How would you take a video game like Destiny/Destiny 2, and all of it's surrounding expansions and worldbuilding, and make a Tabletop RPG out of it? I know there have been popular 5e homebrews for it in the past, and at one point I ran my own campaign using the Genesys system but there were plenty of hiccups. It's a project that's been in my mind for years whether I like it or not, as I loved Destiny 1 and put well over 1200 hours into it. While I fell off hard in the later years of D2 (everything after Forsaken), and still have no desire to actually play the game anymore, it has a rich world with lots of cool stuff to inspire an RPG campaign. Chaotic space dragons who grant monkey's paw style wishes, undead wizards who live on the Moon, and a strong class system with distinct gameplay styles that would translate well to an RPG.
Surely I'm not the only one who's been thinking about this after all these years.

I've played quite a bit of Destiny 2 and had the same thought.  It is much, much less work to adapt an existing system or engine than it would be to design one from scratch, so I'd go looking for something suitable.  The world and theme from Exalted would fit, I think, but I'm not familiar with the mechanics in actual play.  For mechanics, I'd probably start by looking at some of the more popular supers systems.

There's a "Bunkers & Badasses" tabletop game for Borderlands, maybe that would be close enough to use for Destiny?

I've never played the game, so buyer beware.

Quote from: Wednesday on March 20, 2024, 05:49:09 AM
How would you take a video game like Destiny/Destiny 2, and all of it's surrounding expansions and worldbuilding, and make a Tabletop RPG out of it? I know there have been popular 5e homebrews for it in the past, and at one point I ran my own campaign using the Genesys system but there were plenty of hiccups. It's a project that's been in my mind for years whether I like it or not, as I loved Destiny 1 and put well over 1200 hours into it. While I fell off hard in the later years of D2 (everything after Forsaken), and still have no desire to actually play the game anymore, it has a rich world with lots of cool stuff to inspire an RPG campaign. Chaotic space dragons who grant monkey's paw style wishes, undead wizards who live on the Moon, and a strong class system with distinct gameplay styles that would translate well to an RPG.
Surely I'm not the only one who's been thinking about this after all these years.

Can't think of anything better suited than Marvel Super Heroes aka FASERIP. Destiny characters are basically super heroes anyway. And you can represent all the different powers the characters get whilst also giving them lots of weapon customization. It would fit really well.

Quote from: Mishihari on March 20, 2024, 11:25:15 PM
I've played quite a bit of Destiny 2 and had the same thought.  It is much, much less work to adapt an existing system or engine than it would be to design one from scratch, so I'd go looking for something suitable.  The world and theme from Exalted would fit, I think, but I'm not familiar with the mechanics in actual play.  For mechanics, I'd probably start by looking at some of the more popular supers systems.

You missed the part where I already mentioned the 5e conversion. I don't want to play somebody else's hack, I already made my own and want to make a better one.

Quote from: King Tyranno on March 21, 2024, 09:55:43 AM

Quote from: Wednesday on March 20, 2024, 05:49:09 AM
How would you take a video game like Destiny/Destiny 2, and all of it's surrounding expansions and worldbuilding, and make a Tabletop RPG out of it? I know there have been popular 5e homebrews for it in the past, and at one point I ran my own campaign using the Genesys system but there were plenty of hiccups. It's a project that's been in my mind for years whether I like it or not, as I loved Destiny 1 and put well over 1200 hours into it. While I fell off hard in the later years of D2 (everything after Forsaken), and still have no desire to actually play the game anymore, it has a rich world with lots of cool stuff to inspire an RPG campaign. Chaotic space dragons who grant monkey's paw style wishes, undead wizards who live on the Moon, and a strong class system with distinct gameplay styles that would translate well to an RPG.
Surely I'm not the only one who's been thinking about this after all these years.

Can't think of anything better suited than Marvel Super Heroes aka FASERIP. Destiny characters are basically super heroes anyway. And you can represent all the different powers the characters get whilst also giving them lots of weapon customization. It would fit really well.

I haven't looked at the Marvel system but I'll check it out for inspiration. My biggest influence right now is the Demon Lord engine, I think it just functions really well, but I look at a lot of different systems for ideas.

Quote from: Wednesday on March 21, 2024, 10:10:37 AM

Quote from: Mishihari on March 20, 2024, 11:25:15 PM
I've played quite a bit of Destiny 2 and had the same thought.  It is much, much less work to adapt an existing system or engine than it would be to design one from scratch, so I'd go looking for something suitable.  The world and theme from Exalted would fit, I think, but I'm not familiar with the mechanics in actual play.  For mechanics, I'd probably start by looking at some of the more popular supers systems.

You missed the part where I already mentioned the 5e conversion. I don't want to play somebody else's hack, I already made my own and want to make a better one.

Quote from: King Tyranno on March 21, 2024, 09:55:43 AM

Quote from: Wednesday on March 20, 2024, 05:49:09 AM
How would you take a video game like Destiny/Destiny 2, and all of it's surrounding expansions and worldbuilding, and make a Tabletop RPG out of it? I know there have been popular 5e homebrews for it in the past, and at one point I ran my own campaign using the Genesys system but there were plenty of hiccups. It's a project that's been in my mind for years whether I like it or not, as I loved Destiny 1 and put well over 1200 hours into it. While I fell off hard in the later years of D2 (everything after Forsaken), and still have no desire to actually play the game anymore, it has a rich world with lots of cool stuff to inspire an RPG campaign. Chaotic space dragons who grant monkey's paw style wishes, undead wizards who live on the Moon, and a strong class system with distinct gameplay styles that would translate well to an RPG.
Surely I'm not the only one who's been thinking about this after all these years.

Can't think of anything better suited than Marvel Super Heroes aka FASERIP. Destiny characters are basically super heroes anyway. And you can represent all the different powers the characters get whilst also giving them lots of weapon customization. It would fit really well.

I haven't looked at the Marvel system but I'll check it out for inspiration. My biggest influence right now is the Demon Lord engine, I think it just functions really well, but I look at a lot of different systems for ideas.

I suggested Marvel because it's a very unique system compared to d20 derived rulesets. Using the universal table you can really get into the nitty gritty of people's wildly varying capability compared to other systems. But also it isn't bogged down in crunch like other Super hero games like Champions and Mutants & Masterminds. The Hulk has an Unearthly Rank in Strength versus Spider-Man's Amazing strength. You roll every test on one Universal table that is the crux of the system. You simply look up the column for Unearthly ranks. You can see that Hulk has a better chance of passing a Strength test than Spider-Man and can also lift heavier things.  Roll on the table with a D100 and if you go into the green results you pass. With yellow and red results for even more degrees of success. But Spider-Man has greater agility than the Hulk. So if Spider-man needs to dodge something he rolls on the relevant column and has a much better chance than the Hulk of dodging something. So specialization is still key. Much like Destiny. The different classes can be represented easily with this system. Warlocks have more powers, Titans hit and can get hit harder, and hunters are more agile and possibly stealthy.   The same is true for powers. You can probably find 1:1 analogs for powers in Destiny within the Ultimate Powers book and they're ranked like skills. Higher rank, better power and more chance of successful use.

The more I think about it the more I think it really is the best fit for Destiny. Use the cosmic ranks for higher powered foes like the Darkness and the superpowered ranks for the PCs and basic factions like Cabal, The Fallen, and so on. Marvel is classless but you can easily package similar powers into relevant specializations like they are in Destiny.  I think it'll work really well and now I want do my own homebrew on it.

I'd use a bare bones basic system, then add hundreds of loot tables.

Quote from: Grognard GM on March 21, 2024, 12:29:36 PM
I'd use a bare bones basic system, then add hundreds of loot tables.

That's a really good idea. And also very possible in Marvel. Quite a few supplements just for weapons the Punisher can use and even a few random loot tables for randomized weapons if memory serves. I need to go find that.

Quote from: King Tyranno on March 21, 2024, 12:22:27 PMHulk has an Unearthly Rank in Strength versus Spider-Man's Amazing strength.

COUGH-Incredible-COUGH

Quote from: Grognard GM on March 21, 2024, 12:29:36 PM
I'd use a bare bones basic system, then add hundreds of loot tables.

Based

I recall playing in a Destiny inspired game at a Con several years back.  I don't remember too much about it, but it was called The Frontier and it was a stripped down d20-based system with a lot of flavor (and lots of guns).  I can't check from my current location, but I'm sure it is still available on DTRPG.

Quote from: rkhigdon on March 21, 2024, 04:18:33 PM(and lots of guns).

Quote from: rkhigdon on March 21, 2024, 04:18:33 PM
I recall playing in a Destiny inspired game at a Con several years back.  I don't remember too much about it, but it was called The Frontier and it was a stripped down d20-based system with a lot of flavor (and lots of guns).  I can't check from my current location, but I'm sure it is still available on DTRPG.

I designed that game and yes it is still available on DTRPG! The flavor is more Borderlands than Destiny, but the system and the loot can be used for other games as well.

Quote from: Cellador on March 22, 2024, 07:34:56 AM

Quote from: rkhigdon on March 21, 2024, 04:18:33 PM
I recall playing in a Destiny inspired game at a Con several years back.  I don't remember too much about it, but it was called The Frontier and it was a stripped down d20-based system with a lot of flavor (and lots of guns).  I can't check from my current location, but I'm sure it is still available on DTRPG.

I designed that game and yes it is still available on DTRPG! The flavor is more Borderlands than Destiny, but the system and the loot can be used for other games as well.

Yeah now that's something I'd check out.

Quote from: Cellador on March 22, 2024, 07:34:56 AM
I designed that game and yes it is still available on DTRPG! The flavor is more Borderlands than Destiny, but the system and the loot can be used for other games as well.

That may be, but I seem to recall that Destiny was listed as an influence, and the game I played in certainly had that... cleaner... vibe that Destiny has rather than the more gonzo Borderlands feel.  So a GM can definitely play it that way if they so choose. 

I actually realized after I posted this that I purchased/downloaded ALL of the available material for the game after I played in that Con session, so I'm going to go back over it and see if I can't run a couple sessions once my turn in the GM chair comes around again.