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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reinhart" data-source="post: 6787415" data-attributes="member: 13080">As Zard just pointed out, there's plenty of great turn-based games on console and PC that are also somewhat popular right now. There are also previous D&D games that have taken table-top game mechanics and authentically adapted them to real-time gameplay. Obviously that shift alters the way the game mechanics are actually experienced. I just don't understand why so many people believe that change somehow necessitates that the final result will resemble Diablo with cool-down timers. Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights both demonstrated that's not the actual case. Sure, some mechanics will need to be modified to work slightly differently, but they can still be done in a way that yields similar results. For instance, in NWN many of the feats needed to be modified slightly because of the changes in the UI. But those feats still had similar benefits and requirements. NWN still emulated the D&D 3.0 rules system about what a feat did and how many you got. Likewise, as someone pointed out already, the current system by which spellcasters can use higher level spell-slots in 5e doesn't lend itself well to real-time casting. But adapting around that difference doesn't mean you automatically have to ditch the traditional spell-slots and concept of prepared spells entirely.N-Space definitely could have made a game that resembled D&D 5e more. Somewhere in the process (probably the very beginning) they decided not to. And for whatever reason, WotC was A-Okay with that. Likewise, the reason Neverwinter Online looks like every other MMO and not like D&D 4e isn't because 4e's turn-based mechanics were impossible to adapt. MMO's are just super expensive to make and Perfect World didn't want to take any chances in design. So they just didn't care to try to make it much like D&D beyond sharing certain labels. This is not an indictment against those game designers, however. If they don't want to make a game like D&D then they don't have to. And if WotC is okay with other companies paying to further dilute the D&D brand, that's their prerogative. It's just obvious when you see threads like this one in every other forum and gaming community that there is some untapped demand for a game that more closely emulates the D&D rules. I doubt WotC is consciously standing in the way in the creation of that game, but I suspect that the licensing fees they require and the continued existence of the SRD are combining to create an environment where unlicensed copy-cats are more likely. Basically, if you're Obsidian Entertainment, it's probably a lot cheaper and safer to crowd-fund Pillars of Eternity as a "spiritual successor" to Baldur's Gate without paying Hasbro the D&D licensing fees.</blockquote>

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