+1 to pretty much all the comments so far. This isn't a very robust campaign management tool so far. Also...
- we should be able to click on Monsters and add them to a campaign/encounter (first there need to be someplace to create/save the encounters, of course).
Lots of work left to do here to make this a competitive DM tool considering what's already out there. I LOVE the UI and the look. It's what's under the hood that still needs a lot of love! Keep going!
A very useful option to add would be able to curate lists of official and homebrew content that are considered "campaign official". Either as a page linked from the campaign manager, or even better as a new filter option added to the lists where you can filter the results by a campaign you own (DM) or belong to (player).
For instance, say I've banned certain spells from my game, I've decided a handful of homebrew spells are acceptable, or I changed how an official spell worked so I ended up making my own homebrew "fix" of that spell. I have to provide a list of what I will and will not allow. When my wizard player levels up and gets to choose new spells they have to refer to this external list, and they potentially have to go to two different places to find all the spells approved for use. They may be browsing past dozens of spells that aren't even allowed in my game.
Instead, imagine if I could go to a page where I can define specific official spells to be excluded, and specific homebrew spells to be included, then DnDBeyond populates a list that factors in those rules. The player then filters DnDBeyond's spell list by my campaign, and only the spells I want them to see are shown.
The principle can be expanded to any other area of the game the DM might have houserules in play, and would be a huge boon to all concerned.
In it's current state you would be better not calling this a campaign manager. Sorry guys but there is so much that I want from a campaign manager and 3x rich text boxes doesn't come close.
I just had to quote this. Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited to see where this is going, but this guy (@daplunk) hit the proverbial nail on the head.
A campaign management tool that would be incredible for the DM would be an encounter builder / tracker. Below are some features I would love to see in a tool like this:
Encounter Builder
Encounter Tracker
You just described Hero Lab so @Curse if you are reading this... head on over and check out Hero Lab too.
As I understand it, one of the features D&D Beyond is being able to integrate pc information into twitch streams, i.e. being able to see player stats, hit points, conditions, etc. I think this is a great feature. But as someone that doesn't stream or watch streams is there a way that this could be of use in my home game? I ask because as the DM I would find it extremely useful to just have all the players information in front of me digitally and in real time. And I imagine that this information would be pretty useful for the players as well. Will the tool being designed primarily for streams be usable in this way?
As I understand it, one of the features D&D Beyond is being able to integrate pc information into twitch streams, i.e. being able to see player stats, hit points, conditions, etc. I think this is a great feature. But as someone that doesn't stream or watch streams is there a way that this could be of use in my home game? I ask because as the DM I would find it extremely useful to just have all the players information in front of me digitally and in real time. And I imagine that this information would be pretty useful for the players as well. Will the tool being designed primarily for streams be usable in this way?
Thanks and cheers
All this and a ton more is already done extremely well in Fantasy Grounds (minus the direct connection with twitch, but there are ways around that). And can be used at the table top just fine.
FG isn't a character builder though. And, it lacks some of the more powerful campaign manager tools (that you'd see with Realm Works). So my hope, is for some cool integration between the two!
A campaign management tool that would be incredible for the DM would be an encounter builder / tracker. Below are some features I would love to see in a tool like this:
Encounter Builder
Encounter Tracker
You just described Hero Lab so @Curse if you are reading this... head on over and check out Hero Lab too.
If I make HomeBrew content, how do I make it available for characters in my campaign to access?
What will the policy be for making private "homebrew" content that is a duplicate of non-SRD content. For example If I spent the time to create a non-srd official spell that came from my physical copy of the PHB. But I did not publish that spell to the public. Would that be considered a breach of the TOS?
My ideal campaign management would allow me to use dnd beyond to have my group create their characters and allow me to see them on my screen. Not only that, but I'd like to be able to pull up the magic item or gold that I want to give on my screen and transfer it to their character, or if they want to buy something, the spend the gold on their screen and I can give them the item. I don't know if I'm articulating this particularly well, but what I'd like ultimately is a automatic and transparent accounting of the small things at the table that are easy to lose track of. Things like, how much gold do they have, what items do they have, here's this specific item I created and gave to you, it's in your inventory etc. i was hoping that beyond could be the miracle I was looking for. Is it? Have I missed something big?
You just described Hero Lab so @Curse if you are reading this... head on over and check out Hero Lab too.
Hero Lab is a perfect example of how DDB should not design a campaign manager. It is a clunky, outdated and horrible program with so many legacy issues it's just not funny. Hell, half the 5e SRD in HL still has d20 legacy artefacts in it because they just hacked the d20 SRD to force it out instead of designing one from scratch.
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"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
You just described Hero Lab so @Curse if you are reading this... head on over and check out Hero Lab too.
Hero Lab is a perfect example of how DDB should not design a campaign manager...
Do you mean "Character Builder", not "Campaign Manager"? Hero Lab is the Character Builder by Lone Wolf Development. Realm Works is the Campaign Manager by the same developer.
IMHO, Hero Labs is horrible. Whereas Realm Works at least has some redeeming qualities in that it is very comprehensive. Just clunky as hades and a horrible, you have to keep paying for a stupid cloud service payment model. Let alone that it crashes like every 10 minutes.
You just described Hero Lab so @Curse if you are reading this... head on over and check out Hero Lab too.
Hero Lab is a perfect example of how DDB should not design a campaign manager. It is a clunky, outdated and horrible program with so many legacy issues it's just not funny. Hell, half the 5e SRD in HL still has d20 legacy artefacts in it because they just hacked the d20 SRD to force it out instead of designing one from scratch.
Oh its certainly in need of a refresh. As far as functionality goes though it's all there. They just announced Hero Lab Online actually so hopefully the clunky UI will be replaced by something a bit more modern. I think it was the early 90s when it was still cool to make your windows applications dark colours. I've not had any issues with the 5e pack. It can be a beast to learn the editor stuff but that's just part of the reason why its able to support so many different game systems.
You just described Hero Lab so @Curse if you are reading this... head on over and check out Hero Lab too.
Hero Lab is a perfect example of how DDB should not design a campaign manager...
Do you mean "Character Builder", not "Campaign Manager"? Hero Lab is the Character Builder by Lone Wolf Development. Realm Works is the Campaign Manager by the same developer.
IMHO, Hero Labs is horrible. Whereas Realm Works at least has some redeeming qualities in that it is very comprehensive. Just clunky as hades and a horrible, you have to keep paying for a stupid cloud service payment model. Let alone that it crashes like every 10 minutes
My point exactly. Campaign Managers are products that exist and calling this a Campaign Manager is simply incorrect. Combat manager yes, encounter manager yes, character manager yes. But it falls well short of being able to call itself a Campaign Manager.
I love Hero Lab for all the combat management functionality it provides. It's saves me countless amount of time at the table be it not having to look up a spell or ability or simply not having to track HP with a pen and paper.
How long since you actually used Realm Works? The subscription model was frozen years ago and crashes are pretty damn rare these days. All part of the software development cycle. You would be hard pressed to find anything else on the market that comes close to the functionality it provides currently. Going to be interesting to see how it looks once its launched on the web also.
We know both Hero Lab and Realm Works are headed to the web which is why this spikes my interest. DDB obviously have the ability to make sexy looking websites but if the functionality isn't there then there's no reason to shift over. At this stage Realm Works and Hero Lab offer me everything they are saying this will except for the streaming integration and pronunciation guide. Both things I have zero use for.
And yes I watched their video up above and Hero Lab can very quickly and easily scale monsters up or down live at the table.
If Realm Works and Hero Lab had the sexy DDB UI sitting on top of it and was web accessible then that would be a ground breaking product that I would come running and screaming towards.
I'd love a space to keep NPC, Monster and Equipment sheets as well as potentially a place for maps. A lot like the campaign management system that you have but I want it expanded to much more and be much more flexible with it, I don't just want to keep notes in a campaign manager.
I also want to choose everything that players can see, as I know especially for each others character sheets for example. I have a race which is much like a changeling in which it can transform to mimic other races so imagine one of your players using this race, having your players meet and have them instantly knowing that player is this race is boring but having the players meet and the player being disguised as a human for example then it displays their race to the other players as a human not as this race. This allows for incredibly interesting sessions when the other players realise alongside their characters that this person in their party that they've believed has been a human the whole time is suddenly this race which in one of my settings are incredibly frowned upon. So they'll suddenly have a huge dilemma on their hands which they never thought existed beforehand.
I know players and DMs have to RP stuff all the time where they know something that there characters don't. But being able to realise and discover something at the same time as your character is wonderful in my opinion so as a DM one of the things I most enjoy is keeping things secret from my players. One of the most fun things that happened to me during a campaign was similar to my example, I discovered that one of our party members was in fact a monster which could in fact shape shift into other creatures we had believed my friends character had died but we found this Monster which had shape shifted to be him. So at the same time as my character realising that his friend and party member is in fact actually dead and this Monster has been part of his party for a long time, I find out that my friend had all of us fooled and that him and the DM had been working together and in the know the whole time.
Regarding maps, I seem to remember BadEye saying at some point that DDB isn't looking to compete with VTTs like Roll20 and FantasyGrounds, but they are considering looking at integration into those systems.
When I think of maps for campaign management, I think of overland and city maps, not tactical ones. i see maps as critical to a campaign.
The Campaign Management functionality is the thing I am most excited about. Here is my wish list (some of which has already been mentioned):
Macro level (campaign):
Place for information on locations, such as towns, villages, forests, etc
Place for holding NPCs
Place for maps, and ideally be able to click on links (like a town) on the map and be brought to the detail of the town
Ability to organize all the above in some sort of hierarchy or collection, for example: Kingdom XYZ, then cities/towns within that kingdom, notable NPCs of the kingdom,
It would be -really- cool to be able to buy a setting or adventure and load all or portions of it into the campaign manager, and then add details to it
Micro level:
Place to create an adventure, via a predefined or customizable adventure template, and link it to a location above
The adventure template could have ability to link directly to NPC or Monster details
typical adventure outline would be supported, such as overview, read aloud text, DM details, maps, etc.
also would be cool to be able to buy adventures/APs and upload them to the manager
I love the direction this is going! Thanks for all the hard work!
I'd like something along the lines of a calendar (one that uses the Forgotten Realms as the default) but easily customized. The ability to add entries for each day would be excellent. I used a program called DMGenie which did this and it was extremely useful.
You just described Hero Lab so @Curse if you are reading this... head on over and check out Hero Lab too.
Hero Lab is a perfect example of how DDB should not design a campaign manager...
Do you mean "Character Builder", not "Campaign Manager"? Hero Lab is the Character Builder by Lone Wolf Development. Realm Works is the Campaign Manager by the same developer.
IMHO, Hero Labs is horrible. Whereas Realm Works at least has some redeeming qualities in that it is very comprehensive. Just clunky as hades and a horrible, you have to keep paying for a stupid cloud service payment model. Let alone that it crashes like every 10 minutes
...
How long since you actually used Realm Works? The subscription model was frozen years ago and crashes are pretty damn rare these days. All part of the software development cycle. You would be hard pressed to find anything else on the market that comes close to the functionality it provides currently. Going to be interesting to see how it looks once its launched on the web also. ...
Then why does it still say on the very front page "includes 6 months of standard tier cloud service" for Realm Works?
Looking back at my original receipt, WOW does time fly! It was a year and a half ago!! I loaded it up, and I guess you're right cause it still syncs.
I guess it's worthwhile to look at again. I just hate to spend all that time if DDB will eventually do the same. I had easily put in 40 hours initially, and probably only got 10% of what I wanted to fill in. But unfortunately I'm not seeing anything to clear up if Curse is using the term "campaign manager" the same way that I think a lot of us understand it to mean.
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Be careful what you Wish for... your DM may just give it to you!
I'd like something along the lines of a calendar (one that uses the Forgotten Realms as the default) but easily customized. The ability to add entries for each day would be excellent. I used a program called DMGenie which did this and it was extremely useful.
This isn't exactly what you're talking about, but for only $1, search for "Calendar of Harptos" on DMs Guild. [Link]. He gives it to you in a few file formats (.docx, .odt, and .pdf), so it's easy to change around.
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Be careful what you Wish for... your DM may just give it to you!
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+1 to pretty much all the comments so far. This isn't a very robust campaign management tool so far. Also...
- we should be able to click on Monsters and add them to a campaign/encounter (first there need to be someplace to create/save the encounters, of course).
Lots of work left to do here to make this a competitive DM tool considering what's already out there. I LOVE the UI and the look. It's what's under the hood that still needs a lot of love! Keep going!
A very useful option to add would be able to curate lists of official and homebrew content that are considered "campaign official". Either as a page linked from the campaign manager, or even better as a new filter option added to the lists where you can filter the results by a campaign you own (DM) or belong to (player).
For instance, say I've banned certain spells from my game, I've decided a handful of homebrew spells are acceptable, or I changed how an official spell worked so I ended up making my own homebrew "fix" of that spell. I have to provide a list of what I will and will not allow. When my wizard player levels up and gets to choose new spells they have to refer to this external list, and they potentially have to go to two different places to find all the spells approved for use. They may be browsing past dozens of spells that aren't even allowed in my game.
Instead, imagine if I could go to a page where I can define specific official spells to be excluded, and specific homebrew spells to be included, then DnDBeyond populates a list that factors in those rules. The player then filters DnDBeyond's spell list by my campaign, and only the spells I want them to see are shown.
The principle can be expanded to any other area of the game the DM might have houserules in play, and would be a huge boon to all concerned.
Daplunk's YouTube Channel: Realm Works and Hero Lab Videos / Campaign Cartographer 3+ Videos
Realm Works Facebook User Group
As I understand it, one of the features D&D Beyond is being able to integrate pc information into twitch streams, i.e. being able to see player stats, hit points, conditions, etc. I think this is a great feature. But as someone that doesn't stream or watch streams is there a way that this could be of use in my home game? I ask because as the DM I would find it extremely useful to just have all the players information in front of me digitally and in real time. And I imagine that this information would be pretty useful for the players as well. Will the tool being designed primarily for streams be usable in this way?
Thanks and cheers
Be careful what you Wish for... your DM may just give it to you!
If I make HomeBrew content, how do I make it available for characters in my campaign to access?
What will the policy be for making private "homebrew" content that is a duplicate of non-SRD content. For example If I spent the time to create a non-srd official spell that came from my physical copy of the PHB. But I did not publish that spell to the public. Would that be considered a breach of the TOS?
My ideal campaign management would allow me to use dnd beyond to have my group create their characters and allow me to see them on my screen. Not only that, but I'd like to be able to pull up the magic item or gold that I want to give on my screen and transfer it to their character, or if they want to buy something, the spend the gold on their screen and I can give them the item. I don't know if I'm articulating this particularly well, but what I'd like ultimately is a automatic and transparent accounting of the small things at the table that are easy to lose track of. Things like, how much gold do they have, what items do they have, here's this specific item I created and gave to you, it's in your inventory etc. i was hoping that beyond could be the miracle I was looking for. Is it? Have I missed something big?
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
Be careful what you Wish for... your DM may just give it to you!
Daplunk's YouTube Channel: Realm Works and Hero Lab Videos / Campaign Cartographer 3+ Videos
Realm Works Facebook User Group
How long since you actually used Realm Works? The subscription model was frozen years ago and crashes are pretty damn rare these days. All part of the software development cycle. You would be hard pressed to find anything else on the market that comes close to the functionality it provides currently. Going to be interesting to see how it looks once its launched on the web also.
We know both Hero Lab and Realm Works are headed to the web which is why this spikes my interest. DDB obviously have the ability to make sexy looking websites but if the functionality isn't there then there's no reason to shift over. At this stage Realm Works and Hero Lab offer me everything they are saying this will except for the streaming integration and pronunciation guide. Both things I have zero use for.
And yes I watched their video up above and Hero Lab can very quickly and easily scale monsters up or down live at the table.
If Realm Works and Hero Lab had the sexy DDB UI sitting on top of it and was web accessible then that would be a ground breaking product that I would come running and screaming towards.
Daplunk's YouTube Channel: Realm Works and Hero Lab Videos / Campaign Cartographer 3+ Videos
Realm Works Facebook User Group
Ya, there is really not much to test or comment on because there is not much there there.
I'd love a space to keep NPC, Monster and Equipment sheets as well as potentially a place for maps. A lot like the campaign management system that you have but I want it expanded to much more and be much more flexible with it, I don't just want to keep notes in a campaign manager.
I also want to choose everything that players can see, as I know especially for each others character sheets for example. I have a race which is much like a changeling in which it can transform to mimic other races so imagine one of your players using this race, having your players meet and have them instantly knowing that player is this race is boring but having the players meet and the player being disguised as a human for example then it displays their race to the other players as a human not as this race. This allows for incredibly interesting sessions when the other players realise alongside their characters that this person in their party that they've believed has been a human the whole time is suddenly this race which in one of my settings are incredibly frowned upon. So they'll suddenly have a huge dilemma on their hands which they never thought existed beforehand.
I know players and DMs have to RP stuff all the time where they know something that there characters don't. But being able to realise and discover something at the same time as your character is wonderful in my opinion so as a DM one of the things I most enjoy is keeping things secret from my players. One of the most fun things that happened to me during a campaign was similar to my example, I discovered that one of our party members was in fact a monster which could in fact shape shift into other creatures we had believed my friends character had died but we found this Monster which had shape shifted to be him. So at the same time as my character realising that his friend and party member is in fact actually dead and this Monster has been part of his party for a long time, I find out that my friend had all of us fooled and that him and the DM had been working together and in the know the whole time.
The Campaign Management functionality is the thing I am most excited about. Here is my wish list (some of which has already been mentioned):
Macro level (campaign):
Micro level:
I love the direction this is going! Thanks for all the hard work!
I'd like something along the lines of a calendar (one that uses the Forgotten Realms as the default) but easily customized. The ability to add entries for each day would be excellent. I used a program called DMGenie which did this and it was extremely useful.
Be careful what you Wish for... your DM may just give it to you!
Be careful what you Wish for... your DM may just give it to you!