Roll20

There's no friendship like a bond wrought through the fate of a die fall I suppose. Those who find themselves reading this blog can probably claim the same. Unfortunately real life is often more complicated than table-driven fantasy games. Geographical distancing was once an end-all to the campaign. But now technology has all but nullified the distance concern.

Roll20 is a 'tabletop simulator' with an essential video chat component. It is nearing it's final hours on Kickstarter, but has already far exceeded it's initial pledge goal. It's 'story > mechanics' philosophy led me to believe this would be a very worthwhile project, and the promotional videos only further cemented my supposition. Roll20 aims to provide the tools a DM needs, without sacrificing the TELLING aspect of the game with superfluous technological burdens. Better yet, the goal is to release Roll20 to the public for free.

Video chatting is the key, I think. The 'face to face' component is the most fun way to gauge the other players' reactions to what you say. This is why tabletop games have the potential to feel so much more organic than video games; unscripted people react unpredictably. Tabletop gaming is not so much about what is said, but rather how it is said. DnD is about coinciding a group with different motives onto a singular cooperative path. I'm certainly rather optimistic about the project, but my wait for Beta testing will be a difficult one.