When Beyond first launched there was only a few books available, I can't remember exactly, probably less than 10, the two categories of Sourcebook and adventure made a lot of sense then. Under source books we had the PHB, obviously the definitive source book for everyone playing the game, the DMG, monster manual, volo's guide were all aimed for dungeon masters but clearly still full of source material. Along comes Xanathars and whilst still being a sourcebook it begins to muddy the water because it contains a mixture of player option content aimed for players and rules aimed at making the DMs life easier. Then comes Mordenkainens, a mixture of lore, character options and monster content. I suppose my point being that as a DM then, every sourcebook was useful in a generalised sort of way, budget permitting you should get them all. But now, a the book list has grown and grown the overall category of "Sourcebooks" now contains a plethora of books all for different use cases, most DM's wont have a need to get them all and the cost of doing so is getting very expensive. Enter the reason for my post, there is no clear guide on beyond or the market place to differentiate the sourcebooks in use case, if I want to know which books best meet my demands/desires I have to leave beyond, head on over to Youtube and watch in-depth video reviews of each book to know what each one will bring to my table.
I would propose the heading for Sourcebooks in the marketplace should be supplemented by various sub-headings or have a filter option which more accurately reflects the books on offer. I'm aware some books would fall into multiple categories so filters would be more useful than sub categories. Some examples of filters may be:
Character creation
Rule Sets / Supplements
Monster Libraries
World Book / Campaign setting
I'm sure there would be a lot more too but these just come off the top of my head. As a disclaimer I don't own all the sourcebooks by a long shot so I can't claim to be intricately aware of the contents of all of them which I supposed highlights my reasoning for the post, I'm unclear on the difference between several of the sourcebooks available and aren't sure if purchasing one or any of them would be useful to enhance my game.
They may be limited to using the categories Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) tells them to.
That said, I think a little more division would be good, but I don’t think the categories you list are workable. Almost every sourcebook WOTC puts out—aside from the core 3–are designed to have something for both players and DMs. So every sourcebook has Character Creation options. For example, Volo’s and Mordekainen’s, which are in large part “Monster Libraries” also contain playable races. Similarly, Xanathar’s falls both under “Rule Sets/Supplements” and “Character Creation.” The only category you list above that I think is actually workable is “world book/campaign setting.” So I’d think about the following categories—if DDB can even deviate from Sourcebook/Adventure. I’d see them as subcategories under Sourcebooks:
-core rule books (PHB, DMG, MM)
-setting guides (Wildemount, Eberron, Ravnica, Theros, etc. Personally I’d put AI here)
-non-core/extra life (One Grung Above, Tortle Package, Mordenkainen’s Fiendish Folio 1, etc.) NOTE: non-core is a new category WOTC has asked DDB to use
-other source books (Volo’s, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, Xanathar’s, etc.)
One challenge with this layout, though is the “other sourcebooks” looks less important than those volumes really are.
I agree it would be difficult to lump most of the newer books under one category hence why a filter might be a better idea, for example Volo's would come up when you applied either a "Character Creation" filter or a "Monster Library" one.
Even something as simple as a more detailed text dump in the store page would be an improvement over the current situation. I'll chose an example, Mythic Odysseys, the elevator pitch "Clash with the gods of Theros in this campaign sourcebook for the world’s greatest roleplaying game" now that sounds to me like its a pre written campaign, but I know it can't be because then it would come in the adventure category, so is it a world book? No idea! Does it contain details of nations? Cities? Polictal Factions? No idea! It mentions adventures in the contents page, does it contain maps, adventure ideas, potential hooks? No idea! There are magic items in the purchase options, is there any context for them in relation to the rest of the book or are they just items for you to use as and when you will in any adventure. No idea! How do I find the answers to all these questions, I go to Youtube and watch an in-depth review.
I'm not saying my idea is the right way to go about this, but some useful information about whats in each book would go a long way to help matching up the right books to the right players.
I like the idea of being able to filter store content by what the books contain. You could have a filter that says
Show me books containing:
Classes
Subclasses
Races
Subraces
Feats
Magic Items
Spells
Backgrounds
Monsters
And then that way if you're a player or DM, you could filter by what's relevant to what you're looking for.
I think trying to broadly lump books into a single category beyond 'sourcebook' and 'adventure' would be a bit futile. The current sourcebook / adventure dichotomy works because it's very clear what's an adventure, and therefore everything else is a sourcebook.
I agree it would be difficult to lump most of the newer books under one category hence why a filter might be a better idea, for example Volo's would come up when you applied either a "Character Creation" filter or a "Monster Library" one.
Even something as simple as a more detailed text dump in the store page would be an improvement over the current situation. I'll chose an example, Mythic Odysseys, the elevator pitch "Clash with the gods of Theros in this campaign sourcebook for the world’s greatest roleplaying game" now that sounds to me like its a pre written campaign, but I know it can't be because then it would come in the adventure category, so is it a world book? No idea! Does it contain details of nations? Cities? Polictal Factions? No idea! It mentions adventures in the contents page, does it contain maps, adventure ideas, potential hooks? No idea! There are magic items in the purchase options, is there any context for them in relation to the rest of the book or are they just items for you to use as and when you will in any adventure. No idea! How do I find the answers to all these questions, I go to Youtube and watch an in-depth review.
I'm not saying my idea is the right way to go about this, but some useful information about whats in each book would go a long way to help matching up the right books to the right players.
I apologize: I missed that you were suggesting filters instead of straight out category organization. Reading too fast apparently.
And you are right, more detail would be helpful. In some cases, even using the writeup found at Amazon (which I believe is provided by WOTC) would help. The Theros write up there is helpful for players but doesn't answer the DM questions you list. The WIldemount writeup on Amazon does, however. A pity DDB didn't use something like that here.
I like the idea of being able to filter store content by what the books contain. You could have a filter that says
Show me books containing:
Classes
Subclasses
Races
Subraces
Feats
Magic Items
Spells
Backgrounds
Monsters
And then that way if you're a player or DM, you could filter by what's relevant to what you're looking for.
I think trying to broadly lump books into a single category beyond 'sourcebook' and 'adventure' would be a bit futile. The current sourcebook / adventure dichotomy works because it's very clear what's an adventure, and therefore everything else is a sourcebook.
I agree with this, and I put a note to that effect in the changelog post when they 'upgraded' the marketplace. The way it works right now I have no way to tell at a glance where to look for a subclass that I'm lacking, or a racial variant. The search function doesn't even cover it, it only searches by name! If the search function would pick up these filters, or if you could search for 'swashbuckler' and have SCAG come up, that would be incredibly useful!
When Beyond first launched there was only a few books available, I can't remember exactly, probably less than 10, the two categories of Sourcebook and adventure made a lot of sense then. Under source books we had the PHB, obviously the definitive source book for everyone playing the game, the DMG, monster manual, volo's guide were all aimed for dungeon masters but clearly still full of source material. Along comes Xanathars and whilst still being a sourcebook it begins to muddy the water because it contains a mixture of player option content aimed for players and rules aimed at making the DMs life easier. Then comes Mordenkainens, a mixture of lore, character options and monster content. I suppose my point being that as a DM then, every sourcebook was useful in a generalised sort of way, budget permitting you should get them all. But now, a the book list has grown and grown the overall category of "Sourcebooks" now contains a plethora of books all for different use cases, most DM's wont have a need to get them all and the cost of doing so is getting very expensive. Enter the reason for my post, there is no clear guide on beyond or the market place to differentiate the sourcebooks in use case, if I want to know which books best meet my demands/desires I have to leave beyond, head on over to Youtube and watch in-depth video reviews of each book to know what each one will bring to my table.
I would propose the heading for Sourcebooks in the marketplace should be supplemented by various sub-headings or have a filter option which more accurately reflects the books on offer. I'm aware some books would fall into multiple categories so filters would be more useful than sub categories. Some examples of filters may be:
Character creation
Rule Sets / Supplements
Monster Libraries
World Book / Campaign setting
I'm sure there would be a lot more too but these just come off the top of my head. As a disclaimer I don't own all the sourcebooks by a long shot so I can't claim to be intricately aware of the contents of all of them which I supposed highlights my reasoning for the post, I'm unclear on the difference between several of the sourcebooks available and aren't sure if purchasing one or any of them would be useful to enhance my game.
They may be limited to using the categories Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) tells them to.
That said, I think a little more division would be good, but I don’t think the categories you list are workable. Almost every sourcebook WOTC puts out—aside from the core 3–are designed to have something for both players and DMs. So every sourcebook has Character Creation options. For example, Volo’s and Mordekainen’s, which are in large part “Monster Libraries” also contain playable races. Similarly, Xanathar’s falls both under “Rule Sets/Supplements” and “Character Creation.” The only category you list above that I think is actually workable is “world book/campaign setting.” So I’d think about the following categories—if DDB can even deviate from Sourcebook/Adventure. I’d see them as subcategories under Sourcebooks:
-core rule books (PHB, DMG, MM)
-setting guides (Wildemount, Eberron, Ravnica, Theros, etc. Personally I’d put AI here)
-non-core/extra life (One Grung Above, Tortle Package, Mordenkainen’s Fiendish Folio 1, etc.) NOTE: non-core is a new category WOTC has asked DDB to use
-other source books (Volo’s, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, Xanathar’s, etc.)
One challenge with this layout, though is the “other sourcebooks” looks less important than those volumes really are.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
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I agree it would be difficult to lump most of the newer books under one category hence why a filter might be a better idea, for example Volo's would come up when you applied either a "Character Creation" filter or a "Monster Library" one.
Even something as simple as a more detailed text dump in the store page would be an improvement over the current situation. I'll chose an example, Mythic Odysseys, the elevator pitch "Clash with the gods of Theros in this campaign sourcebook for the world’s greatest roleplaying game" now that sounds to me like its a pre written campaign, but I know it can't be because then it would come in the adventure category, so is it a world book? No idea! Does it contain details of nations? Cities? Polictal Factions? No idea! It mentions adventures in the contents page, does it contain maps, adventure ideas, potential hooks? No idea! There are magic items in the purchase options, is there any context for them in relation to the rest of the book or are they just items for you to use as and when you will in any adventure. No idea! How do I find the answers to all these questions, I go to Youtube and watch an in-depth review.
I'm not saying my idea is the right way to go about this, but some useful information about whats in each book would go a long way to help matching up the right books to the right players.
I like the idea of being able to filter store content by what the books contain. You could have a filter that says
Show me books containing:
And then that way if you're a player or DM, you could filter by what's relevant to what you're looking for.
I think trying to broadly lump books into a single category beyond 'sourcebook' and 'adventure' would be a bit futile. The current sourcebook / adventure dichotomy works because it's very clear what's an adventure, and therefore everything else is a sourcebook.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
I apologize: I missed that you were suggesting filters instead of straight out category organization. Reading too fast apparently.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
And you are right, more detail would be helpful. In some cases, even using the writeup found at Amazon (which I believe is provided by WOTC) would help. The Theros write up there is helpful for players but doesn't answer the DM questions you list. The WIldemount writeup on Amazon does, however. A pity DDB didn't use something like that here.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
I agree with this, and I put a note to that effect in the changelog post when they 'upgraded' the marketplace. The way it works right now I have no way to tell at a glance where to look for a subclass that I'm lacking, or a racial variant. The search function doesn't even cover it, it only searches by name! If the search function would pick up these filters, or if you could search for 'swashbuckler' and have SCAG come up, that would be incredibly useful!
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep