GameBanshee Editorial: The Delicacy of a D&D CRPG

Flagg of our Pool of Radiance subsite has written up a beautiful editorial on the balance that needs to be achieved in order to produce a successful D&D computer role-playing game (it has been tried over 30 times within the last 12 years alone), entitled The Delicacy of a Dungeons & Dragons CRPG. A smidgeon:

The problem computer game designers face is that it is virtually impossible to include every possible feature of the D&D rules. Thus, we will always have a situation where hardcore D&D fans will complain that certain features of the rules have been left out. This is not the case with a game such as Arcanum for which there is no pen & paper version. In other words, fans cannot comment that the makers have left out some critical element that is featured in the pen & paper version of the game. This is something that constantly happens with D&D games, which can cause fans to be more critical of these games. If the designers aren’t careful, complaints can come rather quickly when people find that, in their opinion, an important feature of the D&D rule set has been left out.