GoblinStop

The Apple iPad debuted yesterday to mixed reactions.  While many championed its HD-ready touch screen, feather-weight sleek design, and decidedly reasonable price, much criticism was made claiming that the device is more of an iPhone than a Mac.  Regardless of what my overall opinion of the device is, I had to ask the important question: What can the iPad do for D&D players?

Some fantastic D&D iPhone apps already exist, and have been written about extensively on the web (check out this blog post at DorkandBeans.com for a few great suggestions).  However, most of these apps are designed for use by individuals at a gaming table, and rightfully so; character managing apps can only display one player’s character at a time, and it would be annoying to pass around something as small as an iPhone so everyone could roll their dice on it.  But I think that with the iPad, we will begin to see apps designed around communal use. 

With almost 10 inches of touch screen, so many different possibilities open up.  An app could be developed to use it as a miniatures surface, displaying pre-rendered dungeon tiles for smaller rooms.  DM’s would no longer have to print large poster-sized dungeon rooms, or waste time drawing details onto a dry-erase grid.  A prototype of a program like this was shown in the Microsoft Surface D&D video, but that setup and technology looked super expensive to replicate.  The iPad could make this technology accessible, practical, and somewhat economical.

An app could also be developed to manage the party’s collective inventory, so that items could be removed or added in real time, in front of everyone, instead of forcing one player to keep a micromanaged running tally of what’s in the Bag of Holding.  This would make it a lot easier to keep track of exactly how many potions of healing are left. 

There really is a huge realm of possibility surrounding the tabletop gaming uses of the new Apple iPad.  Do you think we will ever see apps like this developed for the device?  What other ways do you think the iPad could alter the way a group plays D&D?

There is a lot of debate about the usefulness of electronic devices at the D&D table (see my post on using Twitter to support your D&D game).  Some Dungeon Masters swear by their use of the laptop while running an adventure.  They often have adventure notes, dice-rolling programs, and maps all saved to their hard drives for many reasons, ranging from security to efficiency.  Now with the release of Amazon’s kindle and the proliferation of the long-unpopular eBook, a new question has entered the Dungeons and Dragons technosphere: Are D&D sourcebooks in electronic format a good idea?

Before anyone says so, yes I know the content of any sourcebooks released by Wizards of the Coast is available with a subscription to the D&D Insider.  This is not what I am talking about.  I am referring to the online distribution of D&D eBooks through mainstream channels, such as the Kindle Store at Amazon.com.

There is no doubt that D&D eBooks are useful to DMs when they are preparing for game night.  However, I think using them during game sessions has bigger cons than pros.  Just about the only 2 advantages I see with eBooks on game night are cost reduction and searchable text.  Cost reduction is always a nice advantage, and searchable text would be awesome to have when looking up an obscure rule for which nobody knows the chapter or page number. 

But when it comes down to it, there is just something about having a big stack of books on the game table that adds so much to the authenticity of D&D.  Additionally, passing a book between players is much easier than clumsily passing an open laptop across the room, and having to find a place to set it as well.  Plus, whereas eBooks might one day be rendered obsolete as newer and “better” file types replace them, a book never becomes obsolete.  They are universally useful, they look great on a shelf, and they are sources of wonder and mystery that we can pass on to future generations.  Books hold a kind of magic and universal appeal that a text file on a screen just can’t replicate, and D&D books are no different.  Or maybe I’m just getting old.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes out at midnight tonight in movie theaters across America.  This is going to be one of the highest-grossing films of the year, just as the other movies were in their respective release years.  The Harry Potter books are one of the best-selling book series of all time.  All things Potter have sparked huge controversy within religious communities across America.  Most importantly, this fictitious boy has gotten a generation of kids buried in their various digital screens to read, and read at length.  That is no small feat.

But before the creation and rise of fantasy RPG’s like Dungeons and Dragons in the 1970’s, the modern fantasy genre was largely a trivial fringe interest for the weirdest of the weird in America.  The few people before that era who were into dragons and sword-and-sorcery adventures had really only a handful of writers providing them with imagination fodder.  Before D&D you didn’t really have fantasy fans; you had Tolkien fans. 

Over the last 3o-ish years, D&D has gradually grown from a fledgling fringe game to a monstrously large cultural force that has had an undeniably huge role in shaping entertainment media today.  Because a few geeky people decided to roll funny-looking dice and pretend to slay orcs at their dining room tables (and had the motivation to evangelize their hobby) we can now go see blockbuster movie hits like Lord of the Rings, Dragonheart, and the entire 7-part Harry Potter series.  While J.K. Rowling’s writing is very respectable, and I commend her for what she’s been able to do with Harry Potter, I think it deserves saying that nobody probably would have ever thought to create something quite like this had Dungeons and Dragons not impacted entertainment culture so profoundly. 

So while you Harry Potter fans are out enjoying the midnight screenings, and you are sitting in the darkened theater thanking J.K. Rowling for the empirical force she has built, also thank Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.  And then thank Bruce Cordell, Andy Collins, Richard Baker, Steve Winter, and everyone else who has ever worked on D&D game products.  And then thank the legions of players and DM’s all over the world who have poured blood, sweat, and countless hours of prep time and game time into this little hobby of ours.  And then enjoy the show.