D&D 4.0 Pen & Paper for your desktop...

[FunkyJ]

Yes, D&D 4.0 is bringing with it a computerised version of the rule books, a mapmaker, Character generator, virtual dice and everything else you need to have a game of P&P D&D, but remotely.

The program is called "D&D Insider" and although it looks absolutely terrible (see the screenshots here) the idea behind it has been a long time coming, and hopefully it will be robust enough so I can play games with my mates in QLD and SA...

For more information see Rock, Paper, Shotgun: Cathedral Of The Endless Bear » Blog Archive » Dungeons & Dragons Offline Online

[Isthiriel]

Originally Posted by FunkyJ

The program is called "D&D Insider" and although it looks absolutely terrible (see the screenshots here) the idea behind it has been a long time coming, and hopefully it will be robust enough so I can play games with my mates in QLD and SA...

It looks like the only new part is actually being able to "emulate tabletop games".

AD&D2 had the Core Rules CD and D&D3 had E-Tools and both boxes included manuals, character creators, dice rollers &c..

As far as "emulating tabletop games", I think NWN did a better job (and as far as precedence goes, the original Neverwinter Nights did a "good enough" job and was decommissioned before WotC acquired TSR).

[Major.Psycho]

Wasn't there some talk about people having to pay a subscription for that service?

[Zhul]

You can pay for additional online game suppliment stuff, but it isn't required. However, I'm not sure if that means the online tabletop thing is free. The thing that bums me out about it is that it's DirectX based - so no Mac or Linux support.