The Deal with D&D

As some of you may know, the definitive table-top RPG (Role Playing Game) of our time - and inspiration for countless works of fiction, cinema and video games - is releasing its highly anticipated 4th Edition on Friday, June 6. Dungeons and Dragons, created by Mr. E. Gary Gygax and Mr. Dave Arneson, was originally released in 1974 and has grown in every way since then.

For those who have no clue what this game is all about, I will give a quick rundown of what the game entails.

Players create their own character along a provided guideline, allowing for a large amount of creativity. The leader of the game session, named the 'Dungeon Master' (DM), controls the games progression. His/her job is to tell a story, through which the players' created characters quest in order to achieve glory and riches by defeating various monsters that the DM throws at them. Actions are controlled through the use of various die rolls, especially the all-important d20 - the 20-sided-dice.

This game is all done verbally, and use of the imagination is called on frequently and is of key importance to the success of the game. Many visual components have been produced over the 34 years of this game's existence to aid adventurers in completing their campaigns to the utmost satisfaction.

And now, 34 years later, Dungeons and Dragons has created a 4th edition of rules, updating and fixing the many issues that have built up over previous editions. With such new additions as an online component, this release is expected to be HUGE.

With D&D Insider, which I believe comes out to 9.95/month for a subscription (if purchasing a year) grants the user access to a veritable plethora of online material - the best part being the online game table. The game table will allow a DM to host a session of Dungeons and Dragons online with (from what I hear) up to 15 people. With the online aid, rules and procedures will be literally at your fingertips for easy access. A voice chat system will allow for the game's demand for verbal interaction, although instant messaging will no doubt be available. The game table itself will represent an actual dungeon which may be fully customized; every monster, every spike trap, every treasure chest and even the dungeon layout.

Players will be able to create their own characters, controlling everything from facial features, armor, how they stand, etc. The game will then place this newly created character as a playable figurine on the virtual game table. No more worries for the artistic impaired. The use of this character designer means you'll never again have to ask your friends to draw your character!

Unfortunately everyone must wait for June 6th for this release. However, on May 23 it was reported that Buy.com was shipping out copies of the new core rulebooks - 2 weeks ahead of schedule. Wizards of the Coast - the company handling the release of this new edition - released a statement that they take these matter seriously and that they were looking into the matter.

In the mean time, the books have wound up on various Bit Torrent sites. Regardless of this fact it is expected that paper copies of the product will still do exceptionally well, if not even better because of the additional hype over this early leak.

3 days ago now, however, ICv2 reported that the 4th Edition has gone back to the printers in order to handle the demand of the release this Friday. They report that the sell-in of this new edition has been 50% higher than Edition 3.5, and now Wizards of the Coast must compensate for this flux in sales.

You can currently pre-order your own copy of the core rulebooks either separately or in this convenient gift set. Amazon.ca currently has the set listed at $76.23 Canadian before shipping, and each book separately listed at approximately $25 Canadian apiece.

On another note, the guys over at Penny Arcade and PVP got together with Wizards of the Coast in order to do some online advertising, etc. They were able to sit down and play a session of the new edition, and went through a few of the new changes in play. This session will be released in a series of podcasts, of which the first you can see here. Accompanying this escapade is some official D&D artwork drawn by Scott Kurtz (PVP) and Mike Krahulik (Penny Arcade). Go check it out! It's both informative AND funny!