It belongs in the Fundamentals section because, "Get Together. Roll Some Dice. Have Fun," is a core principle of D&D always has been.I recently moved a couple of states away from my previous gaming groups (who have over the course of the last few years scattered), straight into the middle of the bible belt in Kentucky... [there is a local gaming group that plays board games and no FLGS].
We are as a whole, casual games, like once or twice a month, just due to scheduling, wives, jobs, school, children, and all that. We did look back on the glory days of high school and being able to game once a week (sometimes twice), and all reminisced.
We looked over WotC's press releases for DDi and thought that would be great for getting together and playing across the miles. :whatsthis We decided that we would shelve those 3.x books and jump onto the 4E bandwagon (or in our case bandwidth).Unluckily, since the release of 4E and the DDi's failure to launch. We have not been able to play, nothing like people having to drive 8 hours for a D&D game.
Most players are lucky enough to have a group, FLGS, or the like nearby. I contacted the nearest RPGA game (about 1.5 hours away, no response).
So, now I sit and wait, as do 2 others out of our 5. Three are lucky enough to still be local.I have read my 4E books a half-dozen times and ready to go, unluckily, WotC and geography are playing against us.
We did find out about Fantasy Ground and people are looking into it, but our little cabal is faltering... new books, realization that we are going to be doing alot of additional conversion paperwork and the like.
I realize that software gets delayed all the time, and it isn't the end of the world, but this is the first time that I have ever bought something to support an online game (thats what D&D will be for awhile for me) to only find out that the servers aren't up yet. This is also how D&D was advertised on the website. Somewhere in Bill Slaviscek's blog is an entry in May that the release date for DDi was pushed back indefinitely, great way to keep people informed.
"Get Together. Roll Some Dice. Have Fun." Its a really great slogan, but without the DDi, some of us can't really manage the first part.
Right now, I'm $80 dollars or so... I have three books I can't do much with besides read, so I am feeling a bit put-off.
Honestly, if it wasn't for the (mis)communication on the WotC's website, we would have been looking for something like FG previously and kept playing 3.x or OGL, or really any other system rather than buying up 4th as quickly. Now we hurry up and wait for WotC to come out with the prepackaged 4th stuff so that we can play, while their GSL keeps other companies from developing it.
This is rapidly making me not want to keep playing WotC's games, they need to let the dog take a shower cause in my mind they royally screwed the pooch between not allowing other PC tools to be developed and not having their own ready to go.
So, my question is... after being falsely advertised to by electronic, personal (Gen Con 07 chats with staff), and even written ads in the back of my new core books, what recourse do I have? (not legal, very little ground to stand on).
I know for the bulk of WotC's customers this is meaningless, most players are lucky enough to have the people nearby, so support your FLGS and keep those groups alive.
I too have problems finding a local group, especially since I work shifts and can't always make a game every week so I'm really looking forward to DDi as well!!
P.S. If you happen to be short on players for 4th edition.....
I am up for playing on about any system... but I thought I was looking forward to being able to have everything integrated from WotC, by WotC, for WotC. I will give it a whirl and check it out.
So dissapointed that it's been a few weeks since I first got excited about it and still no sign of it coming out. It would certainly be very nice to have everything combined and accessable for all D&D players who wish to play from a distance online.
I guess it's just one of those "good things come to those who wait" things.
About OpenRPG, all the required components are on the official website. I've not seen a terribly large ammount of pick-up games going on OpenRPG but if you have buddies already willing to form a game that shouldn't be a problem.
http://www.rpgvirtualtabletop.com/vts.html
There are dozens of games every day... C&C, 3.5, 4E, SW... come join the fun.
We looked over WotC's press releases for DDi and thought that would be great for getting together and playing across the miles. We decided that we would shelve those 3.x books and jump onto the 4E bandwagon (or in our case bandwidth).
Unluckily, since the release of 4E and the DDi's failure to launch. We have not been able to play, nothing like people having to drive 8 hours for a D&D game.
While I understand your pain of no game, I do not understand why you feel WotC is responsible for any of it.
Had WotC *not* advertised 4e at all, you would still have your friends living eight hours away, and a shelf of 3.5 books you feel you can't use. The release of 4e did not change that.
When the virtual tabletop gets released, you're golden, and can proceed with the plans you had initiated. Until then, you are no worse off than you were the day you became separated from your friends by an eight hour drive.
But I agree with everyone--there are lots of VTTs out there, I've been playing over FG2 for over a year--don't let the complete failure of DDi GameTable keep you from playing.
It's a great advertisement in the back of the books. It's just not the right product. 4E has brought more attention to VTTs than ever. If Wizard's can't get their product out, there's lots of folks ready to take over.
While I understand your pain of no game, I do not understand why you feel WotC is responsible for any of it.
Had WotC *not* advertised 4e at all, you would still have your friends living eight hours away, and a shelf of 3.5 books you feel you can't use. The release of 4e did not change that.
When the virtual tabletop gets released, you're golden, and can proceed with the plans you had initiated. Until then, you are no worse off than you were the day you became separated from your friends by an eight hour drive.
In some aspects I do agree, and the operative clause is had WotC *not* advertised it, we would still have piles of 3.5 books sitting on shelves. But, we purchased the 4E stuff because of DDi. Thats my point.