That's the main thing I'd use one for, ifI had it.

Its like a giant iPhone..

No, I would not use that for D&D, or Champions, or any of the other role-playing games I play. Too cumbersome, and I don't see how we'd get 8~10 people around it comfortably.

I WOULD however, LOVE to have it for Starfleet Battles, and the Babylon 5 Miniatures games I play. Especially for Starfleet Battles - man if ever a game needed a computer interface like that one, it's SFB.

My friends and I play it under the free-movement miniatures rules (the only way to play), which adds a level of complexity that other SFBers either pity or envy, I'm not sure. All I know is that when we do demos at Origins, everyone wants in.

A system like that though would be perfect. We've been dreaming of it for years.

I've seen some pretty sweet RTS demo's on that thing. Something pretty awesome about selecting all your troops with a grand sweep of your hand.

Actually, tactical miniature games would be GREAT on that thing (as the demo actually just showed the tactical combat part of RPGs, which I don't know many people still believe it's the whole RPG experience).

Games like Infinity and warhammer quest would be totally AWESOME with this.

KX.

Let's face it: Half the fun of role-playing is carrying around your laminated character sheet, a 25lb. backpack full of hardbound gaming manuals and a pirate chest full of the two hundred dice you've collected.

@KaiserX - Exactly my thinking! You could buy one table, and have as many games as you wanted in one convenient space.

At that point the expense of the computer would probably be less than all the money we've spent on miniatures, making boards, and so on.

So now I need a Surface table for visuals and a Kindle or two for the rule books. Note to self: Find more disposable income.

Heck, I wouldn't even mind carting the Surface table around if it meant I didn't have to keep lugging the three bags + map case I have now for all of my group's gaming accouterments.

I just played a game last week were we were talking about play tables and one of the players say he wanted a table with a LCD screen in it for the playing surface. I think you can get the effect for cheaper with a projector, but not everyone was thrilled about shadows. As far as the full program for surface, I would rather actually roll dice and take care of some of that stuff myself rather then let the computer do it. Granted I do create my character using the character builder, but its so convenient.

Eww, software dice, and so slow too. It shouldn't be that hard to read the side of the dice and the shape, and figure out what values were rolled.

Just so everyone knows, a Surface unit with base software (OS and Surface control software) runs $12,500. That's not including the D&D game software... whatever that may cost.

@InfoMan - My friends and I have certainly spent at least that much over the years on all of our gear. One-time expense vs long trickle.....

I'm sure it would be trivial enough to make a set of physical dice with the appropriate tags to enable them to be used as control objects themselves. I guess it depends on the limit on the number of control objects you can have as it would need to recognise each face of each die discretely.

For the odd situation where you need to roll a ton of dice though, virtual dice would certainly make life a bit easier. I agree that the UI for that could stand to be enhanced a bit, but with a product that's only at the proof-of-concept stage I don't expect the UI to be perfect!

That's the greatest thign that I'll never own that I've seen. Today, at least. I guess it would be a great way for millionaires to get into D&D. They are a demographic that has gone woefully unnoticed by Wizards.

Now I know I'm just a bitter old codger. The whole time I was watching that I was thinking, "What's wrong with just using pencils and paper and sitting around an old table that's covered with beaten up old miniatures, soda cans and bags of potato chips?"

These kids today with their fancy touch screens for gaming. They don't know the joy of having to draw their own character in the little 2 inch window they give you at the top of your character sheet, only to have your friends mock your stick figure artistic ability as soon as you show it to them.

Not that I could afford it; but I'd love to have it if it supported 3.5 or Pathfinder

Unless you use pre-made adventures for all your campaigns (and I don't know any seasoned DM that does), you'll instantly realize two things:
1. If you wanted to create a campaign on this thing, you would have to pre-plan just about every encounter. Thinking on the fly makes for much better games. Even if it were possible to create an encounter while playing, it would be very difficult for them to program a way that wasn't cumbersome.
2. This would also make it very difficult to fudge rolls, change things "behind the scenes," or make any other executive decisions that are so important to fun role playing. The human brain equipped with a pen and a mouth will be far more versatile and adaptable than the computer for a long time.

If they dedicate themselves, they may be able to find some good uses for this in gaming (as was said), but it would take some serious play-testing and planning to make this work for DnD. If I know WotC, they won't. The only thing wizards does really well is the core book.

That said, we're two steps from star trek. I wouldn't be surprised if this thing was in every board board room in the US and EU in 15 years. And of course it costs a lot of money, it's brand new. Did you all forget how much the Tandy 1000 cost? Now you can get an iPhone for $100 that makes Mr. Tandy look like a tree stump.

Pretty sweet

I wanted a Microsoft Surface table anyway, since it was announced. Now I want it more.

That looks pretty cool. I've never played D&D, probebly mainly for the reason of carrying everything around with me, so I'm pretty sure playing it on that would be cool.

Warhammer would be awesome on that thing, though I'd love if they could find a way of still using the painted figures and just use that as a mega cool interactive battlefield thing. Save me playing with all the bits of wood and stuff to make my own. And being able to keep as many scenes as you want on it without all the faff and storage space is a big plus.
Big spend though for what I would use it for.

Its a brilliant idea they've come up with.

Oooh, I hope I can play Monopoly on this...

@Frank

There is no indication that this comes preloaded with its own adventures. In fact, judging from the "exposition" stage, it looks like the GM is required to supply the adventure.

As for fudging, you did notice that the GM controls the scene from his own screen, right? If the software didn't come with the ability to manually enter in a value for a die roll (i.e. fudging) behind the scenes, then I'll eat my hat.

Also noted in some other comments, this is proof-of-concept. It's a pretty safe bet that the finished product if there ever will be one, will be considerably different and much more polished.

I thought this was great, but like it was said above, you can't fudge the numbers when you need to. If you want to spend $12500 on a gaming table, I suggest you go to http://www.geekchichq.com

Yeah, while I think it's cool, I personally wouldn't really bother with one unless I wanted more graphical representation than I usually felt the need for in my games. And, even then, I'm a lousy artist, so trying to make maps and such for the screen would be insanely difficult.

That said though, it's a slick piece of tech.

Who knows, though, maybe when they finally get these things worked out, released and cheaper, they'll amount to a new little Renaissance in table top. Or maybe not. Too hard to tell this early.

You had me. You had me right up until "roll a virtual die"... then i immediately pulled my own 20 sider, rolled initiative, and took my surprise round to leap out the window to safety.

It looks amazing. It'd be even better if it could be used for Rifts or any other RPGs!

If I only had the money...

sweet, I would buy it, but I don't have the money

I would drop $1k on this in a heartbeat, as long as my subscription for Dungeon and Dragon with WoTC updated the available character/creature rules. Our groups rarely get above 5 PCs and DM, which would be perfect for this. And, great graphic representations, vs the dry erased marker maps we use today. Absolutely.

yes, i want this. its not as old school as pen and paper, but its cool and presents D&D in a manner that most people of the more recent generations can identify with and get into.

Personally, i think it'd be a great recruitment tool to get new players interested in d&d, i know id stop and gawk if i saw some people playing with one of these in a coffee house or a game lounge somewhere.

hmm matters how customizable it is... or if you have to us it to roll...

i think it is a great idea if you could get it reasonably priced... about 100-150$ (i know it seem ridicules) with mass production seems possible just make the mat or "screen" without a computer brings the price way down also if you can use your computer on it you can jack up the price to about 400 but then again... good luck getting any dungeons and dragons players buying for that price

Dungeons & Dragons?!? Fuck Dungeons & Dragons!!! There is only one game worthy of such a setup:

HERO QUEST!!!

Unless you are playing that WOW-clone that calls itself D&D, you really dont need minis to play D&D. Its just a white elephant of a role-playing prop! Hero Quest on the other hand, is all about props, and if your are one of those hardcore HQ fans, then the props go well beyond what you get from the out of the box! Such a gamer would find such a prop an asset - if only to free himself from all the figurines, furniture props, floor & room titles, and so on.

In truth, table-top wargammers would also benefit from the versatility such a table would offer. Imagine playing a game like Battletech? Custom maps, auto-damage trackers, the potential to have double-blind rules with 2 table sets - that would be so EPIC!!!

The video was cool and God bless the nerds who are getting some sort of benefit out of developing this (likely class credit--there's no way WotC/Hasbro is paying them). But I'd never use it. Two of the main thrills of tabletop gaming for me have always been using my imagination and extensively interacting with the other players. Graphics and keying in my actions instead of announcing them subtract from both of those gameplay elements. Also, having an interactive menu of all available options rather than having to think about a character's capabilities is something of a buzzkill.

I like this. Certainly the most effective use of the Surface I could think of. Cheers!

i would defintely use it for not only D&D but for all of my company.

D&D nerds around the world just shit themselves....