I'm new to D&D (paper version: I've played lots of video games both in D&D system as well as other fantasy games). I purchased the PHB on DDB and it was great to get an idea of everything from a player's PoV. I have a question about getting further content, but before I ask, I'd like to make a clarification/disclaimer: having searched/read a bunch of stuff on the forums related to this question, I've noticed that people tend to get lost in an emotional discussion about whether they should receive digital content for physical books they've already purchased. I am in no way asking this and would kindly like to ask people to refrain from that separate, and unrelated to my question, discussion.
My question: given that I'd probably buy MM and DMG on DDB for easy search & reference, would it be better to buy adventures (Curse of Strahd, Rise of Tiamat, Tomb of Annihilation, etc) in physical form or the DDB?
Rationale for question: is running the story campaign easier from the book or from the online material, especially keeping in mind that this would be my first time DMing. I've already done a bunch of research, printed out DM screen sheets for reference, watched a few videos with tips for DMing and so on. I'm a software dev so I have no problem doing the whole online thing, but I would like to know whether it's easier from a book vs the DDB experience. I'll be buying the adventure either in physical or on DDB either way... but I'll probably be using Game Master 5e from Lion's Den to help set up encounters and stuff (and also because it has built in dice rolling which will help out a lot).
I'll tell you my experience and let you make of it what you will. I have purchased each physical book for 5e that WOTC has put out as well as the legendary bundle here. Having the physical books first, I was able to find most things I needed pretty quickly in the books by the time DDB came out. But DDB's searchable compendium is pretty darn fast too. It took me a little while to trust the digital format as much as I do the books, but I've finally gotten there. I hardly crack a book open now, but when I do, it's the adventure book. For the last few months, I've been DMing my group through the Tomb of Annihilation, and I'd only have that book open to a particular page so I wouldn't have to switch tabs on my chromebook quite as much. The next phase of my campaign is Against the Giants from Tales From the Yawning Portal, and I probably won't bring the book to the table at all.
I will keep buying physical books to keep the library complete and to read for leisure, but prep is digital for me. Prepping the game is easier for me digitally even though I like the feel of holding and reading a physical book more than looking at a screen. I use OneNote for my campaign notes, and I can link to DDB pages there. Plus if something comes to mind, Google is just a new tab away.
I am a huge fan of physical books. I like it when planning or just reading ahead. For me the digital books really shine when quickly finding something. So much faster than checking the table of contents/index and then actually turning to it. Helps keep the game interruptions short.
I rarely open my physical books any more and just use Dndbeyond for all lookups during sessions.
But I run homebrew adventures, not published. So I can’t say from personal experience which would be easier to run. I suspect dndbeyond would be easier, but I can’t say for sure. Either way though, I don’t think that would be the determining factor.
My feeling is that to be successful in running an adventure you must have two things, a good command of the rules, and a very good understanding of the intricacies of the adventure you are running. The latter being much more important. In my homebrew, I know the world, the goals, the encounters, basically I’m prepared for almost every choice the players might make because I know the adventure world inside out. This is easy for me, because I wrote it.
However, if I were running a premade adventure I would want to become extremely familiar with it, probably reading the whole thing a few times. Given this, the real question on digital vs physical becomes what format do you want to learn the subject in? Is reading a physical book preferable to reading on a screen? That would determine my purchase.
If I were only to buy one, it would probably be dndbeyond, simply for portability, reference lookups, and the other digital benefits. But to be honest reading from the web or the app is currently less desirable for me than a physical book. And this is from some who prefers kindle to physical for most reading. I’d love to one day get a decent eink solution for dnd content, but for now we have what we have.
Of course, I will probably continue to buy both, because I’m hooked on the junk.
Given your comfort with digital material, I think buying adventures on DDB would work well for you.
I'm currently running Tomb of Annihilation (TOA for short) in a weekly game at the library. The Friends of the Library group purchased the print adventure for me to use. At the same time, I was part of a play by post game here, and our DM had TOA and turned on content sharing in our game, so I had access to it here as well. I found I did most of my prep on DDB, and set up my iPad with various tabs for the info I needed. The play by post game I was in ran out of steam, and a few weeks ago I discovered our DM for that game had turned off content sharing, so I no longer had access to the adventure on DDB. By that point I was so dependent on using DDB to run things that I bought TOA on DDB. (The irony is that 3 days later someone else in that campaign turned content sharing on for us, a the campaign still exists here even though we are on hiatus.
I do find a print book easier if I just want to read through a chapter, and there are times when I use both the physical book and the resources on DDB. Having both really is the best of both worlds, but it's not always affordable.
It is possible to print out things from DDB, which is nice. I print out maps, and NPCs who are accompanying the party. (Which means during combat I can hand off the NPCs to players to run so I can concentrate on the monsters.)
I think, as a DM having recently converted to D&D Beyond myself, that if you are confident that you'll have an internet connection when/where you are running your sessions, that D&D Beyond is superior in utility to the physical books.
All the tool-tipped information, being able to use Ctrl+F to quickly search the text, having access to images of 'player version' maps in most adventures (maybe all, I'm not sure - I know they have all of them that were made, just not sure if every adventure had them made) - and if you are entirely digital, it saves a lot of space on the table (games that I run with physical books, I have to put a TV tray next to my seat at the end of the table just to have enough room to physically put everything - and I've got a large table already).
I ran Lost Mine of Phandelvar off my 10.5" iPad Pro no problem. I was using the DDB app for the adventure in 1/3 of the screen and an encounter tracker in the other 2/3. I don't think the website would have worked as well as the app, though (I did briefly try). I would happily run a campaign from the website and run the encounter tracker on my iPad (or a different tracker on my laptop) - come to think of it, I did that for a week or two before the app was released. The app is also great for reading the books and I browsed one of the campaign books before my players decided they wanted to wreck things in my homebrew world.
The main caveat is that I don't think pre-reading the campaign guides would be as enjoyable on a laptop as in either the iPad or a book. But running the campaign would be fine. Maybe even preferable as you can have multiple windows open. YMMV.
Personally, I have zero interest in buying physical copies except as collectables. So I'd say, buy digital.
I sold all my books, rules and adventures, as I completely stopped using them since having access to DDB.
I have everything available all the time, which is great, since I have a 90 minute public transport commute each day and it would be impossible to bring all my books. I find the website completely sufficient for all my needs.
The website is, for me, also vastly superior during play.
I have pretty much all the physical books except 1 or two and have just started using DnDBeyond. Some of players are stubborn and are fighting me on getting their own accounts to link to mine so I know that a lot of character creation in the future will still require the physical books (we are a group of around 8). That being said, I've been really enjoying using DnD Beyond when I am running the game. I find it much easier to find items from the adventures via the site and the app than looking in my physical books, and I like the fact that I can use my iPad and not worry about my players possibly getting a hint of what is going on via an illustration or where I am in the book. So personally I think I'm going to keep buying physical books for my own personal collection only when my players may need to use it, but from now on I'm picking up all the source books and any adventures I run from here.
Hi all.
I'm new to D&D (paper version: I've played lots of video games both in D&D system as well as other fantasy games). I purchased the PHB on DDB and it was great to get an idea of everything from a player's PoV. I have a question about getting further content, but before I ask, I'd like to make a clarification/disclaimer: having searched/read a bunch of stuff on the forums related to this question, I've noticed that people tend to get lost in an emotional discussion about whether they should receive digital content for physical books they've already purchased. I am in no way asking this and would kindly like to ask people to refrain from that separate, and unrelated to my question, discussion.
My question: given that I'd probably buy MM and DMG on DDB for easy search & reference, would it be better to buy adventures (Curse of Strahd, Rise of Tiamat, Tomb of Annihilation, etc) in physical form or the DDB?
Rationale for question: is running the story campaign easier from the book or from the online material, especially keeping in mind that this would be my first time DMing. I've already done a bunch of research, printed out DM screen sheets for reference, watched a few videos with tips for DMing and so on. I'm a software dev so I have no problem doing the whole online thing, but I would like to know whether it's easier from a book vs the DDB experience. I'll be buying the adventure either in physical or on DDB either way... but I'll probably be using Game Master 5e from Lion's Den to help set up encounters and stuff (and also because it has built in dice rolling which will help out a lot).
I'll tell you my experience and let you make of it what you will. I have purchased each physical book for 5e that WOTC has put out as well as the legendary bundle here. Having the physical books first, I was able to find most things I needed pretty quickly in the books by the time DDB came out. But DDB's searchable compendium is pretty darn fast too. It took me a little while to trust the digital format as much as I do the books, but I've finally gotten there. I hardly crack a book open now, but when I do, it's the adventure book. For the last few months, I've been DMing my group through the Tomb of Annihilation, and I'd only have that book open to a particular page so I wouldn't have to switch tabs on my chromebook quite as much. The next phase of my campaign is Against the Giants from Tales From the Yawning Portal, and I probably won't bring the book to the table at all.
I will keep buying physical books to keep the library complete and to read for leisure, but prep is digital for me. Prepping the game is easier for me digitally even though I like the feel of holding and reading a physical book more than looking at a screen. I use OneNote for my campaign notes, and I can link to DDB pages there. Plus if something comes to mind, Google is just a new tab away.
I am a huge fan of physical books. I like it when planning or just reading ahead. For me the digital books really shine when quickly finding something. So much faster than checking the table of contents/index and then actually turning to it. Helps keep the game interruptions short.
I own every 5e book, both physical and digital.
I rarely open my physical books any more and just use Dndbeyond for all lookups during sessions.
But I run homebrew adventures, not published. So I can’t say from personal experience which would be easier to run. I suspect dndbeyond would be easier, but I can’t say for sure. Either way though, I don’t think that would be the determining factor.
My feeling is that to be successful in running an adventure you must have two things, a good command of the rules, and a very good understanding of the intricacies of the adventure you are running. The latter being much more important. In my homebrew, I know the world, the goals, the encounters, basically I’m prepared for almost every choice the players might make because I know the adventure world inside out. This is easy for me, because I wrote it.
However, if I were running a premade adventure I would want to become extremely familiar with it, probably reading the whole thing a few times. Given this, the real question on digital vs physical becomes what format do you want to learn the subject in? Is reading a physical book preferable to reading on a screen? That would determine my purchase.
If I were only to buy one, it would probably be dndbeyond, simply for portability, reference lookups, and the other digital benefits. But to be honest reading from the web or the app is currently less desirable for me than a physical book. And this is from some who prefers kindle to physical for most reading. I’d love to one day get a decent eink solution for dnd content, but for now we have what we have.
Of course, I will probably continue to buy both, because I’m hooked on the junk.
Legendary Bundle ~ Master Tier
Given your comfort with digital material, I think buying adventures on DDB would work well for you.
I'm currently running Tomb of Annihilation (TOA for short) in a weekly game at the library. The Friends of the Library group purchased the print adventure for me to use. At the same time, I was part of a play by post game here, and our DM had TOA and turned on content sharing in our game, so I had access to it here as well. I found I did most of my prep on DDB, and set up my iPad with various tabs for the info I needed. The play by post game I was in ran out of steam, and a few weeks ago I discovered our DM for that game had turned off content sharing, so I no longer had access to the adventure on DDB. By that point I was so dependent on using DDB to run things that I bought TOA on DDB. (The irony is that 3 days later someone else in that campaign turned content sharing on for us, a the campaign still exists here even though we are on hiatus.
I do find a print book easier if I just want to read through a chapter, and there are times when I use both the physical book and the resources on DDB. Having both really is the best of both worlds, but it's not always affordable.
It is possible to print out things from DDB, which is nice. I print out maps, and NPCs who are accompanying the party. (Which means during combat I can hand off the NPCs to players to run so I can concentrate on the monsters.)
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
I think, as a DM having recently converted to D&D Beyond myself, that if you are confident that you'll have an internet connection when/where you are running your sessions, that D&D Beyond is superior in utility to the physical books.
All the tool-tipped information, being able to use Ctrl+F to quickly search the text, having access to images of 'player version' maps in most adventures (maybe all, I'm not sure - I know they have all of them that were made, just not sure if every adventure had them made) - and if you are entirely digital, it saves a lot of space on the table (games that I run with physical books, I have to put a TV tray next to my seat at the end of the table just to have enough room to physically put everything - and I've got a large table already).
I ran Lost Mine of Phandelvar off my 10.5" iPad Pro no problem. I was using the DDB app for the adventure in 1/3 of the screen and an encounter tracker in the other 2/3. I don't think the website would have worked as well as the app, though (I did briefly try). I would happily run a campaign from the website and run the encounter tracker on my iPad (or a different tracker on my laptop) - come to think of it, I did that for a week or two before the app was released. The app is also great for reading the books and I browsed one of the campaign books before my players decided they wanted to wreck things in my homebrew world.
The main caveat is that I don't think pre-reading the campaign guides would be as enjoyable on a laptop as in either the iPad or a book. But running the campaign would be fine. Maybe even preferable as you can have multiple windows open. YMMV.
Personally, I have zero interest in buying physical copies except as collectables. So I'd say, buy digital.
I sold all my books, rules and adventures, as I completely stopped using them since having access to DDB.
I have everything available all the time, which is great, since I have a 90 minute public transport commute each day and it would be impossible to bring all my books. I find the website completely sufficient for all my needs.
The website is, for me, also vastly superior during play.
I have pretty much all the physical books except 1 or two and have just started using DnDBeyond. Some of players are stubborn and are fighting me on getting their own accounts to link to mine so I know that a lot of character creation in the future will still require the physical books (we are a group of around 8). That being said, I've been really enjoying using DnD Beyond when I am running the game. I find it much easier to find items from the adventures via the site and the app than looking in my physical books, and I like the fact that I can use my iPad and not worry about my players possibly getting a hint of what is going on via an illustration or where I am in the book. So personally I think I'm going to keep buying physical books for my own personal collection only when my players may need to use it, but from now on I'm picking up all the source books and any adventures I run from here.
Your answers have been really helpful everyone! Thanks so much.
Seems like I'm gonna go the DDB route fully. Hopefully it all goes super well! :D