VOTW: Dungeons & Dragons on Microsoft Surface
So you play a lot of Dungeons and Dragons, eh? Well how would you feel about trading in your board and dice for a version that's a little more up to date in terms of technology?
Microsoft doesn't talk much about its Surface touchscreen table. Figuring out fun things to do with the tabletop computer may not be high up on Microsoft's list of priorities but there are plenty of people out there willing to tinker about the massive gadget and discover new uses for it.
Cnet's Matt Hickey reports that a group of students with Carnegie Mellon's SurfaceScapes team had been developing D&D for the Surface and went along to let's-show-Microsoft-what-we-made event.
Hickey writes:
"The figurines--optional in regular D&D but great tools here--are "tagged" with dot codes on the bottom. The Surface is able to use its tiny cameras to view these unique codes and determine which character is where on the game grid. This means the game can automatically determine line-of-fire angles and keep track of enemy health."
The Carnegie Mellon team is working with D&D owner Wizards of the Coast in an attempt to commercialize their product. Microsoft Surface rep Eric Havir says if things work out, he hopes to see Surface devices running the completed software in gaming centers and shops across the country.
Check the video below.
Read more about it here.
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Don't care.
Sweet. If only it were affordable, and easy to set up in my parents' basement!
that thing would be really cool for all "old school" board games...
-How about a poker table with the cards part of the table?
-Risk?
-even monopoly!
fun for the whole F'n family!
Pen & paper? Kind of cancels out the whole point imho...
Sweet. If only it were affordable, and easy to set up in my parents' basement!
lol, parents basement!
I guess the D&D people are kinda tagged that way.. but they likely could afford this too.
boring
It'd be awesome if you could play Risk! and Hero Clix! but this'll prolly be insanely expensive
It's a tough decision - pen and paper or a ridiculously expensive computer that's only good for a coffee table outside of gaming. Hmmmm.
Looks more complicated than using pen, paper and dice.
Well it may be expensive now, but who knows what'll happen in the next two or three years, with all this tablet technology upcoming. Just think... star wars holochess is getting dangerously close to becoming a reality
This is a great invention... They need to make like a "master board" where you can download any board game into it. It will definitely work well for ppl who have 3+ board games taking up room in their house.
Just think... star wars holochess is getting dangerously close to becoming a reality
I get so sick of people thinking that true 3d holotech is coming... Not even close. We still need something to bounce light off of. The advances leading to this will happen someday, but probably not while we're yound enough to enjoy it. Most of the tech we have now is still based on things we knew 30+ years ago, there has been very little in the way of NEW developments. It's all making existing knowledge better right now.
that's awesome!
if i ever needed further proof why I have never played dungeon and dragons, i know have it
It's nice, but the hardware is way too much money, and its not a freeware game engine. We use MapTool by rptools.net, with some custom macro mods. A big screen TV, and a bunch of laptops, we're cranking through battles in no time and getting back to role play.
It's not hard to make good maps, it supports fog of war, and good 4e macro engines like Veggisama's even go as far as handling range, targeting, and complete character/mob stat tracking. It's all free, assuming you have at least 1 laptop and a TV to connect it to (players having their own laptops is even more efficient, but not required).
The first thing I would do with one of these things is create a Warhammer 40k rule-set board. Followed immediately by getting sued by Games Workshop. Followed by having to sell the surface to pay for my lawyers fees. But it would be worth it!
Their interface needs a little work - I don't see how it is easier to use than pen and paper at the moment. I would like to see an option for the "fudge factor" as well. The game isn't always about the numbers you roll. Sometimes more excitement is generated by deciding the Orc will miss.
In my last campaign I used Neverwinter and a projector to aid in exploration. I didn't use it for combat, but it did prevent misunderstandings about room layout and corridor choices. In some rooms I even placed 'friendly' monsters so that I could operate my toon in 'tourist mode' for the map I had created.
I may never play again, but I still hope that one day there will be a nice synthesis of PnP with a computer so that a DM can have the visual aid, number crunch combats and modify results on the fly to account for special circumstances (sometimes that is the fudge factor, but usually it is object placement, concealment, direction of wind and a host of other situational factors that require a judgement call).
Oops...the surface turns blue because of a blue screen of death..
Pen & paper? Kind of cancels out the whole point imho...
No it does not. The point of pen and paper is actual interaction with real people in a face to face environment. The point is not actually using a pen and paper.......
http://yayforapathy.blogspot.com/
this would be great if it was affordable.
Next step:
Send our kids to a space station where they can use the new device to play a game involving a giant, some wolves, a well, and a weird tower with their evil siblings face in a mirror, where they can learn to get the nerve to commit genocide: The destruction of insanely terrible devices like the IPad.
No it does not. The point of pen and paper is actual interaction with real people in a face to face environment. The point is not actually using a pen and paper.......[spam]
I agree but only partially. I used to play D&D and half of my fun was to play a complex game without having to rely on [buggy] technology. I even thought once to build a D&D app and bring my laptop to my friend's [parents] basement but canceled the idea because I like to disconnect sometimes.
Oh and we once played D&D in a cabin in the woods, with candles. So much fun
Computers are great but there's still fun left in reading books
Wait so... It's a slower Neverwinter Nights with a touchscreen? Huh.
i thought the whole point of it was to get away from computers :s
still its pretty cool
This thing looks like a solution searching for a problem.
I'd be more interested in a 'table' that had all the old Avalon Hill wargames on them, and could act as a platform for people to play the game.
Although, I'm still not sure it would be more fun than working those maps with small cardboard pieces. I still have fond memories of playing the monstrously large D-Day game from Avalon Hill.
Just like reading a book on an electronic devices isn't the same, I think you lose something when go to electronics where they aren't really needed. It's like the difference between cooking over charcoal or just gas. It tastes a little different.
Damn, wish I had creepy friends to play DnD with in my parents basement when I was younger.
Wish I knew what DnD was when I was younger...
I would have killed for this.
6 years living in the country, damn that was boring. What the hell did we do all day?
Old news is old?