If you’ve been on social media, YouTube, or Discord in the last month, you’ve heard about Elden Ring. While the game has been around for over two years now, it was given second life through a massive expansion. The Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree adds dozens more hours to its playtime as Tarnished warriors dodge roll away from a new set of impossibly difficult bosses. But at some point, even the greatest completionist will see all there is to see in the Land of Shadow. What then?
Is there a way to capture the sense of discovery, danger, and deep lore of Elden Ring in your tabletop RPG? The short answer is yes, with caveats. The long answer for Game Masters is that you need to dissect Elden Ring and Dark Souls and carefully consider what it is you like about them. For players, we’ll provide a few Dungeons & Dragons mods and other games that will help you feel like you’re back in the Lands Between.
Elden Ring TTRPG Problems
One big mistake Game Masters often make is getting attached to something from their favorite video game and assuming players will also see the appeal. When it comes to Elden Ring, many GMs will probably be inspired by the way the environment tells the story and the memorable boss fights. Sadly, it’s very hard to translate the way you play Elden Ring to a TTRPG.
Each small area in Elden Ring begs you to explore further and likely leads to another zone entirely, dropping small hints about various factions and events along the way. It’s so immersive in the moment, and the art team behind Elden Ring did an exemplary job setting the tone of each environment.
Doing that as a GM, though? You’re battling the fact that most players hate travel in DnD. No matter how good your descriptions are, the party is likely to get distracted by a dirty joke or just not care to go off the main road. That’s not to say you shouldn’t add rewards for the curious or optional areas. One way to get players interested is to tie side quests into their backstory. Or add a shiny glint just out of reach. Players become a lot more willing to enter the random cave if there’s gold involved.
Epic boss fights are another staple of the Souls games that are tricky to recreate in TTRPGs. Elden Ring bosses are known for their hard hitting attacks that can insta-kill the unprepared. It immediately sends a message: come prepared and fight smart. But before tacking on 5d10 damage dice to your next boss’ attack, GMs should ask “Is this what my players want?”
Many people play TTRPGs, and DnD especially, as a way to chill after a stressful week. They want to win and feel powerful while doing it. Losing 75% of their health in one attack might not be their idea of fun. Nor is having to remember that the key to defeating a boss is to use a random item they got in session four. But your mileage may vary. The best advice here is the standard: talk to your players. Some groups might actually be excited to play a very deadly, highly tactical game.
Elden Ring DnD Rules
As mentioned above, it’s too hard to take the exploration-based video game mechanics, hard boss fights, constant rebirth, horror-fantasy themes, and complex lore of Soulslike and put them into your DnD campaign wholesale. That said, some creators made the smart move of stripping Elden Ring/Dark Souls/Bloodborne gameplay into certain core elements. If your group wants to stick with DnD 5E, you’re best off picking one or two of your favorite Elden Ring aspects to incorporate.
Let’s say that you want the classic Dark Souls gameplay of gathering souls from defeated foes in deadly battles. Kobold Press has a short, handy set of rules for creating such a campaign called Soulslike Roleplaying. In this variant, souls can both level you up and be spent to gather items. Dying in battle respawns you at the last bonfire you visited, and you have to recover your souls before dying again.
If you want more of the theme of Soulslike without trying to mimic the gameplay, try the Grim Hollow line. This one should appeal to the Bloodborne fans who want to play in a twisted, cursed horror world. There’s a setting, monster manual, and campaign guide so GMs can pick and choose the elements they want to borrow.
Or it could be that you’re interested in the open world of Elden Ring. In that case, you’ll want a DnD exploration rules expansion. Level Up A5E has worthy travel rules. It also has upgrades to DnD 5E classes, giving you a way to expand your game without making your players learn all new rules. Xem’s Guide to Exploration pitches expanded travel based on hexcrawl - read my review of it here.
Souls TTRPGs That Aren't DnD
Rather than try to modify DnD to get your Elden Ring fix, why not try a different game entirely? These games were built from the ground up to provide more challenging fights, better exploration, and more serious themes.
There is actually an official Elden Ring TRPG. It has deep character customization and a stamina system in the open world of the video game. Unfortunately for English speakers, it is only available in Japanese. There’s also Dark Souls: The Roleplaying Game based on DnD 5E, but fans have given very negative reviews of this one.
Outside of the official realm, your experience will vary based on what you like about Elden Ring. Mork Borg has its own dark fantasy vibe (think death metal), but does take place in a hostile world where characters die frequently.
To capture that old fantasy feel of a mystical world where gods directly intervene in mortal affairs, try RuneQuest. The combat is also said to be brutal, with broken limbs and gear on the table.
Runecairn is directly inspired by Elden Ring and mixed with Norse influences. This one focuses more on the Souls game mechanics, such as bonfires, monsters that come back to life, and even the possibility of other players joining for a session to invade you.
Hopefully, something here appeals to you and will help you build the Elden Ring campaign of your dreams. Just keep in mind that, no matter how amazing your lore and how cool your boss monster looks, players have their own ideas of the game they want. Work together to figure out common interests, suggest these games/rules with the knowledge that people might say no, and remember that you can always bring back ideas in the future.
And if that doesn’t work out, search StartPlaying for a pro GM running Soulslike games!
