Honestly, I still really like the idea of D&D. It’s such raw creativity, and now it’s found itself as a bit of an antique: paper, pencil, dice and (gasp) the mind… in this age of WoW, MMORPGs and networked gaming. There’s something to be said for keepin’ it old school.
So while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Portal 2 may have their day in the sun, “they can’t compete with a live Dungeon Master for throwing thrills at the players,” James M. Ward, a game designer and former vice president of TSR Inc., the company that originally published D&D, wrote in an e-mail. “The fun of growing a character while your friends do the same thing around a table munching on M&M’s and other snacks is difficult to duplicate.” Even if players increasingly bring their iPads, loaded with Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks, to the gaming table.
