Crafting a Real-Life RPG Village

I took a little detour last week during my vacation to the United Kingdom. After a few days of hustle and bustle in the ginormous capital city of London, I thought it'd be a good idea to take a train trip up north to check out a tiny village my ancestors called home 500 years ago. And as I wandered about this hamlet trapped in time with its thatched roofs, guildhall, and ancient church, an unexpected gaming-related thought struck me out of nowhere:

"Man, this would make a great RPG village!"

Unfortunately, good luck actually seeing it in a game. I've mentioned in the past that I have a problem with Western developers shunning our own tales and legends in favor of made-up fantasy lands -- a problem Japanese developers don't seem to share. Well, I have an even bigger problem with Western developers ignoring our own real-life locales. Sure, you won't find a shortage of games that take place in the real world. But a certain theme emerges when you examine these titles a little more closely. The Getaway. Gangs of London. The Godfather. True Crime: Streets of LA.

Sure, it may feel good to be a gangster, but that doesn't mean I always wanna play as one. Why don't we see more diverse Western settings and casts of characters when a game takes place in the real world? One of the few examples I can think of is the early PS2 title Shadow of Destiny, which features the player time-traveling from the Middle Ages to modern times in a real-life German city. And what famed Western developer came up with this novel idea?

Konami.

And outside of hardcore PC strategy games, Western developers even shun incredible real-life conflicts in favor of made-up strife between orcs and elves. Jeanne d'Arc? Bladestorm? Both revolve around the epic Hundred Years' War between England and France. But they're both Japanese-developed.

On my taxi trip from the train station out to the country, my cabbie told me that most UK citizens felt they had to travel to "exotic" overseas locales to see impressive sights, when in fact, there was plenty to see right around them that they didn't take the time to appreciate. I think Western game developers suffer from the same myopia. You don't always have to come up with a fantasyland from scratch -- sometimes, inspiration's closer than you think.

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Comments (10)

That does look like a perfect quaint RPG town. That's the kind of thing I notice sometimes too. I see a cool-looking building, even in the city, and can't help but think how much fun it would be to explore it in a game...even though it's right in front of me!

Greg Ford, July 07, 2009 12:55

I'd love to play a RPG set in the War of the Roses or the American Revolution. That would be fun. I once wrote an D&D; adventure using http://www.visit-salzburg.net/sights/hohensalzburg.htm.

Jason Wilson, July 07, 2009 13:20

I would love to play an RPG set during the American Revolution of the Civil War! As for taking your travels into your games, I once use this castle (http://www.visit-salzburg.net/sights/hohensalzburg.htm) in a D&D; campaign.

Jason Wilson, July 07, 2009 13:22

There are a lot of genres that I would love to see Western developers tackle. And I think that Western developers could do it better if they take the time and care to hire some good, compentant writers. Seeing an RPG set in a real European setting would be great. My personal desire is to see a Western developer compentantly create a crime drama adventure a la Hotel Dusk. It's been done before in the past thanks to Sierra, so why not make it happen again? I'd seriously love to see a good adventure game based on the TV series Homicide. Any takers?

Travis Bolek, July 07, 2009 13:37

Some real world European settings would be nice, but there are so many interesting settings that game developers have yet to explore. It'd take too long to list them all, but there's interesting histories all over the world, so they should branch out a bit.

Brian Shirk, July 07, 2009 13:40

I love the way that picture looks towards your your article. Glad you enjoyed yourself.

Toby Davis, July 07, 2009 14:11

I've been screaming for years for Western developers to step outside the boundaries of a fantasy world with RPGs more often. There are so many great opportunities. One series that did manage to use some real life European location was Shadow Hearts...but of course that was Japanese developed. @Ford: You definitely gained some geek points with that last comment, although I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

Derek Lavigne, July 07, 2009 17:56

I feel like a lot of shooters do this, but for the most part they are based on 20-21st century combat. Other than that maybe RTS's do it a little. I would love to see a survival horror game based on germ warfare with the Black Death. I have a basic outline, but that is probably as far as that game will go.

Chris Ternus, July 07, 2009 18:28

Hey, our next Pixel Revolt community question is along these same lines: "What setting (time and location) would you most like to see a videogame take place in?" Send in some of these awesome ideas (especially in Travis's case) to the show! Here's how.

Brett Bates, July 07, 2009 18:46

I have always wanted to see a game based on some crazy ancient European, Native American, Aztec, or etc. stories. I always thought The Tain would make one of the most badass games ever, I mean come on, Chuchulainn goes into berserk mode and his entire body splits itself apart. To Fitch's comment about people wanting to go elsewhere to get their fill of adventure, I don't think this is anything unique to English or any culture. I came to Japan because I found many things in Japanese culture interesting that we don't have in America. Japanese people follow the same path by going to America to see what they think they can't see at home. In reality, I think that people who live in one country long enough reach a point where they just want to get the fuck out.

Paul Smith, July 07, 2009 19:52

WHAT THE HECK IS A BITMOB?