Favorite Turn-based Video Games Based on D&D or other TTRPGs?

[TaiLiu]

I have character ideas that I wanna play or test out. (Usually in a d20 system, since they tend to be mechanics-heavy.) I can't test them out in the campaign I'm already in, since I already have a character. So I'm looking for turn-based video games that lets me build a character similar to the one I have in my brain.

Any recommendations? The only TTRPG-based video game I've ever played before is Dungeons and Dragons Online. Unfortunately, fights are real-time and I'm super bad at it.

Thanks.

[Bohandas]

Temple of Elemental Evil (preferably with the Circle of 8 and Temple+ fan mods)

Hands down the best D&D CRPG ever

[CarpeGuitarrem]

D&D CRPGs are probably the closest thing for you, and you're in luck: there's a Humble Bundle going on for a couple more days that has a number of them: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/r...rs-gate-beyond

May also want to give Freedom Force a look. It's real time, but also lets you pause at will and issue orders to everyone. It's based on the HERO system from what I recall, and it lets you put together all kinds of superpowers.

[Psyren]

You're in luck, we're in a bit of a CRPG renaissance right now. There are more options for digital translations of TTRPGs than ever before.

5e:

1) Baldur's Gate 3 fully released a couple of days ago and it is definitely turn-based, and is very close to the tabletop 5e ruleset.

2) Solasta Crown of the Magister is another one based on the 5e ruleset. Much more generic in terms of setting and plotting, but even more faithful to the tabletop rules. The big benefit to this one is that it's available on the Xbox Gamepass, so if you're already subscribed to that you can just give it a try without paying full price. (They've paywalled a number of the classes and races behind DLC however if you go that route.)

Pathfinder:

Both Wrath of the Righteous and Kingmaker fairly faithfully translate the PF1 ruleset to video game territory. They are also fully turn-based now, or at least have the option to use that instead of the "real-time-wth-pause" that was championed by older games like NWN and Baldur's Gate 1&2.

Older Editions:

The older CRPGs, based on D&D 2e-3e, are still around and being kept faithfully playable via GoG.

No Specific TTRPG:

CRPGs based on, but not mapping to any specific TTRPG, include the likes of Pillars of Eternity, Divinity Original Sin (especially the sequel), and Tyranny. Some of these may require mods to become fully turn-based.

[TaiLiu]

Temple of Elemental Evil (preferably with the Circle of 8 and Temple+ fan mods)

Hands down the best D&D CRPG ever

Thanks for the rec! Wikipedia tells me that it was controversial cuz of a possible gay relationship in-game. Sounds like a positive to me.

D&D CRPGs are probably the closest thing for you, and you're in luck: there's a Humble Bundle going on for a couple more days that has a number of them: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/r...rs-gate-beyond

May also want to give Freedom Force a look. It's real time, but also lets you pause at will and issue orders to everyone. It's based on the HERO system from what I recall, and it lets you put together all kinds of superpowers.

Nice! Thanks for the link to the bundle. That's probably enough gameplay to keep me busy for over a year. I'm not interested in superhero stuff, but I also appreciate the rec.

You're in luck, we're in a bit of a CRPG renaissance right now. There are more options for digital translations of TTRPGs than ever before.

5e:

1) Baldur's Gate 3 fully released a couple of days ago and it is definitely turn-based, and is very close to the tabletop 5e ruleset.

2) Solasta Crown of the Magister is another one based on the 5e ruleset. Much more generic in terms of setting and plotting, but even more faithful to the tabletop rules. The big benefit to this one is that it's available on the Xbox Gamepass, so if you're already subscribed to that you can just give it a try without paying full price. (They've paywalled a number of the classes and races behind DLC however if you go that route.)

Pathfinder:

Both Wrath of the Righteous and Kingmaker fairly faithfully translate the PF1 ruleset to video game territory. They are also fully turn-based now, or at least have the option to use that instead of the "real-time-wth-pause" that was championed by older games like NWN and Baldur's Gate 1&2.

Older Editions:

The older CRPGs, based on D&D 2e-3e, are still around and being kept faithfully playable via GoG.

No Specific TTRPG:

CRPGs based on, but not mapping to any specific TTRPG, include the likes of Pillars of Eternity, Divinity Original Sin (especially the sequel), and Tyranny. Some of these may require mods to become fully turn-based.

Thanks for the recs! I'm especially interested in the 5e stuff, so it's good to know that there are at least two games that'll let me explore that.

[Bohandas]

As for older editions, in addition to the aforementioned Temple of Elemental Evil adaptation by Atari, I am also partial to the Krynn trilogy by SSI, particularly Dark Queen of Krynn (Be advised though that the Krynn Trilogy's control scheme hasn't aged very well; IIRC only the third one has proper mouse support)

[Psyren]

Thanks for the rec! Wikipedia tells me that it was controversial cuz of a possible gay relationship in-game. Sounds like a positive to me.

Not excusing the tag, but remember that ToEE came out two decades ago; LGBT romance options in CRPGs are much more common nowadays than they were in the early 00's.

Thanks for the recs! I'm especially interested in the 5e stuff, so it's good to know that there are at least two games that'll let me explore that.

If LGBT themes and romances interest you, BG3 has a bunch, so have at it!

[Spore]

Temple of Elemental Evil (preferably with the Circle of 8 and Temple+ fan mods)

Hands down the best D&D CRPG ever

This. The execution was so sleek. Yes Kingmaker and WotR are great games, but the turn based stuff is extremely janky, same with Baldur's Gate. They games are meant to be played with RTWP.

Well, and Divinity: Original Sin 2. It rewards creativity without becoming a cheese fest. It gives you the tools to do your own cool build and is not overly complicated in doing so. The encounters are interesting and not a pushover

[Psyren]

I'll add a bit of nuance and say that Kingmaker was originally designed around RTWP, but WotR, BG3 and Solasta were all designed from the ground up to be playable fully turn-based, due in large part to how popular the TB mod for Kingmaker ended up being.

[Bohandas]

In any case I'm just glad that people finally realized how terribly garbage RTWP is. The first two Baldur's Gate games were unplayable and so was Planescape Torment, although at least Torment warned you in the name

[Batcathat]

I quite like RTWP in some cases. It obviously doesn’t fit every game or every player, but neither does turn based or real time.

[Psyren]

In any case I'm just glad that people finally realized how terribly garbage RTWP is. The first two Baldur's Gate games were unplayable and so was Planescape Torment, although at least Torment warned you in the name

While I think "unplayable" is a bit harsh, I definitely/strongly prefer TB and RT over RTWP. (And TB over ATB, i.e. the Final Fantasy system pre-15, for that matter.)

I quite like RTWP in some cases. It obviously doesn’t fit every game or every player, but neither does turn based or real time.

My issue with RTWP is that too often it ends up being the worst of both worlds. You need similarly twitch reflexes to pause on time in a lot of cases, failing to do so leaves you gormlessly eating enemy attacks, and even if you do so perfectly your reactions still get queued up into whatever resolution stack the system is processing and may end up going off in the wrong order. Turn Based has none of that opacity, you know exactly where you are in initiative at any given moment. And RT lets you truly react on the fly instead of your actions being sequenced in a non-obvious way.

[Batcathat]

My issue with RTWP is that too often it ends up being the worst of both worlds. You need similarly twitch reflexes to pause on time in a lot of cases, failing to do so leaves you gormlessly eating enemy attacks, and even if you do so perfectly your reactions still get queued up into whatever resolution stack the system is processing and may end up going off in the wrong order. Turn Based has none of that opacity, you know exactly where you are in initiative at any given moment. And RT lets you truly react on the fly instead of your actions being sequenced in a non-obvious way.

I suppose it's a matter of whether the glass is half full or half empty. Because I also think it has some of the best of both worlds. You get the speed and pace of real time when you don't have to go into the details and when you do, you can take your time with it, as with turn based.

Now, if you're the sort of player who always wants to control every action of every party member, turn based is obviously better and if you're the sort of player who never wants to do that, real time is obviously better. But in my case – and I don't think I'm alone – I like the option to shift between the two extremes.

You're not wrong that RTWP has its issues, but so does the alternatives.

(Also, I really don't think the required reflexes to instantly hit a single key as soon as you're not sure what to do really compares to instantly doing one out of dozens of different things in every situation. Real time is having to drive a car race at full speed, RTWP is having the option to completely and instantly stop the car before making a decision).

[tyckspoon]

While I think "unplayable" is a bit harsh, I definitely/strongly prefer TB and RT over RTWP. (And TB over ATB, i.e. the Final Fantasy system pre-15, for that matter.)



My issue with RTWP is that too often it ends up being the worst of both worlds. You need similarly twitch reflexes to pause on time in a lot of cases, failing to do so leaves you gormlessly eating enemy attacks, and even if you do so perfectly your reactions still get queued up into whatever resolution stack the system is processing and may end up going off in the wrong order. Turn Based has none of that opacity, you know exactly where you are in initiative at any given moment. And RT lets you truly react on the fly instead of your actions being sequenced in a non-obvious way.

Or you have a bunch of flags set to pause at certain events (pause at 'turn' rollover, pause when an enemy dies, pause when a PC suffers a status effect, pause when somebody is at half-health so you can insert a heal, etc, depending on what the game allows you to customize) and at that point it's pretty much turn based with extra steps. I suppose some benefit in letting everybody's pseudo-turn process simultaneously which can save a fair amount of time watching individual actors moving around and executing attacks, but it's a super awkward way to control a party - personal preference is either full realtime but you have a small number of things you need to focus on (single character action games or the FF7 Remake approach where your partner characters are AI controlled and you can hot swap to whichever one you want to give full attention to, the Gambit/AI-guidance kind of systems where you can tell the AI what you want your companions to be focusing on) or full on turn based so you can properly coordinate and control the combat the way most of the underlying RPG systems were actually designed for.

[Erloas]

I'm also of the opinion that RTWP is the worst of both worlds.
I remember having a lot of issues playing DA:O, with several challenging encounters that just became an exercise in frustration. With one battle that, I think just because I picked a weaker class, I simply could not win. After many attempts over a few weeks that was the last time I played the game or even looked at the franchise. That is the only RPG or tactical game I've ever had that happen with.
I also don't care for VATs from Fallout 3+ and consider the Wastelands 2+ games superior.

I was going to say the Shadowrun games are good TTRPG based video games, but they won't help you build anything like a D&D character to test out. The Wastelands games also have roots in TTRPGs, though I have no idea what system(s) they were primarily pulling from, also not helpful in testing D&D characters.

[SerTabris]

Even with something like Pathfinder: Kingmaker where the RTWP mode was the one it was designed for, I definitely had a much better time with the turn-based mode. Though in that case, having RTWP for 'clean up an easy battle or the last enemy who happens to be on the other side of the map quickly' is sometimes helpful.

[TaiLiu]

As for older editions, in addition to the aforementioned Temple of Elemental Evil adaptation by Atari, I am also partial to the Krynn trilogy by SSI, particularly Dark Queen of Krynn (Be advised though that the Krynn Trilogy's control scheme hasn't aged very well; IIRC only the third one has proper mouse support)

Oh, wow. Dragonlance video games. Everything's all FR now, so I didn't expect that. I tried Dark Queen on the Internet Archive, but without an accompanying book it won't let me progress. Wonder if that's an anti-privacy measure.

Do you contribute to the Temple+ mod? Or are you a fan? I noticed the link in your signature.

Not excusing the tag, but remember that ToEE came out two decades ago; LGBT romance options in CRPGs are much more common nowadays than they were in the early 00's.

That makes sense. I should also say that I don't mind it being slotted in the controversy section of the wiki page. It sounds like it was controversial at the time.

If LGBT themes and romances interest you, BG3 has a bunch, so have at it!

Cool! It isn't the main thing I'm after, but it's a nice bonus.

[Errorname]

I saw this in the last post preview and it cut out the "based on D&D or other TTRPGs" and I thought I saw a chance to spread the good word of XCOM, but alas, 'twas not to be.

Baldur's Gate 3 I guess? I'll confess a lack of familiarity with direct tabletop adaptations

[TaiLiu]

I saw this in the last post preview and it cut out the "based on D&D or other TTRPGs" and I thought I saw a chance to spread the good word of XCOM, but alas, 'twas not to be.

Baldur's Gate 3 I guess? I'll confess a lack of familiarity with direct tabletop adaptations

I'm terrible at real-time video games. If you wanna recommend turn-based video games, I'm happy to hear about it.

[firelistener]

Solasta: Crown of the Magister is the most faithful implementation of D&D in a video game that I have ever seen, and I've played pretty much all the games mentioned in the thread so far. It's a shame that it's really only SRD content because the mechanics are almost completely 1:1 with 5e tabletop. All the actions like shove and dodge are implemented accurately, fireballs can be detonated in midair and lightning bolts can be fired at angles, and you can use Fly to rise up vertically and escape melee range. If you love tabletop rules, I highly recommend it. That said, it has a few issues too. The face models are awful by modern standards, the lack of non-SRD content can make it feel a little hollow compared to licensed D&D products, and the story is pretty forgettable although not bad either.

I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3 recently, and as much as I like it, I really wanted it to be more like actual tabletop than it is. The ruleset is way more similar to Larian's other games than it is to D&D, and Solasta showed me how possible that was in a modern game, so I'm a bit chuffed every time I read some article raving about how BG3 is "faithful" to 5e. Of course, BG 1 and 2 weren't very faithful either, so I shouldn't have expected otherwise lol.

[Psyren]

Solasta is more faithful to the 5e ruleset* than BG3, but BG3 is by far the better RPG. Solasta is closer to being a 5e-based tech demo with cookie-cutter party members and an excuse plot. It's a marvelous tech demo, mind you, but not particularly engaging if you're looking for things like meaningful choice and consequence and interpersonal relationships.

*And I'll point out that some of the liberties BG3 takes with the 5e rules, like Ice Knife creating slippery patches of ice on the ground or putting out fires, are technically things you can do in tabletop 5e as well. 5e isn't the kind of system where the DM has to rigidly stick to the text in every instance and never ad lib; they can improvise damage and conditions and impose advantage/disadvantage nearly at-will.

I'm terrible at real-time video games. If you wanna recommend turn-based video games, I'm happy to hear about it.

X-COM is indeed turn-based, so you might enjoy it. It's more strategy game than RPG though.

[SerTabris]

Solasta is more faithful to the 5e ruleset* than BG3, but BG3 is by far the better RPG. Solasta is closer to being a 5e-based tech demo with cookie-cutter party members and an excuse plot. It's a marvelous tech demo, mind you, but not particularly engaging if you're looking for things like meaningful choice and consequence and interpersonal relationships.

Now I'm curious about the campaign-creation tools in Solasta, and whether it could end up being a tool for fan campaigns like happened with Neverwinter Nights 1 where basically nobody buys it for the main campaign it comes with.

[Bohandas]

Oh, wow. Dragonlance video games. Everything's all FR now, so I didn't expect that. I tried Dark Queen on the Internet Archive, but without an accompanying book it won't let me progress.

I think the manual's on Abandonia

[TaiLiu]

Solasta: Crown of the Magister is the most faithful implementation of D&D in a video game that I have ever seen, and I've played pretty much all the games mentioned in the thread so far. It's a shame that it's really only SRD content because the mechanics are almost completely 1:1 with 5e tabletop. All the actions like shove and dodge are implemented accurately, fireballs can be detonated in midair and lightning bolts can be fired at angles, and you can use Fly to rise up vertically and escape melee range. If you love tabletop rules, I highly recommend it. That said, it has a few issues too. The face models are awful by modern standards, the lack of non-SRD content can make it feel a little hollow compared to licensed D&D products, and the story is pretty forgettable although not bad either.

I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3 recently, and as much as I like it, I really wanted it to be more like actual tabletop than it is. The ruleset is way more similar to Larian's other games than it is to D&D, and Solasta showed me how possible that was in a modern game, so I'm a bit chuffed every time I read some article raving about how BG3 is "faithful" to 5e. Of course, BG 1 and 2 weren't very faithful either, so I shouldn't have expected otherwise lol.

I looked Solasta up. I guess the SRD-only implementation is why they have all those weird subclasses.

I was curious about fly, so I also looked that up. Gate's implementation is more like a super jump. That's too bad.

X-COM is indeed turn-based, so you might enjoy it. It's more strategy game than RPG though.

Oh, cool. Kinda like those puzzle games.

I think the manual's on Abandonia

Got it, thanks. I found the webpage, but there's no manual. That's okay. I don't know anything about 2e anyway.

[Zombimode]

I was curious about fly, so I also looked that up. Gate's implementation is more like a super jump. That's too bad.

Baldurs Gate 3's approach to the battlespace is a real missed opportunity. The game actually DOES make use of the Z axis. Objects ARE located by X, Y and Z and it is correctly taken into account for distances and stuff.
But you cannot really interact with the Z axis. You can't target points in 3d space, you cant fly, and climbing is binary: either you can make the climb and reach the top/bottom of what you were climbing or you can't make the climb. It is impossible to end your movement on a vertical plane.

A wasted opportunity, really.

[tyckspoon]

Got it, thanks. I found the webpage, but there's no manual. That's okay. I don't know anything about 2e anyway.

It's the 'journal' link, although it's all just a text transcription of the contents. Has the race/class/spell/etc descriptions in it as well as the in-game lore descriptions that are probably what the copy protection challenge questions are drawing from - this was a somewhat common version of 'DRM' in that era. The game would ask you to reference a physical accessory that came with the game, under the assumption that while the game files themselves were relatively easy to copy and distribute replicating a (map/100-page guidebook/fiddly spinny codewheel) would not be.

[TaiLiu]

Baldurs Gate 3's approach to the battlespace is a real missed opportunity. The game actually DOES make use of the Z axis. Objects ARE located by X, Y and Z and it is correctly taken into account for distances and stuff.
But you cannot really interact with the Z axis. You can't target points in 3d space, you cant fly, and climbing is binary: either you can make the climb and reach the top/bottom of what you were climbing or you can't make the climb. It is impossible to end your movement on a vertical plane.

A wasted opportunity, really.

Oh, dang. That sucks.

It's the 'journal' link, although it's all just a text transcription of the contents. Has the race/class/spell/etc descriptions in it as well as the in-game lore descriptions that are probably what the copy protection challenge questions are drawing from - this was a somewhat common version of 'DRM' in that era. The game would ask you to reference a physical accessory that came with the game, under the assumption that while the game files themselves were relatively easy to copy and distribute replicating a (map/100-page guidebook/fiddly spinny codewheel) would not be.

Oh, thanks. I didn't notice the link there.

That makes sense. I typed a bunch of nonsense for my answers and the game closed.

[firelistener]

Now I'm curious about the campaign-creation tools in Solasta, and whether it could end up being a tool for fan campaigns like happened with Neverwinter Nights 1 where basically nobody buys it for the main campaign it comes with.

I actually messed with it pretty extensively before the latest DLC came out, and I don't think it will ever be something that draws in a ton people. There are mods that let people create "extended" custom dungeons that allow more creatuve scripting, but the base tools are very limiting. Unfortunately, some of the logic is very buggy as well, so making switch puzzles or complicated doors, portals, or quest lines is very finicky or downright impossible in some instances. If you have computer programming experience, these logic shortcomings really make themselves apparent rather quickly when trying to create even simple questlines that involve fetching an item for someone. That said, the bones are good for making a decent dungeon crawl, some simpler quests, and even a branching dialogue. I've played a few of the popular custom dungeons, and the most polished are usually just very combat-focused. Trying to do much dialogue or quest branching quickly makes your custom dungeon a buggy mess.

[SerTabris]

I actually messed with it pretty extensively before the latest DLC came out, and I don't think it will ever be something that draws in a ton people. There are mods that let people create "extended" custom dungeons that allow more creatuve scripting, but the base tools are very limiting. Unfortunately, some of the logic is very buggy as well, so making switch puzzles or complicated doors, portals, or quest lines is very finicky or downright impossible in some instances. If you have computer programming experience, these logic shortcomings really make themselves apparent rather quickly when trying to create even simple questlines that involve fetching an item for someone. That said, the bones are good for making a decent dungeon crawl, some simpler quests, and even a branching dialogue. I've played a few of the popular custom dungeons, and the most polished are usually just very combat-focused. Trying to do much dialogue or quest branching quickly makes your custom dungeon a buggy mess.

Interesting, thanks for answering! Definitely sounds like it's not going to get the sorts of people who made the most well-known NWN modules, for one.

[Bohandas]

Do you contribute to the Temple+ mod? Or are you a fan? I noticed the link in your signature.

Just a fan at this point.

One of these days I'm going to put together a portrait pack to go with the mod's support for custom character portraits

(If I can ever find the full instructiona again that is; I tested it out a couple years back for my pwn game with stock art and it worked but in the intervening years the full instructions seem to have vanished from the site (or possibly I've overlooked something obvious when I was trying to look them up, it wouldn't be the first time))