A session update from Sunday: Several new features made the prep even easier. A big one is the cloud storage option from which you can edit or run your campaign from different PCs. Prior the content had to be manually exported from one PC and manually imported to another. Now you login and can see the latest from any browser that has AVTT installed. They added the ability to switch between the player map and the DM map. There are many smaller fixes and enhancements in the latest release. You should check out their Discord server for details. I like it soooo much better than Roll20.
A major one as stated before by me and many others is the integration with DDB and specifically purchased and non-purchased content. I'm running Avernus and all the maps, tokens, monsters, NPCs etc are all at my finger tips, drag and drop. Roll20 would have made this a kludgy, time consuming chore. Its hard to tell what is Above and what is Beyond (-: .
A session update from Sunday: Several new features made the prep even easier. A big one is the cloud storage option from which you can edit or run your campaign from different PCs. Prior the content had to be manually exported from one PC and manually imported to another. Now you login and can see the latest from any browser that has AVTT installed. They added the ability to switch between the player map and the DM map. There are many smaller fixes and enhancements in the latest release. You should check out their Discord server for details. I like it soooo much better than Roll20.
A major one as stated before by me and many others is the integration with DDB and specifically purchased and non-purchased content. I'm running Avernus and all the maps, tokens, monsters, NPCs etc are all at my finger tips, drag and drop. Roll20 would have made this a kludgy, time consuming chore. Its hard to tell what is Above and what is Beyond (-: .
Give it a try!
Confused by the cloud storage option, have been using that for months on above VTT, all my maps are in google drive and I just paste the link to them in the app, that means I can access from any laptop, although I do sometimes have to re paste the link into the map (think that was a cookie caching thing).
A session update from Sunday: Several new features made the prep even easier. A big one is the cloud storage option from which you can edit or run your campaign from different PCs. Prior the content had to be manually exported from one PC and manually imported to another. Now you login and can see the latest from any browser that has AVTT installed. They added the ability to switch between the player map and the DM map. There are many smaller fixes and enhancements in the latest release. You should check out their Discord server for details. I like it soooo much better than Roll20.
A major one as stated before by me and many others is the integration with DDB and specifically purchased and non-purchased content. I'm running Avernus and all the maps, tokens, monsters, NPCs etc are all at my finger tips, drag and drop. Roll20 would have made this a kludgy, time consuming chore. Its hard to tell what is Above and what is Beyond (-: .
Give it a try!
Confused by the cloud storage option, have been using that for months on above VTT, all my maps are in google drive and I just paste the link to them in the app, that means I can access from any laptop, although I do sometimes have to re paste the link into the map (think that was a cookie caching thing).
But yes I agree it is so much better then Roll20.
now fully on cloud for storage. there is a "migrate" function you do once. now all your changes and content are saved and can be accessed from another device. check their discord for details
"cloud storage" means that AboveVTT stores the game state and scene data in the cloud, so you can access it from anywhere.
It's not storing your actual image.. you still need to prove links. But now you can access your campaign from anywhere, and not just from a single browser.
From my knowledge of how it works, it injects some code into what you view in your instance of viewing your campaign's page. When you click on the button it brings up a new injection giving the appearance of a new window. Pulls information from the page's game log and communicates through a message hub with whoever clicked on the DM button and other players who are currently using the extension. Exchanging text, URLs to images which are displayed as maps, player, monster, and even custom tokens as well as position information about tokens. It loads an instance of you character sheet and injects buttons into it making some additional dice rolling (this might just be for monster stat blocks though, not sure). The extension captures all rolls on the game log and makes the appropriate changes to tokens on the map/combat tracker. It has a jitsi client built in if you have no other audio/video meeting options available that is not turned on by default.
It really is great little tool that some very enthusiastic people that can't wait anymore have poured so much time and energy into, it's warmed my heart seeing the discussions about this or that and seeing the function and the polish improve from where this was a year ago when I first heard about it.
can AboveVTT be used with in-person digital battlemaps such as from computer to tv screen? I have watched a few videos and I am liking the apparent ease of AboveVTT but we are running in person games and want to transition to digital battlemaps. There are several programs that look good but the fact that AboveVTT is already set for D&DBeyond content is a HUGE plus.
can AboveVTT be used with in-person digital battlemaps such as from computer to tv screen? I have watched a few videos and I am liking the apparent ease of AboveVTT but we are running in person games and want to transition to digital battlemaps. There are several programs that look good but the fact that AboveVTT is already set for D&DBeyond content is a HUGE plus.
A little confused here, if you mean can you link your laptop to a TV screen and show the map, the map appears in the google chrome browser window (Or I think firefox and other chromium based browsers). So all you need to do is show the map on the large screen, if doing this I advise you have one laptop that your players use and is linked to the large screen, and then your laptop for your private DM view. Alternatively you might be able to do something clever with multiple browser windows having one in incognito mode and log on as one of the players, something I havent tried messing about with. The reason you might want to do it this way is that the DM sees all the map and all hidden tokens where as the players only see what you have uncovered and revealed to them. but you only need one user to move everyones tokens about, even players can move monster tokens so you caa have a single login.
yes, you can use more than one browser window. for example, i will have the primary map in one window and use the VTT controls for character sheets and combat tracker, other widgets on another.
AboveVTT also got a major UI update and changed how it gets its rolls from dndbeyond. With that, I assume it is much closer to a proper 1.0 version that is no longer in alpha stage. The only thing realy missing now is an updatet soundboard to better play music from.
Reminder, this thread is about discussing the possibility of an official D&D Beyond VTT. It is not for promoting or trouble shooting third party extensions.
Does the new merger of D&D Beyond and Wizards of the Coast increase the odds of getting a fully integrated VTT? Because, then I'm a whale. All the books.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Read Medieval Poetry: here Listen to Medieval Song: here
Maybe the best sign of an official VTT in the works is the moderators clamping down on non-official VTT discussions, which they have seemed to have a newfound want to do recently.
Maybe the best sign of an official VTT in the works is the moderators clamping down on non-official VTT discussions, which they have seemed to have a newfound want to do recently.
I can assure you, the moderation team has not been "clamping down" on discussions of non-official VTTs (of which there are many, I personally use roll20). What the mod team does clamp down on is advertising and promotion outside the designated forums.
To be fair, I feel like WotC should make an open plug in for second and third party VTTs to use customers content in their VTTs, a kind of open source plug in system would produce better content than WotC probably could on their own. Fostering all these VTT over the years only to usurp the market later would sour thousands of customers and drive new alternatives, while allowing developers and users to create new integration and content could open up the product to an endless amount of free support and advertisement akin to Warcrafts old User Map Settings or Skyrims mod community. They could promote a variety of VTT, from in person table tools to VR and AR 3D simulation, and more, while collecting an endless amount of free contribution from users who want to produce assets and detailing.
With a free integration system and donation based contribution system, creators could offer content for pay or donations through WotC portals, offering the host something like 10% of revenue for processing and integration, and creators could make thousands of times more content than WotC can. WotC can even adopt or adapt professional content that aligns with their product catalog. Partnering with FG, R20, new AR products and DMs Guild will not only produce more content and features, but it will foster good will with all their customers and users from every corner.
I'm sure there's other less grand ways to proceed, but I think that's their ideal future. With the right motivation, someone will make their variable VR integration for them to buy up from independent creators for 6th edition.
At the moment I am worried that WotC's own VTT will be either too complex trying to cram all possible features in it, or that it will be a resource heavy 3D mess. Or that it will add another level to the Beyond subscription, even if I can afford it myself.
Today we have an excellent VTT (that obviously shall not be named) that strikes a perfect balance between usability and features, and I really hope that WotC use it as a foundation, or at least a model, for their own VTT.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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A session update from Sunday: Several new features made the prep even easier. A big one is the cloud storage option from which you can edit or run your campaign from different PCs. Prior the content had to be manually exported from one PC and manually imported to another. Now you login and can see the latest from any browser that has AVTT installed. They added the ability to switch between the player map and the DM map. There are many smaller fixes and enhancements in the latest release. You should check out their Discord server for details. I like it soooo much better than Roll20.
A major one as stated before by me and many others is the integration with DDB and specifically purchased and non-purchased content. I'm running Avernus and all the maps, tokens, monsters, NPCs etc are all at my finger tips, drag and drop. Roll20 would have made this a kludgy, time consuming chore. Its hard to tell what is Above and what is Beyond (-: .
Give it a try!
Confused by the cloud storage option, have been using that for months on above VTT, all my maps are in google drive and I just paste the link to them in the app, that means I can access from any laptop, although I do sometimes have to re paste the link into the map (think that was a cookie caching thing).
But yes I agree it is so much better then Roll20.
now fully on cloud for storage. there is a "migrate" function you do once. now all your changes and content are saved and can be accessed from another device. check their discord for details
"cloud storage" means that AboveVTT stores the game state and scene data in the cloud, so you can access it from anywhere.
It's not storing your actual image.. you still need to prove links. But now you can access your campaign from anywhere, and not just from a single browser.
Storing Notes and Audio links are both a work in progress tho
is it browser based or a program app?
It's a browser extension.
From my knowledge of how it works, it injects some code into what you view in your instance of viewing your campaign's page. When you click on the button it brings up a new injection giving the appearance of a new window. Pulls information from the page's game log and communicates through a message hub with whoever clicked on the DM button and other players who are currently using the extension. Exchanging text, URLs to images which are displayed as maps, player, monster, and even custom tokens as well as position information about tokens. It loads an instance of you character sheet and injects buttons into it making some additional dice rolling (this might just be for monster stat blocks though, not sure). The extension captures all rolls on the game log and makes the appropriate changes to tokens on the map/combat tracker. It has a jitsi client built in if you have no other audio/video meeting options available that is not turned on by default.
It really is great little tool that some very enthusiastic people that can't wait anymore have poured so much time and energy into, it's warmed my heart seeing the discussions about this or that and seeing the function and the polish improve from where this was a year ago when I first heard about it.
How to: Replace DEX in AC | Jump & Suffocation stats | Spell & class effect buff system | Wild Shape effect system | Tool Proficiencies as Custom Skills | Spells at higher levels explained | Superior Fighting/Martial Adept Fix | Snippet Codes Explored - Subclasses | Snippet Math Theory | Homebrew Weapons Explained
My: FEATS | MAGIC ITEMS | MONSTERS | SUBCLASSES Artificer Specialist: Weaveblade
Dndbeyond images not loading WORKAROUND FIXED!!! (TY Jay_Lane for original instructions)
can AboveVTT be used with in-person digital battlemaps such as from computer to tv screen? I have watched a few videos and I am liking the apparent ease of AboveVTT but we are running in person games and want to transition to digital battlemaps. There are several programs that look good but the fact that AboveVTT is already set for D&DBeyond content is a HUGE plus.
I think it can
A little confused here, if you mean can you link your laptop to a TV screen and show the map, the map appears in the google chrome browser window (Or I think firefox and other chromium based browsers). So all you need to do is show the map on the large screen, if doing this I advise you have one laptop that your players use and is linked to the large screen, and then your laptop for your private DM view. Alternatively you might be able to do something clever with multiple browser windows having one in incognito mode and log on as one of the players, something I havent tried messing about with. The reason you might want to do it this way is that the DM sees all the map and all hidden tokens where as the players only see what you have uncovered and revealed to them. but you only need one user to move everyones tokens about, even players can move monster tokens so you caa have a single login.
Thanks. I was thinking that I should be able to use more than one browser so I am hoping that it will work out easily.
yes, you can use more than one browser window. for example, i will have the primary map in one window and use the VTT controls for character sheets and combat tracker, other widgets on another.
AboveVTT also got a major UI update and changed how it gets its rolls from dndbeyond. With that, I assume it is much closer to a proper 1.0 version that is no longer in alpha stage. The only thing realy missing now is an updatet soundboard to better play music from.
Reminder, this thread is about discussing the possibility of an official D&D Beyond VTT. It is not for promoting or trouble shooting third party extensions.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Does the new merger of D&D Beyond and Wizards of the Coast increase the odds of getting a fully integrated VTT? Because, then I'm a whale. All the books.
Read Medieval Poetry: here
Listen to Medieval Song: here
Maybe the best sign of an official VTT in the works is the moderators clamping down on non-official VTT discussions, which they have seemed to have a newfound want to do recently.
I can assure you, the moderation team has not been "clamping down" on discussions of non-official VTTs (of which there are many, I personally use roll20). What the mod team does clamp down on is advertising and promotion outside the designated forums.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Is roll20 already considered a non-official VTT ? That was fast :)
To be fair, I feel like WotC should make an open plug in for second and third party VTTs to use customers content in their VTTs, a kind of open source plug in system would produce better content than WotC probably could on their own. Fostering all these VTT over the years only to usurp the market later would sour thousands of customers and drive new alternatives, while allowing developers and users to create new integration and content could open up the product to an endless amount of free support and advertisement akin to Warcrafts old User Map Settings or Skyrims mod community. They could promote a variety of VTT, from in person table tools to VR and AR 3D simulation, and more, while collecting an endless amount of free contribution from users who want to produce assets and detailing.
With a free integration system and donation based contribution system, creators could offer content for pay or donations through WotC portals, offering the host something like 10% of revenue for processing and integration, and creators could make thousands of times more content than WotC can. WotC can even adopt or adapt professional content that aligns with their product catalog. Partnering with FG, R20, new AR products and DMs Guild will not only produce more content and features, but it will foster good will with all their customers and users from every corner.
I'm sure there's other less grand ways to proceed, but I think that's their ideal future. With the right motivation, someone will make their variable VR integration for them to buy up from independent creators for 6th edition.
At the moment I am worried that WotC's own VTT will be either too complex trying to cram all possible features in it, or that it will be a resource heavy 3D mess. Or that it will add another level to the Beyond subscription, even if I can afford it myself.
Today we have an excellent VTT (that obviously shall not be named) that strikes a perfect balance between usability and features, and I really hope that WotC use it as a foundation, or at least a model, for their own VTT.