It Should Have Been A (Video) Game

Normally when I do one of these, I call out films that I think would have been better as games.  This time though I want to focus on a tabletop RPG, Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition.  Unlike the 3rd or 5th editions of the game, this particular take on Dungeons and Dragons placed a huge emphasis on miniatures and grid-based battlefields.  It wasn't a bad game, but it didn't feel like it had much in common with all the other versions of Dungeons and Dragons that came before or after.  It was also really heavy on rules with a lot of exceptions baked into the design.  In turn, this placed a major burden on the players and the Dungeon Master to memorize a bunch of "powers" -  special rules for all sorts of modifiers and effects that could be going on at any given time.  Here's the thing though...if you're going to go that route, why not make it into a turn-based tactical RPG video game instead?

The reality is 4th edition was designed to capitalize on the popularity of World of Warcraft.  Even a lot of termanology, "agro-drawing Tanks," "high-DPS Strikers," and "nerf/buff Controllers" became a regular component of conversations about the game.  Unlike MMORPGs though, 4th Edition didn't have an integrated computer program to deal with the bookkeeping.  Thus, players tended to suffer from the dreaded "analysis paralysis" that happens when there are too many details that have to be considered at any given time.  Combat could stretch out into multi-hour battles.  Hit point bloat didn't help in this respect either.  Particularly, certain monster sub-classes (usually referred to as "brutes") were tedious-to-fight punching bags...oh and leveling up required a lot of time and energy to figure out as well.

Now, I get that rolling dice is a big appeal of tabletop gaming. However, I think there is a nice compromise in the form of what Tharsis did.  It's not the same as rolling actual dice, but there's a nice tactile quality to Tharsis that definitely feels more enjoyable to engage with than say the bare-bones RNG program used in Dicey Dungeons.  Gathering together a couple of friends in the same physical space is a tricky proposition these days, but having a online multiplayer component could solve that problem.  Alternatively, it's pretty hard to play Dungeons and Dragons by yourself, but a video game version of it could have a solo campaign in the same vein as Final Fantasy: Tactics, Vandal Hearts, or Shining Force.  Heck, if you really want to go all out make a Dungeon Master construction set complete with interlocking tile sets, encounter builders, treasure tables, etc.  A tutorial could go a long way toward teaching newcomers the ropes.  Dungeons and Dragons is not an easy game to learn, especially when you're not familiar with tabletop RPGs...as a video game though, it could have been a much more approachable product.