Legend of Zelda in ICRPG - ideas wanted!

inspiration
#1

Hail, fellow badasses!

New member here. I’ve recently gotten on the ICRPG train for the simplicity and I’m loving everything about it. For the past few years, I’ve been looking to make a free Legend of Zelda game for tabletop to capture the lore and feel of the games (especially the older ones like LTTP) and with ICRPG I seem to have found the system to do it with. Granted, this has been tried before by others to varying degrees of success, but with Hank being inspired by Zelda for the core concepts of the system he built, I can see easily going full circle with this.

Here’s what I’ve collected and am in the process of creating so far:

  • 6 classes
  • 7 Zelda Bio-forms with some alternates
  • 60+ items
  • 36 spells/songs
  • world primer for Hyrule
  • 60 enemies
  • campaign scenarios involving things we’ve seen in previous games, parallel worlds, time travel, shrinking to a new size, etc.

What I’d like to know is what others would want to see in a supplement like this, and if any further reading is present that i should do (like if someone is already making this)

#2

Sounds very cool, I don’t what to add but I definitely want to play a Zelda game. Maybe add Rooms design from the Zelda game.

#3

I do like that idea, room designs and target numbers should be easy to figure out as well from existing sources.

#4

I hope when you hit an enemy he is automatically pushed back just like your PC? That’s super important to the series!!

I can’t wait to see what you do with this, the over world should be fun to travel! Work well!

#5

Holy moly 60 enemies is a lot! If you had even 15 I think that’s sufficient.

I would like to see a few adventures in there that make use of Zelda style mechanics/dungeons.

I’m thinking dungeons that have areas locked until you can find the item/solve the puzzle/defeat the enemy that unlocks the next few zones. A battle world (is that the new term Hank’s been using?) map would be great for this.

#6

The Legend of Zelda for the NES was basically a battle world already. So it should definitely work. Now that I think about it basically every single legend of Zelda game was basically a battle world.

#7

I like it! Not sure how far someone should be pushed or what the distance should be, but I’ll work on it and see what I can make happen.

#8

The enemy count is kinda inflated by the different variations of certain monsters (the 'blins have 4 variations alone, from Miniblin all the way up to Hinox, all with similar abilities and different heart values and stats), plus individual bosses. I’m sure that number will be cut down quite a bit by the end for things like peahats and Leevers along with other overworld enemies that are easy to kill, and have similar enough mechanics that they can be variations of each other, but you get the idea. the mechanics for creating them seem easy enough for me to hammer out a line of them real fast.

I absolutely agree with the use of dungeon specific items, puzzles and enemies to unlock new areas. i want to have it a bit more narrative than the games do, but as we know it’s all WIP. I appreciate the additions.

#9

Can someone tell me where I find more info on this Battle World idea? i saw it in the errata section of the forum last night paired with a pic of LTTP’s world map and got curious. Was it on the forum or in one of Hank’s videos I missed?

#10

In the Bearcats supplement. I think they’re more for virtual tabletops. You might be able to get them to work for home games though.

Oh also Runehammer did a huge 7 hour marathon drawing one!

#11

You’d be able to use holes on almost every map: falling would become dangerous!
I’d say 5 ft. since the hit isn’t too strong in the original video games series!

#12

Little update for everyone, I’ve been working on structuring this out along with my own dinosaur-laden campaign module (go watch the badassery of Primal on Adult Swim, my dudes!). I’ve figured out quite a few basic enemies, items, and the world guide, but I have a lot to do before i want to show anything off. Updates will come, and ideas are still welcome.

#13

6 rooms or events per 4 hours for those new, 1 per 45 minutes for normal day to day.

Battle map is just an interconnected collection of rooms, the players can choose the order, but the GM can incentivize the choices. Don’t think of it over complicated. But monitor target number and don’t stick to the plan, be flexible.

#14

Just chiming in to say this is great. If it’s playtest-able that might give me a chance to provide better feedback on potential gaps.

#15

Sorry for the lack of updates, this has been on the backburner while I’ve been working on my own game system / a separate adventure module for ICRPG (as seen in my art on the other thread).

Cool news is the artist from Tales of Alethrion on youtube did some Zelda art for Inktober he called Linktober, and agreed to allow me to use it on this project, so that was super nice of him (not the first time those two have been righteous guys) and you’ll be seeing that in the doc once it’s done. In the meantime, i heavily recommend Tales of Alethrion if you haven’t seen it yet, a fantastic little story with some funky art.

Here’s the first video, though they get into some Tarantino shenanigans with the story later on, it’s a badass tale.

#16


[fig. 1, my current state with the LoZ RPG]
Alright badasses, this is a call to creative action. I’ve sat on this idea for far too long. I don’t want all the glory, I want to see what the community can come up with, so since I’ve shared my notes with user Druggeddwarf (who asked with an incredible air of class might I add) I figure I want to have the whole community see what I’ve got and add what they think should be in it, as fellow fans of Zelda. Below will be the entire text, edited as best as I can do between work and sleep. this WILL be a damn mess, but that’s what ICRPG is about, making messes into something awesome. Grab a class, grab a gear, grab an enemy, a boss, and make something cool. This is for, and by the community now, as it always should have been.

The Legend of Zelda - ICRPG
Welcome heroes to the Index Card RPG supplement for Legend of Zelda. For those who have read the core book, they will know how well the mechanics of ICRPG fit with the ideas present in Zelda games because Zelda inspired it! Like the twisting timelines, I like to take these things full circle.

PLEASE NOTE: - this book is NOT standalone, and requires the Index RPG Core book (2nd edition) to play. Buy it, and support its creator.

New concepts:

Quarter heart enemies:
Some things don’t take much damage before being banished back to whence they came. Any successful attacks against these enemies will instantly kill them. Quarter heart enemies usually show up in packs of dozens and drop no, or very little loot.

Stun:
A character that is STUNNED by a successful attack with the STUN characteristic is EASY to hit until their next turn.

Magic meter? - instead of spending health spells spend magic?

Heroes of Hyrule
Races:

  • Hylian - innate magic ability/extra perception 2 free points

  • Zora - amphibious - river zora, suffer cha penalty, can shoot simple fireball

  • Gerudo - +con, heat and cold resist

  • Goron - heat resist - rollout - can’t swim

  • Ruto - flight

  • Twili

  • Korok glide - transform into kokiri child? /alt - deku scrub, shoot deku nut
    Classes:

  • Hero
    Whirlwind - hit all enemies within close range of you

  • Sage

  • Muse

  • Bruiser?

  • Shiekah

  • Merchant

It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.
Weapons and Items:
Common weapons such as basic swords and other weapons can be found in the ICRPG core book. All basic weapons and tools provided here provide a D6 of weapon effort toward any task. Applying points to your Weapon effort stat can increase their effectiveness. What separates weapons is their Tags, which tell you basic info on what these weapons and tools can do. That said, additional descriptions will be provided for more complex items. Below you will find Zelda-specific items.

  • Boomerang: stun, thrown, if using entire action to throw, this weapon can target up to 3 enemies/targets at once. Returns to owner if successful, lands next to enemy if not.
  • Bombs: Thrown, volatile, explosive
  • Wooden sword/shield: same as regular sword/shield of its type, but flamable
  • Slingshot: Near, Merciful, Stun
  • Lantern - lights up braziers, provides extra light in dark places, but consumes oil.
  • Hammer - bulky, heavy, smashes armor, cannot be sheathed.
  • Iron boots: heavy - allows user to walk without sliding on slippery surfaces, user can walk on magnetic surfaces, can only move within close range while equipped.
  • Biggoron’s sword: near, Huge, intimidating, chopping, heavy.
  • Razor sword: fast, light, rolls 2D6 weapon effort, but breaks on a snake eyes (double 1’s)
  • Hookshot: Stun, merciful, far?/Near? High tech, expensive, If the target is hit and is lighter than you, it is pulled within close range of you, if it is heavier than you are pulled to close range of it.
  • Map
  • Compass
  • Fishing rod
  • Net
  • paraglider
  • paraglider
  • Magic Items & Weapons: Like standard items, but provide a D8 of Magic effort when attacking or using towards a task.
  • Fire arrows: will set foes on fire when used with a bow
  • Ice Arrows: freezes foes in place, causing them to only move within CLOSE range on their next turn if hit, must be used with bow
  • Shock arrows: STUN enemies hit with this if they aren’t immune to electricity. If used on an enemy in water, will STUN all enemies in the water within close range of the target
  • Bomb arrows: attacks made with bow are Explosive and Volatile
  • Light: Stun and do ULTIMATE damage to evil entities.
  • Picto box - expensive, high tech, Holds up to 3 pictographs, make a DEX roll against the target, this allows a pictograph to be taken (will only use up one of the 3 slots if successful) when developed can give a bonus to fighting enemies like it. Developing the pictographs takes one day minimum and one <3 of effort.
  • Boomerang (magic): stun, thrown, if using entire action to throw, this weapon can target up to 3 enemies/targets at once. Returns to owner if successful, lands next to enemy if not.
  • Bombchu: explosive, volatile, near. Rolls to hit targets are EASY as the bombchu homes in on any target on the ground
  • Lens: All rolls to see through illusions or find something are EASY
  • Rods/canes?
  • Books - easy rolls/ roll magic effort when ______
  • Heart container - 1 of these gives another heart, and instantly refills all your hearts
  • Piece of heart: collecting 4 of these adds another heart to you, when collected it instantly refills all your hearts
  • Fairy: Refill all hearts instantly. if brought to 0 hp, and you have a fairy stored in a bottle within your inventory it will refill half your HP instantly.
  • Power Gloves / bracers - can pick up bigger things, higher strength effort toward tasks
  • Pegasus Boots: move up to FAR in a straight line - make a single a single attack roll against every enemy/ally in your way
  • Swords: gilded: razor but does not break /great fairy - longsword/bastard sword, lots of damage/master - while at full hearts shoots a magic beam up to near/far distance - one handed /fierce deity - great fairy sword plus master sword beam
  • Magic dust: starts fires instantly when a handful is thrown. Limited to 20 uses per bag.
  • Zora Flippers: character becomes amphibious if they were not already. May also swim up waterfalls.
  • Mirror shield: if a magic ranged attack fails against you, you may redirect the attack to another target within NEAR range, including the caster
  • Medallions quake, bombos, ether
  • Ocarina/instruments?
  • Some have
  • Masks / hawkeye/ heroes charm/ monster masks/etc
  • Dins fire/nayru’s love/faore’s wind
  • Roc feather: makes a character as light as a feather, allows a the user to jump effortlessly over gaps up to a NEAR range.
  • Magic cape: invincible for a short time
  • Cane of bryna: same as cape, but can damage enemies that attempt to hit while in close range
  • Cane of somaria: creates 1x1 block
  • Cane of pacci: when used, it causes objects and enemies up to a FAR range to be flipped upside down
  • Fire rod
  • Meteor rod
  • Ice rod
  • Blizzard rod
  • Lightning rod
  • Thunderstorm rod
  • Magic rod
  • Prism rod
  • Sand rod
  • ?Tornado rod
  • Wand of gamelon (cursed gear)
  • Gust jar
  • Mirror?
  • Hourglass

Consumables

  • Red Potion: regain all hearts?
  • Green potion: -magic something, free spellcast?
  • Blue potion: effects of both red and green potion at same time

Chu jelly: can be collected and refined in towns to create potions

Rupees (currency)

  • Green=1
  • Blue=5
  • Yellow=10
  • Red=20
  • Purple=50
  • Orange=100
  • Silver=200
  • Gold=300
  • Rupoor: black rupee that devours existing rupees, -10 to wallet

Spells and songs

  • Ballad of gales

  • Ballad of the wind fish

  • Bolero of fire

  • Command melody

  • Din’s power

  • Earth God’s lyric

  • Elegy of emptiness

  • Epona’s song

  • Farore’s courage

  • Frog song of soul

  • Inverted song of time

  • Minuet of Forest

  • Nayru’s wisdom

  • New wave bossa nova

  • Nocturne of shadow

  • Oath to order

  • Overture of sages

  • Prelude of light

  • Requiem of spirit

  • Saria’s song

  • Scarecrow’s song

  • Serenade of water

  • Song of awakening

  • Song of double time

  • Song of healing

  • Song of light

  • Song of passing

  • Song of soaring

  • Song of storms

  • Song of time

  • Sun’s song

  • Champion’s ballad

  • Tune of currents

  • Tune of echoes

  • Wind god’s aria

  • Wind’s requiem

  • Zelda’s lullaby

Gamemaster’s guide

  • GM section

  • Trap theory - draw in, confine, consequence [mainframe concept]

  • The inverted triforce

  • Zelda room designs

Enemies and Bosses
*BY TYPE
Constructs

  • Armos/knights

  • Beamos

  • Guardian stalker

  • Guardian scout

  • Guardian sentry

  • Guardian skywatcher

  • Guardian turret (giant beamos)

  • Gohdan

Overworld - any environment

  • Chuchu

  • minichu

  • Likelike/rupeelike

  • Keese

  • Helmasaur?

  • Helmasaur king

  • Cucco - 5+ hearts, boss level, do not fuck with

  • Lynel

:orange_heart::orange_heart::orange_heart::orange_heart::orange_heart:, +7 all rolls? +5 damage

Bow: Far, shock arcing fire: if within range, the lynel can hit any target not covered from above. Any tests done to targets out of sight that it is aware of are HARD but possible, Weapon damage

Charge: the lynel charges up to far distance, and attacks anything in its way. Weapon damage

Breathe fire: the Lynel uses its whole turn to gather breath, and on its next turn it uses its whole turn to breathe fire onto 3 targets, double magic damage.

Weak point: any warrior brave enough to mount the lynel and attack it treats the attacks as EASY, and the lynel will struggle to get them off, for each of the player or lynel turns they are mounted the lynel will attempt to shake them off, doing an opposed strength check

Kargarok

Forest

  • Deku baba

  • Deku scrub

  • Skulltulla/walltula

  • Wolfos

  • Gohma

  • Kalle demos

Desert

  • Moldorm/molduga

  • Twinmold/molgera/moldorm?

  • Stallord?

  • Leever/peahat - both become invincible for a short time while hovering or buried

Mountain

  • Dodongo breathes fire, hefty, vulnerable to eating bombs

  • King dodongo

  • Lizalfos - +3 -amphibious, uses lightning weapons, camouflaged (hard to spot before revealing themselves) near tongue attack for free. Maybe shoots fire on mountain alt? keep to dyna? Can’t sneak up on while alert (360 vision)

  • Dynalfos bigger, badder lizalfos, breathes fire?, armored, ax tail,

  • Tektite jumps and avoids a lot. very mobile.

  • Talus vulnerable to bombs, less so to everything else

Swamp

  • River zora

  • Octorok - hides under rocks, plants, water, then shoots something that can be reflected. Anyone gets within close of it it will burrow and be unable to be hit. Best to hit with ranged weapon

  • Seahat

Undead

  • Gibdo lots of health, small amount of damage

  • Redead characters are frozen if they are the target of its scream within NEAR distance

  • Stalfos reforms until the head is destroyed

  • Stalkid basic skelemans

  • Poe - must be hit by light to make temporarily vulnerable. Either caught in shaft of light or reflected off shield

  • Bubble - floating, has elemental attack

  • Floormaster/wallmaster ? Particularly annoying - returns people to entrance?

  • Dead hand?

  • Bongobongo?

  • Death sword?

  • Jalhalla - cannot be defeated normally, must be hit with sunlight and you have to destroy the individual poes that he breaks into. Any not destroyed will reform into the big one again. Repeat (twist: something closes off the light shafts mid-fight and adds another level of team work)

Castle

  • Soldier - sword, spear, bow, bomb

  • Darknut - humanoid wolfos in thick armor. Are impervious to weapons while armor is on, must be hit with magic or get X successful hits to knock the armor off. Slow and purposeful: while armored, darknuts move within close range. When unarmored move as anyone might. Weak to back attacks when armored, usually wears a cape to protect that area.

  • Darkhammer like darknut, but has large ball and chain, massive damage, while rearing up they do weapon damage to anyone close, while weapon is thrown and they are retriving it they are weak and able to be hit.

  • Iron knuckle: like darknut, but with a massive ax that throws anyone it hits successfully within near distance.

  • Wizzrobe: magic attack and teleport/disappear

’Blins

  • Mini/boko/moBlins /stal versions? Gang up, minis can summon help. Boko have a full heart, moblins have 2 and can push characters hit near distance

  • Hinox big, throws characters, massive weak point in eye, gang up with other blins

Bosses

  • Gannon

  • Gannondorf

  • Phantom / puppet? Gannon/ gannon aspect botw?

  • Agahnim

  • Dark hero/link?

  • Volvagia

  • aquamentis

  • Twinrova?

  • Majora?

  • Vaati?

  • Veran?

  • General onox?

  • Arrghus

Campaigns

  1. Sky is falling - majora’s mask

  2. The Great sea

  3. Two worlds

  4. Timehopping

  5. Dream escape

  6. Minish - double all normal enemy hearts and damage while in minish form

  7. Dark world

I hope you have enjoyed, been perplexed by, or are hopelessly confused by the post, and I hope you latch onto something. I want to see this become real, but I can’t do it alone. Hopefully, together we can make something perfect for the Zelda name.