D&D 4.0 previewed at Gencon 2007, would have been cooler in 1997

The first thing that came to mind when I saw the following video about D&D 4.0 from Wizards of the Coast was PS3 Eye of Judgment, except without the graphical representation of battle and high definition graphics. As they moved into the “first time ever” character creation screens, I sighed instead of smiled. Bill Slavicsek and Chris Perkins show “the future” of Dungeons & Dragons at Gen Con 2007:

D&D 4.0 sounds like it’s shooting for the Fantasy Grounds approach:

an application acting as a virtual online gaming table primarily intended for pen and paper style narrative role playing games … designed to perform many of the things you can do while playing at a conventional gaming table and move it online.

At the end of my last D&D post I wished there was an MMORPG that changed quest outcomes based on player decisions. The next version of D&D sounds more like porting the game board experience and allowing “voice chat” (oooo!) and internet play instead of being required to all be in the same room. Why couldn’t people play D&D online like this already with Skype and video chat? Or for that matter inside Second Life?

During the video I kept thinking if this came out 10 years ago this might mean something. Now, it’s just a pale example of Wizards trying to take a cherished geek game from the 70s and 80s to catch up with the current crop of MMORPGs. Too little, too late.

Jay Garmon nails the problem with Wizard’s strategy:

If Wizards of the Coast had any sense, they would have gone in the opposite direction with D&D 4.0, celebrating everything about the game that can’t be codified and automated. In a tabletop game, you can abandon the script at any moment. A good Dungeon Master can wing it, adapt, improvise, and keep up with a group of real, live human players who aren’t just in it for a analog version of Diablo II. Strip down the rules, beef up the character development. If you want online tools, design them to make character creation–not graphics creation–easier. Stop treating D&D like a vehicle to sell miniatures and prefab module adventures when there’s no way static maps and immobile figures can compete with 3D landscapes and animated, interactive avatars. Stop trying to beat MMORPGs on their terms, and beat them on yours.

Jay is so right. I never got into playing D&D with the miniatures. I did, however, covet the cool-looking dice. When our group of friends played, it was in the basement and all sitting around and rolling dice and using our imaginations. We also played other TSR games like Gamma World and Boot Hill. I’ve got fond memories of these gameplay sessions. How can Wizards emulate these experiences on the computer in 2007? Perhaps the better question is: should they?

Building on the better strategy for Wizards that Jay outlines: it would be to take all the non-gameplay elements and put them online. Use the internet sort of like the leaderboard area of Xbox Live Arcade and provide the game matchmaking features to mre easily facilitate games. For example, if we need another Level X player for our party, help us find that player wherever s/he might be located geographically.

As much as it pains me to suggest this in a day when we are dominated by too many social networks, that’s more the kind of help D&D needs than some virtual representation.

It seems with D&D 4.0 that they are starting to move that direction but again feels like too little effort and will draw unfortunate comparisons with MMORPG which have much better graphics and established user bases. Creative D&D players have already sought technology elsewhere to play the game they love. There is very little reason to use Wizards vision of how a D&D session online should be played when the players are already out there creating and playing.

Somewhat unrelated, but funny: listen to this humorous Advanced D&D session: “Mountain Dewwwwwwwwwww!” Poor Titania stuck in darkness.