Dungeons & Dragons on Microsoft Surface

This looks really cool.

SurfaceScapes Gameplay Session from Surfacescapes on Vimeo.

Thanks to @armchairdude for the link.

WARNING: no coherent thread of thinking up ahead.

The fun of Dungeons & Dragons (or any RPG for that matter) come from suspension of belief. Some aspect of the reality you’re experiencing no longer applies in the game you’re experiencing. Perhaps you’re playing a wizard, blasting fire balls with one hand and smiting an orc with the staff held in your other hand. Perhaps you’re playing an investigative elf, dodging between alleys and blending with the crowd. Perhaps you just want to be able to say, “I hammer that skeleton with my battleaxe”.

Of course, some players derive fun from other aspects. They may like to play tactical positioning. They may like maximising their power damage based on the limits imposed by D&D. They may even like combining different magic items to achieve unique effects.

I’m telling you, those are all variations of suspension of belief. Unless you’re a military general, you aren’t likely to do tactical manoeuvring in your “real” life. Unless you’re a boxer (or fight for cash, or wrestler), you aren’t likely to hit anyone in your “real” life (and with corresponding numbers indicating damage appearing). And no, the iPhone is not a magic item. *smile*

If RPG allows one to escape from “reality”, how come more people aren’t playing?

• Apathy. They’re used to the way they live their lives.
• Embarrassed. It’s a game. “We are adults, no?”
• It’s too darn troublesome!

It’s because of the last reason, that computer RPGs are more popular than tabletop RPGs. They take less time to pick up.

But there is one aspect of tabletop RPGs that computer RPGs cannot hope to achieve yet. You can change the story on the fly. Your only limit is your imagination. This is why game developers keep coming up with new titles and expansion packs. They’re trying to keep ahead of the boredom line, where players have explored every single nook and cranny in their beloved, fun and expansive, but ultimately confined to an a limited imaginative space.

For example, you can’t fly in “real” life. Well, you can’t fly (depending on the rules) in Dungeons & Dragons or in some computer RPG. But the non-flying part is fixed in the computer RPG. If you can’t fly, by any means in the game, you can’t fly. Period.

It’s not so in D&D or other tabletop RPGs. You can say “I’ll go on a quest to look for a magic item that allows me to fly”. You can train in a skill that allows you to fly. Even if the game doesn’t allow you to fly, if there’s a consensus with the other players, you can make up a rule such that flying is allowed, and you can all make up rules on how flying will then be achieved.

The point is that you can.

What the folks at SurfaceScape have done on the Microsoft Surface, is that they’ve abstracted most of the mechanical rules of D&D and pushed the storytelling to the fore. Let me tell you a typical painful experience when I play D&D.

“Oh it’s my turn. I’ll cast Acid Orb on, uh, the dragon.”
*rolls d20*

“11?!? Uh, let me see”
*checks the modifier. God help you if you don’t have one final modifier and have to check which stat you’re attacking with (Charisma, Wisdom, Strength, and so on), half of what your level is, do you have an implement for bonuses, and do you have expertise in handling that implement*

“Uh, 20 versus, uh Reflex?”
“Did you count the combat advantage?” asks the DM.

“Huh? Oh yeah, I’m flanking. 22?”
*Probably missed with 20, I thought*
“Hit,” says the DM.

*sighs silently, relieved to have done some damage*
“Uh, that’s…”
*rolls d10 for damage*
“9. Wait! 18.”
*God help you if you don’t have one final damage modifier and have to manually add your stat modifier and any enhancement bonus from your magic weapon*
“Wait! 19.”
*forgot damage bonus from house rule*

“The dragon is bloodied,” the DM puts a red ring around the dragon miniature.
“Oh good.”
*slumping into seat, relieved to have made a difference*
“Do you want to move?” asks the DM.
“What? Oh yeah, I’ll move here”
**and so I don’t crowd the space and let other people move more freely, thought I**

*finally slumping into seat, relieved my turn’s over*

…

I just wanted to shout some excruciatingly scathing insult at the dragon, see it cringe, and throw a ball of acid at its face. Wait, I completely forgot to shout that well-crafted insult that I painstakingly worded during the other players’ turns, didn’t I? Oh shoot. And then the moment was over.

Well, at least I hit with the Acid Orb, didn’t I?

If that’s all that mattered, I could play a computer game that has a button for me to click, and I’ll know whether I hit, practically immediately. Even a chess game plays faster than what I’ve just described.

I’m fine with rolling dice. It’s fun. I’m ok with manually keeping track of my character’s health points. It’s when the game administration suspends my suspension of belief that’s not so fun. They ejected me away from that fantastic world where I could hurl balls of acid and insult dragons.

Even with the Microsoft Surface, I think I still like rolling dice. It’s the tactile sensation. But much of the drudgery is taken out, and I can still see how the math was done if I wanted too.

I think that’s enough ranting…