I'm a former D&D player, and I think the game would see a huge increase in players if they took the approach that Scrabble took.
Recently my wife got an iPod Touch, my sister in law got an iPhone, and I have an iPhone and iPad and decided to try some Scrabble the other night. As many of you probably know, if you have the Scrabble game on your iPad. (not Words with Friends, but actual Scrabble) you can use other iOS devices as tile holders by downloading a free app. You can then "flick" your letters from your device on to the iPad screen and play your word. From your device you can also rotate the board on the iPad so that it faces your direction without having to spin the iPad around constantly on the table. After the first time you tell it where you're sitting, the game remembers where you are and always rotates to that direction when it's your turn.
Why couldn't D&D take this same approach? The DM could have his/her maps and adventures all set up on an iPad. They could make a DM app that would control all that stuff. The other players in the game could use their devices to keep track of characters, items, etc. and whatever else they're doing in their current adventure. The iPad could serve as the map for the game (if it's still played the way we used to play it when I was younger, using graph paper maps).
My information on the way the game is played may be a bit out of date here, but I think iOS would be a wonderful way to orchestrate the entire game and still have the social benefit of having everyone in the same room. The hardware cost would be high, yes. But we didn't all buy hardware to specifically play Scrabble the other night--everyone just happened to have the devices needed. That could hold true for D&D as well--maybe everyone in your party has an iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad anyway! And I'd be willing to bet that if a D&D app was done correctly, people would buy hardware specifically to play it.
Recently my wife got an iPod Touch, my sister in law got an iPhone, and I have an iPhone and iPad and decided to try some Scrabble the other night. As many of you probably know, if you have the Scrabble game on your iPad. (not Words with Friends, but actual Scrabble) you can use other iOS devices as tile holders by downloading a free app. You can then "flick" your letters from your device on to the iPad screen and play your word. From your device you can also rotate the board on the iPad so that it faces your direction without having to spin the iPad around constantly on the table. After the first time you tell it where you're sitting, the game remembers where you are and always rotates to that direction when it's your turn.
Why couldn't D&D take this same approach? The DM could have his/her maps and adventures all set up on an iPad. They could make a DM app that would control all that stuff. The other players in the game could use their devices to keep track of characters, items, etc. and whatever else they're doing in their current adventure. The iPad could serve as the map for the game (if it's still played the way we used to play it when I was younger, using graph paper maps).
My information on the way the game is played may be a bit out of date here, but I think iOS would be a wonderful way to orchestrate the entire game and still have the social benefit of having everyone in the same room. The hardware cost would be high, yes. But we didn't all buy hardware to specifically play Scrabble the other night--everyone just happened to have the devices needed. That could hold true for D&D as well--maybe everyone in your party has an iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad anyway! And I'd be willing to bet that if a D&D app was done correctly, people would buy hardware specifically to play it.
