I was disappointed after purchasing my first adventure (Dungeon of the Mad Mage) on D&D Beyond to discover that it's very difficult to navigate. It's essentially just a long document that doesn't take advantage of the digital format...other than giving me links to other products and suggesting I buy them. >:(
Having links to monster stats is nice. But in my opinion that's a minor plus compared to the big negative of being difficult to read the adventure. Although having the map hyperlinked to the keyed entries would be ideal, I can understand why that might be technically time-consuming. However, can we not get the keyed locations listed as links under the table of contents? I realize that would be quite long - for DotMM in particular - but it seems like a fundamental functionality for such a product, and I don't think it was unreasonable of me to expect it.
This is very frustrating. I feel like I've paid for the book twice and have not much to show for it. Sometimes the digital adventure is harder to navigate than the physical book. Yeah, with "Control + F" and similar shortcuts I can work around it, but it's still a clunky experience. The encounter entries already have links built in...but nothing points to those links.
Are there any plans to update the adventures to make them easier to navigate? I like the promise of D&D Beyond, but if the adventures are never going to be more than long single documents without hyperlinks then I doubt I'll buy more of them.
Are you viewing in the app or the website? On a computer, tablet, or phone? On the website—at least on a computer of a tablet turned landscape—there is a clickable table of contents along the left side of the page. Are you not seeing that, or am I misunderstanding your concern?
On the website...there is a clickable table of contents along the left side of the page. Are you not seeing that, or am I misunderstanding your concern?
Yes, I see that. But it only has links to "What dwells here", "Exploring this level", and "Aftermath". What I'm hoping for are links to the numbered keyed areas of the map. Giving me a link to "Exploring this level" isn't terribly useful, as I then need to scroll through sometimes 30+ locations to find the entry I'm looking for.
Perhaps the limited links in the table of contents is only the case for Dungeon of the Mad Mage, given its large number of keyed locations? Are other adventures more hyperlinked?
On the website...there is a clickable table of contents along the left side of the page. Are you not seeing that, or am I misunderstanding your concern?
Yes, I see that. But it only has links to "What dwells here", "Exploring this level", and "Aftermath". What I'm hoping for are links to the numbered keyed areas of the map. Giving me a link to "Exploring this level" isn't terribly useful, as I then need to scroll through sometimes 30+ locations to find the entry I'm looking for.
Perhaps the limited links in the table of contents is only the case for Dungeon of the Mad Mage, given its large number of keyed locations? Are other adventures more hyperlinked?
Thank you for clarifying! Not all adventures are formatted this way. Icewind Dale and Netherdeep, for example, both let you drill down to location numbers--at least in those chapters where that is relevant. It is not immediately obvious that one can do so, but if one clicks on a heading like "locations in X" in the sidebar, it will reveal a list of location numbers. You can see what I mean by looking at the (free) Frozen Sick adventure and clicking on a heading in the sidebar like "Salsvault (areas S7-S12)"
I know that the hyperlinking and other formatting for sources has improved over time. It's possible that Dungeon of the Mad Mage was released at a time when they weren't drilling down so far. They have been slowly going back over older releases to improve them. So, for example, Curse of Strahd has been updated, and it allows this drilling down to location numbers in the left sidebar/table of contents.
It's also possible that something got missed in Dungeon of the Mad Mage, as I've tested several other older titles and I have yet to find another that doesn't allow drilling down to the numbered encounters/locations in the sidebar table of contents.
Hopefully a moderator or a staff member will see this thread and make a note to check on it. If we are lucky, they might even let us know which of my guesses (or neither!) are correct.
Yes, which I noted in my post. But that still requires switching tabs after checking the map, or having a separate physical map to reference, and possibly checking through multiple false hits, etc.
Hardly a horrible state of affairs, but I was disappointed to see such obvious functionality was missing. Made me regret the purchase a bit.
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I was disappointed after purchasing my first adventure (Dungeon of the Mad Mage) on D&D Beyond to discover that it's very difficult to navigate. It's essentially just a long document that doesn't take advantage of the digital format...other than giving me links to other products and suggesting I buy them. >:(
Having links to monster stats is nice. But in my opinion that's a minor plus compared to the big negative of being difficult to read the adventure. Although having the map hyperlinked to the keyed entries would be ideal, I can understand why that might be technically time-consuming. However, can we not get the keyed locations listed as links under the table of contents? I realize that would be quite long - for DotMM in particular - but it seems like a fundamental functionality for such a product, and I don't think it was unreasonable of me to expect it.
This is very frustrating. I feel like I've paid for the book twice and have not much to show for it. Sometimes the digital adventure is harder to navigate than the physical book. Yeah, with "Control + F" and similar shortcuts I can work around it, but it's still a clunky experience. The encounter entries already have links built in...but nothing points to those links.
Are there any plans to update the adventures to make them easier to navigate? I like the promise of D&D Beyond, but if the adventures are never going to be more than long single documents without hyperlinks then I doubt I'll buy more of them.
Are you viewing in the app or the website? On a computer, tablet, or phone?
On the website—at least on a computer of a tablet turned landscape—there is a clickable table of contents along the left side of the page. Are you not seeing that, or am I misunderstanding your concern?
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
Yes, I see that. But it only has links to "What dwells here", "Exploring this level", and "Aftermath". What I'm hoping for are links to the numbered keyed areas of the map. Giving me a link to "Exploring this level" isn't terribly useful, as I then need to scroll through sometimes 30+ locations to find the entry I'm looking for.
Perhaps the limited links in the table of contents is only the case for Dungeon of the Mad Mage, given its large number of keyed locations? Are other adventures more hyperlinked?
Ctrl-F will take you right to what you search for
Thank you for clarifying! Not all adventures are formatted this way. Icewind Dale and Netherdeep, for example, both let you drill down to location numbers--at least in those chapters where that is relevant. It is not immediately obvious that one can do so, but if one clicks on a heading like "locations in X" in the sidebar, it will reveal a list of location numbers. You can see what I mean by looking at the (free) Frozen Sick adventure and clicking on a heading in the sidebar like "Salsvault (areas S7-S12)"
I know that the hyperlinking and other formatting for sources has improved over time. It's possible that Dungeon of the Mad Mage was released at a time when they weren't drilling down so far. They have been slowly going back over older releases to improve them. So, for example, Curse of Strahd has been updated, and it allows this drilling down to location numbers in the left sidebar/table of contents.
It's also possible that something got missed in Dungeon of the Mad Mage, as I've tested several other older titles and I have yet to find another that doesn't allow drilling down to the numbered encounters/locations in the sidebar table of contents.
Hopefully a moderator or a staff member will see this thread and make a note to check on it. If we are lucky, they might even let us know which of my guesses (or neither!) are correct.
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
Yes, which I noted in my post. But that still requires switching tabs after checking the map, or having a separate physical map to reference, and possibly checking through multiple false hits, etc.
Hardly a horrible state of affairs, but I was disappointed to see such obvious functionality was missing. Made me regret the purchase a bit.