Dungeons & Dragons Online: Our Exclusive Q&A

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For the past three decades, Dungeons & Dragons has been synonymous with fantasy role playing gaming. Many current gamers cut their role playing teeth on a 20-sided die, and most of those who don't remember a time before computer games still defer to D&D as the seminal RPG.

All current fantasy-themed MMORPGs owe a debt to Dungeons & Dragons and the gaming genre it sired. This begs the question as to why there is not a current massively multiplayer incarnation of D&D. Fortunately, Turbine Entertainment is prepared to answer that charge with its upcoming title, Dungeons & Dragons Online. In conjunction with Wizards of the Coast, the team at Turbine is working to create a MMORPG worthy of the D&D legacy.

We had the opportunity to speak with Turbine's Ken Troop, Lead Designer for Dungeons & Dragons Online. Ken provided us a unique insight into the planning and development of this highly anticipated title.

An preview from this article:

MMORPG.com: Given the history of Dungeons & Dragons, from both a pen and paper and a computer game perspective, how do you view the task before you? Do you approach the making of a Dungeons & Dragons game with caution and respect, taking care not to sully the game's reputation, or do you see it as a robust world full of opportunity, freeing you to a greater level of creativity and invention? Ken Troop: Honestly, it's a bit of both. Dungeons & Dragons is the 30-year old granddaddy of role-playing games, and it features a constantly-evolving ruleset that has always managed to stay relevant. On the other hand, no one's done a massively-multiplayer version of D&D in the last 10 years, and we've made it clear from the beginning that not all of the PnP rules are going to work well in a real-time MMORPG format, so we have a clean slate in some regards. With these things in mind, we're approaching the conversion with an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy. What this means is that we're using the PnP rules as a baseline, and then making tweaks and edits as necessary. So far, it's worked out really well.

You can read this entire interview at this link.

- MMORPG.COM Staff -

blacksac

Looking good!

Zackxm

I think that they should take a little extra time and get the last couple of races and classes into the game at launch. Just my opinion but in almost all of my D&D adventures Druids and Monks played a part and in a lot of them it was a large part.

aeric67

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However, we are aware of the fact that many gamers have busy lives, and may have trouble logging in for more than an hour or so at a time. We have some solutions designed for these players that aren't solo play, but that also don't require them to spend precious minutes looking for a party. We'll be talking about this more in the coming months.

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I wonder if they are thinking about computer-controlled henchmen that you can bring with you on your own solo adventures. Not quite as good as a player, but good enough in a pinch! You have to split experience and loot with them of course, but I can only speculate...