The Legend of Zelda

This is a /v/ related article, which we tolerate because it's relevant and/or popular on /tg/... or we just can't be bothered to delete it.

The Legend of Zelda is a series of adventure games for the Nintendo system. One of the oldest franchises, alongside Super Mario, at least one game has graced every console Nintendo has put out. With its epic landscapes, focus on puzzles, and wide array of monsters and races, the Zelda series is a goldmine for an enterprising Dungeons & Dragons DM to draw from for inspiration.

The Story

You play as Link, a green-clad youth somewhere in between 9 to 18 years of age who sets out to fight evil to accomplish some heroic goal, often related to rescuing someone. And often this is Princess Zelda, whom the series is named after. In pursuit of this goal he often clashes with the evil Ganon (or Ganondorf), who wants to rule the world, or some other menace ranging from a jerk wizard who kidnaps girls to a fucking scary mask trying to destroy everything.

Central to the series is the Triforce, an artifact of immense power that taps into a user's power, wisdom and courage to use. It has near reality-warping powers in its full form, which is why Ganondorf seeks to obtain it. Link often has to find bits of the shattered Triforce in his quests, or people capable of sealing Ganondorf away. Note that it is not always the same Link who appears in the series: while some of them appear in several games as the protagonist (One appears in four games, and three others in two games each) there is often a new Link in every game. And while they look alike, they are except from one case where it is strongly hinted at that they are family not related to one another.

The Zeldas on the other hand are related to one another: the first one was the reincarnation of the goddess Hylia and all Zeldas are her descendants, making them the Blood of the Goddess. And while the various Links might not be related they inherit something as well; the Spirit of the Hero which gives them the drive to stand up to evil and use the various tools they find despite them never having used or even seen them before.

The villainous Ganondorf is the same one over and over again though. Occasionally it's stated he can't die any defeats he has are temporary. Even while he gets killed at the end of some of the games, his followers try to ressurect him (and sometimes even succeed), making him the same guy again and again.

Tabletop Games

Officially, there are no Zelda tabletop games. Unofficially, homebrewers have tried their hand at making some. A Legend of Zelda D20 system has been floating around the net for years, and /tg/ has been busily working on a Legend of Zelda RPG. There's also Megaton, which is a wargame set in the Zelda setting.