Tabletop games are making a new, unique resurgence – thanks to media such as Critical Role bringing new life into the activity, primarily through Dungeons & Dragons. This resurgence has led to countless new games, even D&D themselves a complete refresher; but there is one IP that would benefit from the hype, not just due to the many parallels, but to how beloved it is already as a video game: The Legend of Zelda.
Zelda games are infamous, and the franchise is by far one of Nintendo’s most iconic. It’s a series that’s practically bursting at the seams with potential, especially with how much of an impact it’s had on the fantasy genre as a whole. If anything, it’s surprising that there isn’t anything that connects Zelda to tabletop – unfortunately, players have to homebrew if they want to see any adaptations of their favorite games.
The Legend of Zelda Would Thrive at a Table
Whether It’s a Collab or Not
The Legend of Zelda as a tabletop game would be absolutely thrilling, especially considering how many Dungeon Masters homebrew elements from the games to their current table. It doesn’t have to be a direct collaboration with Dungeons & Dragons necessarily; there are plenty of stand-alone tabletop games that use their own formulas and rule sets. Realistically, Zelda would have its own guide, but it’s flexible enough to work in collaboration with any pre-existing tabletop games.
TTRPGs, in particular, fall right in line for fans of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom – with large, rich fantasy worlds. The lore is extensive enough to where several guidebooks can be written; in a way, they already have been with releases like Hyrule Historia and other Dark Horse books.
There is only one potential barrier, and it’s because there aren’t really any multiplayer Zelda games. If players don’t have or have never owned a Nintendo DS, they have missed out on every single Zelda game with a genuine multiplayer (and not whatever in the world The Wind Waker had).
With that in mind, the biggest challenge would be to take a normally single-player game and turn it into a collaborative teamwork experience. If it’s a D&D collab directly, the party composition would need to be carefully considered by the party during a Session Zero, otherwise things could become unnecessarily difficult. It boils down to the table at the end of the day.
There Are Already Several Parallels
Fantasy and Tabletop Games Go Hand in Hand
Fantasy as a genre has not only been hand-in-hand with tabletop games, but its fingers are interlocked with each other as tightly as possible. Needless to say, it’s hard to imagine TTRPGs being anything other than fantasy directly. Considering how Zelda is peak high fantasy (with some sci-fi elements in some of the games), it just fits.
Currently, players are homebrewing so many combat encounters to overlap with Zelda games, as nothing official exists for the IP. These games have been influential to DMs everywhere (especially for DMs looking for their next module idea), with many continuing to play the games in order to get inspiration for their tabletop games.
It doesn’t help that Zelda isn’t an RPG, despite what some may believe, nor is there anything that even puts the franchise in the new genre. Yet, that hasn’t stopped many players from trying to push a circle block through a square hole to make it work.
A Zelda Tabletop Just Makes Sense
Fans Would Be Over the Moon
Simply put, a Zelda tabletop game would be incredible for fans of the franchise and TTRPGs alike. For years, fans have been assigning classes to the characters, running throughout the lands of Hyule displaying the various areas that would make excellent settings, and making a million other connections during homebrewing.
It’s the next natural step for both Nintendo and for tabletop gaming, whether that would involve Wizards of the Coast or not. Even if it’s a simple addition to The Monster Manual, giving some concrete stats to normally homebrewed monsters, it would be an exciting progression. After all, they’ve done it before.
Many of the quests in the games can easily be adapted to various tabletop quests, and combined with the immense exploration both game types offer, it just makes sense that a marriage of the two should emerge. After all, Zelda games have been a fantastical inspiration for many storytellers, so it’s time that DMs have a turn.
