Avowed is the latest digital RPG by Obsidian Entertainment. The crew at Obsidian has made top-notch TTRPG-inspired or licensed games, extending all the way back to the genius and under-appreciated Neverwinter Nights 2 and some classic Star Wars titles.
And now, in 2025, Avowed. Critics and gamers alike have celebrated the game’s gloriously colorful environmental art and its devotion to playability and fun.
The question though, as always: what can the tabletop player and GM take as inspiration? Here are four solid takeaways.
1. Players Drive the Action
The PCs are not just protagonists of a story, they ARE the story.
Avowed plays into this, adding a lot of sandbox to a typical narrative RPG. It strikes a balance between providing an experience of “I can go anywhere, and do anything,” with the unfolding major story arcs of the player and the NPCs. The stories are there to pursue, but you can also explore every nook and cranny of a regional map, and the game designers reward you for that exploration. Wherever you go, you ARE the story.
Fifth edition games such as D&D typically reward three things: 1) defeating monsters and traps, 2) accumulating treasure, and 3) accomplishing story points. The game trains players to do things that are rewarded with level-ups and treasure so well that players can fall into ruts pursuing them.
If you run a sandbox-style campaign, consider awarding PCs with XP simply for discovering interesting locations. You can also put useful items on the other side of an abiltiy check or two to overcome an environmental challenge.
Example: In a dungeon or cavern room, a still, cold pool of water lies dark and deep. What secrets might PCs find at the bottom? A WIS (Perception) check after dropping a magically lit coin reveals a skeleton and ancient gear. A STR (Athletics) check is the test for the dive to the bottom and the suffocating rules from the Tales of the Valiant Player’s Guide can present the real risk, especially if there are complications at the bottom. This exploration opportunity can be completely unhooked from a monster-based encounter. It could be the entire focus of the room! The he exploration is the challenge and the reward comes just for showing up.
2. They Never Saw Us Coming
Figuring out a unique way to defeat a challenge in a video game brings a special satisfaction. Many digital RPGs are built with an eye toward giving the player options to overcome an encounter. Avowed shines in this regard, rewarding the player who stealthily scouts the encounter before starting melee.
The lesson for the tabletop GM? Give players opportunities to use their brains to tip the tables in their favor.
Planning and executing an ambush is enormously satisfying for players. They aren’t built into published adventure content enough. Among the possible reasons why they aren’t used for most encounters is that they can quickly go in the player’s favor and be unbalanced. But sometimes unbalanced (in the PCs’ favor) is fun!
There’s nothing wrong with giving players the satisfaction of an easy battle when they plan for it. But it’s also fair game to give the players an ambush opportunity with a group of foes that would otherwise be too tough to take on straight-up.
3. NPCs Are People Too
Avowed NPC story arcs are complex and meaningful. Some digital games risk making the most important thing about NPCs whether or not they are “winnable” as romantic conquests. Avowed makes the NPCs much more on equal footing to the main player protagonist.
For the tabletop GM, it can be hard to manage multiple NPCs in the flow of a campaign. Detailed NPCs risk moving the camera focus off the important part—the PCs. If a GM introduces NPCs as elements in a long-arc campaign, along with any game stats, leave yourself notes: What are they struggling with? What do they fear? What do they want to accomplish?
NPCs in Tales of the Valiant adventures (starting with Caverns of the Spore Lord) often come with just this kind of information, so GMs and players can have enough information to interact meaningfully with NPCs, without their backstories overshadowing the main events (the PCs).
4. The Gods Must Be Crazy (and Scary)
In Avowed and its setting of Eora, the gods are terrifying and inscrutable. Cultish enemies and helpful friends worship the same deity. How do you related to a god like that?
The decision choice to strike alignment from the Tales of the Valiant game helps tremendously here. Gods are far too complex and powerful to be understood as only good or evil, lawful or chaotic. In many scenes and lore in Avowed, the gods create puzzles and moral quandaries for their devotees. Make your fantasy deities true divine forces that can just as easily threaten a cleric or paladin over jealousies or disobediences as grant them spells.
In Your Game
The world of Avowed, is a fantasy setting with rich detail, and it’s one easy turn down a twisting corridor in the Labyrinth. Many of its game features are directly transposable to your tabletop game. There are magic missile, burning hands, and shield spells. Xaurips are pretty much kobolds. Most character experiences in Avowed can be replicated in the Tales of the Valiant RPG. Take what you enjoy from other people’s games, and put it into your own game.
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