topics, you will, at the very least, expand your knowledge and acquire new ideas. Working only on what you know can make your life easier, but it also puts you in a very uncomfortable comfort zone in the long run.Put it all together and play!

the main thing is done!
Now it's manual work. List the main rules that you will have to edit and create and get to work, the rest is context, scenario and details. If the idea is to focus on the rules and have quality materials for the setting at hand such as wikis, YouTube videos or articles, use them as a source and save time. If you're thinking of editing the content, see the most direct and interesting way to present it and don't forget to put images, videos and hyperlinks where you need it. After defining the basics, don't forget to test your adaptation, that was your initial focus, right? Sometimes, after so much research, the finished work can lose some of its initial shine, but have fun in the process and focus on what you need to be able to play it. And when you're living incredible adventures in that scenario that you've wanted to experience for so long, all that work will have been worth it,I can assure you
.Which adaptation would you like to see?

Renato Castro
Game creator/writer and fascinated by RPG since childhood. Living life one test at a time trying not to take critical flaws.
Social
Be the first to comment