Quote from Fjw70 >>

Quote from Weaver0fTales >>

Sadly not everyone has the funds to spend on a second pair of books. It would be wise for dnd beyond to take a look at some of the complaints of its followers. this is an online tool set after all and there are ways of creating an income other than subs or outright large piles of cash being handed over. I love dnd and i love to support projects such as this but i must learn to live within my means. So dnd should have a mode for us poor college folks that depend on ad revenue that way we can enjoy the game and still support the devs.

 

They have you covered. There is a free sub with ads that has access to all the SRD data, plus you can buy individual elements (e.g. Races and classes) if the books are too much. So you can ease into the broader content if you want. 

Just a quick semi-on-topic aside; I've seen a few suggestions from people in this thread that making a private homebrew of published content can be a more manual, work intensive way of getting access to published content instead of paying for it in whole or piecemeal for those who have budgetary concerns. So, can someone explain how a person can homebrew a race, or even a class? In the Homebrew section there only seems to be options for Spells, Magical Items, and Monsters. If a person wanted to input the information necessary to "homebrew" up a Tabaxi or a Lizardfolk and give them class features and abilities for classes that are not in the Basic Rules, what steps are available to make that happen? Because it doesn't seem like a person can do that right now (or, unless I missed an announcement somewhere, ever). If a person wants to save $4.00 by manually imputing published material into the Homebrew section, how does that actually work?

More homebrew functionality will be added at or shortly after launch.

Quote from JoshRemer >>

 

1) If I pay a subscription, but do not buy the sourcebooks, what can I do on my own (without a DM adding me to a campaign)?  Can I fully create and manage characters?  What race, class, subclass, background options would be available?

2) If I only have a subscription, and am added to a DM's campaign, and create a character using some of the DM's shared official (not homebrew) content, and later leave the group, what happens to my character?  Is it unusable?  Are only those features unusable?

3) Are there any kind of export features or an API? I play on a Discord server with a bot that can automatically pull character info from online tools, roll dice and do automated checks and attacks and such - if I create a character here, will that bot be able to get access (assuming the developer of the bot updates it)?

4) If I do buy the sourcebooks, and for some reason D&DB is later shut down, what happens?  This is not an unwarranted question, there have been multiple online content management systems that have been shuttered resulting in customers losing access to content they purchased with little or no recourse.

While the site is in it's beta test form (i.e. up until the full release on the 15th) they don't provide the option to homebrew races and classes. However, once we get the full release we should be seeing that added functionality. (Or so is my understanding)

Quote from BadEye >>

The Master Tier at $5.99/ month is intended primarily for Dungeon Masters and full groups. It grants all the benefits of the Hero Tier, and also allows a DM to share all her unlocked official content with other players within a campaign - so content does not have to be unlocked by every player.

Honestly, I'm disappointed there wasn't an "all inclusive" subscription tier that allows access to "stream" all content..

I was expecting more of a Spotify/Netflix approach where a set fee allows full access to the library until a sub ends with an option for a limited time offline mode download. 

As a DM I'd be way more open to a $10-12/ month all inclusive sub as it's just simpler for me to see the value I'm receiving and it compares well with similar models in the market.  

Hoping this does well of course but figured I'd share my apprehensions as someone that DMs a lot online.

Quote from Sethendal >>

As a DM I'd be way more open to a $10-12/ month all inclusive sub as it's just simpler for me to see the value I'm receiving and it compares well with similar models in the market. 

Is there a service similar to D&D Beyond that operates on such a model?

Im still confused on a couple of thing, do you have to pay for the spell list and monster list? Im not sure where I got this from but for some reason I now think that you need to pay for this stuff and I just need clarification. Also about the classes whe nyou buy classes how much will they cost? also will there be a reduced pack for all classes? and finally if im the DM and have Master Tier subscription and all the classes can I let players in my campaign also use all the classes? Thank you for your time.

-Moony 

Good call.

Model-wise there's a lot to choose from in the SaaS market that share a similar structure as leasing access to digital content isn't new like it was even 5 years ago and there's an expected set of models consumers have for it (Binge Subs like Netflix and Spotify, rentals like Google Play, access levels like Roll20 with addons).

Hard though to compare as TT RPGs are just coming into the digital space unlike other media so they're going to get attributed to whatever media business model we individually feel they're trying to mimic I suppose. Roll20 is closest maybe?

Each has their own distinct sub models (Audible you get one book a month for $15, Netflix all the movies you want for $8+, etc) so it'll largely depend for DNDB which mental model consumers relate closely with theirs when deciding if the value is what they expect in relation to cost.

Pricing SaaS I assume has to be hard especially when you're in an arena like this where there's an expectation of physical ownership which Curse and WoTC have done an analysis I'm sure.  

It'll be interesting to see how it pans out. The DM sub seems a good value but I'll be interested to see how the alacarte content access measures up for the cost as I'd assume from the thread that's where most of the sticker shock will occur.

My guess is whether you like the Roll20 model with WoTC content will determine if you like the content model here most likely.  I bet attitudes will change a bit once we all see exactly how the content aspect works and looks at release as I'm sure I'm even putting my own bias on what I imagine the experience will be.

Overall, this is just a bad system that is too expensive and punishing on up-front costs. What it comes down to is that it should be one single subscription cost that gives you access to everything. Something like $10 a month and you have access to all books and materials. You could also give people the option to forgo the subscription and buy the books digitally to have access to them forever. Thus you have the purchase option AND the rental option.

Paying a subscription and having to still buy the books is just a bad model. Hell, this system doesn't even come with something like a virtual tabletop like products such as Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds. If it had features like that, a subscription would be more understandable. 

Quote from Sethendal >>

 

Pricing SaaS I assume has to be hard especially when you're in an arena like this where there's an expectation of physical ownership which Curse and WoTC have done an analysis I'm sure.  

It'll be interesting to see how it pans out. The DM sub seems a good value but I'll be interested to see how the alacarte content access measures up for the cost as I'd assime from the thread that's where most of the sticker shock will occur.

My guess is whether you like the Roll20 model with WoTC content will determine if you like the content model here most likely.  I bet attitudes will change s bit once we all see exactly how the content aspect works and looks at release as I'm sure I'm even putting my own bias on what I imagine the experience will be.

 

• If you want free access to their system, you can manually enter whatever content you want.
• If you want unlimited number of characters and free access to as many campaigns as you want (and their shared content), Hero Tier is right for you.
• If you are that central figure in your group that buys stuff, Master Tier is probably right for you.
• If you want whole books, you can get whole books.
• If you want parts of books (I think this might come into play when introducing new players) you can have parts.

Plus, they've been more responsive to fan/user input than any other system I've ever heard of, so I look forward to seeing how things grow.

Quote from Aramalian >>

Quote from Sethendal >>

 

Pricing SaaS I assume has to be hard especially when you're in an arena like this where there's an expectation of physical ownership which Curse and WoTC have done an analysis I'm sure.  

It'll be interesting to see how it pans out. The DM sub seems a good value but I'll be interested to see how the alacarte content access measures up for the cost as I'd assime from the thread that's where most of the sticker shock will occur.

My guess is whether you like the Roll20 model with WoTC content will determine if you like the content model here most likely.  I bet attitudes will change s bit once we all see exactly how the content aspect works and looks at release as I'm sure I'm even putting my own bias on what I imagine the experience will be.

 

 Thank you for your analysis - that was a really interesting read.

I think the points you raise in the section I quoted are why Curse is trying so hard to be as flexible as possible.

• If you want free access to their system, you can manually enter whatever content you want.
• If you want unlimited number of characters and free access to as many campaigns as you want (and their shared content), Hero Tier is right for you.
• If you are that central figure in your group that buys stuff, Master Tier is probably right for you.
• If you want whole books, you can get whole books.
• If you want parts of books (I think this might come into play when introducing new players) you can have parts.

Plus, they've been more responsive to fan/user input than any other system I've ever heard of, so I look forward to seeing how things grow.

So other than VTT, what does Roll 20 or FG have over this system?  I havent used either and am fairly ignorant of their uses.  I understand (from reading this thread from 1st post) that they require you to buy books close to, or at full retail, and are apparently perfect in every way..

Someone enlighten me?

Quote from moony300300 >>

Im still confused on a couple of thing, do you have to pay for the spell list and monster list? Im not sure where I got this from but for some reason I now think that you need to pay for this stuff and I just need clarification. Also about the classes whe nyou buy classes how much will they cost? also will there be a reduced pack for all classes? and finally if im the DM and have Master Tier subscription and all the classes can I let players in my campaign also use all the classes? Thank you for your time.

-Moony 

Quote from moony300300 >>

Quote from moony300300 >>

Im still confused on a couple of thing, do you have to pay for the spell list and monster list? Im not sure where I got this from but for some reason I now think that you need to pay for this stuff and I just need clarification. Also about the classes whe nyou buy classes how much will they cost? also will there be a reduced pack for all classes? and finally if im the DM and have Master Tier subscription and all the classes can I let players in my campaign also use all the classes? Thank you for your time.

-Moony 

 

Tbh this system isn't the best, of course I wasn't expecting it all to be free but I was expecting a subscription or a big one time purchase not both. I think that this could be changed around a bit to suit it better maybe add a subscription with everything (If you stop paying you loose it all.) for like $15 / month. anyway  I think the idea of DDB is amazing and I've had one D&D session with it and everyone loved it. I'm hoping for some affordable prices on the classes and a good system with the Master Tier.

Also is there anyone who can answer these questions? If not then that's fine but I would highly appreciate it.

Quote from firehawk2324 >>

Quote from Mordiceius >>

Overall, this is just a bad system that is too expensive and punishing on up-front costs. What it comes down to is that it should be one single subscription cost that gives you access to everything. Something like $10 a month and you have access to all books and materials. You could also give people the option to forgo the subscription and buy the books digitally to have access to them forever. Thus you have the purchase option AND the rental option.

Paying a subscription and having to still buy the books is just a bad model. Hell, this system doesn't even come with something like a virtual tabletop like products such as Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds. If it had features like that, a subscription would be more understandable. 

 Once you buy the books, they are yours. Subscription isn't needed.

Quote from Mordiceius >>

What about the DM's that can't afford a bunch of books? That's why there needs to be a $10 or $15 subscription that just gives you access to everything.

I feel like this was described in the release notes but opin release are we able to creat homebrew races and such? Some clarifying would be nice please xD