Here is my issue. I have already purchased the source materials, most in hard copy and some on pdf, but in all, I think I have almost all of them (minus, perhaps an Adventure supplement or two). Orcpub offered me a place where all the materials were compiled into one place, along with UA as they were released; the rules and options have grown to a point where I need to pull out three books and four pdfs to create a character.
I am not arguing that Orcpub was in blatant opposition to copyright legality, but it served a need that hardcore gamers like myself really need. NOW, in order to access the same tool here, I am being asked to rebuy all the materials I have already paid for. If there was an option to unlock content here using pre-bought items, that would be great, but I am smarting at being asked to shell out more money for a TOOL. There is simply no other answer to stopping piracy--I get that--but for those of us who have already spent hundreds it feels like a slap in the face.
That being said, if I were able to unlock items I have already bought, I would be subbed forever; this is a great site.
Here is my issue. I have already purchased the source materials, most in hard copy and some on pdf, but in all, I think I have almost all of them (minus, perhaps an Adventure supplement or two). Orcpub offered me a place where all the materials were compiled into one place, along with UA as they were released; the rules and options have grown to a point where I need to pull out three books and four pdfs to create a character.
I am not arguing that Orcpub was in blatant opposition to copyright legality, but it served a need that hardcore gamers like myself really need. NOW, in order to access the same tool here, I am being asked to rebuy all the materials I have already paid for. If there was an option to unlock content here using pre-bought items, that would be great, but I am smarting at being asked to shell out more money for a TOOL. There is simply no other answer to stopping piracy--I get that--but for those of us who have already spent hundreds it feels like a slap in the face.
That being said, if I were able to unlock items I have already bought, I would be subbed forever; this is a great site.
You will not be able to unlock the non-free content with the hardcover,
BUT
You will be able to re-create any content you like with the homebrew system, privately. Currently, only spells, items, monsters and backgrounds are "homebrewable". Naturally, if the homebrew reproduces a published, non-free content, that homebrew can't be publicly shared.
Because trademarks are legally required to be defended, or else be lost, WotC literally could not have elected to buy OrcPub and then use it because it was already infringing upon their trademarks, and anything short of saying "stop doing that" could be considered non-defense of trademark. So the cost wouldn't be in dollars, but in the names of wizards attached to spells (i.e. Mordenkainen and the rest would no longer belong to WotC).
Why not have each book number correspond with content on here.
There is no unique number printed into each book. So there would be an expense of setting up a unique number insert or sticker, expense setting up employees/systems to regulate and track the use of these numbers and solve any issues that might arise (such as someone using a code from a book they haven't bought, and the later buyer of said book getting a replacement code so the legitimate customer isn't just out of luck), and also a change in where compensation to the designers of this digital tool set comes from (i.e. WotC has to give them money if customers aren't, because them not getting any money but ad revenue and subscription fees isn't likely to be enough to keep their business thriving).
And WotC might look at that situation and say "Nah, not a great plan." because they release their options are pretty much either A) make less money (possibly ruinous to their life as a business), or B) change the complaint from "I spent $100 on your books and feel I deserve digital tools too for that price" to "Why the <expletive deleted> are you charging $75 per book?!" (possibly ruinous to their life as a business), or C) do things as they are doing now, which seems to be working for them despite a vocal group of customers having complaints.
#1 rule: you don't try to make a profit off of someone else's stuff unless you get their permission.
I really liked Orcpub. It helped me with my character sheets because I'd always forget about an item/ability or two when writing them up and it is (even now) still 3x easier to use than d&d beyond in it's current state. But what Orcpub did by trying to make a profit was not cool.
The analogy I like to use for this is the game Monopoly.
I have a copy of Monopoly, it's a great game for causing family upset and breaking friendships. Monopoly has been released on the iPad. It's the exact same game but with some fancy automation and tools to help facilitate playing quicker. I don't expect to get the iPad version for free.
I'm not being conned out of "something I already bought" as I have what I bought, I have a physical copy of the game, that was never taken away from me and it is still 100% playable in the manner I expected it to be when I purchased it. The iPad version may be the same game but I'm aware that the cost for that pays for the licencing that the game developer paid to make a Monopoly game to begin with, the development time to build a game engine, the time and effort for a team of developers to convert the game to use the tools that the digital version provides, their ongoing development to fix bugs and ongoing server costs for online components.
Monopoly is also available for Xbox, Playstation, PC, Gameboy, etc. I am aware that each version is different and although the end game I am playing is the same what I'm paying for is actually different in each case.
DnD Beyond is a product. You can use it for free with the SRD content alone. If you choose to pay you are paying for the licencing costs that Curse pay to WotC for using the content you have access to, you are paying for their developer's time to convert that to use the site and all it's features, you are paying partly for the past and continued development of that system, you are paying partly for server costs, storage costs and staff wages to keep the site up, bug free & running.
When you buy the book you buy the book, you get the book, no one can take that away from you & you can always use it just how you always have. If you like you can buy the book digitally on DnD Beyond for a similar price, have all the content you would have from the book (including the ability to have this offline as soon as the app is released) with the added extra of having all that content expanded and converted so that it can use an expanding set of digital tools that make running & playing the game a lot easier.
All this is optional.
Personally I had the holy trinity (PHB/MM/DMG) & a couple of adventures before DnD Beyond launched, I now fully intend to go digital only with my purchases (in fact Volo's Guide was the first content I've ever bought digital only) because I like the system and also "only want to pay once". It's a shame that DnD Beyond wasn't available at 5e launch so that the option to go digital only wasn't always present meaning some people have to buy the trinity & a few more on more than one platform if they want to go all in on Beyond but for new content the choice is there for anyone, buy twice if you want to or just go with the system that suits your game better.
I was considering buying the player's handbook here. How have you liked it? There isn't much of an example of how it would look, but I'm assuming it would be much like the 5e rules that are on here. I like how it was structured and grouped. Other than the benefits of it just being a digital version, are there other pluses you've noticed with having it? I'm on the fence between paper and digital and leaning more towards digital. I know D&DB will continue to improve so feel relatively secure in purchasing with them.
Not Matt, but I've got the PHB and some other content on here, and I like it a lot--having it searchable is amazing and often faster--I'll race my players doing lookups and usually win unless they've got a sticky note in the page already. I looks...a lot like the SRD rules, tbh. They're really quite good at the product being predictable like that. No weird surprises. Having the compendium content accessible both via the book and the character creator is a huge bonus, too--it's so organized and right there when I need it.
As a DM, though, probably my favorite feature is the master tier content sharing approach. I DM at my local comic shop, and we've got a group of teenagers who are just learning to play and refuse to buy the books with Christmas coming, which I don't entirely blame them for--money is tight at that age, and 30-50 bucks is a lot is mom and dad will just give it to you in couple months anyways. But watching 8 kids share one borrowed PHB gets...messy. The ability to use the content sharing to get them legal access for the next couple months is going to be a real blessing.
Not Matt, but I've got the PHB and some other content on here, and I like it a lot--having it searchable is amazing and often faster--I'll race my players doing lookups and usually win unless they've got a sticky note in the page already. I looks...a lot like the SRD rules, tbh. They're really quite good at the product being predictable like that. No weird surprises. Having the compendium content accessible both via the book and the character creator is a huge bonus, too--it's so organized and right there when I need it.
As a DM, though, probably my favorite feature is the master tier content sharing approach. I DM at my local comic shop, and we've got a group of teenagers who are just learning to play and refuse to buy the books with Christmas coming, which I don't entirely blame them for--money is tight at that age, and 30-50 bucks is a lot is mom and dad will just give it to you in couple months anyways. But watching 8 kids share one borrowed PHB gets...messy. The ability to use the content sharing to get them legal access for the next couple months is going to be a real blessing.
This is great actually, especially from the perspective of a DM, and I like the search capabilities you mentioned. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on it. Thanks!
Out of curiosity, do you or your players use the character sheet functionality on this site when they actually play? Do they use pen/paper or do they use their tablets or a laptop? I was planning on going to my local comic store to play Adventurer's League and was thinking to just take my chromebook instead of a printed character sheet, but didn't know if that would be frowned upon or anything.
My players are about a 50/50 mix. Some people use this buggy unofficial android app, others use various pen and paper sheets. You may want to check with your shop as to what people use there--we're nominally Adventurer's League, but practically "A bunch of people running random homebrew with in-shop portability but not much else", so I'm not sure what a more formal AL environment might look like.
As a DM, though, I'd definitely prefer a digital sheet (or at least a typed one). My players tend to have awful handwriting, and some of their sheets are...awkward. They write down things in the wrong sections, intermingle personal notes, keep illegible inventories. You sort of learn to deal with it, and I generally take them at their word about what that scribble means, but yeah. Do everyone a favor and at least type things up--Here is a good place, or there are some nice semi-automated sheets available on DMs Guild for Acrobat Reader and Excel.
When I've been able to step down and play (it happens occasionally!) I've used the character sheet functionality here for my character, and it hasn't been an issue. When I'm DMing, I generally use my Surface as a hybrid book/DM screen, and that works super well--I can pull up tabs with different monsters and NPCs, keep one tab open to master search any rules that come up, and even keep OneNote open with my campaign notes.
Why did you kill orc pub and then force me to use this unfinished product instead?
Hi MicNighty,
welcome to the D&D Beyond forums.
You seem to have received some incorrect information - D&D Beyond has (and had) nothing to do with orc pub and their dealings with Wizards of the Coast.
Also, nobody is "forcing" you to use D&D Beyond - if you want to use it, that's great - it's an amazing toolset & digital reference, that is improving all the time. In that respect, I doubt it will ever be "finished" as there will always be more functionality that the team can (and will) add to make the site even better.
I was considering buying the player's handbook here. How have you liked it? There isn't much of an example of how it would look, but I'm assuming it would be much like the 5e rules that are on here. I like how it was structured and grouped. Other than the benefits of it just being a digital version, are there other pluses you've noticed with having it? I'm on the fence between paper and digital and leaning more towards digital. I know D&DB will continue to improve so feel relatively secure in purchasing with them.
I have been playing D&D for over 30 years, and I have the books for every edition, including 5th. I bought the PHB, DMG, and MM (when they were on sale for $30 each) and find them incredibly useful.
I run my games via Roll20, so I can look up rules with a quick search on the fly as we play. If I need to look up a monster to add to combat, super simple. It's even nice to be able to set up my Monster NPC sheets in Roll20 by copying and pasting from one to the other. The MM in Roll20 alone costs $50 by comparison!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
Why did you kill orc pub and then force me to use this unfinished product instead?
Hi MicNighty,
welcome to the D&D Beyond forums.
You seem to have received some incorrect information - D&D Beyond has (and had) nothing to do with orc pub and their dealings with Wizards of the Coast.
Also, nobody is "forcing" you to use D&D Beyond - if you want to use it, that's great - it's an amazing toolset & digital reference, that is improving all the time. In that respect, I doubt it will ever be "finished" as there will always be more functionality that the team can (and will) add to make the site even better.
Oi! Don't feed the trolls, they'll just start vomiting everywhere. :-/
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
I was considering buying the player's handbook here. How have you liked it? There isn't much of an example of how it would look, but I'm assuming it would be much like the 5e rules that are on here. I like how it was structured and grouped. Other than the benefits of it just being a digital version, are there other pluses you've noticed with having it? I'm on the fence between paper and digital and leaning more towards digital. I know D&DB will continue to improve so feel relatively secure in purchasing with them.
I have been playing D&D for over 30 years, and I have the books for every edition, including 5th. I bought the PHB, DMG, and MM (when they were on sale for $30 each) and find them incredibly useful.
I run my games via Roll20, so I can look up rules with a quick search on the fly as we play. If I need to look up a monster to add to combat, super simple. It's even nice to be able to set up my Monster NPC sheets in Roll20 by copying and pasting from one to the other. The MM in Roll20 alone costs $50 by comparison!
Great, thanks for your comments on that. I purchased the PHB and couldn't help but also get the DMG. I like how they organize it here. I also have made purchases on Roll20 for the adventures side of things. I think I'll use D&DB for rulesets and Roll20 for adventures. I'm glad you let me know your experience with using both of them together like that, especially with how long you've been doing this. Thanks!
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Here is my issue. I have already purchased the source materials, most in hard copy and some on pdf, but in all, I think I have almost all of them (minus, perhaps an Adventure supplement or two). Orcpub offered me a place where all the materials were compiled into one place, along with UA as they were released; the rules and options have grown to a point where I need to pull out three books and four pdfs to create a character.
I am not arguing that Orcpub was in blatant opposition to copyright legality, but it served a need that hardcore gamers like myself really need. NOW, in order to access the same tool here, I am being asked to rebuy all the materials I have already paid for. If there was an option to unlock content here using pre-bought items, that would be great, but I am smarting at being asked to shell out more money for a TOOL. There is simply no other answer to stopping piracy--I get that--but for those of us who have already spent hundreds it feels like a slap in the face.
That being said, if I were able to unlock items I have already bought, I would be subbed forever; this is a great site.
Oh look, another 10/28.
Honestly the mods should just lock this thread. As you said... oh look another 10/28... not to mention 1st post on top of it...
I believe that it is better to have posts about this topic constrained to this single thread, rather than lock the thread and have more created.
As it is, the thread title makes it fairly clear that this thread discusses orcpub.
I understand frustration from people on all sides of the discussion, but if you don't wish to read it, you can easily not do so. :)
Pun-loving nerd | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
That's a good point. Moving forward, I will probably also just purchase content here for ease of use.
#1 rule: you don't try to make a profit off of someone else's stuff unless you get their permission.
I really liked Orcpub. It helped me with my character sheets because I'd always forget about an item/ability or two when writing them up and it is (even now) still 3x easier to use than d&d beyond in it's current state. But what Orcpub did by trying to make a profit was not cool.
The analogy I like to use for this is the game Monopoly.
I have a copy of Monopoly, it's a great game for causing family upset and breaking friendships. Monopoly has been released on the iPad. It's the exact same game but with some fancy automation and tools to help facilitate playing quicker. I don't expect to get the iPad version for free.
I'm not being conned out of "something I already bought" as I have what I bought, I have a physical copy of the game, that was never taken away from me and it is still 100% playable in the manner I expected it to be when I purchased it. The iPad version may be the same game but I'm aware that the cost for that pays for the licencing that the game developer paid to make a Monopoly game to begin with, the development time to build a game engine, the time and effort for a team of developers to convert the game to use the tools that the digital version provides, their ongoing development to fix bugs and ongoing server costs for online components.
Monopoly is also available for Xbox, Playstation, PC, Gameboy, etc. I am aware that each version is different and although the end game I am playing is the same what I'm paying for is actually different in each case.
DnD Beyond is a product. You can use it for free with the SRD content alone. If you choose to pay you are paying for the licencing costs that Curse pay to WotC for using the content you have access to, you are paying for their developer's time to convert that to use the site and all it's features, you are paying partly for the past and continued development of that system, you are paying partly for server costs, storage costs and staff wages to keep the site up, bug free & running.
When you buy the book you buy the book, you get the book, no one can take that away from you & you can always use it just how you always have. If you like you can buy the book digitally on DnD Beyond for a similar price, have all the content you would have from the book (including the ability to have this offline as soon as the app is released) with the added extra of having all that content expanded and converted so that it can use an expanding set of digital tools that make running & playing the game a lot easier.
All this is optional.
Personally I had the holy trinity (PHB/MM/DMG) & a couple of adventures before DnD Beyond launched, I now fully intend to go digital only with my purchases (in fact Volo's Guide was the first content I've ever bought digital only) because I like the system and also "only want to pay once". It's a shame that DnD Beyond wasn't available at 5e launch so that the option to go digital only wasn't always present meaning some people have to buy the trinity & a few more on more than one platform if they want to go all in on Beyond but for new content the choice is there for anyone, buy twice if you want to or just go with the system that suits your game better.
Matt
www.matthasawebsite.com
^ Thank you!
@Matt
I was considering buying the player's handbook here. How have you liked it? There isn't much of an example of how it would look, but I'm assuming it would be much like the 5e rules that are on here. I like how it was structured and grouped. Other than the benefits of it just being a digital version, are there other pluses you've noticed with having it? I'm on the fence between paper and digital and leaning more towards digital. I know D&DB will continue to improve so feel relatively secure in purchasing with them.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait up, you’re kidding right WotC not owning dnd beyond!
Ps. Sorry if the message didn’t really do anything but then this is my first forums message.
Not Matt, but I've got the PHB and some other content on here, and I like it a lot--having it searchable is amazing and often faster--I'll race my players doing lookups and usually win unless they've got a sticky note in the page already. I looks...a lot like the SRD rules, tbh. They're really quite good at the product being predictable like that. No weird surprises. Having the compendium content accessible both via the book and the character creator is a huge bonus, too--it's so organized and right there when I need it.
As a DM, though, probably my favorite feature is the master tier content sharing approach. I DM at my local comic shop, and we've got a group of teenagers who are just learning to play and refuse to buy the books with Christmas coming, which I don't entirely blame them for--money is tight at that age, and 30-50 bucks is a lot is mom and dad will just give it to you in couple months anyways. But watching 8 kids share one borrowed PHB gets...messy. The ability to use the content sharing to get them legal access for the next couple months is going to be a real blessing.
My players are about a 50/50 mix. Some people use this buggy unofficial android app, others use various pen and paper sheets. You may want to check with your shop as to what people use there--we're nominally Adventurer's League, but practically "A bunch of people running random homebrew with in-shop portability but not much else", so I'm not sure what a more formal AL environment might look like.
As a DM, though, I'd definitely prefer a digital sheet (or at least a typed one). My players tend to have awful handwriting, and some of their sheets are...awkward. They write down things in the wrong sections, intermingle personal notes, keep illegible inventories. You sort of learn to deal with it, and I generally take them at their word about what that scribble means, but yeah. Do everyone a favor and at least type things up--Here is a good place, or there are some nice semi-automated sheets available on DMs Guild for Acrobat Reader and Excel.
When I've been able to step down and play (it happens occasionally!) I've used the character sheet functionality here for my character, and it hasn't been an issue. When I'm DMing, I generally use my Surface as a hybrid book/DM screen, and that works super well--I can pull up tabs with different monsters and NPCs, keep one tab open to master search any rules that come up, and even keep OneNote open with my campaign notes.
Why did you kill orc pub and then force me to use this unfinished product instead?
Pun-loving nerd | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?