Given the mixed reviews of Eberron On Crack (better known to the masses as Dungeons And Dragons Online: Stormreach), I was wondering exactly how popular an idea it would be (if there was that much money to get rights to just about everything required) to create such scenarios (or simply alternate servers) based on Dungeons And Dragons Online: The North Kingdom (better known as DDO: Greyhawk Adventures) and perhaps as far as Dungeons And Dragons Online: Quest For Toril (similiarly beings DDO: Forgotten Realms). Anyone think there would be a market for either realm? Knowing very little about Greyhawk aside from it is the ORIGINAL setting for Dungeons And Dragons, there would be a lot of quests and subquests available to be created for even the most experienced of gamers. Given the fact about twenty of the best spells come from three mages of that realm, wizards could have a field day with it.

I would not mind seeing something like this come out, perhaps with each set of servers having a different section of the planet to cover? Nah, too ambitious. Regardless, I would love to see something a little more accessible come out.

Other questions related to such a world:

1)) who would you want to see working on this game? (official companies and programmers/directors)

2)) who ELSE would you want to see working on this game? (people who have made modules on the internet, various artists, fan favourites, yourself?)

3)) what kinds of things would make this a success in terms of how you have seen other similar products (such as DDO: Stormreach) rise and fall?

4)) would you make this game console accessible? reasoning behind your choices?

5)) would you pay for such an experience, when you know perfectly well that people will be trying to develop such an experience for free (as they have with Neverwinter Nights thus far with Persistent World scenarios)?

Here is the main issue with creaing one of those campaign setting. Fogotten realms is nearly totally detailed out completly and if you made a game based on it you'd have to conform to it 100% otherwise people would complain about it not feeling like Forgotten realms.

Not a problem though given the right devs. It would take time, lots of it. If such a project was suggested as being in development now we wouldn't see it for years. The payoff would be that if done right, it would be the most successful D&D game ever to hit the shelves. It is a goldmine waiting to be found.

The game would never come out as by the time they part of FR done it would have been expanded and you'd have to redo or expand again... There has yet to be any MMO game that is based on an Intelectual property to live up to the property. No matter how hard you try. The other issue is everyone has a different view on a lot of the FR. For example I have a totally different view of FR then some because I played a 3 year FR campaign that took place in Waterdeep and undermountain and we had a GM who had his vision of FR and how the powers intteracted and how we affected them. So while some people play in a FR where the shade have returned we played in one that is at the same time as the standard FR but the shade have not return because we had items that they needed to come back.

The great thing about using eberron was that this wasn't as set in stone. Many people have 10+ years of experience in FR so they have a set vision. Where since Eberron just came out people are still trying to get the feel for it and a game made can't be said to not be true to the history or feel since no one besides Keith Baker know how the world should feel.

Not saying I wouldn't like seeing a FR MMO. Just saying if people are upset over DDO currently they would be even more disappointed over a FR based DDO. After all what part of FR do you use? Not everyone likes baldurs gate or waterdeep. Some people prefer the shinning south or in the Unapproachable East. If you try to include all of them you'd never get all the details right as you'd need. I mean each area has it's own designs for buildings, trees, armor, clothes. So you'd need a art team for every area of the world. You'd need a large level design team for each area. I mean you'd have to have someone to design all the towns and dungeons and make sure they where identical to the maps that have been published. So if you walk into Waterdeep every store that has been talked about or detailed is there and all the shop keepers are there.. even so much as to make sure that the shop has the statue of a rabit in the back corner of the storage room. I mean there is so much detail in the collective history of FR and to make it true you'd have to make sure everything was perfect.

You'd be talking about a game in such a sweeping grand scope that it would litterally take 100s of millions of dollars just for the basic team needed to get the game running. Then everytime something was updated by WotC it'd have to be in the game immediatly because people would be upset if it wasn't.

With DDO currently they aren't going to have problems like that as xendrix where DDO takes place has never been detailed and is not going to be for a long time as they want to use DDO as the beginings for it's detail.

I see the logic behind the arguement there. Using the game world of Eberron, they have a basic framework but not as many intricate details to worry about. In short, they can go wild there and very few would cry foul when it comes to "staying true to the original spirit of the world." As you mentioned repeatedly, it is a constant and mind-boggling issue which has made or shattered a few games (none of which were MMO setups). Looks like then it would be best for such a game as D&D:FR and D&D:GA to remain in the hands of the common player, and not as a massive investment of a company who wants everyone to play their version of it online.

I wonder, however, if they tried to do a version of Athas or Krynn. No, Krynn would have even more wailers and criers than Toril and Oerth combined. Everyone and their mother would INSIST their characters knew/were related to the family Majere. People would demand dragonlances should be available at the five-and-dime in ridiculous amounts so they could have a few around just to be "133T." That would be a nightmare of such epic proportions even Bill Gates admitting he truly was out to enslave the world via his software would pale in comparison.

Damn, and here I was hoping I could finally tread the lands of Krynn without fear. *shrugs* Oh well, looks like we should continue looking to the DLA for hope with that then. *grins* As for the Forgotten Realms online concept, there are always all those Persistent Worlds out there who flag people down to be noticed. Some are high-magic, others low-sorcery, but almost all of them tend to have forums and fan-bases, elitists and pagentry - in short, everything you expect from an online community. And best of all, it's FREE.


-edited as an afterthought-

Hey, T-D-C, could you move this thread to the MMO section? I figure there would be more responses and interested parties if I had posted this question there in the first place. And really, it wouldn't be prudent just to duplicate the opening question there as it would miss the well thought out opinions already presented by those who chose to comment. Thanks!

[ 03-27-2006, 07:16 AM: Message edited by: Mozenwrathe ]