Here’s another thing coming early next year … man, is 2006 going to rock or what? For those of us who haven’t thrown out the 20-sided dice yet, news that D&D is finally coming online might range from surprise to elation to pondering what has taken so freaking long.

I wonder how many Everquesters and WoW adverturers crave that classic D&D flavor that undoubtedly has contributed to these games success? Players might not be rolling dice, but there is a random element to all MMORPG.

Turbine’s game developers say D&D Online is designed to stay as true as possible to the paper-based version and offers a reasonable online alternative to the more than 4.6 million people still playing D&D just in the United States. The game–in which players create imaginary characters and adventure through fantasy forests, castles and other environs–has been around for more than three decades.

When the Wizards of the Coast store in the local mall closed up shop, we went and bought a bunch of advanced D&D stuff as well as some other role-playing games. Some great deals there but a little sad to see that paper based games couldn’t make it at our local mall. I’m not sure the games are the fault though as the whole mall scene seems not to be cool any more unless you are a teenager.

Fellow D&D geeks, let’s hope Turbine Games does us well, the screenshots sure look promising.

(rolls dice)

Sign up for the D&D online beta here.

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