Dungeons & Dragons Online Preview

GameSpy is the latest website to offer a preview of Turbine’s Dungeons & Dragons Online, after seeing a recent press demo of the MMORPG. Check it out:

Situations like these intertwine nicely with the flavor-enriching touches that have been worked into D&D Online, the most significant of which is what Turbine is calling “DM Text.” If you’ve played D&D before, then you’re no doubt familiar with the convention: an omnipresent voice that not only relates to your and friends a tale, but informs you as to key game-specific events. In the pen and paper game, a human being does this, of course, but in D&D Online, it’s replicated through the wonders of superimposed text. If your character passes by a trap, for instance, a line of text reading “You detect the presence of a trap” will appear on screen, or if there’s a group of creatures scurrying out of sight, and your Listen skill is up to snuff, you’ll be alerted with “Listen: You sense the footsteps of a patrol in the distance.” It might not sound like much on paper, but when you’re actually in the game, it not only helps to sell the whole D&D experience, but it also makes certain skills — like Detect Traps and Listen — much more viable.