D&D 5E How will DnD / RPGs adapt to future technologies?

Morrus said:

VR would be amazing, but it's got a long way to go before it can really do D&D well yet. And it would kill the home-brew side of it, as people won't be able to develop their own VR games. Unless they develop some super easy to use VR tools that a DM can actually use on the fly.

Who foresaw live streaming becoming a major form of entertainment? I imagine what will happen is something we haven't even imagined.

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Actually a 3D version of MapTool/Roll20 would be quite easy I dare to say. All you needed is a library of tokens like rocks, trees, miniatures of monsters etc. of course and make it 3D.

I think it would be used mainly for battles, but what some people can do in MapTool is really amazing and if made into an augmented reality... it might be interesting AND potentially profitable for some people. One could sell premade encounters or even entire dungeons for dungeon crawls - basically a DDO in VR heavily customizable.

Not saying it s good, but this will happen one day anyway. To me, mniatures are not detailed enough, usually rough and not good looking and even the 2D plastic ones are fairly expensive if you play very rarely and not every week.

I guess I’m not explaining myself well enough... I don’t want to make the dungeon in VR Tabletop Simulator; I want to build my game room. Then I just want my friends to jack-in and join me at the table. I’m okay with the current sharing technologies but the ability to point at the table or ‘move’ a miniature or ‘see’ body language would be awesome.

ZickZak said:

Actually a 3D version of MapTool/Roll20 would be quite easy I dare to say. All you needed is a library of tokens like rocks, trees, miniatures of monsters etc. of course and make it 3D.

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But you’re limited to the library rather than your imagination. You need technical skills to introduce unique content.

Just look at Neverwinter Nights. The creation tools are some of the best ever made, but everybody’s worlds look the same.

Artificial Intelligence: in theory it can replace the DM, in practice I don't think 20 years will be enough for that as the whole "job" of a DM is very complex and most importantly it also requires empathy and social skills which are a long time away before AI can manage those. Of course, there will always people who want to be a DM, but here I'm thinking that AI could help some groups who struggle to find one, or where everyone prefers being a player. Rather than completely replacing the DM, AI could support it by running the monsters in combat for example, or to dynamically generate dungeons and adventure situations on the fly, or to provide real-time rules support with a "Siri" model.

Augmented Reality: I could see this definitely help LARP games more than D&D, but at least it's easy to imagine how AR can be used for showing animated characters and monsters moving on your gaming table among various terrain features.

Virtual Reality: similar applications as AR really, they are after all very similar technologies (AR adds visuals on top of your real-world vision, VR completely replaces vision), but I don't think VR would work well for D&D because it cuts you off from the other people. Also, unlike AR you won't be able to see the dice and the pretzels.

DM Dave1 said:

Maybe I'm old school, but I prefer sitting around a table with the players with paper and pencil and real dice and our limitless imaginations. I spend enough time in front of my devices during the week (including prepping for my campaign, mind you). But I truly enjoy the escape that a live D&D session provides from electronics.

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I think future technologies will be delightful, but going back to pen & paper will always be a popular choice too.

Morrus said:

But you’re limited to the library rather than your imagination. You need technical skills to introduce unique content.

Just look at Neverwinter Nights. The creation tools are some of the best ever made, but everybody’s worlds look the same.

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A mini for every monster from official books might be enough. I dont think extensive technical knowledge is required for standard campaigns. Unique content, yes. Necessary? Probably not.

ZickZak said:

A mini for every monster from official books might be enough. I dont think extensive technical knowledge is required for standard campaigns. Unique content, yes. Necessary? Probably not.

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It’s necessary to the very concept of what D&D is. If you can’t add your own content, it’s not D&D any more.

John Rake said:

[FONT="][FONT=inherit][FONT=inherit]Hello, everyone. I’ve been thinking about how about the future roleplaying games lately. Primarily, how will technology such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, or virtual reality alter the roleplaying experience as we know it?[/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#1D2129][FONT="]

[/FONT]
[FONT="][FONT=inherit][FONT=inherit]Here are some of my initial thoughts:[/FONT][/FONT]
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[/FONT]
[FONT="][FONT=inherit][FONT=inherit]* Knowledge and social learning will increase as people become more connected with technology[/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#1D2129][FONT="]* Augmented reality will replace miniatures and we could see battle scenes interacted as a cinematic experience
[/FONT]
[FONT="][FONT=inherit][FONT=inherit]* Verbal storytelling won’t go away, but it will be exponentially enhanced by technology[/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#1D2129][FONT="]* GM demand will continue to increase
[/FONT]
[FONT="][FONT=inherit][FONT=inherit]
[/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#1D2129][FONT="]How do you see the industry changing over the next decade or two?
[/FONT]

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I think those are great points.

AR and VR will eventually become cheap and ubuiqitous, and I definately can see groups getting together virutally, and/or using AR to create virtual tabletops right in front of them within the next 20 years. I think it will take longer than that for it to be easy for a DM to make lifesized VR enviroments for them to explore in a way that is recognizably a game of dnd (ie, players can go off the rails at a moments notice, etc) simply because of all the resources that would have to be available to the DM, with algorithms in place to help the DM quickly improvise for new developments, etc.

But being able to program a really detailed AR tabletop to play on is, I think, only out of reach in terms of price and development of existing tech.

Morrus said:

It’s necessary to the very concept of what D&D is. If you can’t add your own content, it’s not D&D any more.

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That's just not true. Plenty of peple play DnD without homebrewing new unique content. Especially for things like game aids. You definately don't need unique minis or landscapes to play dnd. In the same way, you don't need unique enviroments that you hand crafted to play VR DnD.

I do think that AR is a better option, though, or VR game rooms, as [MENTION=6830534]zedturtle[/MENTION] described.

But if you add enough textures to the mod tools for NWN, with good enough categorization, all games will only look the same in the sense that they are running on the same graphics engine. THey won't have the same recycled enviorments, or the same character textures, the same sounds and animations, etc.

John Rake said:

[FONT="][FONT=inherit][FONT=inherit]* Knowledge and social learning will increase as people become more connected with technology[/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#1D2129][FONT="]* Augmented reality will replace miniatures and we could see battle scenes interacted as a cinematic experience
[/FONT]
[FONT="][FONT=inherit][FONT=inherit]* Verbal storytelling won’t go away, but it will be exponentially enhanced by technology[/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#1D2129][FONT="]How do you see the industry changing over the next decade or two?
[/FONT]

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I think the MMO genre basically disproves a lot of this. Some of your elements are just the 'next step' in MMOs. MMOs didn't end up replacing tRPGs, they did come close, but that was actually because the tRPG market was collapsing (or at least it looked that way to me), and people were 'stuck' with MMOs - but their genre is already fading / adapting to it's next stage (depending on how you call the wind).

tRPGs exist in the same space as board games and card games and such - there is no "need" for such "silly outdated forms of entertainment"... except for the fact that people prefer them.
- it is the meal of pasta on the table next to the 'nutrition pill' your Vulcan-raised co-worker is taking. Outdated but more interesting.

I think the only 'changes' you will see will be on the social end. The idea of alignments and races being defined as good or evil is something that is becoming repugnant in modern society. We might even see a push to end racial stats and abilities (something that has happened in the #2, and #3, MMOs: FFXIV, GW2 (FFXIV had or has very minor stat differences at start, but they've been intentionally lessoned as time went on).

In other words, the notion of externally moralizing and supremacizing whole kinds of people by their genetics and culture - that will go away.

MMOs have proven you can tell extremely engaging moral dramas in high fantasy without pointing a finger from the sky and saying "those people are born evil". Heck, blokes like Shakespeare pointed that out centuries ago...

(If you think this is radical, remember that D&D began with extreme stat differences based on sex/gender - particularly before AD&D 1e. But that notion was already repugnant before the game hit it's first hardcover).

Otherwise - tech wise we already have the right tools for the kind of experience people want. MMOs again showed that once you add more tools, you get a different kind of game.

Arilyn said:

Maybe roleplaying with just paper and pencils will become prescribed therapy for people addicted to their tech.

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I actually could see this being very successful. At least as successful as Coloring Books for adults which have helped a lot of people with stress and anxiety.