Video games that have influenced you (and how)!

[jdrakeh]

Okay, I know that hatin' on electronic entertainment mediums is all the rage in our hobby right now but I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't played and been vastly entertained by several computer roleplaying games in my day. And, further, some of them have influenced by tabletop gaming. . .

Betrayal at Krondor (Sierra/Dynamix)

Okay, so it's based on a novel -- I found it much more entertaining than the novel and found it to be a valuable tool that taught me how to introduce organic (i.e., not obviously artificial) side quests into a larger D&D adventure, how to pace an epic story so that there is rarely a dull moment, and how to craft memorable NPCs that players will care about.

Zork (Infocom)

You have been eaten by a grue. I love Zork in spite of grue but the game taught me a lot about how frustrating 'death trap' encounters (i.e., encounters that characters can't possibly escape from alive) can be. I don't pull that crap in my tabletop games as a result and, if anybody pulls it on me, I don't game with them again until they get a clue.

[Deleted]

Boy, I knew we would get to this topic--it was just going to be a case of who got to it first!

Well, let's see:

I would have to say the first game that really stoked my imagination for magic, adventure, & all things fantasy-related was "Adventure" for the Atari 2600 (I was around 5 or 6 when I first played it).
When I got a little older (maybe 8 or 9), my best friend & his family got a computer, & he introduced me to the "Classics" of the time, so to speak-King's Quest, Sword & Sorcery, Drakkhen, Wasteland, & of course, all the classic AD&D games released by SSI (Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Hillsfar, etc.). After playing these for awhile, we both started to experiment with what I call "Paper Games". Using what rules we had from the computer game manuals, & our own concepts, we constructed "elaborate game classics" such as: Archmage, Archmage 2, Archmage 3, Farmers, Ranchers, & You, High School Escape 1 through 7, & many, many more I don't remember. We didn't have any real concept of game mechanics--we just drew all sorts of maps, traps & all sorts of nasty creatures to adventure against. As an aside, we were also heavily influenced by young adult gamebooks (Lone Wolf, Averger!, Fighting Fantasy, Endless Quest, CYOA, Wizards, Warriors, & You, etc). When we got our NES systems, we played everything RPG or strategy related, from "Final Fantasy" to "Nobunaga's Ambition". We both (his brother included) had rampant imaginations, so the 1980's video arcade experience was a huge influence on us as well. As we got older (13 yo), & both simultaneously aquired the "Black Box" D&D set & Rules Cyclopedia around '90 or '91, everything we'd been doing seperately & together since we were 5 or 6 had come full circle (myself, him & his brother have been lifelong friends since we met when we were 2 or 3 yo in daycare/preschool--no joke! . As for now, he still plays any computer/video game under the sun (mostly RPG's & Strategy games); myself, well, I've never owned a computer (still don't-this one belongs to the missus, & it's a laptop), but if I did, I would probably play, too (just not MMOG's [I've never cared for them]).

Great topic, jdrakeh; you've brought back a lot of very happy memories for me: an EXALT to you!!



And don't rule out Farmers, Ranchers, & You 2--that d**n mountain man may yet strike again!

[jdrakeh]

I played a great many gamebooks myself, though mainly Fighting Fantasy, which would later become a full-fledged RPG. As for other video games. . .

Gateway to Apshai (Epyx)

Not much to the game but I played it for nearly a whole year before I realized that it has no end (it has no end). What I liked about it was the Apshai backstory (here), which I still think of as one of the best explanations for the existence of an actual underground dungeon (let's face it -- such things don't exist naturally and the explanations for them are often handwaved completely in D&D).

Shining Force II (Sega)

I really like Shining Force II because it combined wargame skirmishes with RPG elements (namely, a plot) in a very entertaining manner. It helped influence the way that I structure plots in my games, in that I don't tend to make anything too time-sensitive and allow for lots of side treks that can impact the endgame scenario in several different ways.

[brumbar]

Some of my favorites were the AD&D games as mentioned above. Also Phantasie 1&2 and Bards Tale.

[Thorulfr]

I must be some sort of Luddite, but the last computer game I played from beginning to end was Wing Commander (the first one); the one before that was Mechwarrior (the first one - VGA graphics and all.) I don't really think that they have had any influence on my role playing, though if I thought really hard, I might take a lesson or two from the dang Babelfish dispenser in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.







...no, I never did manage to get that fish. It did make some pretty entertaining ricochets around the room, but always went down the drain.

...and no, I never completed the game.

[Falconer]

jdrakeh said:

Betrayal at Krondor (Sierra/Dynamix)

Okay, so it's based on a novel -- I found it much more entertaining than the novel

Naw, the novel is based on the game, actually!

[Falconer]

Might & Magic II was a really great one. It was a huge world to explore, hundreds of quests, and NOT AT ALL linear. You just went around doing whatever you wanted, and there was always something interesting under every rock. When you were finished doing everything you possibly could, you could take a time machine back to any century of the past, and explore the world then, and change the past, then go back to the present and explore the changed present! Also there were elemental planes, and a really surprise bang ending!

It really taught me how much better it was to have a whole world prepared for my players and let them choose where to go and what to do, rather than just have one dungeon at a time. Regards.

[Lord Gwydion]

Started playing video games in the days of the Atari 2600 and Pac-Man fever, before I'd discovered D&D.

So some of the old Atari classics like Adventure and Pitfall Harry likely had some influence on my desire to game, but not really on the sorts of games I created.

The big thing, like a few others said, at first were the CYOA/Endless Quest type game books.

Then, a few years after I started playing D&D, the NES came out, and then the games started to influence my D&D games.

Of course, some of the RPGs like Dragon Warrior and Ultima had an effect, but mostly it was the more action adventure games like Castlevania, Faxanadu, and Legend of Zelda. And in the arcade, Gauntlet and Gauntlet II of course!

[Finarvyn]

My video/computer game experience is somewhat limited, in part because my poor vision makes "aim and shoot" games less than a fun experience. As such, my favorites are mostly strategic.

Rogue - The old MSDOS game with a little smiley face moving around with arrow keys. You could "quaff" potions, the monsters were identified by letters moving about on the screen. A really fun game (most of the time) and as basic as you can get, but still fun to figure out what each potion or scroll or whatever did. Played it for hours.

Hack! - Kind of like Rogue, but with actual graphics and sound effects. Used AD&D style rules and you wandered through a dungeon. No real plot here!

Spellcaster 101: Sorcerers Get All the Girls - A semi-old game with little graphic capability but lots of puzzles to figure out. A game about being a kid wizard in a wizard college, and it was done way before Harry Potter ever came into being.

Myst - Never finished it but my wife and I had a great time trying to work through the puzzles. (See a pattern here?)

Avalon Hill's Kingmaker - A computer version of the board game.

Again, for me the best games are the ones where there are puzzles to solve and hand-eye coordination isn't an issue. Take the game slow and figure out the details along the way....

[jdrakeh]

admin said:

Rogue - The old MSDOS game with a little smiley face moving around with arrow keys. You could "quaff" potions, the monsters were identified by letters moving about on the screen. A really fun game (most of the time) and as basic as you can get, but still fun to figure out what each potion or scroll or whatever did. Played it for hours.

For you!

[Finarvyn]

Thanks, jdrakeh. I'll have to take some time and look it over.

I know it can't be exactly the same as ROGUE since each time ROGUE randomizes some of the tases for potions and so on so they're harder to figure out, but it looks pretty similar in many ways.

Also looks kind of OD&D-ish. Hmmm.

[makofan]

There were zillions, but the Ultima I through V just gave me so many ideas about plot, characters and settings.

[Rhuvein]

Nice to remember some of the old computer games, but none of them influenced my first crack at D&D . . . cause I ran D&D before those games were released!!

Probably subconsciously those old games and maybe some of the recent ones like Quake may have had some influence on my gaming and campaign world, not sure.

I'm pretty sure that fantasy/sci-fi literature and movies has the most profound influence on my style/thoughts/atmosphere of my campaign world.

Incidentally, I loved the old Sierra Online ~ King's Quest games. Have any of you played those and were there influential for you??

;D

[jdrakeh]

I played nearly all of the Sierra adventure games, though I think that only Phantasmagoria really impacted my tabletop gaming (and then, only Chill).

[Deleted]

I absolutely loved all the old Sierra games. Between my best friend & I, we played 'em all.

The early Leisure Suit Larry game line influenced my life the most, but that's another story, & I think I'll just leave it alone... ;D