The magic of Dungeons and Dragons (design)

What makes Dungeons and Dragons special

When I reference wanting to be a game designer or developer, I'm generally talking about video games. Don't get me wrong - I have tremendous respect for other games like sports or board games. But at the end of the day, my passion lies in in the creation of video games.

Video games allows players to have experiences they never could with other forms of media. You can play with people all across the Earth. You can live in beautifully crafted worlds where your decisions impact the story. You can use magical abilities and fight monsters only previously found in your imagination. These features are almost completely unique to video games.

Shadow of the Colossus

The combination of these elements just isn't possible in other mediums. I love the latest installments of superhero films as much as the next guy (probably more), but movies are inherently uninteractive. Fantasy stories are able to create complex, breathtaking worlds and rich characters, but aren't well suited to experiencing the story with friends.

That's where Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) sets itself apart. D&D (and other similar games like Pathfinder - the specific game isn't the point) allows players to experience a world in a completely new way. Players are a part of the world. Their decisions have consequences on the environment and the other characters. You're only limited by your own creativity because the experience is happening in your own imagination.

Art for a D&D campaign setting. Way too many dragons - but still spectacular

I think this is why D&D clicks with some and falls flat with others. You have to both be completely willing to dedicate yourself to imagining the world in your mind and also be good enough at doing it that it's fun.

These aren't skills that just come naturally to some and not others. It takes practice and dedication to enjoy D&D. In my own experience, I've enjoyed playing significantly more with each campaign as I get better at crafting the experience in my head.

The last thing that brings D&D together, and in my mind by far the most important, is the fact that you play it with friends. I cannot stress enough how important this is to the success of D&D.

• Players can be comfortable diving deep into role-playing their characters.

• Inside jokes can develop session-to-session.

• It keeps players from being rude to one another (for the most part).

• Playing with friends creates accountability that ensures players come back each week to play again.

The extremely successful web series Critical Role, where a group of voice actors play D&D

Dungeons and Dragons versus modern video games

This aspect of multiplayer play is practically nonexistent in current online games. Instead of playing with the same group of friends each week and having a blast working as a team, players are berated by their teammates in online games. The shroud of anonymity makes players vicious and cruel to each other. And since most interactions don't last more than a half hour, you don't have time to build up meaningful relationships.

That isn't to say that no games have achieved this level of social interaction. Guilds in MMO (massive multiplayer online) games like World of Warcraft can create communities that build friendships over the course of many play sessions. And lots of multiplayer team games like League of Legends and Overwatch encourages playing with your friends.

However, I can't say that any video game I've played has ever fully captured the feeling of D&D. The sense of you and your friends journeying through a fantasy world, meeting amazing characters, and having an impact has yet to be properly executed.

People who follow video gaming news will know about games like Baldur's Gate and the Divinity: Original Sin series that have tried to recreate the D&D experience on the computer. They follow a similar structure as D&D, where your party journeys through the world fighting monsters and uncovering a story. And for some, these games do fill the niche that I've described.

Baldur's Gate III

But they don't for me.

For one, they try too hard to replicate the mechanics of D&D without focusing on the experience that those mechanics deliver. For example, both of the previously mentioned games have turned-based combat which is a big part of D&D. However, I never thought that this aspect of D&D was its strength. The turned-based combat found in D&D was necessary because real-time combat is almost impossible in tabletop games. But in medium where real-time fighting is possible, such as in a video game, turn-based combat leaves a lot to be desired.

Secondly, the developers of these games were too afraid to take a leap away from traditional video games. Dungeons and Dragons is not a game that you can play alone. The entire experience is built around role-playing with your friends and seeing the interactions between your characters and the world. Yet these games all support single-player campaigns where you play as all the characters in your party. Although having this option is great for players who can't or don't want to find a group to play with, it would absolutely steer the game design decisions away from encouraging role-playing and group play.

I don't mean to hate on these games - they're both fantastic at what they do. My point is that for me, a pretty average D&D player, they don't quite the scratch the itch of a "video game D&D".

How this plays into my career as a game designer

When I tell people that I want to make a career out of game design or development, the most common response is something along the lines of "Well, what's your idea?" Most people assume that anyone interested in this field must think they have the next Skyrim or League of Legends mapped out in their head.

I find this hard to answer because I know that a great game is never made by its synopsis. Take League of Legends for example, a game with over 100 million players worldwide and over a billion dollars in revenue each year. Here's how Wikipedia describes it:

"In the game, two teams of five players battle in player versus player combat, each team occupying and defending their half of the map. Each of the ten players controls a character, known as a "champion", with unique abilities and differing styles of play."

While not the most boring game summary I've ever read, it certainly wouldn't convince me that League was one of the most successful video games in history. A game like League is built upon a foundation of hundreds of design decisions, beautiful artwork, complicated programming, and lots more that work together to create the experience.

Artwork showing some of the backstory to League's characters

That being said, if I really had to pick a single "idea" for a game I would want to dedicate my career to - it would be one that recreates the experience of D&D. It would emphasize role-playing, teamwork, and admiring the world. It wouldn't a game that you play for half an hour before you go to bed - it would be something that you and a group of friends dedicate a night or two a week to. It would bring all the spectacular feelings I described earlier to video games.

Why this hasn't been done yet (probably)

Dreaming about this is fun, but it would be dumb to ignore the many foreseeable problems a game like this would have. Some of the ones that come immediately to mind are:

• Building a game that requires a group of friends to play with is risky. Not everyone has people lined up who are into the same video games, and lots of gamers prefer to play alone. It wouldn't be easy to convince this crowd to depart from their comfort zone.

• Game worlds that allow for player impact are inherently hard to create. You need to create thousands of different paths and possibilities for characters and storylines. It's entirely possible that the kind of intractability I'm looking for isn't possible with today's technology.

• D&D's combat system succeeds partially because it's very easy to pick up. Someone new to the game can be guided by the dungeon master and feel like they have a large impact in a fight. Real-time combat means that mechanical skill is suddenly a lot more important. This could potentially alienate players who connect more with the role-playing aspect of the game.

• Trying to put so much content and variability into the game could lead to some aspects falling short and feeling underdeveloped.

• Why play this instead of just getting together and playing D&D?

All of this is why the idea is just that - an idea. The game is far too large for a single developer like me to even think about creating. But it's fun to fantasize, and I think there are some game design lessons to be learned from thinking about it.

1. Video games don't need to conform to their usual play sessions. In the short term, seeing players come back every day to play for a few minutes feels great as a developer. But the experience this type of game loop creates isn't positive. It makes playing feel like a chore. D&D's unique playstyle of (usually) weekly sessions has a lot of potential to elevate the experience of the game.

2. Fantasy is a powerful tool. The sense of wonder created by worlds like Middle Earth or the Harry Potter universe is something you only get to experience in your head and at the movies. Video games are the only medium that allow you to be a part of it. Embrace and take advantage of this.

3. When recreating aspects of other games, try to focus on the experience you are trying to recreate rather than the actual implementation that leads to said experience. A game can give the player the same feeling by taking a completely different route compared to another title.

Hopefully this helped people who don't quite get Dungeons and Dragons understand why people like myself feel so passionately about it. And hopefully any game designers out there can use this to help them take design lessons from "normal" games like D&D.