The thought of D&D video games brings to mind the 1981 Mattel D&D Computer labyrinth game. I have one, which works well enough to tell how lame it is as a game. Also to pity the poor kids who got it instead of Milton Bradley's Darktower that year.

I'll welcome a good quality D&D online game, my kid's been asking for that type of thing. But it's common for mediocre product to be attached to a licensed name like D&D.

Otherwise, there aren't currently too many video games bearing the D&D name.  I just ordered Eye of the Beholder for GBA, anybody have reviews to offer?

Well, I learned recently, to compete with online games like Warcraft & Guild Wars, Wizards will be streamlining the current rule system, to make it more accessible for the upcoming role player.

The new books will also have codes to access online content, because WOTC is also launching an online game of some sort.

Hope that helps.

IttyBitty wrote:I'm sticking to all versions PRIOR to 3rd edition......

Alright, I lied....

Well, not really.....some of the modules that I collect (Wolfgang Baur's Empire of the Ghouls for one) are made for 3.5 and I may need a way to translate their monsters so I could (if need be) covert them back to pre 3rd edition.

sleepyCO wrote:Just to bump the thread . . . from some of the comments, I wonder if anyone here thinks or thought that OD&D, AD&D, or v2.0 D&D would have made a better online version, due to the lack of large statblocks, fewer splat books, etc. . .  or something else?

i am not sure that ANY version online would make things better. i still think the face-to-face roleplaying was always the way to go. anything else is just a replacement of that and takes away the emotion of the moments as they happen.

Al

I don't really care how craptacular 4e is going to be.    WotC should get a clue and publish a "classic" version of D&D. Then they MIGHT get my money again.

clangador wrote:I don't really care how craptacular 4e is going to be.    WotC should get a clue and publish a "classic" version of D&D. Then they MIGHT get my money again.

I think this comment and Jim Perelman's response and evaluation of the game helped me realize that D&D has become so cumbersome, it's no longer fun, especially for new players.  One of the magical things about D&D is that its a story and it's the DM that makes the game more than the rules.  I am not against the new material, and as I have adventured, I appreciate authors who write about new monsters, spells, adventures or whatever.  But the material can add up (in volume and expense!) to the point where it can intimidate new players and keep them from even trying the game.  Of course there are some people who love complexity and collecting, but the majority do not.  Bigger is not always better.

Maybe a "classic" box set re-issue is what's needed.  It would be smaller and cheaper and target the new and novice player.  I wonder if a survey would reveal that these start up boxes were what got us or our first DM's hooked to begin with.  Don't you remember when all you ever owned was a Player's Manual and how great it was?

I can just imagine 4e being so detailed, dogmatic and pricey, only the hard core players will get one.  I'm not getting one.  I don't hear excitement on this forum.  I am hoping that the 4e creators will target new blood.  I hope they go for the long haul and not the quick buck.

benjoshua wrote:I wonder if a survey would reveal that these start up boxes were what got us or our first DM's hooked to begin with.

WotC would simply ignore the surveys, like they did the last time around.

Rather than add my uneducated snipe, I decided to go out and purchase the two Wizard's presents books on 4th ed. and read them.

+
They recognize that 3.5 is an practically untenable.
They're getting rid of a lot of the stupid cruft that's built up over the years (no more 9,000,000 types of elves).
They separated PCs from NPCs cleanly.
Emphasis on world over things.
They've gotten rid of needless symmetry: yes, there aren't 2000 different varieties of planes anymore, but the way they've brought the planes in feels a lot better to me. Especially the inner planes. It almost feels like they are putting planar adventures on the same level as "normal" adventuring right from the beginning. Feels very positive.
Points of light in a dark world. This is actually very similar to how my old campaign was. I'm very excited about this idea.


-
Dragonborn and Teiflings as two of the initial races. So lame. But, I'm not 9 anymore. Maybe I would have loved it when I was 9.
Heavily influenced by MMOs: EQ, WoW, all have their touches here which could be a good thing, but feels counter to the spirit of D&D to me.
Halflings. I just don't like where they took them.


?
Removal of alignment. I almost put this as a -, but I dunno. I'll have to see how it goes.
No official world. I assume this is just because they haven't decided yet. Though they are claiming it's because they want to leave more up to the DM.

Overall it feels like they really designed this version looking at all of the good and bad over the years and went in with eyes wide open. Will it turn out to be great or shitty? Remains to be seen. Feels like a better update than 2 or 3 did by a long shot from what I've read so far.

There is a good question there.  Why, are we - who loved playing (and in most cases still do play) a game that welcomed personal invention and the construction of our own dungeons and campaigns so pissed off that the current incarnation is very different?  It won't stop us playing, so why worry?  I think that there are (at least) four good reasons:

1. because we want to see the game we love become better. Even if you haven't played for years and you collect purely for nostalgia, you still will care about what happened to the game you spent your adolescence or early adult life immersed in.  And 4.0 is pretty far from what we would wish for D&D.

2. because it is great to find a new imaginative fantastic adventure which you couldn't have done yourself.  There is an art to great high-quality scenario design and it isn't looking likely that we will see any more with 4.0.  Witness the excitement here over the DCC mods or the new PPP mods.  We would love to see more commercially printed high quality imaginative scenarios and campaign material.  So, we mourn the loss of what will never be.

3. we mostly wish for others to have the same a great tabletop experience surrounded by friends, laughing, rolling dice, eating pizza, scribbling down damage or treasure. trying to peer over the DM's screen etc...  What 4.0 promises is every kid alone at home in front of a screen with headphones on.

4. because of the way in which WOTC has done this - the way in which it has treated something which we felt that we had a stake in, that we in part owned.  

Oh, and 'cos Gleemax is shite.