I am not sure if this has been posted about in the past. I looked through 4 pages of posts and gave up. In general, the user interface is fairly easy to navigate.
However, all of the parts where I pay for something, less so. I easily found where I could buy content in the form of the PHB and XGE. I successfully bought it. But, as far as I can tell, nothing explains what that does and does not allow me to do. I only learn that after purchase and by trial and error. Nothing that I saw explained what the deal was with subscriptions, or how they differ from purchased material. I'm not even entirely sure how to subscribe, but honestly I have not looked because I am annoyed.
I started out trying to play with friends from years back who now live all over the country. I am now trying to start a campaign of my own. But you don't make it easy. It feels clear as mud. I think it might serve Curse well to put some thought into clear and concise user interface choices that lead a buyer to making the right decisions by making it clear what is being purchased (not just the WoTC title but what that specific choice actually means in terms of usage on D&DB) and how to achieve the desired end result.
I hope this leads to improvements and greater success for your company.
There are some FAQ that cover at least some of this, but they are not easy to find. I agree that DDB could do a better job of making this info accessible. I’ll try and summarize below.
DDB offers the following kinds of tools/features
Character builder/Interactive Character Sheet (I’m including the write-ups on the various classes and races you see if you go to Game Rules>Classes or Game Rules>Races under this category)
Listings (which are found under the Game Rules menu above): sortable, filterable listings of Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, etc. This allows you, for example, to search for all wizard spells level 1-3 that do fire damage.
Homebrew Editor and public homebrew listings, which allow you to create homebrew and share it with others.
”Campaigns”: a way to group characters together, and to give DMs access to PCs in the campaign. This also allows for the sharing of content if someone has the Master Tier Subscription. (Please note that campaigns don’t go much further than that right now; more features will be added later)
Compendium: an electronic copy of the text (and artwork) of an official DnD book (e.g. the PHB). Searchable, with lots of links to see information quickly. Can be viewed either on the website or offline in the app. Not downloadable as a pdf or the like.
If you buy an entire “book”, you get all of the above, except for the ability to share content (that takes a Master Tier subscription, which I will explain below)
If you buy the compendium only, you get the compendium, but you don’t get the content in the builder or listings.
If you buy individual elements from a book, you get that content in the listings and the character builder, but not the compendium. So, for example, I have purchased the Tabaxi race from Volos, but nothing else; so I can read the write up on the Tabaxi, and use the Tabaxi in the builder, but I can’t read anything else in Volos here.
Subscriptions
Subscriptions give you access to additional “features” but NOT to content
Hero Tier Subscription: Removes adds, allows you an unlimited number of characters, allows you to add public homebrew to your collection so you can add it to your character or have easy access to a monster. You don’t need a subscription to create your own homebrew, or to share that homebrew with a campaign you are part of. But if you want to use public homebrew with your characters, you must have a subscription, OR you must be part of a campaign with content sharing where someone else has a subscription and has added that homebrew.
Master Tier Subscription: All of the benefits of the Hero Tier Subscription, plus content sharing. Content sharing allows you to share purchased content with up to 3 campaigns; each campaign can have up to 12 characters. When content sharing is turned on, anyone in that campaign has access to any content anyone in the group has purchased. Character builder content is only available for characters IN the campaign. Anyone in the campaign who has a Master Tier sub can turn on content sharing; it does not have to be the DM. Right now there is not a way to restrict what content others can see, but that is on the road map.
Hello,
I am not sure if this has been posted about in the past. I looked through 4 pages of posts and gave up. In general, the user interface is fairly easy to navigate.
However, all of the parts where I pay for something, less so. I easily found where I could buy content in the form of the PHB and XGE. I successfully bought it. But, as far as I can tell, nothing explains what that does and does not allow me to do. I only learn that after purchase and by trial and error. Nothing that I saw explained what the deal was with subscriptions, or how they differ from purchased material. I'm not even entirely sure how to subscribe, but honestly I have not looked because I am annoyed.
I started out trying to play with friends from years back who now live all over the country. I am now trying to start a campaign of my own. But you don't make it easy. It feels clear as mud. I think it might serve Curse well to put some thought into clear and concise user interface choices that lead a buyer to making the right decisions by making it clear what is being purchased (not just the WoTC title but what that specific choice actually means in terms of usage on D&DB) and how to achieve the desired end result.
I hope this leads to improvements and greater success for your company.
There are some FAQ that cover at least some of this, but they are not easy to find. I agree that DDB could do a better job of making this info accessible. I’ll try and summarize below.
DDB offers the following kinds of tools/features
Character builder/Interactive Character Sheet (I’m including the write-ups on the various classes and races you see if you go to Game Rules>Classes or Game Rules>Races under this category)
Listings (which are found under the Game Rules menu above): sortable, filterable listings of Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, etc. This allows you, for example, to search for all wizard spells level 1-3 that do fire damage.
Homebrew Editor and public homebrew listings, which allow you to create homebrew and share it with others.
”Campaigns”: a way to group characters together, and to give DMs access to PCs in the campaign. This also allows for the sharing of content if someone has the Master Tier Subscription. (Please note that campaigns don’t go much further than that right now; more features will be added later)
Compendium: an electronic copy of the text (and artwork) of an official DnD book (e.g. the PHB). Searchable, with lots of links to see information quickly. Can be viewed either on the website or offline in the app. Not downloadable as a pdf or the like.
If you buy an entire “book”, you get all of the above, except for the ability to share content (that takes a Master Tier subscription, which I will explain below)
If you buy the compendium only, you get the compendium, but you don’t get the content in the builder or listings.
If you buy individual elements from a book, you get that content in the listings and the character builder, but not the compendium. So, for example, I have purchased the Tabaxi race from Volos, but nothing else; so I can read the write up on the Tabaxi, and use the Tabaxi in the builder, but I can’t read anything else in Volos here.
Subscriptions
Subscriptions give you access to additional “features” but NOT to content
Hero Tier Subscription: Removes adds, allows you an unlimited number of characters, allows you to add public homebrew to your collection so you can add it to your character or have easy access to a monster. You don’t need a subscription to create your own homebrew, or to share that homebrew with a campaign you are part of. But if you want to use public homebrew with your characters, you must have a subscription, OR you must be part of a campaign with content sharing where someone else has a subscription and has added that homebrew.
Master Tier Subscription: All of the benefits of the Hero Tier Subscription, plus content sharing. Content sharing allows you to share purchased content with up to 3 campaigns; each campaign can have up to 12 characters. When content sharing is turned on, anyone in that campaign has access to any content anyone in the group has purchased. Character builder content is only available for characters IN the campaign. Anyone in the campaign who has a Master Tier sub can turn on content sharing; it does not have to be the DM. Right now there is not a way to restrict what content others can see, but that is on the road map.
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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