Friday, October 19, 2007

Dungeons & Dragons Still?

A 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons is coming out next year. Apparently people still play the game using books and paper and dice. So the new edition will include computers.

Actually it seems like a reasonable idea. They built an online system so that people can play when not together around the kitchen table. The system provides the equivalent of tile maps, miniatures, dice rolling, and VOIP chat. The notion is to open up game playing to more people, or more precisely to people that now are too busy or too far apart to play. I can't imagine their customer base is growing, so if someone moves away from a group that could end the game for those people. Over the years that has to have happened a lot.

Personally I could see the nostalgia factor, but I see no reason to play D&D vs something like World of Warcraft.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Watch what you say about D&D or I might have to pull out my handy dandy dagger.

Flash back:

Soon to be dead person: Don't you think its a bad idea to leave the assassin up to guard us while we sleep?

Assassin : What do you think I'm going to do kill everyone while your sleeping?

Soon to be dead person: I guess your right.

Assassin: As soon as everyone is asleep I pull out my handy dandy dagger and ....

Howard said...

yes, but do you still play?

grahams said...

I haven't played D&D in years, and I've never played WoW, but I see them as completely different games.

WoW, while it is rather open ended, you are still bound by the world that has been created for you.

In D&D the game and world are only limited by the imagination of the dungeon master (and, of course, the mathematics of the D&D rules)...

Howard said...

Ok, I'll agree that if you're the DM, WoW isn't as appealing. If you're a player it probably has more interest.

Anonymous said...

My WOW crowd got bored and we started up a pen and paper meeting once a week and it's quite fun. A well thought out campaign run by a good GM is far better than instances filled with scripted AI and random drops.

To me comparing pen and paper with MMORPGs is like comparing a movie with a TV sit com, or a magazine with a book. The intent is the same, but the experience is far different.

I look forward to the 1st GOOD computer implementation of a LAN RPG with a customizable world. All of today's MMRPGs games are static and largely cater to people who enjoy killing the same critter 1000 times for a rare trinket.

Then again I'm strange and play boardgames on weekends for fun (Setlers anyone?).

Anonymous said...

No, I don't still play, but I have fond memories except for of course the debacle of my first time as DM.

PS Who is this other anonymous, its my job to annoy you.