Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
New Digital Games Studio announced by the president of Wizards of the Coast
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="L R Ballard" data-source="post: 7707095" data-attributes="member: 40307"><p>I like the direction Fantasy Grounds is taking. In 2015, they announced that they'd hired a designer to port their platform to the Unity Engine.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.fantasygrounds.com/press/" target="_blank">http://www.fantasygrounds.com/press/</a></p><p></p><p>I hope the port allows FG to address one of my criticisms of online D&D games. D&D has to do with interactivity: creating a character and taking the lead role in bringing the character to life. Part of that creative process involves <em>envisioning</em> one's character. A virtual tabletop still lacks the tools to allow players to visually represent their characters. </p><p></p><p>I'm no artist, so, if I want to put a picture of my character on the map, I have to use stock art. </p><p></p><p>Or maybe I can hire Devin Night to draw a custom token of my character.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://immortalnights.com/tokensite/?page_id=388" target="_blank">http://immortalnights.com/tokensite/?page_id=388</a></p><p></p><p>I've long admired Night's tokens.</p><p></p><p>But I won't be able to hire Larry Elmore or Aaron Miller to draw my characters. There's a limit to just how close one can realize a vision of one's character in a virtual tabletop. But that's such an important part of D&D.</p><p></p><p>That's one reason why I like video games like Skyrim, which distribute their creation kits to modders. The Creation Kit allows modders to expand the character creation abilities of the base game. So, for example, a talented modder introduces sliders in Race Menu:</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/29624/?tab=2&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmodfiles%2F%3Fid%3D29624&pUp=1" target="_blank">http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/29624/?tab=2&navtag=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/ajax/modfiles/?id=29624&pUp=1</a></p><p></p><p>Along with improved facial texture mods, Race Menu gives nonartists like me a virtual palette to use to "draw," even "paint," their characters. Skyrim's mods now produce nearly photorealistic graphics. It has been a thrill for me to sit down with Race Menu and make such beautiful portraits of some of my old characters.</p><p></p><p>That's where I'd like to see FG take its tools. And that's where Wizards' actual video game offerings need to go--the stories are great, but give players the tools to <em>see</em> their characters in them. Otherwise, the WotC video game experience of your character becomes passive, take-what-they-give-you. And that's the antithesis of D&D.</p><p></p><p>For that reason, fellows like me will take adventures like Skyrim over video game offerings from WotC.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="L R Ballard, post: 7707095, member: 40307"] I like the direction Fantasy Grounds is taking. In 2015, they announced that they'd hired a designer to port their platform to the Unity Engine. [url]http://www.fantasygrounds.com/press/[/url] I hope the port allows FG to address one of my criticisms of online D&D games. D&D has to do with interactivity: creating a character and taking the lead role in bringing the character to life. Part of that creative process involves [I]envisioning[/I] one's character. A virtual tabletop still lacks the tools to allow players to visually represent their characters. I'm no artist, so, if I want to put a picture of my character on the map, I have to use stock art. Or maybe I can hire Devin Night to draw a custom token of my character. [url]http://immortalnights.com/tokensite/?page_id=388[/url] I've long admired Night's tokens. But I won't be able to hire Larry Elmore or Aaron Miller to draw my characters. There's a limit to just how close one can realize a vision of one's character in a virtual tabletop. But that's such an important part of D&D. That's one reason why I like video games like Skyrim, which distribute their creation kits to modders. The Creation Kit allows modders to expand the character creation abilities of the base game. So, for example, a talented modder introduces sliders in Race Menu: [url]http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/29624/?tab=2&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmodfiles%2F%3Fid%3D29624&pUp=1[/url] Along with improved facial texture mods, Race Menu gives nonartists like me a virtual palette to use to "draw," even "paint," their characters. Skyrim's mods now produce nearly photorealistic graphics. It has been a thrill for me to sit down with Race Menu and make such beautiful portraits of some of my old characters. That's where I'd like to see FG take its tools. And that's where Wizards' actual video game offerings need to go--the stories are great, but give players the tools to [I]see[/I] their characters in them. Otherwise, the WotC video game experience of your character becomes passive, take-what-they-give-you. And that's the antithesis of D&D. For that reason, fellows like me will take adventures like Skyrim over video game offerings from WotC. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
New Digital Games Studio announced by the president of Wizards of the Coast
Top