The Legend of Zelda has changed a lot over the years, but no matter what form it takes, it always manages to deliver in certain core departments. Just about every Legend of Zelda game has some kind of memorable dungeon, whether Link is delving into an ancient place in search of a hidden power or laying siege to Hyrule Castle to liberate it from Ganon's grasp. Zelda is also consistently filled with memorable civilizations and creatures. Gorons, Zora, Koroks, and many other remarkable fantasy races populate the edges of Hyrule, while monsters big and small find places in Ganon's army to pose a threat to Link.
Because of all these core facets, it really seems like The Legend of Zelda is well-poised to get a tabletop RPG adaptation. More and more video games are taking a stab at this genre, including Runescape and Dark Souls, and for good reason. Thanks to the beloved fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons, tabletop RPGs are more popular than ever. Between its dungeons designs, fantasy cultures, and deep library of monsters, The Legend of Zelda has everything it takes to become a formidable TTRPG. Nintendo just needs to be willing to experiment with a new genre.
The Legend of Zelda's TTRPG Strengths
The people and creatures that populate Zelda games go a long way to form the backbone of a good TTRPG. For games like Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons, playable fantasy races offer players all kinds of unique skills, making them crucial to character customization. The Rito power of flight, the durable bodies of Gorons, Koroks' connection to nature, and so on can all inspire great playable races. Similarly, The Legend of Zelda's many monsters mean that combat in a Zelda TTRPG would never get dull. Not only could Nintendo create stat blocks for the game's individual monsters, but it could create powerful boss stat blocks, letting fans confront a famous Zelda antagonist as a character of their own design.
If Nintendo went as far as publishing playable adventures inspired by Zelda games, then it has plenty of dungeon source material to work with. A Zelda TTRPG sourcebook could provide maps for iconic dungeons like the Arbiter's Grounds from Twilight Princess, Ganon's Castle from Ocarina of Time, the Tower of the Gods from The Wind Waker, and so on. Exploring places like these as part of Link's mission is one thing, but a Zelda TTRPG campaign where players can put their own touch on well-known dungeons and locations offers a completely different way to engage with The Legend of Zelda.
A New Zelda Project
Even if Nintendo doesn't want to produce a Zelda TTRPG system independently, it could reach out to Wizards of the Coast and potentially arrange the creation of Zelda module for Dungeons and Dragons 5e. Wizards of the Coast hasn't done a ton of DnD crossovers with outside IPs so far, but between the official Critical Role sourcebooks and WotC's internal crossovers with Magic: The Gathering, there certainly seems to be some hope that Nintendo and WotC could work together.
Over the course of the franchise's history, Nintendo hasn't created a particularly large number of Zelda spin-offs, aside from manga adaptations and a few side games. However, the return of Hyrule Warriors through Age of Calamity may suggest that Nintendo is getting more open to Zelda side content. Hopefully that stance means that Nintendo will pay attention to the current TTRPG craze and see what it can do with The Legend of Zelda. Whether the theoretical Zelda TTRPG adaptation focuses on a specific game like Breath of the Wild, or whether it captures the length and breadth of the franchise, Nintendo stands to gain a lot by empowering fans to tell their own Zelda stories through a TTRPG.