Working on a project yesterday, I put on the podcast where a guy from Wizards of the Coast R&D Department (::shudder::) runs a game of the current edition of D&D (obviously) for the guys who bring us the PVP/Penny Arcade webcomic. Aside from the smart-assery of the players, which got a little tiresome after a while, the main thing that struck me was the "official" approach to running D&D, particularly how the DM had the players moving their miniatures around the map even outside of combat situations. It would be quite interesting if we had similar recordings from the days of the earlier editions--third, second, first, original, etc.
Yesterday I also ran across this picture on a non-gaming-related website. I have no idea who these folks are, but I found the picture fascinating. Let's analyze it, shall we?
The title of this post is "Gaming in the 21st Century" because, to me, the photo kind of encapsulates what could very well be a "mainstream" gaming session in the year 2009. The group is playing D&D fourth edition, for example--with all that entails (more on that shortly). The most immediately arresting element is, of course, the "Futurama style" head present on the table. What a wonderful age we live in--the future truly is now! It's funny; I have yet to play 4e, but if I do, it could very well be in a situation similar to this, and I would be the guy teleconferencing in via webcam and laptop.
On to the trappings of "modern" D&D. This was the second thing that jumped out at me. In addition to the classic trappings--dice, character sheets, a DM screen--we have other elements I'd usually associate with a boardgame: a tableau of reference cards, a playing board and playing pieces.
I'm not really trying to pass judgment one way or another--as I've said, I have yet to play 4e--but the picture along with the podcast (together with the fact that I've been running a more classically-styled D&D game) struck me once again that "mainstream" gaming is something vastly changed from even five or ten years ago.
As a postscript, the title of that picture is "organizedloneliness.jpeg"--a pretty hilarious term, I think.
That dude's living in a computer!!1one
ReplyDeleteJust kidding. A bunch of my friends from college used to "tele-game" with a comrade living overseas. The consensus, after several sessions, was that it was very...odd. The actual players around the table kept forgetting to speak directly to the face on the computer screen...and that guy felt increasingly isolated from the entire campaign.
My work schedule over the past few years has become... well total. And since I'm away from home so much I've had to move all my games online. Skype is my friend, I tell you.
ReplyDeletePatrickWR: You know, he really might be living in that computer--I just noticed he has a bottle of water next to him. In case he gets thirsty...?
ReplyDeleteHelmsman: Skype/Ventrillo/what-have-you are great tools. We just had our first game with someone participating over voice chat and it went really well. Sometimes I'm quite happy to be living in the future.
The guys in that podcast sound like the definition of nerds. Even I would have picked on those fellows in high school.
ReplyDeletenoisms: Yeah, they really are the worst kind of nerds, the ones who think they're God's gift to nerddom.
ReplyDelete