I recently got back into D&D because of interest from my family. I have a bunch of 5e books and am currently putting the family through its paces in the LMOP. I've been managing my families characters/advancements through the "My Characters" interface (very cool BTW, because I'm often miscalculating a bunch of stuff otherwise). I started poking around the "Campaigns" interface, but it seems limited until you add characters (I think?). I also noticed I can add characters, but it assumes they all have online accounts.
Are there a bunch of Campaign features hidden until you add players? (right now I see 3 super generic word editing boxes, which I can do without a D&D Beyond account)
If I own LMOP and start a campaign with it, will I be able to manage encounters, edit maps, and do rolls?
As I suggested, there are several kids involved here. Is there a way I can add their characters to a campaign from "My Characters"
I had heard rave reviews about D&D beyond being a good resource for managing your adventures. I was hoping to use this site at the dining room table as I am DM'so I can have instant access to stats, character status, etc. without managing a bunch of paper copies of everything. Is this possible with what I've paid for? Kind of like a DM management tool, but for face-to-face sessions.
I'm fairly new to this new world of D&D (stopped playing around AD&D) so I apologize if I'm misinterpreting the point of this site and its features.
1.No, all campaign tools that do not directly involve players are available whether or not their are players in it.
2, No, No, and No, this is not what dndbeyond is for, though the first feature is possible, and may become fully functional in the near future.
3.Yes, you can add any character to a campaign (to add a new one, click the add character button, otherwise, you need to hit the join the campaign link, and select the character from the screen that pops up.
I would, however, recommend using something other than dndbeyond for these purposes.
I had heard rave reviews about D&D beyond being a good resource for managing your adventures.
Can't say I'm entirely surprised about the misconception, but managing adventures is really not what DDB is for. The main purposes of the Campaign feature are getting to share owned content with others (via a subscription), having a shared dice roller and the DM having direct access to the character sheets of everyone in the campaign. Managing adventures is something else, as far as I'm concerned anyway. There's an Encounter Builder tool too, but that's still in beta and focuses on single encounters.
I was hoping to use this site at the dining room table as I am DM'so I can have instant access to stats, character status, etc. without managing a bunch of paper copies of everything. Is this possible with what I've paid for?
If access to stats on character sheets is what you're after then yes, this you can do with DDB. Don't know what you paid since you didn't say, but in order to do only that you don't even have to pay anything. The basics of that functionality are free. That said, if you want to use mechanics that are outside the scope of the Basic Rules (like a class, a spell, a feat, a background etc that isn't in that linked document) then that has to be paid for (either by buying the book it's in, or by buying the specific part of the book you need - see the Marketplace for that) or homebrewed (which may be easy or may be very time consuming depending on what you need). Any content you or anyone else in the campaign owns on DDB can be shared with everyone else by taking out a Master tier subscription and enabling content sharing.
You already got brownie points for asking about things you're not sure of before jumping, so don't stop doing that. ;) It's easy to have the wrong idea, jump in two feet first and regret that later, and there's lots of other people here more than willing to help out.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
1.No, all campaign tools that do not directly involve players are available whether or not their are players in it
So, the "Campaign Tools" are 3 text boxes and a dice roll log? I'm not seeing a heck of a lot else here other than a "Description", "Private Notes", and "Public Notes".
3.Yes, you can add any character to a campaign (to add a new one, click the add character button, otherwise, you need to hit the join the campaign link, and select the character from the screen that pops up.
I think I figured this out in a round about way. I just open the link in a new window once for each of "My Characters". Thanks!
Managing adventures is something else, as far as I'm concerned anyway. There's an Encounter Builder tool too, but that's still in beta and focuses on single encounters.
Any content you or anyone else in the campaign owns on DDB can be shared with everyone else by taking out a Master tier subscription and enabling content sharing.
What would you recommend for a "managing adventures" tool set? The character creator/manager, the Encounter Builder, and the digital indexing/references are a great start, but there is so much else that could be done with this digital content. Is this a direction D&D Beyond is heading or should I be looking at other resources? Note we have a lot of ADHD running through the family, so anything to help manage game is great. The character sheets alone have saved us a ton of time and frustration (esp., as I adjust to the 5e rule set)
The ability to share is not terribly useful for the family (yet). I could see this being useful when the family outgrows the nest.
Thanks again all! I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
What would you recommend for a "managing adventures" tool set? The character creator/manager, the Encounter Builder, and the digital indexing/references are a great start, but there is so much else that could be done with this digital content. Is this a direction D&D Beyond is heading or should I be looking at other resources?
What are you looking for? There's a handful of options for virtual tabletops, word processors for notekeeping, cloud storage to pass along and keep documents, for the basic stuff. There are also specialized sites like World Anvil for worldbuilding and campaign management.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
One tool to manage background information of the adventures and campaign is Notion - many similiar things.
To run the actual adventures while using DNDB, for non face to face, use a virtual table top like AboveVTT. If you allways play face to face without alternating your play location - physical books are probably a better option than DNDB. If you do move around a lot, to save carrying a ton of material you could all use laptops or tablets (with DNDB) then you wouldnt have to use physical books/die rolls.
Thanks again guys. I will certainly look into those resources. I feel like Beyond has just scratched the surface with its content. Some things that I would love to see to ease campaign management:
Click in your module location description (i.e., the ambush that kicks off LMOP) and load the encounter builder with it. So easy to do with digitize modules. I realize the Encounter Builder is Beta, but why hunt and peck?
Some tables are missing obvious Beyond20 die roles (not sure why some do and some don't)
Click on a random encounter table and have it generate one.
A map builder where you can actually print locations your characters "know of"/"have visited". Just look at the blank Sword Coast map, then look at the LMOP and DOIP DM maps. It would be great to have a master map where you could select locations (or even hexes) as visited to print between sessions.
Tracking cleared rooms/areas/regions on a map (similar idea as before, but I guess accounting for creatures/treasure removed)
Could I do this all with pen and paper? Sure. But it would be great for organizing (esp for the non-neurotypical among us).
Cheers
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
All,
I recently got back into D&D because of interest from my family. I have a bunch of 5e books and am currently putting the family through its paces in the LMOP. I've been managing my families characters/advancements through the "My Characters" interface (very cool BTW, because I'm often miscalculating a bunch of stuff otherwise). I started poking around the "Campaigns" interface, but it seems limited until you add characters (I think?). I also noticed I can add characters, but it assumes they all have online accounts.
I had heard rave reviews about D&D beyond being a good resource for managing your adventures. I was hoping to use this site at the dining room table as I am DM'so I can have instant access to stats, character status, etc. without managing a bunch of paper copies of everything. Is this possible with what I've paid for? Kind of like a DM management tool, but for face-to-face sessions.
I'm fairly new to this new world of D&D (stopped playing around AD&D) so I apologize if I'm misinterpreting the point of this site and its features.
Thanks all!
1.No, all campaign tools that do not directly involve players are available whether or not their are players in it.
2, No, No, and No, this is not what dndbeyond is for, though the first feature is possible, and may become fully functional in the near future.
3.Yes, you can add any character to a campaign (to add a new one, click the add character button, otherwise, you need to hit the join the campaign link, and select the character from the screen that pops up.
I would, however, recommend using something other than dndbeyond for these purposes.
My homebrew content: Monsters, subclasses, Magic items, Feats, spells, races, backgrounds
Can't say I'm entirely surprised about the misconception, but managing adventures is really not what DDB is for. The main purposes of the Campaign feature are getting to share owned content with others (via a subscription), having a shared dice roller and the DM having direct access to the character sheets of everyone in the campaign. Managing adventures is something else, as far as I'm concerned anyway. There's an Encounter Builder tool too, but that's still in beta and focuses on single encounters.
If access to stats on character sheets is what you're after then yes, this you can do with DDB. Don't know what you paid since you didn't say, but in order to do only that you don't even have to pay anything. The basics of that functionality are free. That said, if you want to use mechanics that are outside the scope of the Basic Rules (like a class, a spell, a feat, a background etc that isn't in that linked document) then that has to be paid for (either by buying the book it's in, or by buying the specific part of the book you need - see the Marketplace for that) or homebrewed (which may be easy or may be very time consuming depending on what you need). Any content you or anyone else in the campaign owns on DDB can be shared with everyone else by taking out a Master tier subscription and enabling content sharing.
You already got brownie points for asking about things you're not sure of before jumping, so don't stop doing that. ;) It's easy to have the wrong idea, jump in two feet first and regret that later, and there's lots of other people here more than willing to help out.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Thanks for the feedback all! That said, I'm still a bit confuse about a couple of items.
So, the "Campaign Tools" are 3 text boxes and a dice roll log? I'm not seeing a heck of a lot else here other than a "Description", "Private Notes", and "Public Notes".
I think I figured this out in a round about way. I just open the link in a new window once for each of "My Characters". Thanks!
What would you recommend for a "managing adventures" tool set? The character creator/manager, the Encounter Builder, and the digital indexing/references are a great start, but there is so much else that could be done with this digital content. Is this a direction D&D Beyond is heading or should I be looking at other resources? Note we have a lot of ADHD running through the family, so anything to help manage game is great. The character sheets alone have saved us a ton of time and frustration (esp., as I adjust to the 5e rule set)
The ability to share is not terribly useful for the family (yet). I could see this being useful when the family outgrows the nest.
Thanks again all! I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
What are you looking for? There's a handful of options for virtual tabletops, word processors for notekeeping, cloud storage to pass along and keep documents, for the basic stuff. There are also specialized sites like World Anvil for worldbuilding and campaign management.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
One tool to manage background information of the adventures and campaign is Notion - many similiar things.
To run the actual adventures while using DNDB, for non face to face, use a virtual table top like AboveVTT. If you allways play face to face without alternating your play location - physical books are probably a better option than DNDB. If you do move around a lot, to save carrying a ton of material you could all use laptops or tablets (with DNDB) then you wouldnt have to use physical books/die rolls.
Thanks again guys. I will certainly look into those resources. I feel like Beyond has just scratched the surface with its content. Some things that I would love to see to ease campaign management:
Could I do this all with pen and paper? Sure. But it would be great for organizing (esp for the non-neurotypical among us).
Cheers