"Tabletop D&D Has Lost Its Way" Says Pathfinder Video Game Exec

Feargus Urquhart, one of the execs from Obsidian Entertainment, which is behind an upcoming Pathfinder-themed video game, told Polygon why the company chose to go with Paizo rather than WotC for tabletop fantasy inspired games. "One of the reasons we actually went with Pathfinder was ... how do you say it? I'll just say it: We were having a hard time figuring out how to move forward with Dungeons and Dragons." The issue, he says, is that "D&D is a part of Wizards of the Coast and WotC is a part of Hasbro" and that he would "love to see D&D be bought by someone and become what it was before... Become TSR again."

Of course, TSR went bankrupt, so I'm not sure wishing that on somebody is a kindness.

Urquhart is a long-time D&D video game exec, having worked on games like Neverwinter Nights 2; he points out that "I'm probably one of the people who has one of the most electronic D&D games that they've worked on". Now, of course, his company has moved on to Paizo's Pathfinder.

The upcoming Obsidian video games will be based on the Pathfinder games - specifically a tablet game based on the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, due in the next few months. The studio is, of course, known to tabletop RPG fans for D&D games like Neverwinter Nights 2. Urquhart did hint at non-card-game based projects, saying that "We're thinking about how can we take traditional RPG stuff and put it on the tablet. No one has solved it really."

You can read the short interview here.

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[Fergurg]

I miss TSR days, or should I say, pre-Hasbro days. We were getting so many sourcebooks with so much fluff. And alongside Dragon/Dungeon Magazine. Long do I miss the days of so much setting lore, all the settings had a great many books filled with nice "fluff." Settings like Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Planescape...

Nowadays...we're excited to get a tiny little Realms article on their website once a month maybe...sad days.

It was all of the sourcebooks that put TSR onto the fast train to self-destruction, and very nearly ended D&D.

Having a company that puts the fans before making a profit is like dating a porn star - it sounds great until you're the one cleaning up the mess.

 

[Miskatonic81]

Feels a bit like the final goodbye to an era for me. Obsidian makes great RPGs and were involved with some of the greatest of all time - BG2, Planescape. Them turning away from D&D really hits close to home.

 

[Ravenheart87]

PLOT TWIST!

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/02/12/new-dungeons-dragons-game-storm-coast-legends-coming-in-2015?utm_campaign=fbposts&utm_source=facebook

 

[Mark CMG]

PLOT TWIST!

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/02/12/new-dungeons-dragons-game-storm-coast-legends-coming-in-2015?utm_campaign=fbposts&utm_source=facebook

Unless they have it strictly setting-based and not story-based, I'm not sure it is really breaking any new ground, even if they add in a so-called DM. If it has a set story, then the DM is just going to be a figurehead even with the illusion of being in control with supposed authority over the game. It looks like they are trying to walk up to the edge of being a virtual tabletop, and are hoping to be perceived as better than one, while still being an multiplayer game. I don't know, of course, since the details are scant but when they talk about the "story" . . .

 

[Doc_Klueless]

PLOT TWIST!

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/02/12/new-dungeons-dragons-game-storm-coast-legends-coming-in-2015?utm_campaign=fbposts&utm_source=facebook

Awesome! Gonna keep my eye on that. Thanks!

 

[Parmandur]

I would be more forgiving of Obsidians repeated failure, but the "repeated" part is problematic. As someone with some video game industry experience, they have no excuse but poor management.

 

[Ghost Matter]

"D&D is different, it needs a lot more support, it's community driven, it needs conventions and all of this stuff, and it's not going to make a billion dollars."

It is community driven still, look at EN World! The playtesting and surveys Wizards is doing! I don't see conventions as a requirement, the vast majority of D&D players have never gone and will likely never go to a RPG convention. "All of this stuff"... which is?

I can see how someone would think D&D has lost it's way but I don't see any solid arguments here.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

It is community driven still, look at EN World! The playtesting and surveys Wizards is doing! I don't see conventions as a requirement, the vast majority of D&D players have never gone and will likely never go to a RPG convention. "All of this stuff"... which is?

I can see how someone would think D&D has lost it's way but I don't see any solid arguments here.

To be fair, most (probably upwards of 95%) D&D players will never see the playtesting or surveys, either, so that argument applies equally there.

Asking a quote from an interview what "all of this stuff" is the height of pointlessness, frankly.

 

[Ghost Matter]

To be fair, most (probably upwards of 95%) D&D players will never see the playtesting or surveys, either, so that argument applies equally there.

Asking a quote from an interview what "all of this stuff" is the height of pointlessness, frankly.

Good points. I just wish the criticism shown here was a little more thought-out. But it's a short interview, I guess.

 

[Staffan]

I think some people are nostalgic for the campaign settings of 2e, but forget about the poorly written splatbooks, crappy adventures, and of course Lorraine Williams. The last time TSR was hobbyist was maybe during the early 1e era, and even then they were quite unfriendly even with third party publishers they supported before (eg. Judges Guild) - see Gygax rambling about the importance of official products.

IMO, the best hands D&D has ever been in business-wise was the brief window between being bought by Wizards and before Wizards was sold to Hasbro. Second-best would be the early Hasbro years when Wizards people were still in charge.