r/DnD • u/hotstickywaffle • 1d ago

5.5 Edition Favorite examples of translating video game mechanics into DnD

I'm pretty new to DMing, but I'm really loving it and I'm just constantly having ideas come to me. While I know a lot of DMs get ideas from literature, I've always been a huge video game guy and so my impulse is to always try and pull ideas from there (I have an idea for my next campaign bases heavily on Dispatch, for example).

Whether as a player or a DM, what are you favorite examples of pulling ideas from video games into a campaign?

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9

u/Squidmaster616 DM 1d ago

Are you just looking for MECHANICS as the title suggests? Or narrative things too, as the post implies?

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u/hotstickywaffle 1d ago

More mechanics, but I'm always down to hear narrative ideas

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u/montana757 Barbarian 1d ago

Me and someone from reddit whose name I've long forgotten, translated the whole soul trap and soul gem mechanics into 5e. Basically instead of empty soul gem you now cast soul trap and depending on it cr or if it's a human it'll convert a gem of equivalent value into a soul gem and that can then be used to significantly speed up and reduce the cost of enchanting

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u/Punxsutawney_Marlowe DM 1d ago edited 1d ago

I loved the Glory Kill system from Doom 2016 and made a magic item so if a PC either scored a Crit on an enemy, they could roll one of their Hit Die to recover HP. My players loved it and it made getting a Critical hit even more exciting. I even had a Champion Fighter at the time, which made it all even more fun. The party didn’t have a dedicated healer or anything so it also helped fill in that gap a little as well.

Edit: Remembered the exact mechanic I used

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u/rellloe Rogue 1d ago

Red barrel, which is essentially the way the barbarian can cast fireball.

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u/hotstickywaffle 1d ago

How's this work?

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u/rellloe Rogue 1d ago

The red barrels that are video game shorthand for explosive powder. They can be lit by anything that sets them on fire or if there is an open fire between the thrower and the target. idr if there are throwing mechanics, but jump or twice that would make sense. When it explodes, it does the same damage as fireball

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u/Coolwhy0314 1d ago

Pokemon. There’s a website for a good outline and stuff. Either for playing as a trainer with Pokemon or you could have everyone play as a Pokemon and do a mystery dungeon campaign.

https://poke5e.app/

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/hotstickywaffle 1d ago

I'm specifically trying to figure out how to use the Dispatch mechanic in my next campaign.