The Coolest Dungeons and Dragons Game That Will Never Get Made

There have been plenty of Dungeons and Dragons games over the years. Western RPGs. MMORPGs. Other kinds of RPGs. You get it. Lots of RPGs.

It makes sense. D&D is a tabletop RPG. Putting that into a video game makes as much sense as combining peanut butter and chocolate. Like, duh. It’s completely obvious.

But what if we looked beyond that? Could D&D work outside of an RPG? Well, yes. It already has, in fact. Capcom made a D&D beat ’em up game, and it’s actually really sick!

Dungeons and Dragons is all about thinking outside the box. So let’s do just that! Let’s think of a D&D game that could work beyond epic adventures and RPGs.

My proposal: a Dungeons and Dragons fighting game!

Alright, alright, hear me out on this one! Think about it! D&D is all about building a character. So imagine this: a fighting game wherein you don’t just select a character, but you build one!

The system is simple. On the character select screen, you pick your character’s race and class. The race determines your character’s basic stats and basic abilities, and the class determines the actual move list. For example, you could build an orc barbarian, a dwarf cleric, or an elf wizard. Or you could go with something wacky, like a goliath warlock or a dragonborn bard.

This could make for a fighting game with some insane roster variety. One that encourages player creativity. Can you find a way to make an orc wizard or a gnome barbarian competitively viable? With some practice and creativity, absolutely!

Is it a balancing nightmare? Well, yes. But so is every fighting game.

Even aesthetically, it works! Think of the stages! Each one could be on a battle map, and the characters could be miniatures come to life! You could have a fantasy forest with table snacks and monster miniatures in the background, or a dungeon with a DM’s markers hidden somewhere in the shadows!

You could even have a fun announcer! The DM is the announcer! Each match opens with them describing the arena to you, then they can shout, “Roll for Initiative!” as the round starts! Tell me that wouldn’t be sick!

As for single player content, there’s a lot you could do! Arcade Mode could have a dragon at the end, which changes color and abilities depending on the difficulty; easy mode, you fight a green dragon, but on ultra-hard, you fight Tiamat! You could also do a Campaign mode, wherein the player builds a character and goes through a story, leveling up and getting stronger!

It may not seem like it at first, but a Dungeons and Dragons fighting game works surprisingly well! It could be a fun new take on both D&D and fighting games! One that captures the most important factors of both!

Will it ever happen? Absolutely not. It’d be a miracle if we ever got a D&D game that isn’t an RPG ever again.

Still, it’s fun to imagine. Sometimes, that’s just got to be enough.