Making a Final Fantasy Tactics Scenario

[saeval]

Suppose you have a group of six friends, all of whom have never played Final Fantasy Tactics. Suppose you are still friends with them after learning that. They enjoy DND 5e, and want you to run a story for them. Suppose you've played Final Fantasy Tactics 5.1 billion times, and have a deep seated need for people to experience the game. You even fancy yourself relatively capable of "off the cuff" roleplaying comfortable taking a scene to whatever its new conclusion may be, and grasp that truly, a game such as Tactics story line only exists because of the railroad track it sits on.

I basically want to make it happen, and would greatly appreciate input in any and every aspect of making it happen. I'm not looking for the job system, but more like what are the properties of a Zodiac Stone? What kind of devils live in each stone? What classes do you you think main villains/heroes would have by 10th-12th level? lets keep it limited to the first 2-3 chapters of the game. Very interested in say theoretical... Wiegraf Folles. I know in the strictest sense of the game, he was monk/holy knight... but if you can find a colorful alternative with the same flavor.. all ears! Gafgarion and his blood sword would be wonderful too. I don't plan on ripping entirely into the Final Fantasy side of it, with chocobo's and such. More so the overarching plot lines with the fleshed out political aspects from war of the lions, the whole, once great kingdom filled with magical and technological wonders now buried as dangerous mysteries.

Any contributions/suggestions of any sort would be immensely appreciated.

[Jeebs]

Lots of Fighters with the Noble background. Some Monks, some Paladins (Oathbreaker or at least Vengeance for things similar to Bloodsword).

Mages are Sorcerers and Clerics. Are there Red Mages in FFT? I'd say they're Bards. Rogues and Way of Shadow Monks can be Thieves/Ninjas.

Time Mages, Calculators and some of the other endgame magic classes might be wizards. Geomancers might be Dragon Sorcerers.

You'd have to find some lower level demons to start out against, or just start the game at a higher level.

[saeval]

I agree, the setting is definitely knight/noble heavy, and Yea, different casters can be hand-waved as specialized wizards for the vast majority of cases. Most just add a bit of flavor to -how- its cast. I really like Geomancers being dragon sorcerers.

Translating the actual job list isn't really the objective, like most rpg's there is a broad spectrum of roles to specialize in. more so going for specific characters represented, what abilities would they pick at ___ level? Should they have their own unique flavor ability, or am I just making a bunch of Battlemasters and Vengeance Paladins? Should the stones do more than just Polymorph/murder you into a Devil?

[TrollCapAmerica]

Just take the basic story concept and adapt it too D&D. This isnt 4th and making it work too much like a video game wont work out

Like imagine if they Behead Algus the second he says something obnoxious? Or they negotiate thier way through fights that had no major storyline value and suddenly the PCs get attached to Dorter Knight 2 and thier favorite sidekick needs a name and backstory. What if they go completely off the rails and Kill Delita for being a prick and grab people by the skuls screaming "WAKE UP YOU MORONIC IDIOTS A FRIGGAN GOD IS TRYING TO KILL US ALL WHILE YOU ARGUE OVER PLOTS OF DIRT YOU WANNA RULE THAT WONT EXIST NEXT WEEK"

Because I already yell that at least once a playthrough before getting distracted by leveling and never finishing the game

[Naanomi]

Decide if it will be human only, if you are going to adapt/hand wave races, or if you will try to port in other Ivalice races

[TopCheese]

Just take the basic story concept and adapt it too D&D. This isnt 4th and making it work too much like a video game wont work out

Like imagine if they Behead Algus the second he says something obnoxious? Or they negotiate thier way through fights that had no major storyline value and suddenly the PCs get attached to Dorter Knight 2 and thier favorite sidekick needs a name and backstory. What if they go completely off the rails and Kill Delita for being a prick and grab people by the skuls screaming "WAKE UP YOU MORONIC IDIOTS A FRIGGAN GOD IS TRYING TO KILL US ALL WHILE YOU ARGUE OVER PLOTS OF DIRT YOU WANNA RULE THAT WONT EXIST NEXT WEEK"

Because I already yell that at least once a playthrough before getting distracted by leveling and never finishing the game

Every edition of D&D since 2ed, except 5th, has been said to have been videogamey or based on a videogame and I have seen final fantasy tactics type games in 2e, 3.P, and 4th edition.

All editions are a combat game first.

Stop trying to edition war, setting and NPCs know no edition.

The plot/script of FFT wasn't the greatest but I've seen worst NPCs live longer than Algus and I've seen NPCs like Delita die instantly.

Just because you can't work abgame doesn't mean the rest of us are having/will have the same role playing troubles that you seem to have.

[Fighting_Ferret]

The stones themselves are neither evil or good, but rather are reflective of the individual who holds them. In order to successfully use the stones you would have to share its underlying zodiac compatibility.

Give the stones magical properties, and make them artefact level sentient items. Evil individuals will use the stones for destruction, whereas good individuals will use them for support. Evil or chaotic individuals will be enticed by dreams and visions that progress into actual voices as they use the stones for selfish/destructive purposes. Lawful/good persons may not be enticed, but may be offered an inner peace of mind when using the stone for selfless/protective purposes. Give each stone some powers and a personality.

I'm at work right now, so can't get into much detail.

As far as the campaign goes, stick to the political intrigue. You don't have to pull the scenario right off of FFT, but use the basic story line as your concept.

[CNagy]

In Final Fantasy Tactics, each of the Zodiac stones houses one of the Lucavi--and they are demons/devils. While some of them are evil in the way that the alignment system understands evil, they are more akin to an alien value system that compares more closely to evil than good; the Zodiac stones do attempt to corrupt their wielder in a certain fashion, but they don't deny their raw power to someone who resists that corruption. I.e. while a normal devil might reward someone for evil acts and refuse to lend aid if that person acts in a consistently good manner, a Lucavi will go ahead and grant selfless wishes and aid the wielder even if it doesn't seem like the wielder is coming around to the idea of merging. This could be because Zodiac stones require compatibility and the Lucavi are playing a long game; better to help now and bank on being able to corrupt the wielder later than losing the wielder and having to find a new one.

In game, I'd say they were artifacts that have a few powers for those who attuned to them. Teleport at a minimum. Various spell buffs or duplication of other magic item effects. Fighting a Zodiac stone wielder would be a two-stage boss battle, as Lucavi in the stone tempts the wielder to merge upon the wielder dropping to 0 HP/10%HP/25%HP, or however you want to figure it. There is some source material on who exactly each of the Lucavi is and what they do/represent, so you can research that a bit to differentiate each one in battle--but frankly, it's easier to just create the differences yourself. One thing I'd probably change from the game is that the Zodiac monster battles don't necessarily need to be to the death--if a Lucavi escapes battle alive, I'd have it be able to transform back into the wielder, who is now for all intents and purposes dead, their body possessed by the devil/demon.

[Rusty Killinger]

I haven't played FF Tactics (Can we still be friends?), but I have been part of some very interesting D&D adaptations including one based on Perfect Dark, which is apparently the good prequel to the Chronicles or Riddick. So here's my two cents on adapting content in general.

First of all: Don't mess with character classes! You run the risk of introducing big balance issues. But probably you'll just confuse and frustrate your players. Or you'll make it not feel like D&D, which is just as bad. Final Fantasy (in general) and D&D cover enough of the same genre and tropes that an average D&D party will fit if you try a bit. More importantly the player characters are the only thing the players really control. Taking that away sucks.

So if you have to, ban a class or two before character creation. Then just accept that whatever they bring. Those are the new heros. Really, it's for the best.

Do change up the monsters as much as you like. I should say I'm a big fan of the 5e xp, daily encounter and encounter building systems. It helps you build challenging, interesting fights. And you usually don't have to bail out your players because you over did it. When you need a new enemy, first find something in the monster manual with appropriate difficulty. Second change out powers and benefits you don't need for ones that fit. Just try to trade things of equal value. And finally re-theme it. The appearance, behaviors, backstory, non-combat abilities and motives can all change completely without effecting balance. When your done you'll have the perfect encounter and the difficulty will be dialed in.

And finally if your players need some special abilities to fit the story/genre give them some magical items with limited charges or limited uses per day. This let's the players do the awesome thingamajigs, as needed, without completely changing the game. There is some danger of upping the part's power. But you can usually fix that by upping the encounter xp a little.

And that's the mechanical stuff. The rest is storytelling and letting your players discover the world. Have fun and I hope some of this helps.

[saeval]

Everything so far is fantastic. I've done something similar to a devil wearing a corpse as a Sock Puppet to complete an agenda, and I 100% would do that again. I'm not looking to change base class's around. I was thinking more flavor for baddies. like a legendary action or two kinda thing, that would set em apart.

I'll have to look into the aspects stored into each Stone. I am worried about making them too powerful if the group gets the idea to actually try to tap into it. and i don't want a "oh you rolled a 1 on your will save, a demon takes over you die" I think no save is needed. It's like signing a faustian pack. Like when weigraf was bleeding out. sure, extenuating circumstances, but they dont care. Its a matter of completing your task or not, whats it gonna be?

I know not fix what is not broken.Tactics and DND have a lot of overlap, most things that are different are flavor.
I do not intend a word for word adaptation. It's kinda impossible to take a story and shove it down the players throats. You give a rough outline and hope for the best. Like a docu-drama the names used in my presentation are not the names of the person in "real life" their faces will be blurred for their safety. if you squint just right, they may look awfully familiar though.

oh and yes, Rusty we can still be friends.

[Coidzor]

Well, you could have Axe Beaks be a prominent part of the local animal husbandry sector if you really want to have chocobos. You'll just probably need to assign them a price.