D&D insider wishlist

[Gundark]

I have to say that I am looking forward to the new virtual gametable. I will possibly be moving to another community before too long and this will still allow me to keep in touch with my gaming group. I know that there are other online gaming resourse, the WotC one sounds a little user friendly.

Here is what I'm hoping to see.

- Music. I hope to be able to play mood music on the virtual game table.
- Character designer. I really love this idea. Hopefully it extends to all WotC games. d20 modern and Star Wars.
- Hopefully the game table will be "rules neutral". I like to play other games besides d20.
-Mapping tools. I want to be able to map out modern and sci-fi maps too. Same with the "battlemat"
-Virtual game table. I want "minis" for star wars and modern/sci-fi games.
-I imagine this one is a given. But character/npc design software that incorporates new books and different games (star wars).

What would you like to see?

 

[AffableVagrant]

That music idea's a good one! I'd like to be able to import or stream my own tunes to the other players through the table, if possible. It would be pretty sweet to start blasting the Conan theme when a fight starts!

From what I understand, the Gleemax is going to be a sort-of "MySpace for gamers", which isn't a bad idea. A lot of folks have to leave their games for college or a new job, and I think a social networking site would be a good way for these folks to find a game that's the right style and has the right people.

 

[Thaumaturge]

I am not a lawyer, but there may be an issue with WotC letting users use their servers to distribute music. With all of the RIAA's shenanigans, I wouldn't hold my breath for this one.

Thaumaturge.

 

[shocklee]

The one thing I would most like to see is an easy way to incorporate non-WOTC content into the tools. (I think the prior post about legal difficulties, in that case referring to music, is just as applicable here.) How exactly will you be able to incorporate D20/OGL/homebrew rules and settings into these online tools?

 

[Lackhand]

music is dead easy: the gametable does a voice over thing, right? (I've gotten that impression, anyway). It'd certainly be better for approximating that face-to-face style.

Just play music in that stream, in the same channel as the DM's voice. Recording it'd suck, since it'd still have the DM voiceover, and it's really just incidental music.

No more exposure than the phone companies have when you listen to the radio (or to the background music at a starbucks) while talking with a friend.

 

[shocklee]

music is dead easy

That is great to know.

But what happens when I want to use content from other publishers? Will I be able to use OGL material from other publishers? What happens when I want to play "The War of the Burning Sky" campaign or a Paizo module using the on-line tools? I suspect the answer is going to be that I won't be able to do that or build homebrew content outside of constrained boundaries.

That also brings up another interesting question, if I do develop my own module for FR or Eberron, for example, who own the rights if I play using the WOTC tools? I realize that the setting materials are not open content, but can WOTC just troll the site for the best material and then publish it as their own?

 

[Kaffis]

I certainly share your hope the DI table is successful enough to warrant porting over to Star Wars, for instance. I'd kill for a poseable, 3-D virtual mini creator for characters, etc., for both my face-to-face games and my play by posts.

A persistent table for PbPs would be nice, I'm not sure if this is in the plans or not given how the client is going to be... my initial impression was that it would be an IRC backend or some such with some nifty customer-served client-server application for the table itself, but upon further consideration, it might simply be clients that hook into a Wizards-served database of individual game states or something (though, good Lord that could be a mess)...

I'd like to see support for square and hex grids. My face to face groups like to mix up our square vs. hex use... hexes are fun for larger spaces.

In my dream reality, Wizards would partner with somebody to offer physical custom character minis based on your digital mini. I'm envisioning some super-high-tech method by which they just cut your mini out of a plastic cube with some super-fine CNC equipment on steroids, and ship it to you unpainted. I recognize this as a pipe dream, of course, but it's a wonderful fantasy for my mini-modding-impaired self.

 

[AffableVagrant]

I posted about this earlier, but I'll bring it up again:

I would love to see a cool D&D comic in DDI. If some new module is being published, make a comic about the module, hype it up a little. If some new campaign setting is coming out, make a 3-part miniseries taking place in that setting.

 

[Daztur]

In the Diplomacy judge servers there's a system that keeps track of how dedicated players are according to how many games they've quit from, how many games they've played to completion, how many times they've taken over for people who've quit etc. This makes it easy to only let people into your game who will probably stick around. I would like support for that sort of thing if I'm going to sign up for purely online games.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I have one thing on my DDI wishlist. A pricing scheme that differentiates systems supported by the character generator and the virtual table top, and those systems that are incapable of using those features. I would like a pricing scheme that likewise differentiates customers who access features through the client app, and those who just get features through the web browser.