Dragonblade
Adventurer
Considering Ryan Dancey's recent comments on the evolution of tabletop gaming, the WotC digital initiative, and the speculation on the future of the D&D rules, what do you think?
So in a macroscopic sense, where do you see the D&D game heading in the next couple years, the next 5, and the next 10? Beyond?
Do you see D&D evolving away from pen and paper to a format played exclusively online? Perhaps something like a WotC hosted version of Fantasy Grounds? Would you even still play? I know that I prefer tabletop for the social aspect. I like the fact that D&D is a vehicle that allows me to hang out with my friends. I like rolling real dice and have books and paper in front of me. But yet, there is something to be said for the allure of the MMORPG where you have great graphics, sound, and a game engine that handles all the nuts and bolts behind the scenes.
Or do you see a hybrid, where tabletop characters can be taken on or offline at will? Or perhaps the future of D&D is in something like WoW, except with the ability to take your online character and print out a tabletop ready character sheet. Now that would be cool.
How about from a micro-sense? What will the d20 game mechanics look like in the future? What would you like them to look like? What do you think they will look like?
Personally, I hope that they move away from balancing PC resources on a per day basis. All it does is foster ridiculous scenarios where PCs camp after every two rooms of dungeon exploration. I think D&D is most exciting when each encounter stands alone and PCs don't have to sleep 8 hours to recover spells and other per day class ability resources. I think Tome of Battle was a breath of fresh air and a step in the right direction of changing game balance to a per encounter basis instead of a per day basis. The only balance issue was that all the old classes are still tied to old paradigm. I hope that future revisions of the game update all the classes to be balanced on a per encounter basis instead of a per day basis. The token system in Iron Heroes is another great example of a system balanced per encounter.
I also like having lots of character options. I hope the game gradually shifts to a classless system as well, where I can build abilities and maneuvers for my character without feeling restricted. However, I hope this can be done in such a way (perhaps with predefined class templates and abilities) that character creation can be greatly simplified for those who just don't care, or for the busy DM who needs lots of NPCs created quickly. Is that possible? I'd like to think so.
How about you all? What do you think? What will the future of D&D look like? Both from a rules perspective and from an overall hobby perspective? What would you like it to look like?
So in a macroscopic sense, where do you see the D&D game heading in the next couple years, the next 5, and the next 10? Beyond?
Do you see D&D evolving away from pen and paper to a format played exclusively online? Perhaps something like a WotC hosted version of Fantasy Grounds? Would you even still play? I know that I prefer tabletop for the social aspect. I like the fact that D&D is a vehicle that allows me to hang out with my friends. I like rolling real dice and have books and paper in front of me. But yet, there is something to be said for the allure of the MMORPG where you have great graphics, sound, and a game engine that handles all the nuts and bolts behind the scenes.
Or do you see a hybrid, where tabletop characters can be taken on or offline at will? Or perhaps the future of D&D is in something like WoW, except with the ability to take your online character and print out a tabletop ready character sheet. Now that would be cool.
How about from a micro-sense? What will the d20 game mechanics look like in the future? What would you like them to look like? What do you think they will look like?
Personally, I hope that they move away from balancing PC resources on a per day basis. All it does is foster ridiculous scenarios where PCs camp after every two rooms of dungeon exploration. I think D&D is most exciting when each encounter stands alone and PCs don't have to sleep 8 hours to recover spells and other per day class ability resources. I think Tome of Battle was a breath of fresh air and a step in the right direction of changing game balance to a per encounter basis instead of a per day basis. The only balance issue was that all the old classes are still tied to old paradigm. I hope that future revisions of the game update all the classes to be balanced on a per encounter basis instead of a per day basis. The token system in Iron Heroes is another great example of a system balanced per encounter.
I also like having lots of character options. I hope the game gradually shifts to a classless system as well, where I can build abilities and maneuvers for my character without feeling restricted. However, I hope this can be done in such a way (perhaps with predefined class templates and abilities) that character creation can be greatly simplified for those who just don't care, or for the busy DM who needs lots of NPCs created quickly. Is that possible? I'd like to think so.
How about you all? What do you think? What will the future of D&D look like? Both from a rules perspective and from an overall hobby perspective? What would you like it to look like?
