There was. It was called D&D Insider and it ran until 2017, they kept supporting the old edition for a few years after 5e came out.
Some of the tools were really pretty cool, especially the monster homebrewer. But it was based on Microsoft silver light, which was discontinued. And then they made the licensing deal to create dndbeyond, so insider quietly went away.
There was. It was called D&D Insider and it ran until 2017, they kept supporting the old edition for a few years after 5e came out.
Some of the tools were really pretty cool, especially the monster homebrewer. But it was based on Microsoft silver light, which was discontinued. And then they made the licensing deal to create dndbeyond, so insider quietly went away.
Not entirely correct; Wizards of the Coast didn't make a licensing deal to create D&D Beyond, they licensed D&D content to (at the time) Curse who made D&D Beyond.
Insider was discontinued because it was written entirely in silverlight and microsoft killed that platform off. Silverlight was killed off (and DDI with it) 4 years after D&D Beyond launched (2017 for DDB, 2021 for silverlight)
There was. It was called D&D Insider and it ran until 2017, they kept supporting the old edition for a few years after 5e came out.
Some of the tools were really pretty cool, especially the monster homebrewer. But it was based on Microsoft silver light, which was discontinued. And then they made the licensing deal to create dndbeyond, so insider quietly went away.
Not entirely correct; Wizards of the Coast didn't make a licensing deal to create D&D Beyond, they licensed D&D content to (at the time) Curse who made D&D Beyond.
Insider was discontinued because it was written entirely in silverlight and microsoft killed that platform off. Silverlight was killed off (and DDI with it) 4 years after D&D Beyond launched (2017 for DDB, 2021 for silverlight)
Hosting a website is not free. You need to first to make it, then maintain server space, then have tech support folks and customer service folks versed in that specific program, then need to be able to update it to keep updated as operating systems, browsers, plug-ins, and security threats evolve, etc. All of that costs money--and you are unlikely to get a big return on your investment for discontinued versions (especially since many folks who do not switch to new systems are using pen and paper, rather than digital tools). And, of course, you are not making new content for old editions. That means once someone has all the content, they're not going to be buying anymore books. All of this means you are spending a large amount of money for a population which tends to be shrinking (old school revival bubbles notwithstanding).
As fun as it would be to have some digital options for older editions, creating and hosting older systems akin to Beyond is not a great investment for Wizards.
Fortunately, they do make all their old content relatively available online--you might not get digital tools, but DriveThruRPG is licensed to sell PDFs of a whole bunch of older content. So, even if you might have to use pen and paper, at least it is all out there to be found still.
Maintenance limits and licensing issues mostly, I expect. They'd need additional hardware for all the sites, and they'd either need to hire additional webmasters to keep track of them or split the attention of their existing team. Plus, I'm not sure WotC/Hasbro actually owns the rights to the publications for most of the earlier editions, so they couldn't publish pages for them the way they do here.
Maintenance limits and licensing issues mostly, I expect. They'd need additional hardware for all the sites, and they'd either need to hire additional webmasters to keep track of them or split the attention of their existing team. Plus, I'm not sure WotC/Hasbro actually owns the rights to the publications for most of the earlier editions, so they couldn't publish pages for them the way they do here.
I'm pretty sure they do. They've published special items from older editions, like the 1E PHB, DMG, and MM box set a few years back. They just don't have a lot of incentive to publish the older stuff since they're supporting the current edition. They don't want to make the mistake that TSR did with trying to support something like three different versions of the game at the same time (which was expensive and split the fanbase so they weren't getting a lot of people buying Basic D&D and Advanced D&D at the same time).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Maintenance limits and licensing issues mostly, I expect. They'd need additional hardware for all the sites, and they'd either need to hire additional webmasters to keep track of them or split the attention of their existing team. Plus, I'm not sure WotC/Hasbro actually owns the rights to the publications for most of the earlier editions, so they couldn't publish pages for them the way they do here.
I'm pretty sure they do. They've published special items from older editions, like the 1E PHB, DMG, and MM box set a few years back. They just don't have a lot of incentive to publish the older stuff since they're supporting the current edition. They don't want to make the mistake that TSR did with trying to support something like three different versions of the game at the same time (which was expensive and split the fanbase so they weren't getting a lot of people buying Basic D&D and Advanced D&D at the same time).
It is worth noting, and as alluded to in my prior post, they do more than just publish these items for special editions - they license out the content (which they very clearly own—they bought everything from TSR, including their back catalog) to companies like DriveThruRPG to publish digitally.
This content might not be receiving new support or tools, but it very much is still being published—accessible 24/7 with just the click of a few buttons.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
just wondering if they have any support for 4E for those who still love to play it.
There actually never was 4e on this site. But I believe they did finally shut down the other site that was for 4e a couple years ago.
No there is not if there ever has been any.
4E was discontinued 9 years ago.
There was. It was called D&D Insider and it ran until 2017, they kept supporting the old edition for a few years after 5e came out.
Some of the tools were really pretty cool, especially the monster homebrewer. But it was based on Microsoft silver light, which was discontinued. And then they made the licensing deal to create dndbeyond, so insider quietly went away.
Not entirely correct; Wizards of the Coast didn't make a licensing deal to create D&D Beyond, they licensed D&D content to (at the time) Curse who made D&D Beyond.
Insider was discontinued because it was written entirely in silverlight and microsoft killed that platform off. Silverlight was killed off (and DDI with it) 4 years after D&D Beyond launched (2017 for DDB, 2021 for silverlight)
D&D Beyond moderator across forums, Discord, Twitch and YouTube. Always happy to help and willing to answer questions (or at least try). (he/him/his)
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat On - Mod Hat Off
Site Rules & Guidelines - Homebrew Rules - Looking for Players and Groups Rules
Thanks for the clarification.
Why not have a version of DDB for every edition?
I mean, like a different version of the website, so people can play any edition they want.
Hosting a website is not free. You need to first to make it, then maintain server space, then have tech support folks and customer service folks versed in that specific program, then need to be able to update it to keep updated as operating systems, browsers, plug-ins, and security threats evolve, etc. All of that costs money--and you are unlikely to get a big return on your investment for discontinued versions (especially since many folks who do not switch to new systems are using pen and paper, rather than digital tools). And, of course, you are not making new content for old editions. That means once someone has all the content, they're not going to be buying anymore books. All of this means you are spending a large amount of money for a population which tends to be shrinking (old school revival bubbles notwithstanding).
As fun as it would be to have some digital options for older editions, creating and hosting older systems akin to Beyond is not a great investment for Wizards.
Fortunately, they do make all their old content relatively available online--you might not get digital tools, but DriveThruRPG is licensed to sell PDFs of a whole bunch of older content. So, even if you might have to use pen and paper, at least it is all out there to be found still.
Maintenance limits and licensing issues mostly, I expect. They'd need additional hardware for all the sites, and they'd either need to hire additional webmasters to keep track of them or split the attention of their existing team. Plus, I'm not sure WotC/Hasbro actually owns the rights to the publications for most of the earlier editions, so they couldn't publish pages for them the way they do here.
I'm pretty sure they do. They've published special items from older editions, like the 1E PHB, DMG, and MM box set a few years back. They just don't have a lot of incentive to publish the older stuff since they're supporting the current edition. They don't want to make the mistake that TSR did with trying to support something like three different versions of the game at the same time (which was expensive and split the fanbase so they weren't getting a lot of people buying Basic D&D and Advanced D&D at the same time).
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Ah, my bad.
It is worth noting, and as alluded to in my prior post, they do more than just publish these items for special editions - they license out the content (which they very clearly own—they bought everything from TSR, including their back catalog) to companies like DriveThruRPG to publish digitally.
This content might not be receiving new support or tools, but it very much is still being published—accessible 24/7 with just the click of a few buttons.