The tables turn: 'Dungeons & Dragons' goes mobile, 'Doom' gets tabletop edition

Over 40years on from its beginnings as a tabletop role-playing game, the hugely influential "Dungeons & Dragons," is undergoing digital transmogrification. The format has been a foundational part of the tabletop role-playing game scene since "D&D" was first introduced in 1974.

In video games, its legacy can be seen not only in role-playing genre companions like "Baldur's Gate," "Final Fantasy," "Skyrim" and "The Witcher," but also the progression systems of action franchises like "Call of Duty," "Battlefield," "Destiny" and "Borderlands," or even toy-game hybrid "Skylanders" and soccer sim "FIFA." But a new partnership between specialist team Roll20 and "Dungeons & Dragons" licensor Wizards of the Coast brings something that sticks close to the original tabletop setting, eschewing pens, paper, and board game pieces in favour of virtual dice, net connections and video calls.

While Roll20 was designed to play nearly any tabletop game, the spark that pushed us to start the product was Dungeons & Dragons," said co-founder Riley Dutton, whose firm was named after a feature of D&D play. A special D&D storyline, Lost Mine of Phandelver, is set for a September 6 launch as a $19.99 add-on for the free Roll20 web and mobile app.

Meanwhile, an icon of video game history is going the other way, as cards, counters and custom dice meet randomly generated maps in "Doom: The Board Game."  As a fast-paced, 3D action game using a first-person perspective, "Doom" had an immeasurable impact when it was released in 1993, its technological breakthrough paving the way for everything from this January's brain-teasing puzzle island "The Witness" to May's vibrant team-based shooter "Overwatch."

It's been converted into board game form before, and the same company behind 2004's iteration, Fantasy Flight Games, is in charge of 2016's edition as well. With a new "Doom" having been released in May, this board game version has an updated look that is very much based on its 2016 counterpart. Fantasy Flight is promising a "completely redesigned tactical combat experience" for between two and five players, with one in charge of monstrous hordes and the others moving several successive marines around an infested complex.

At this early stage, "Doom: The Board Game" appears to be incorporating elements from two other well-received FFG adaptations, "Star Wars: Imperial Assault" and "Gears of War: The Board Game," with an October to December launch in sight.