Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Q&A

Wizards of the Coast director of online media Iija Rotelli sat down with the guys at WarCry for a three-page Q&A about the company's ambitious goals for the recently unveiled 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons.
Q: I now live in New Jersey, moving from Florida, and in order to still play with my friends, we have to use the internet, and about 3 different programs to have a pen and paper game.

A: You are exactly who D&D 4th Edition is aimed at. So with D&D Insider, the Dungeon Master can build his dungeons or maps, you will get your minis, and play right there online. The Dungeon Master gets to set up his map, traps, monsters and such, while the players get to completely customize their characters, the looks, the backgrounds and such, and then drop them right on the map. Think of a character creator from a MMO like WoW. There is a dice roller, so you can see the dice, pick them up and roll them, and everyone will see this. It has built in voice over IP, so you will be able to actually talk to everyone in your group, just like you were sitting at a table.

Q: So, what about the monsters, does the DM have all of them? And does the map have any rules with it? IE will it count movement spaces, and attacks of opportunities?

A: Iija Rotelli The DM has access to all the monsters from the monster manual, so he just drops them in as he wants. There aren't any rules built in, this isn't a video game. It's simply a virtual table top that allows a DM and players to place their maps and play things out. There are so many house rules we didn't want to force anyone to have to play a certain way. However you can set lighting, so players light up about a 30 foot area around them like a torch would, and they see nothing else.