....How hard can it be to limit what each account can see when that's in place already when real money is involved.
I think you'd be quite surprised.
It's not just setting up granular permissions in the database, but numerous design decisions and user interface design & build.
Who gets to say what is shared in a campaign? The DM? What if the person with the master tier subscription isn't the DM - what if it's one of the players? They are the one paying for the subscription, so naturally they should be the one to make the decisions on what is shared, right? What about the other players though, who may have bought specific books - do they get the ability to decide whether their purchased content can be shared by someone else with the master tier subscription? Are all of these settings per account, or per campaign? Will users need the ability to copy these settings between campaigns?
It's not simple.
For that matter, the user interface could be pretty complicated too and it needs to be dealt with in a way that can be understood.
That said, it IS coming and is fairly high on the priority list.
As Sedge said however, the community feedback was that it is more important to add new features than limit the ones that are already there.
Stormnight. Thank you for the response. What things are shared with who is up to the D&D Beyond staff. My request is once that's determined the person doing the sharing can pick what items they want to share vs sharing all or nothing.
Again, I know things take time but everything announced by D&D Beyond is for players and not DM's. I'm not a programer like the other rude moderator eluded to, but I have enough common sense to understand the D&D Beyond development team could allocate part of their efforts on DM tools vs every new update being for just players. My constructive criticism is not to focus just on players and toss all DM featutes on a back burner. Work both at the same time with majority of effort on player upgrades since they far out way DMs.
Stormnight. Thank you for the response. What things are shared with who is up to the D&D Beyond staff. My request is once that's determined the person doing the sharing can pick what items they want to share vs sharing all or nothing.
Again, I know things take time but everything announced by D&D Beyond is for players and not DM's. I'm not a programer like the other rude moderator eluded to, but I have enough common sense to understand the D&D Beyond development team could allocate part of there efforts on DM tools vs every new update being for just players. My constructive criticism is not to focus just on players and toss all DM featutes on a back burner. Works both at same time with majority of effort on player upgrades since they far out way DMs.
I don't think you realize just how small of a team they have. This isn't a big MMO being made by hundreds of people, all divided up into different teams, each with individual skill sets. This is a small group, where each person has their own skill sets. No way to allocate that. They have a lot on their plate and they're doing what they can to get features out. There's a big character sheet revamp coming that will fix many issues, so I suggest you be patient until that gets released. It will help build the structure for campaign management.
More for the D&D development crew than moderators but my guess is the Master Tier subscribers are where most of the DMs are. Show us some love too, not just players.
More for the D&D development crew than moderators but my guess is the Master Tier subscribers are where most of the DMs are. Show us some love too, not just players.
DM's are players too, no reason to get greedy, they are saying they are listening but can only work on a few things at a time if we want to have quality tools. Give them time and see how things progress, ask your players to not look ahead in the books if that is a problem. If they can't stop themselves then figure out a way to work around it at the table.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I wish I was a player. I've been DMing since 1979 and can count on one hand the number of times I've played. My players love what D&D Beyond is doing for them. I can't argue with that. It's good stuff or I wouldn't be here. I love being able to look up rules fast. I'm just advocating DM stuff and have been since September, despite what rude moderator assumed above.
I suspect that someone may have already requested this, but I didn't have time atm to review all 29 pages in this thread. Anyway, for my groups (I tend to end up as the DM), I'm usually maintaining the "party summary" spreadsheet so I have everything available in a few summary tables. The current incarnation has 6 tabs, broken down as follows:
General
Two tables: Character summary and Languages
Character Summary has an entry for each player+character, and the following columns: Person, Character, Class, Race, Sub-race, Background, Alignment, plus the six columns for their stats/stat bonuses. The stats section is likely more used than the other columns once people get used to a new set of characters.
Languages has a row per characters, with 5 language columns so I can easily remember who speaks what languages
Combat
Two tables: Attacks, and Saving throws
Attacks: row per character, Speed, Initiative, AC, then the attack groupings: Weapon/Spell, Attack bonus, Dmg. Could easily be split into two tables.
Saving throws: has the saves for each stat, plus the Spell save DC and Spell attack numbers for each character, where applicable.
Skills
Two tables: one for skills, one for items/tools/instruments
Lists all skills in rows, with a column for each character and their bonus/penalty for that skill check, along with an indicator of whether or not they're proficient. I also color-code cells for the best character for each skill DC -- a quick reference that gets a lot of use for skill checks.
Metrics
Shows aggregates for # crit failures (tracked manually), # crit successes, total damage dealt, total dmg received, and healing received. I started tracking this a while back and my players found it interesting (mostly the half of the party that likes to min/max, but it did lead to some amusing exchanges about why, in 2 sessions, the rogue had sustained almost as much damage as the barbarian had in about 6 sessions
Granted, if you build in some sort of combat manager, this could be easy to aggregate. Not a high priority, just mentioning it.
Raw
Where the raw data is tracked that gets aggregated -- as noted, not needed if you're using the combat manager, though having access to the full log would be helpful. "Why am I only as 7 hit points?" *checks log* "You fell into that hole while drunk, then attempted to seduce the mimic before getting stepped-on by the ogre" "Oh, right! 7 it is. Anyone have any healing potions?" ;).
DM Fun/Personality notes
A party-wide summary of things like the Personal Characteristics, and whatever other relevant notes, like rumors about the character, etc. Saves me from having to look through each character sheet when trying to remember which two party members were raised by wolves (*eyeroll*).
Overall, I'm less concerned about the specific implementation as long as it's easy to see a party-wide view for different sections of the character sheet (if you want to enable us to be able to create custom dashboards that contain sections from the character sheets, that would be one option). For groups that play less often (my group is mostly older folks 40+ years old, with busy lives, so we're happy if we get to play once a month), it's critical to have easy reference to things without asking everyone to wait while I open each character sheet.
I like where we're starting, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it evolves over time. Now, if I can just get my group to agree on our next gaming day/time, I'll be happy ;)
Good stuff in there Steven. I use google docs for campaign notes and turn on the option for the title bar on the left side of the screen so I can hop around to headings fast. I also use a spreadsheet for player summaries but I've been trying to use D&D Beyond more for that. It's not as easy but I'm hoping the new player sheet lay out they have coming soon will make that easier for the DM. For combat I'm really old schooling that with paper and pencil. I made a grid with key headings like AC, HP ect and printed that out on paper. For initiative I use small clothes pins along the top of my DM screen. Each pin is assigned to a player and the red numbered pins are mine. Players love this because we all can see it at a glance.
Who cares about mobile when you can't even make an option to limit what material I can share with my players. Or make a simple combat tracker. Or make a customizable DM screen. Or make an efficient way to pass electronic notes to players. The way messages works now is a joke. I easier to email my players while at the table.
Making a character and looking up rules is about all you can do on here. Those are great key things but how about you start making stuff for the DM?
Building the framework for the tools and adding substantial features has held larger priority than the items you've listed. Unfortunately, Rome wasn't built overnight, but rather over the course of prioritized installations. The community members who have been here for months now have shared their feedback, and that feedback has led us to where we are today. Rather than dismissing anything/everything you don't care to use, I would have suggested you spent some period over the past 4 months as a member sharing your needs and desires with the development team - as they have often asked.
The features you have mentioned are in progress. Having mobile support is simply more important than an introductory combat tracker, as rated by the community. Please continue to be patient, take part in community feedback in a constructive manner, and use which ever means of passing electronic notes to your players is easiest for you.
D&D Beyond isn't going anywhere and the features & toolset is growing on a daily basis.
Thanks for the feedback!
Even with a small team, as a developer myself, I wish I had the amount of interest, support and stake in the product as you have here. I also wish I had the amount of topical and relevant feature request list that you have.
Is it possible that you could, every month or two, put up a poll for the features to be developed in the future and get direct feedback from the community as to what they want to see next most.
Whats unfortunate is that most dms here already have hundreds of apps that does exactly these things... So its normal for them not to vote for things they already have.
As for speed of developping... Im a developper myself and i created myself a dm screen with tracker, tables and calendar and random generators in a matter of a single week including me working a day job and having 3 games a weeks. Sure they are not pretty ui... But still developping those things isnt hard. Thats to say the least... Heck even if you told me youd have those in about 3 months id be happy with it... I even understand the point of making sure tablets and desktop needs that database and development to be dealt with... No my problem is with the speed a whole team works versus how a single guy works... I understand 5 heads is maybe not better then 2. But isnt the goal of being many actually to be faster and more efficient in releasing quality stuff ?
Ive said it often already and have been told often its not a point without ever be told why its not valid. Which in turn only makes me think it is. There are literally many developped tools that does this. You cant deny it... Even badeye has mentionned some of them. I have to wonder... Some of those tools are developped professionnally and have been done in like 2 months top. Knowing that... One has to wonder why it takes so long to curse. My only explanation would be... Your team isnt working on ddb alone but numerous project at once.
And ill say it again...
Most of those you got feedback from... Already have said tools from other places. Just ask around and they will proove it to you. Thats why you are told the only want compendium up.
I really loves ddb. I am willing to wait... But im not willing to wait 3 years to get a dm campaign manager. One can expect a full year of development to get everything. 2 at the very most if things goes bad... But you cant expect us to wait 3 years for everything... Thats all im saying...
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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 make a simple dropdown for Monsters and NPCs, where I can do a keyword search of everything I have access to. That would be really wonderful. Thanks!
Okay, I hadn't realised everything I have purchased gets shared. I'm afraid this is a deal-breaker for me. I was about to subscribe to the Master Tier, but I only want to share player material.
Yes there are a lot of possible options, but it doesn't need to be comprehensive to be useful. Here is the basic functionality I was expecting:
* As the purchaser of the content, I can select particular items within that content and share them within the campaign.
I would _hope_ granularity would be the same as the purchase granularity, but at a minimum I should be able to select on a publication-by-publication basis.
Until there is at least publication-by-publication control, I will not be joining.
As other people have said - to me it seems most likely to be DMs purchasing Master Tier in order to help manage our campaigns. So although we may be in the minority of users, we are probably far more highly represented in terms of subscription dollars. And yet, I also feel the features are concentrated on the players.
Okay, I hadn't realised everything I have purchased gets shared. I'm afraid this is a deal-breaker for me. I was about to subscribe to the Master Tier, but I only want to share player material......
* As the purchaser of the content, I can select particular items within that content and share them within the campaign.
I would _hope_ granularity would be the same as the purchase granularity, but at a minimum I should be able to select on a publication-by-publication basis.
Until there is at least publication-by-publication control, I will not be joining.
BadEye has says this is planned; so maybe it won't be too long before DDB is a better option for you.
Please make a simple dropdown for Monsters and NPCs, where I can do a keyword search of everything I have access to. That would be really wonderful. Thanks!
I'm not sure I completely understand this request. If you could elaborate I can share whether we have this planned at this time or not.
I only recently started using the Campaign Management tool, and, from what I remember from the beta, there have been some improvements. Thank you DDB.
I don't know if this has been requested: * A way to send a PM to a campaign's players * A way to have a "player" view that shows the "public" information
If there is a way to do group PMs I would like to know how. I see myself doing player PMs to let them know about upcoming sessions, changes relevant to the campaign, and other campaign-related communication.
Also, I'm planning on making the "Public Notes" as pretty as I can. It would be nice to see how they look to my players.
I only recently started using the Campaign Management tool, and, from what I remember from the beta, there have been some improvements. Thank you DDB.
I don't know if this has been requested: * A way to send a PM to a campaign's players * A way to have a "player" view that shows the "public" information
If there is a way to do group PMs I would like to know how. I see myself doing player PMs to let them know about upcoming sessions, changes relevant to the campaign, and other campaign-related communication.
Also, I'm planning on making the "Public Notes" as pretty as I can. It would be nice to see how they look to my players.
Thanks, again!
Hi Insanity! o/
I agree on the campaign-related communication channel, you get my +1 on that.
On the other point, though, I believe how DMs and Players see the campaign page is exactly the same, minus the info in he DM's Note (Private) section.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I am new to the use of DDB and am currently pleased with the whole direction it is going. My only wish is that when using the campain tracker it has the option to add maps and npc's from the adventure modules (if they are being used in the current campaign) or add maps, npc's descriptions and so on and so forth to allow ease of access for information for people who are new to DMing a campaign (such as myself)
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Nykkan Fharngnarthnost: Dragonborn Monk (4)...Coliseum of Conquest (3) {1W-6L} [Brewer]
Hans Stormsong: Human Monk (1)...Colosseum of Conquest (3) {0W-1L}
I only recently started using the Campaign Management tool, and, from what I remember from the beta, there have been some improvements. Thank you DDB.
I don't know if this has been requested: * A way to send a PM to a campaign's players * A way to have a "player" view that shows the "public" information
If there is a way to do group PMs I would like to know how. I see myself doing player PMs to let them know about upcoming sessions, changes relevant to the campaign, and other campaign-related communication.
Also, I'm planning on making the "Public Notes" as pretty as I can. It would be nice to see how they look to my players.
Thanks, again!
Hi Insanity! o/
I agree on the campaign-related communication channel, you get my +1 on that.
On the other point, though, I believe how DMs and Players see the campaign page is exactly the same, minus the info in he DM's Note (Private) section.
Hi LeK o/
Thanks for the information regarding the campaign view. I admittedly didn't check before posting my suggestion. :-)
I am new to the use of DDB and am currently pleased with the whole direction it is going. My only wish is that when using the campain tracker it has the option to add maps and npc's from the adventure modules (if they are being used in the current campaign) or add maps, npc's descriptions and so on and so forth to allow ease of access for information for people who are new to DMing a campaign (such as myself)
You can do some of this already: If the NPC is in the "monster" section of an adventure, or the MM, you can use the tool tip tagging [monster ]NPC name[/monster ] (take out the spaces before the last bracket; they are there so you can see the syntax.)
For maps, you can open the map in a separate tab in your browser, copy the url in that tab, and put in in your notes as a link using the link tool in the editor. For example, here is a map from the DMG
You can do much the same with major headings of adventures of rules. Adventuring Gear-Basic Rules. If you are using Chrome on a laptop or desktop (but not mobile) and have the Beyond Help extension, you can also copy urls for "minor headings" using the dragon icon that appears when you hover over that heading: Container Capacity (Not sure if that link will work if you don't have Beyond Help, though)
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If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
Stormnight. Thank you for the response. What things are shared with who is up to the D&D Beyond staff. My request is once that's determined the person doing the sharing can pick what items they want to share vs sharing all or nothing.
Again, I know things take time but everything announced by D&D Beyond is for players and not DM's. I'm not a programer like the other rude moderator eluded to, but I have enough common sense to understand the D&D Beyond development team could allocate part of their efforts on DM tools vs every new update being for just players. My constructive criticism is not to focus just on players and toss all DM featutes on a back burner. Work both at the same time with majority of effort on player upgrades since they far out way DMs.
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
Thanks firehawk. Yes, I saw the new character sheet revamp coming on the latest development video. My players will be thrilled.
More for the D&D development crew than moderators but my guess is the Master Tier subscribers are where most of the DMs are. Show us some love too, not just players.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Greedy? LOL.
I wish I was a player. I've been DMing since 1979 and can count on one hand the number of times I've played. My players love what D&D Beyond is doing for them. I can't argue with that. It's good stuff or I wouldn't be here. I love being able to look up rules fast. I'm just advocating DM stuff and have been since September, despite what rude moderator assumed above.
I suspect that someone may have already requested this, but I didn't have time atm to review all 29 pages in this thread. Anyway, for my groups (I tend to end up as the DM), I'm usually maintaining the "party summary" spreadsheet so I have everything available in a few summary tables. The current incarnation has 6 tabs, broken down as follows:
Overall, I'm less concerned about the specific implementation as long as it's easy to see a party-wide view for different sections of the character sheet (if you want to enable us to be able to create custom dashboards that contain sections from the character sheets, that would be one option). For groups that play less often (my group is mostly older folks 40+ years old, with busy lives, so we're happy if we get to play once a month), it's critical to have easy reference to things without asking everyone to wait while I open each character sheet.
I like where we're starting, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it evolves over time. Now, if I can just get my group to agree on our next gaming day/time, I'll be happy ;)
Good stuff in there Steven. I use google docs for campaign notes and turn on the option for the title bar on the left side of the screen so I can hop around to headings fast. I also use a spreadsheet for player summaries but I've been trying to use D&D Beyond more for that. It's not as easy but I'm hoping the new player sheet lay out they have coming soon will make that easier for the DM. For combat I'm really old schooling that with paper and pencil. I made a grid with key headings like AC, HP ect and printed that out on paper. For initiative I use small clothes pins along the top of my DM screen. Each pin is assigned to a player and the red numbered pins are mine. Players love this because we all can see it at a glance.
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May we live in Less Interesting Times
Whats unfortunate is that most dms here already have hundreds of apps that does exactly these things... So its normal for them not to vote for things they already have.
As for speed of developping... Im a developper myself and i created myself a dm screen with tracker, tables and calendar and random generators in a matter of a single week including me working a day job and having 3 games a weeks. Sure they are not pretty ui... But still developping those things isnt hard. Thats to say the least... Heck even if you told me youd have those in about 3 months id be happy with it... I even understand the point of making sure tablets and desktop needs that database and development to be dealt with... No my problem is with the speed a whole team works versus how a single guy works... I understand 5 heads is maybe not better then 2. But isnt the goal of being many actually to be faster and more efficient in releasing quality stuff ?
Ive said it often already and have been told often its not a point without ever be told why its not valid. Which in turn only makes me think it is. There are literally many developped tools that does this. You cant deny it... Even badeye has mentionned some of them. I have to wonder... Some of those tools are developped professionnally and have been done in like 2 months top. Knowing that... One has to wonder why it takes so long to curse. My only explanation would be... Your team isnt working on ddb alone but numerous project at once.
And ill say it again...
Most of those you got feedback from... Already have said tools from other places. Just ask around and they will proove it to you. Thats why you are told the only want compendium up.
I really loves ddb. I am willing to wait... But im not willing to wait 3 years to get a dm campaign manager. One can expect a full year of development to get everything. 2 at the very most if things goes bad... But you cant expect us to wait 3 years for everything... Thats all im saying...
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 make a simple dropdown for Monsters and NPCs, where I can do a keyword search of everything I have access to. That would be really wonderful. Thanks!
___________________________________________________
Dungeon Master of Nerd Poker - a D&D podcast
___________________________________________________
Hi,
Okay, I hadn't realised everything I have purchased gets shared. I'm afraid this is a deal-breaker for me. I was about to subscribe to the Master Tier, but I only want to share player material.
Yes there are a lot of possible options, but it doesn't need to be comprehensive to be useful. Here is the basic functionality I was expecting:
* As the purchaser of the content, I can select particular items within that content and share them within the campaign.
I would _hope_ granularity would be the same as the purchase granularity, but at a minimum I should be able to select on a publication-by-publication basis.
Until there is at least publication-by-publication control, I will not be joining.
As other people have said - to me it seems most likely to be DMs purchasing Master Tier in order to help manage our campaigns. So although we may be in the minority of users, we are probably far more highly represented in terms of subscription dollars. And yet, I also feel the features are concentrated on the players.
Cheers,
Ian
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
Greetings, everyone! :-D *waves*
I only recently started using the Campaign Management tool, and, from what I remember from the beta, there have been some improvements. Thank you DDB.
I don't know if this has been requested:
* A way to send a PM to a campaign's players
* A way to have a "player" view that shows the "public" information
If there is a way to do group PMs I would like to know how. I see myself doing player PMs to let them know about upcoming sessions, changes relevant to the campaign, and other campaign-related communication.
Also, I'm planning on making the "Public Notes" as pretty as I can. It would be nice to see how they look to my players.
Thanks, again!
I wear pants, short pants.
I also ask a lot of questions; insatiably curious
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I am new to the use of DDB and am currently pleased with the whole direction it is going. My only wish is that when using the campain tracker it has the option to add maps and npc's from the adventure modules (if they are being used in the current campaign) or add maps, npc's descriptions and so on and so forth to allow ease of access for information for people who are new to DMing a campaign (such as myself)
Nykkan Fharngnarthnost: Dragonborn Monk (4)...Coliseum of Conquest (3) {1W-6L} [Brewer]
Hans Stormsong: Human Monk (1)...Colosseum of Conquest (3) {0W-1L}
I wear pants, short pants.
I also ask a lot of questions; insatiably curious
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