“Bringing A Videogame To The Tabletop” – Bloodborne: The Board Game

A lot goes into adapting a video game into a tabletop game. The two mediums have different strength but also different limitations. Things must be taken into account in one form the other and corrected for if a designer wants to be able to recreate the feeling a player gets when playing the games. For Bloodborne: The Board Game, the designers took these challenges in stride. In this article, we take a look at some of the different elements they looked to cross over when adapting the video game.

Starting out with the Hunters, they have been made in such a way that players will see connections to the video game immediately. Each one has its own Trick Weapon, split into two forms, that they will use when attacking enemies in the game. These weapons have different stats depending on which form they are in at the time, and players must know how to best use their weapons to overcome the challenges they will face. All of these are melee-style weapons. Hunters can’t simply sit back and snipe at monsters. Like the video game, the only ranged attack they have is a pistol, and it is only used to disrupt enemy attacks. It’s amazing what a well-timed pistol shot can do for throwing an enemy off their rhythm when trying to claw someone to death.