What I mean is mainly if you've used parts or all of board games or card games or something like that FOR your RPG campaign?

If so, how did you use them?

There's a bunch of stuff in Descent that you can use for things like conditions or webbed areas.  Then again, Descent is nearly an RPG itself especially if you have the expansion with the campaign rules in it.

Other than probably pawns and dice?

I tried to use tiles for world building (Catan, Entdecker, Hellas) and at several times I thought about using game board maps in Outdoor Survival fashion (Zargos Lords, Talisman, Robin Hood).

But at the actual table? None.

Dice. A lot. A couple of Tarot decks. And the ship pieces from Star Wars Monopoly.

Not directly lifting rules or mechanics per se, so much as a bit of philosophy. I consider the Illuminati card game from Steve Jackson Games to be a work of genius in game design because it's a good illustration of something I feel a lot of RPGers just "get wrong" when it comes to what makes a good RPG.

Two things in particular.

One is the sense of game balance. The Bavarian Illuminati group is over-powered compared to the others players get to choose from. I've played with a few groups that simply ban it. However, if you do play the Bavarian Illuminati, it's precisely because of how powerful it is, you can expect to be ganged up on mercilessly. The drawback to power does not need to be written into the rules.

This does have applications even in cooperative role playing games. One thing in the Lejendary Adventure RPG that a lot of people have a problem with is the Kobold as a player character race can turn invisible at will, without limitation. Some groups have banned the Kobold for this reason. My group embraced it, and through actual play we discovered what we call "the curse of invisibility." Namely, guess who was always called upon to scout ahead and therefore take disproportionate risks? Actual play has a way of balancing things outside of the rules in ways people often can't anticipate.

Now if you think that's an overly-specific, contrived, or uncommon example, consider combat prowess in an RPG. The only way to use it is to engage in one of the most dangerous activities to your character. I've heard some gamers talk about "survivability" as a benchmark for game balance, arguing that the different character types need to be balanced in combat. But if survivability is your measuring stick, then it's best to avoid combat altogether if possible, isn't it? So best to focus on the character who has other skills and is specialized at solving things without resorting to combat if survivability is the thing.


Second bit from Illuminati. There is an optional rule that says if someone does something that is against the rules, makes an "illegal" move, and if no one notices by the end of the turn, the move becomes legal. To an extent, this is just practical. It's annoying to have to replay a round because someone realized something was done wrong after the fact. But to me the most significant take-away is that rules that allow you to break other rules DOES have an effect on shaping the game and cannot be ignored in analysis or treated as throw-aways.

So consider the "golden rule" in RPGs. I've encountered a lot of gamers who have the attitude, "Oh, this was just the game designer covering his ass because he was too lazy to actually make the game good." Or you have hardcore BtB/RAW people who, quite ironically, choose to edit out this one particular rule, even though it's written in the book. And game critics and analysts also tend to gloss over it because it's intractable. It's impossible to know how it will be used from one group to the next.

We can't always know how the optional rule in Illuminati will be used or abused either. That's the whole point of a rule like this. The possibilities are open-ended. From a strictly strategic perspective, you have to be better prepared against the unknown. If you do prepare, that has a definite effect on play and the game. And if you don't prepare, when the unknown happens, it has a massive effect on play and the game. There's no way getting around it. This rule is part of RPGs and cannot be ignored--not in analysis, not in true BtB/RAW play.

Board games often have better mass combat rules than you see in RPGs, they resolve quickly because they are designed to operate at a higher scale - strategic rather than tactical, say. In RPGs you want fast combat for a different reason: you probably don't want resolution to take up the whole game session.
So I've been thinking about using 'Imperium' for Traveller starship combat, and likewise Dragon Pass for D&D mass battles; the PCs would likely count as a single 'Hero' chit.

I've used Descent pieces too, for a thing or two, as well as some Dreamblade figures and the like.

Past that, there was a failed card game (I know, narrows it down) that had great cards printed with "armies" of a dozen or so critters on them at a time, that I used to help out with big fights.

There was this naval combat game that used pop-out thick cardstock ships and had some relatively fun rules. We used those instead of make our own once.

Quote from: S'mon;870859So I've been thinking about using 'Imperium' for Traveller starship combat, and likewise Dragon Pass for D&D mass battles; the PCs would likely count as a single 'Hero' chit.

Oh that reminds me, I've used the map from the Dragon Pass game for RPGs set in Glorantha. I think we also used the map from Nomad Gods for stuff set in Prax. Although I originally bought if for that purpose, I've never used the Outdoor Survival map for OD&D. I am probably one of the rare few people who have actually played the game Outdoor Survival though.

I've used Tarot decks as a prop, but I'm not sure that counts.

Quote from: Willie the Duck;870872There was this naval combat game that used pop-out thick cardstock ships and had some relatively fun rules. We used those instead of make our own once.

Pirates of the Spanish Main/Crimson Coast?
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pirates+of+the+spanish+main&view=detailv2&&id=AA3B040A5CE04D688F69D9C9BAD4C4C48184EAFD&selectedIndex=15&ccid=WsZn0UHw&simid=608051358589127200&thid=OIP.M5ac667d141f02b8717005c92b63c4263o0&ajaxhist=0

Well jibba jabba and I have both commented on using CCG stock lying around for a variety of uses. Some are great for populating your world with new monsters. Some are great for brainstorming new locations or art pieces for the very visual minded at the table. Cards work great as impromptu "tactile random tables." They are even nice to "seed" as fixed events, like a major encounter within certain hexes.

As for board games, most of my board games are old now. I guess Bonkers or Trivia Pursuit could help, but theoretical and tqngential at best. So outside of the American School of Boardgame Design versus the European School of Boardgame Design, I can't place what I had gained from them.

I don't do minis, even though I do love strat games, so hex chits at best.

All the other equipment don't really factor: player tokens, glass beads, colored cubes, six-sider dice, etc. Except for one — the hourglass timer, that's useful for keeping time pressure on at certain rpg game moments.

I decided that Car Wars was a lot better vehicle combat resolution system than the ghastly mess Champions had, and adapted it into my supers runs.

About a year after that, SJ Games and Hero came to the same conclusion ...