The success of tabletop role-playing games has continued to shine in the past several years with the popularity of Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer, and Pathfinder only continuing to grow. Immersive worlds allow players to create and experience unique adventures set within some of their favorite game worlds, so much so that the storied lore of the Elder Scrolls practically begs for the full TTRPG treatment.
The Elder Scrolls series has a more than twenty year history, and each new entry in the series garners excitement from fans. Yet, the world of Tamriel is filled with legendary creatures, heroic characters, powerful villains, and mythical weapons that beg to be fleshed out into a full-blown TTRPG. Many fans of the series have already used D20-system based games like Dungeons and Dragons in order to create homebrew adventures set in different periods of Tamriel’s history, but a proper TTRPG adaptation could stand as unique in the tabletop gaming space and perhaps even become a contender to the biggest titles in the industry.
It is worth mentioning that there is already a narrative-based wargaming board game available for fans of Elder Scrolls and specifically Skyrim. The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms is a fun board game from Modiphius Entertainment. Utilizing miniatures and other pieces familiar to TTRPG players, Call to Arms lets one to two players take up the mantles of many of the different Skyrim characters. The game has its merits, but giving the Elder Scrolls a proper adaptation to a TTRPG would allow for more players, more options, and more freedom to enjoy the deep and rich world of Tamriel.
That story is the main focus of why Elder Scrolls should be adapted to a TTRPG. The history and lore of Tamriel is rich and detailed, so the world built by Bethesda is more than deep enough to build a system for fans of the game to create their own adventures inside of the greater narratives told by games like Oblivion and Skyrim. The interferences of the Daedric Princes in the world of mortals is an almost endless playground for a creative DM. And developing a fun system for player characters and classes would not be a monumental task when considering the already impressive level of detail in those options present in the video games.
A fresh entry with a familiar face, an Elder Scrolls TTRPG could be successful quickly. As many long-time players look for TTRPG games beyond Dungeons and Dragons to try, the generally darker tone and (to a degree) more focused narrative of the Elder Scrolls could theoretically become a contender in the TTRPG space quickly. Putting new spins on many DnD tropes like guilds to join, evil wizards to thwart, and dungeons to explore, could result in an experience for players that both feels fresh and familiar.
Freedom of player choice is the backbone of a good TTRPG and is a hallmark of the Elder Scrolls franchise. While the mainline games don’t feature a concrete class system, Elder Scrolls Online did a good job of putting a class system into the framework while offering a wide berth of options to customize each class would be a great model to follow in developing a TTRPG for the franchise. Incorporating a wide set of skills for players to choose from their classes could be could be built on and expanded, ultimately similar to how a Wizard in DnD may learn proficiencies in unorthodox tools or transcribe spells from another school of magic.
Translating the skill system from Elder Scrolls could also be done in a way that eliminates the class system completely. Players could theoretically start with a blank slate character, having an allotment to choose proficiency in things like two-handed weapons and conjuration magic or in sneak and ranged weapons. This would be more of an undertaking to build a system that offers more freedom to develop skills that are actually being used like increasing acrobatic skill in Oblivion by constantly jumping, albeit a less comical way to train would suit some campaigns better than others. Adding in some background unique abilities like Skyrim’s Shouts could also help to accentuate player choice but would need to be well-balanced to prevent them becoming too overpowered.
On the easier to conceptualize side would be adapting the plethora of character races available in Elder Scrolls to a tabletop system. Each race already has a defined set of ability aptitudes and special talents. It’s easy to envision the Redguard’s Adrenaline Rush as a DnD 5e background feature similar to the Feline Agility for Tabaxi in DnD, allowing the warrior to move more distance in one turn or regain stamina needed for special attacks. Or a freshly drawn up Orc PC starting at level one with an affinity for two-handed weapons or heavy armor. The diverse set of player races in Elder Scrolls draws much inspiration from the classic archetypes featured in DnD so transferring those to its own TTRPG would be one of the easier to imagine facets of a Bethesda tabletop game.
The stories of universe Elder Scrolls also help as a great foundation for creating a central narrative to a published sourcebook in a hypothetical TTRPG as well. The lore of the world of Tamriel is rich and rife with powerful forces to be involved in a grand narrative or a jumping off point for homebrew creations. The machinations of the different Daedric Princes have long been used as focal points for the story and there are many who have yet to see their day in the spotlight. The chance to explore more regions of Tamriel and the planes of Oblivion are enticing to many fans that would imagine a proper Elder Scrolls tabletop game.
With The Elder Scrolls 6 an undetermined amount of time from release and the popular Skyrim nearing its decade anniversary, many fans are eager for more content then just Elder Scrolls Online. And with the tabletop space in somewhat of a renaissance lately, now could be a great time to create a proper Elder Scrolls TTRPG. If executed properly it could be a great new way for fans of the series to explore the lore of Tamriel and could set itself apart in the growing tabletop landscape for the future.
The Elder Scrolls 6 is in development.
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