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Dungeons And Dragons Online Slated For 2005
As part of the continuing announcement-based madness that is E3, Atari have announced that they're partnering with Turbine Entertainment to make Dungeons And Dragons Online. This is especially interesting since developers Turbine, the makers of Asheron's Call 1 and 2 for Microsoft, have also just announced they're creating Middle Earth Online (previous Slashdot story). Which one are you going to be playing?
IMHO
As much as Middle Earth Online appeals to me, and as excited I am about hearing D&D Online --
World of Warcraft will be spectacular
It's Blizzard, when they do a game, they do it right, or not at all (Warcraft Adventures).
World of Warcraft will be my pick!
Great! Now there will be another online way to keep the trolls down besides moderation on Slashdot.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Personally, the best online D&D experience, IMO, is Neverwinter Nights. Sure, it's not MMORPG, but at least it's the closest CRPG to D&D there is!
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
Don't we already have D&D Online? Neverwinter Nights is 3rd Ed rules for DND in an on-line setting.
If not, what have I been playing for all these months?
Maybe it will be first edition D&D and we'll all have to dig out our old rule books to figure out all the old restrictions...
I think I'll keep playing "Paper & Paychecks".
Like an online role-playing game, P&P keeps me in front on a computer 10 hours a day, and it doesn't cost $29.95 a month.
Actually, playing "Paper & Paychecks", I get paid real US dollars to do the same sort of mind-numbingly repetitive stuff that Everquest players do for the "love" of the game and a few "gold pieces".
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
Unless a research team has developed an AI that can DM as well as a human, this may be D&D in name but not in spirit. The main thing I like about D&D is being able to be creative. For example, are all of the ways a flask of oil can be used going to be programmed into the system? I doubt it. Unless Atari and Turbine are planning on hiring hundreds of DMs to run this world, this is going to be faux D&D.
I wonder if Bioware is pissed? It's not the same as NWN, but it ain't that far.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Come play our MMORPG! We're different because we have a creature called fae! All the other MMORPG's call them fairies! *snore*
How about Vampire: the Masquerade? We don't have a horror MMORPG yet.
Maybe Twilight 2000? We don't have a near future post-apocalyptic warfare MMORPG yet.
Nope. We're gonna do D&D cause there just aren't enought medieval fantasy MMORPG's.
(Note: I'll take this entire post back if they're including Ravenloft or Planescape, which I doubt is the case.)
Considering how Turbine has been a MS partner the past few years I can only wonder if a Linux Client will be available. Considerng their G3 engine is DirectX I highly doubt it. But would be nice to see it ported.
Of course one can hope WineX will be able to use DX9 by then also.
Microsoft, mentioned in the story, has just announced that they also plan to be releasing a live-action version of the Lord of the Rings saga, focused in Washington.
Excerpt from the Press Release:
Striving to recreate the atmosphere and saga of Lord of the Rings as much as possible, Microsoft has announced a 'Live Action' version of 'Lord of the Rings' in which teams of two set off from Boston, MA, trek across the United States, and eventually make it to Redmond, WA, where they seek to destroy Microsoft's base of power. The team of two will be responsible for carrying a symbolic copy of Windows XP...
Who'da thunk it?
"Microsoft has announced a 'Live Action' version of 'Lord of the Rings' in which teams of two set off..."
Interesting in this script is the departure where the Fellowship ends up in the Mines of Slashdot where legions of trolls just about do them all in.
Looking forward to such scenes as the Cowboy Neal's of Rohan, Shemod the moderating spider, and the Tower of Linux Ungol.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Market Saturation.
Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
whichever the best game :)
Honestly, though, it would cut into my pen & paper D&D evenings. Can't have that. ("Can I have a Mountain Dew?")
So how many pen & paper sessions have you played that were "massively multiplayer"?This is terrible. The thing that NWN got right about the D&D experience is that it is best played by a small group of players and a DM. Try some of the persistent worlds people have set up for NWN and you will see that a MMO dungeons & dragons is extremely difficult to do- and on the scale that this game would need to be considered a success I would say it's impossible.How is this any different than Everquest- other than naming conventions?
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws. -Plato
Ahhh....Internet D&D should be like: DM: You quietly tiptoes into the approaching chamber. The air is murky and the only light is coming from the glowing pendant you wear around your neck. Suddenly, you notice an enormous beast, at least twice your height, crawling down the passage towards you. The creature opens its mouth and, in an apparent attempt to mock your puny self, screams, "I am the legendary Mieqqerowzzuft. Where do you want to go today?" Player: I rip out my Linux Sword of Vengeance +7 and attack! DM: (rolls dice) You have successfully smote the beast.
The thing that makes AD&D great is that you and your friends are the protagonists. The heroes. Through your actions you shape the world. Here you're Elven Magic-User #48994 with head #14. Through your actions, you can add another Wand of Fireballs to the market pool, lowering their overall price by 3 copper.
AD&D is meant to be paper and dice... and Real Role playing.... Make up your own story..
Middle Earth however is an awesome world that I would love to play around in. Hell I play Dark Ages of Camelot cause I can be an Elf.
Who makes you Sig?
As if the world really needed another one.
Unless a research team has developed an AI that can DM as well as a human, this may be D&D in name but not in spirit. The main thing I like about D&D is being able to be creative. For example, are all of the ways a flask of oil can be used going to be programmed into the system?
/.'er, how exactly did your, uh, Dungeon Master, uh, creatively use that flask of oil?
Ok
Was your character's name, oh, I dunno, Goatse Man?
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
I'll play the one that has a 'text-only' interface. That way, I'll actually have to use that, long-forgotten, technique known as 'imagination'...
If a giant oil company wanted an abortion, would W's head explode?
Sorry, I'm racist against elves. Maybe I should play DAOC and start the genocide!
Lex orandi, lex credendi.
The simple reality for many of us who own complete sets of rule books for Cthulhu, AD&D 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ed. is that we have the curse of actually getting a group of people to show up on a regular basis over a fairly long durration of time.
This takes a lot of effort, then you have to cross your fingers and hope you have the right mix of people so that it is not a constant whining festival that turns inevitably into a player vs. DM bitchmatch.
When everyone gets along it's more fun than anything else, you weave wonderful adventures together with fantastic deeds and conquests.
It would seem that these become far apart with few inbetween however as it is rare that all the players show up on a regular basis in a good mood ready to game.
On the flip side, you can log in to a MMORGP at the drop of a hat and "geek around" for a bit online. It's never quite as satisfying as a good round pencil & paper, but it's FAR AND AWAY more consistant and convieniant.
So, often it's simply more realistic to sacrifice the potential quality of a pencil and paper gathering in exchange for something with less potential but far more dependability.
What I have always wished for in terms of AD&D online is "The Dungeon Master's Online Tool and Group Kit"
Which would allow a DM to host a gaming session online, ideally with players that have mic's and web cams aimed at thier faces so you can see and hear everyone's reactions to situations.
The dice would of course be visible for everyone to see as well as map screens for monstor and player positioning durring battle secquences.
Designed properly I think it would be almost better from a pure DMing point of view than if everyone was present. Now THAT would be the kind of online D&D I would like to see, blend some convienance with the real story potential of the pencil and paper.