I'm toying with the idea of running a campaign in the Zelda-verse for a noob friend of mine and her fiance who has experience with 3.5 and 4th ed but is still pretty new to 5th ed. I picked a campaign based on Zelda because my friend who's totally new to D&D absolutely LOVES all the Zelda video games and I'm hoping that will grab her attention and keep her more engaged than setting it in Forgotten Realms or any other low- or high-fantasy setting. I'm no expert on the lore of the Zelda-verse so I'm looking for ideas on what era and timeline would be the most interesting and easiest to translate to D&D while also adapting the story to fit better with a small group of adventurers as opposed to the lone-hero type of story we see in all of the video games. Has anybody here ran a campaign in that setting? Any ideas for campaign premises? What would you guys do if you were going to run a game in the Legend of Zelda universe? Hit me up with whatever you have!

I've honestly thought a whole heck of a lot about how you'd translate LoZ to a TTRPG. Honestly, just use a map of Hyrule (you could take the one from breath of the wild or ocarina of time or research all the lands that have ever appeared in a zelda game and mash them together to create your own Hyrule). And then write your own story. Any of the stories of the games aren't going to translate well, honestly, without a lot of effort because of the repetitive nature of video games.

Your biggest challenge with the lore is the eternal struggle between the three aspects of the triforce as embodied in the spirits that reincarnate through the ages as Ganon, Link, and Zelda. You'd want to come up with some plausible explanation for where these three are and/or why your group's characters can't turn out to be one of them/face off against an incarnation of Ganon.

I would recommend starting them out easy. You could take certain elements of some of the games and insert them into a campaign of your own devising. For instance, you could start out with the players in Kakariko Village and they hear rumors that the Deku Tree is dying. So they either take the initiative themselves to research it or are hired by one of the Sheikah to escort one of their number to the forest to investigate, or investigate for the Sheikah. But from there spin it off into your own adventure and don't follow the plot of Ocarina of Time. Or they're in Castle Town (you could rename it as you see fit) and whoever the BBEG of your campaign is has sent a minion to accomplish some sort of goal. The PCs intervene and this sets them on their adventure path.

Going on the Breath of the Wild suggestion, there’s over a hundred smaller shrines in that game that would provide some excellent mini dungeons or puzzles for the players. There’s walkthroughs for all of them easily available around the internet. I think using the idea of the forever reincarnated Ganondorf could be a great way to build in, say an worldwide bias against the drow, since you could translate him to being a drow. I would probably stay away from the Wind Waker timeline since sea travel/combat isn’t well developed in 5e. The open world variant of Breath of the wild would work well, since it has lots of side quests and little bits and bobs. You could even build the shrines in to leveling up or specific boons. 

You could make Ganon a drow. Or a fallen Aasimar or some Goliath variant. I think the Gerudo would be best based off one of those races as far as player stats. The Goron could be adapted off a combination of Goliath and Dwarf since some of the dwarven traits would really fit the Goron. Sea elves or Tritons would be good basis for the zora. Evels would be the best fit for Hylians and Sheikah (use monk class if you're playing a Sheikah). Halflings and gnomes would be the best base race to adapt if you want to play a kokiri or korok. If you want to play a Rito, I'd suggest aarakokra since they're already a flying race.

I am about to run a Zelda one shot set in the events before the calamity something of 500 years ago or the first time they beat calamity Ganon. I have some ideas already for race options it will be Half Elf as Hylians Triton as The Zora Goliath as Goron Aarakocra as The Rito and human as the Gerudo.

I took some influences from Zelda games in my homebrew setting. Mostly as regarded dungeons that were huge puzzles you'd solve by altering their environment and harnessing forces of nature such as gravity, water, or fire. My final dungeon was a pyraminx Rubik's-style tetrahedron.

Of course you can also use princess abduction tropes, or subvert them. In mine the princess was abducted by the good guy with her consent.

Quote from TheBrightLordofHungary >>

I am about to run a Zelda one shot set in the events before the calamity something of 500 years ago or the first time they beat calamity Ganon. I have some ideas already for race options it will be Half Elf as Hylians Triton as The Zora Goliath as Goron Aarakocra as The Rito and human as the Gerudo.

 Your a couple years late. Let’s keep away from the necromancy?

Haha sorry I meant it is gonna take place during the first calamity.

I am a new DM but love the LoZ games. Perhaps roll up stats for stalls, moblins, Chuchus, or other basic Zelda enemies. Maybe have like a parallel world similar to Termina from Majora’s Mask? As for a boss, the Yiga from BotW or Astor from Age of Calamity could be a good idea. For races, Aracockra for Rito, Half Elf for Hylian, or maybe just elves? As for the other three, you may have to create something new? I think this is a great idea and would love to hear how you do it, as I was thinking of doing this as well.