We've been following Dungeons & Dragons Online for many months now, salivating with other MMO junkies for the opportunity to get our hands dirty in what's promising to be the first true translation of the world's most popular pen-and-paper role-playing game. The problem with every previous video-game version of Dungeons & Dragons, even the very best of them, is that it's always been impossible to translate the essence of what makes D&D great to a video screen. I'm speaking, of course, about the social aspects of the game. Indeed, it could be argued that the "true" purpose of D&D isn't to let your friends pretend they're a magic-wielding elf -- it's to generate great stories and fond memories of the time your Halfling thief managed to trip an evil king during a state visit which started a diplomatic incident that started a war that changed the face of the whole campaign.

Given that, hopes are high for Dungeons & Dragons Online. After all, what better genre than the massively multiplayer online role-playing game to bring the "role" back into what usually becomes merely an endless treadmill of players searching for the bigger, better magical doodad? Having been lost in the D&D Online beta for about three days now, I'm seriously impressed at how well Turbine is translating not just the mechanics, but the very "feel" of classic D&D gameplay to the MMO format.