DNDBeyond did it, and released the alpha of Maps, their take on a VTT. This is still in early phases, and they said to expect some bugs and whatnot, which is fine. But that's exciting!! They have the start of an official VTT FINALLY that we can use. That being said, I know it's early and I know they definitely have a lot more planned. But what are some things we as the community would love to see, that the staff might not be readily thinking about?
Personally, this might be a big ask, but I'd love to have a sound effects library, or a way to add sounds. I don't mean music, but rather deliberate and pointed sounds such as an explosion, a roar, or other magical noises (raygun sound for my Spelljammer setting?).
I'd love to be able to add that extra touch of immersion. Are there any other weird or different things you'd wanna see? Let's get a list going of ideas!
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I'm just happy that the website is getting some new features and we got a Dev Update to demo it.
What I'd like to see in integration with the encounter system. Maybe a simple targeting feature where the player clicks on a target and that info shows up in the campaign log. Not automating combat or anything complicated like that, just a something to avoid confusion between the players and DM.
Its pretty bare bones at the moment, but seems to be a good start. Right now i don't see much of a reason switch from owl-bear redo but i think it has the potential to be grate and a big time saver both in game and during prep.
Upload Costume tokens !!!
Encounter builder integrations. It makes more sense for this to interface with encounters rather than campaign.
load up monster and player in a on deck window for the dm
show player health and ac conditions other basic information hover
"Run encounter" slide out window. one main issues with running a vtt is how many windows the DM is cycling between
initiative tracker at the top
I am exited about more exited for this then the 3D vtt. I hope its get a lot more interrogation into encounter, monsters, and character sheets. Right now its kinda just another thing to mange with a roll log it dose not feel like it part of dnd beyond.
Please, please, please, just keep it simple. We don't need another VTT, let those guys do the fancy stuff. Just make the maps from the modules available, and all the creature tokens. DM's can already manage encounters through that, and it will flow into Maps as demonstrated. We don't need sounds, status effects, or anything like that. Do what you do best to make playing the game accessible to everyone. Let the pros at VTT do their job and those people that want sounds, effects, status markers spend their money on those systems.
It doesn't even need to be that complicated, but if I can import an Encounter to a map and have all of my tokens already labelled to match what's in the Encounter Builder, that would be a huge QOL improvement for session prep in general. Then I can just drop them where they need to be on the map, and I'll be able to way more easily keep track of which token was Goblin A, B, C, etc.
Currently, if I want to use another VTT alongside DDB, I have to go in and label each token manually. I know it's not really that hard or time consuming, but shaving off that little step would still be fantastic.
Tokens snap to grid (make it optional for those who don't want that)
Functionality with Encounter Generator. What I'm imagining is that you create an encounter in the generator and there's a button that says "Create Map". You click that and it will place all the tokens for creatures and players in your encounter on the map. You can then add whatever bits you want to the map and make the encounter your own.
Ability to add environmental features: this would be something like you upload the basic "Green Grass" map and then you have the ability to add some generic stuff to it that will become part of the background, like defense walls, chairs, tables, lookout towers, rocks, trees, pits, etc etc. That way you can get a lot of use and customization out of even the basic maps.
Spell effects: the ability to select a spell and it will show its range and AoE. For ongoing effects the spell effect stays as part of the map to show where it is (like Fog Cloud or Grease).
Just as a baseline, Maps needs to have at a minimum all the functionality of OwlBear Rodeo. I think that's the least robust/easiest to start using of the top 5 Map display/tabletop platforms. I personally only use it for in person games with a digital tabletop for maps. I would never use DDB maps in the current state over Owlbear or any of the other options available. There's just to many little things not present. Off the top of my head:
Ability to use shape tools for fog, instead of freehand for drawing and erasing.
Area of effect markers for various effects/spells
Status markers (blinded, dazed, unconscious, etc.)
Also, because we give maps names, and the maps are given a url. Uploaded maps should be searchable by the community, if the map is set to public.
For example, I have a map of a Thayan Enclave in Proskur...but I don't have a map of Proskur, so I don't know how or where this enclave fits in the city. I should be able to come to dndbeyond and search maps, instead of google or reddit.
Is anyone else having trouble accessing their source and adventure books on it? All that I have available is Keys of the Golden Vault and the ability to upload my own made maps, despite me having like 8 adventure books and 4 sourcebooks, not to mention all the content my friends shared with me.
Finally a way to use the DDB Maps I purchased way early on and then never had a way to use them since I don't use a VTT and Owlbear doesn't work on my iPhone. I guess it'd be cool to use the digital dice we all have a collection of and for sure integration with encounter builder. I do however hope it doesn't become too complex, simplicity is nice too. Access with mobile would really be a plus. I'm not on same time as my PBP players so them having access even when I'm not on would be cool. I'm just excited to see this development, very nice.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Seventh 🌖 Sojourn a home-brew post apocalyptic campaign...
Campaigns/Threads/Adventures I am a player in currently. Greyhawk: Tides of War. PbP-Heavy is the Head. Tomb of Horrors. mamoduck's Lost Mine of Phandelver. DeconBlu's A Most Potent Brew. Dragon's of Stormwreck Isle. Stormwreck. Isle Follies: A Beginner Adventure. 🔔🔮 Glass Dao - Fastest Flowing PBP Style, Always Recruiting🔮🔔
Yeah, you know I pay for this and Roll20 so I can get dynamic lighting but the dynamic lighting and token view distance is a pain. The group I play in uses Fantasy Grounds and their dynamic lighting is easier to work with it looks like. So, I'd love dynamic lighting which is easy to paint and functional character tokens which do not need to be programmed. I want to be able to drop a token and not have to worry about whether or not they can see around this wall or see in the dark etc. I think getting this one feature right and making it so it take zero effort from the player or DM to deal with line of sight etc would alone make DnDBeyond the de facto VTT.
Outside that I have a ton of environmental conditions in my campaigns. When I DM I love to round out my sessions by targeting different skills for checks or having a terrain challenge like crossing a river or a cliff. Both Fantasy Ground and Roll20 have a measurement tool, which is great and all, but I'd love a measurement tool which would allow me to calculate a character's movement distance as well as the actual distance to something. So let's say a player is standing on the far side of a 15ft road and a goblin is shooting at them from a hill top 30ft from the edge of the road. The hill is covered in loose rock making the hill difficult terrain. The total distance to the goblin is 45ft (15ft road + 30ft hill) but movement would be feel like something along the lines 75ft or 15ft normal terrain and then double the distance for crossing difficult terrain. Make it a tool and make the right click view distance and the left click token movement. Roll20 honestly has better pointers, but the sticky pointers that Fantasy Grounds has are nice too.
Generally, I don't feel like a VTT needs a lot just some basic features to help the DM control line of sight and express map conditions. Spell effects and attack animations are great and all, but ultimately we're here to play a game which has the soul of a pen and paper game with dice. It doesn't have to be fancy but if it is going to go for level 20 then I'd suggest adding map animations for the environment such as a shake button with a slider for intensity the DM can press which moves the map around and the tokens and objects around to symbolize an earthquake. DnDBeyond already has a dice animation and that is basically what it is but with tokens. Or for sudden snow storms from a frost mage maybe the map can lose it's color and start to fade to white or the dynamic lighting could get darker at the press of a button for darkness.
Don't over think it and keep things simple to stuff you already have in the tool belt is all I am saying and the above isn't really all that much I'd think. Maybe some shaders a DM can put on a layer for terrain and lighting as if they were drawing in MS paint.
P.S. - I did like how it already pulled in my character tokens, but it should also pull in my encounter tokens because I've been using that too. I actually like that thing although there is no accounting for CR sometimes.
Considering this is gonna be the basics and nothing more... i don't expect much to come out of this. after all WotC is launching their own Unreal5 VTT software which they showed about in the D&D direct at the beginning of the year.
that said, its hoenstly a surprise to me that they would go to such a lenght to make another VTT within the web browser for beyond. and hoenstly im even more susprised to see it works like a charm on my phone. usually VTTs takes a lot of power but this one seems to be well done enough to work on mobiles as well, though they do not have touch screen capabilities. i really hope they do in the future.
the one thing i really wish they do though is the thing nobody ever does... Above VTT actually implemented this recently thanks to us asking for it. so i hope beyond will do this too...
Request: Projector Mode ! its cool to load a player onto a second screen, but that means we need another way of controlling that screen. since th etv is usually on the side. its hard to control. so it would be great to be able to have a button we can push, that enables us to control the pan and zoom of that player screen from within our DM screen. and once we are done, we push the button again and now both pan and zoom aren't sent anymore.
this is a must for those playing a projector or tv screen on site. really wish more VTT gave that option. and yes i know about maptools, infinitas DM, dynamic whatever and a few others, but those are power hungry and really not optimised. none of them worked on my setup. but above vtt does and i hope maps becomes something alike.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM of two gaming groups. Likes to create stuff. Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games --> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
Please, please, please, just keep it simple. We don't need another VTT, let those guys do the fancy stuff. Just make the maps from the modules available, and all the creature tokens. DM's can already manage encounters through that, and it will flow into Maps as demonstrated. We don't need sounds, status effects, or anything like that. Do what you do best to make playing the game accessible to everyone. Let the pros at VTT do their job and those people that want sounds, effects, status markers spend their money on those systems.
100%. I couldn't agree more. We already have alternatives that have all the bells and whistles. What many of us want is just a simple way to run games quickly.
Really, the only thing I need is an initiative tracker tied to the encounter builder in maps.
For content that has both player and DM versions of the maps as the DM I would like to be able to see the DM version and have the players see the player version
DNDBeyond did it, and released the alpha of Maps, their take on a VTT. This is still in early phases, and they said to expect some bugs and whatnot, which is fine. But that's exciting!! They have the start of an official VTT FINALLY that we can use. That being said, I know it's early and I know they definitely have a lot more planned. But what are some things we as the community would love to see, that the staff might not be readily thinking about?
Personally, this might be a big ask, but I'd love to have a sound effects library, or a way to add sounds. I don't mean music, but rather deliberate and pointed sounds such as an explosion, a roar, or other magical noises (raygun sound for my Spelljammer setting?).
I'd love to be able to add that extra touch of immersion. Are there any other weird or different things you'd wanna see? Let's get a list going of ideas!
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I'm just happy that the website is getting some new features and we got a Dev Update to demo it.
What I'd like to see in integration with the encounter system. Maybe a simple targeting feature where the player clicks on a target and that info shows up in the campaign log. Not automating combat or anything complicated like that, just a something to avoid confusion between the players and DM.
Its pretty bare bones at the moment, but seems to be a good start. Right now i don't see much of a reason switch from owl-bear redo but i think it has the potential to be grate and a big time saver both in game and during prep.
I am exited about more exited for this then the 3D vtt. I hope its get a lot more interrogation into encounter, monsters, and character sheets. Right now its kinda just another thing to mange with a roll log it dose not feel like it part of dnd beyond.
Please, please, please, just keep it simple. We don't need another VTT, let those guys do the fancy stuff. Just make the maps from the modules available, and all the creature tokens. DM's can already manage encounters through that, and it will flow into Maps as demonstrated. We don't need sounds, status effects, or anything like that. Do what you do best to make playing the game accessible to everyone. Let the pros at VTT do their job and those people that want sounds, effects, status markers spend their money on those systems.
+1 for Encounter integration.
It doesn't even need to be that complicated, but if I can import an Encounter to a map and have all of my tokens already labelled to match what's in the Encounter Builder, that would be a huge QOL improvement for session prep in general. Then I can just drop them where they need to be on the map, and I'll be able to way more easily keep track of which token was Goblin A, B, C, etc.
Currently, if I want to use another VTT alongside DDB, I have to go in and label each token manually. I know it's not really that hard or time consuming, but shaving off that little step would still be fantastic.
I think this is great!
Here's my wishlist:
Just as a baseline, Maps needs to have at a minimum all the functionality of OwlBear Rodeo. I think that's the least robust/easiest to start using of the top 5 Map display/tabletop platforms. I personally only use it for in person games with a digital tabletop for maps. I would never use DDB maps in the current state over Owlbear or any of the other options available. There's just to many little things not present. Off the top of my head:
Way to view the Maps from the Player Side.
This light blue is hard to tell on water maps and Saltmarsh styled adventures.
Invisible tokens (click on/off)
WALLS
I'd vie for scenic features; furniture, walls, decorations, statues, even lightsources that are interactive with the fog?
Also a whole lot more different basic maps.
yes to all of the above.
Also, because we give maps names, and the maps are given a url. Uploaded maps should be searchable by the community, if the map is set to public.
For example, I have a map of a Thayan Enclave in Proskur...but I don't have a map of Proskur, so I don't know how or where this enclave fits in the city. I should be able to come to dndbeyond and search maps, instead of google or reddit.
I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of it yet.
Is anyone else having trouble accessing their source and adventure books on it? All that I have available is Keys of the Golden Vault and the ability to upload my own made maps, despite me having like 8 adventure books and 4 sourcebooks, not to mention all the content my friends shared with me.
Finally a way to use the DDB Maps I purchased way early on and then never had a way to use them since I don't use a VTT and Owlbear doesn't work on my iPhone. I guess it'd be cool to use the digital dice we all have a collection of and for sure integration with encounter builder. I do however hope it doesn't become too complex, simplicity is nice too. Access with mobile would really be a plus. I'm not on same time as my PBP players so them having access even when I'm not on would be cool. I'm just excited to see this development, very nice.
Seventh 🌖 Sojourn a home-brew post apocalyptic campaign...
Campaigns/Threads/Adventures I am a player in currently.
Greyhawk: Tides of War. PbP-Heavy is the Head. Tomb of Horrors. mamoduck's Lost Mine of Phandelver. DeconBlu's A Most Potent Brew. Dragon's of Stormwreck Isle. Stormwreck. Isle Follies: A Beginner Adventure. 🔔🔮 Glass Dao - Fastest Flowing PBP Style, Always Recruiting🔮🔔
Yeah, you know I pay for this and Roll20 so I can get dynamic lighting but the dynamic lighting and token view distance is a pain. The group I play in uses Fantasy Grounds and their dynamic lighting is easier to work with it looks like. So, I'd love dynamic lighting which is easy to paint and functional character tokens which do not need to be programmed. I want to be able to drop a token and not have to worry about whether or not they can see around this wall or see in the dark etc. I think getting this one feature right and making it so it take zero effort from the player or DM to deal with line of sight etc would alone make DnDBeyond the de facto VTT.
Outside that I have a ton of environmental conditions in my campaigns. When I DM I love to round out my sessions by targeting different skills for checks or having a terrain challenge like crossing a river or a cliff. Both Fantasy Ground and Roll20 have a measurement tool, which is great and all, but I'd love a measurement tool which would allow me to calculate a character's movement distance as well as the actual distance to something. So let's say a player is standing on the far side of a 15ft road and a goblin is shooting at them from a hill top 30ft from the edge of the road. The hill is covered in loose rock making the hill difficult terrain. The total distance to the goblin is 45ft (15ft road + 30ft hill) but movement would be feel like something along the lines 75ft or 15ft normal terrain and then double the distance for crossing difficult terrain. Make it a tool and make the right click view distance and the left click token movement. Roll20 honestly has better pointers, but the sticky pointers that Fantasy Grounds has are nice too.
Generally, I don't feel like a VTT needs a lot just some basic features to help the DM control line of sight and express map conditions. Spell effects and attack animations are great and all, but ultimately we're here to play a game which has the soul of a pen and paper game with dice. It doesn't have to be fancy but if it is going to go for level 20 then I'd suggest adding map animations for the environment such as a shake button with a slider for intensity the DM can press which moves the map around and the tokens and objects around to symbolize an earthquake. DnDBeyond already has a dice animation and that is basically what it is but with tokens. Or for sudden snow storms from a frost mage maybe the map can lose it's color and start to fade to white or the dynamic lighting could get darker at the press of a button for darkness.
Don't over think it and keep things simple to stuff you already have in the tool belt is all I am saying and the above isn't really all that much I'd think. Maybe some shaders a DM can put on a layer for terrain and lighting as if they were drawing in MS paint.
P.S. - I did like how it already pulled in my character tokens, but it should also pull in my encounter tokens because I've been using that too. I actually like that thing although there is no accounting for CR sometimes.
"Life is Cast by Random Dice"
Burn my candle twice.
I have done my life justice
Against random dice.
Considering this is gonna be the basics and nothing more... i don't expect much to come out of this. after all WotC is launching their own Unreal5 VTT software which they showed about in the D&D direct at the beginning of the year.
that said, its hoenstly a surprise to me that they would go to such a lenght to make another VTT within the web browser for beyond.
and hoenstly im even more susprised to see it works like a charm on my phone. usually VTTs takes a lot of power but this one seems to be well done enough to work on mobiles as well, though they do not have touch screen capabilities. i really hope they do in the future.
the one thing i really wish they do though is the thing nobody ever does... Above VTT actually implemented this recently thanks to us asking for it. so i hope beyond will do this too...
Request:
Projector Mode !
its cool to load a player onto a second screen, but that means we need another way of controlling that screen. since th etv is usually on the side. its hard to control. so it would be great to be able to have a button we can push, that enables us to control the pan and zoom of that player screen from within our DM screen. and once we are done, we push the button again and now both pan and zoom aren't sent anymore.
this is a must for those playing a projector or tv screen on site.
really wish more VTT gave that option.
and yes i know about maptools, infinitas DM, dynamic whatever and a few others, but those are power hungry and really not optimised. none of them worked on my setup.
but above vtt does and i hope maps becomes something alike.
DM of two gaming groups.
Likes to create stuff.
Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses
If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games
--> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
100%. I couldn't agree more. We already have alternatives that have all the bells and whistles. What many of us want is just a simple way to run games quickly.
Really, the only thing I need is an initiative tracker tied to the encounter builder in maps.
Please note that the primary channel for feedback on Maps is the integrated feedback form, rather than the forums
D&D Beyond moderator across forums, Discord, Twitch and YouTube. Always happy to help and willing to answer questions (or at least try). (he/him/his)
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat On - Mod Hat Off
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For content that has both player and DM versions of the maps as the DM I would like to be able to see the DM version and have the players see the player version
When can we expect Dungeon of the Mad Mage?!?!?! Please!
It would be nice to have object tokens. For example a cart or wagon that can move around the map with players.