So, I suspect, from a business standpoint, when it comes to 3rd party stuff that is already out there, that it is more about making it available here -- thus making this your preferred retail source -- in part because they have to spend all that time coding it into the system.
Note, as well, they are curating the options -- they've picked a lot of this, and they are doing it quietly (I also don't recall any fanfare about these or Mercer's stuff prior to the release, and that's just as important as here).
That bit about coding it into the system is pretty important. And remember that as far as we know, anything they code into the system is likely to be part of the VTT in the end.
Give some thought to that -- a 3D VTT featuring 3rd party stuff. A minimum of a year away, likely two, but getting it set up now...
This. I know we want to keep things positive on this thread, so all I will say is that I'm glad DDB will signal boost third-party content so that I can go buy it directly from the third-party vendors when I like it enough...
So, Tal Dorei isn't my setting of choice and Critical Role not my viewing of choice, but I think this is cause for celebration. WOTC puts on its big-boy pants finally and I feel there's been legitimate cause to be super critical* of their actions over recent history. * That doesn't necessarily mean "damning", but the actions are definitely noteworthy and criticism is valid.
Anyway... There's so much good, really high-quality third party content out there that it seems a no-brainer to start bundling it in under the WOTC umbrella. This hobby, with (decent support) in the age of digital publishing, with some oversight, moderation and hell, even proof-reading/editorial work can only be a bonus to the players and hopefully the actual content-producers get a decent percentage.
There's a few other Campaign settings that I already own that I'd consider buying a second time through DDB just for the digital access (Foundry). I'd part with money right now for an easy-import of Midgard - and most of the work's done, I <3 that setting. This is really the direction that WOTC should embrace I think and so long as they're being fair, this benefits us all.
Now, I actually miss the "good old days" of 3rd/3.5 and endless splatbooks - I know that's probably a minority, but as a kid - that stuff set my imagination on fire and now I have disposable income - or can simply pick/choose where that goes. The market's changed a lot, I'm not longer a completist. The hobby is too big to own/consume/read everything and I actually have an irl life. I think the market largely reflects people settling into what they want/need from TTRPG's and D&D. More Critical Role content? Cool - because that's going to equate to more happy fellow nerds and maybe one day they'll want to visit The Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun or Eberron etc. if they can easily access "more stuff", sweet. In the long-run we all benefit.
It may mean slower sales, but this hobby's a long-term thing and if WOTC/Hasbro can recognise that, then I'm hugely in favour of this.
Having read through Lairs of Etharis a few times and starting to prep to DM it for a group next month I am very excited to play through it. I am also excited to use the individual adventures as side quests, or to run when the whole group isn't able to make a session.
I will say I was quite disappointed with the shipping rates from Ghostfire Gaming when I went to purchase a physical copy of their core rule books. Disappointed enough that I will not be purchasing any physical copies from them. I am not saying shipping should be free, but wow.
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CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
Having read through Lairs of Etharis a few times and starting to prep to DM it for a group next month I am very excited to play through it. I am also excited to use the individual adventures as side quests, or to run when the whole group isn't able to make a session.
I will say I was quite disappointed with the shipping rates from Ghostfire Gaming when I went to purchase a physical copy of their core rule books. Disappointed enough that I will not be purchasing any physical copies from them. I am not saying shipping should be free, but wow.
I have learned to never purchase physical books for campaigns, but source books I do occasionally buy physical copies for if the digital content is compelling enough. I have seen some absurd shipping prices before. WotC got some rough comments in the forums for shipping to... I believe Canada(?), but when I looked up the rates at the time, the shipping was actually generous for their physical bundles. I know shipping can be a major deterrent to making a purchase though, even when it is a relatively good deal. I have watched people cancel Kickstarter orders because shipping was more than the product itself!
Having read through Lairs of Etharis a few times and starting to prep to DM it for a group next month I am very excited to play through it. I am also excited to use the individual adventures as side quests, or to run when the whole group isn't able to make a session.
I will say I was quite disappointed with the shipping rates from Ghostfire Gaming when I went to purchase a physical copy of their core rule books. Disappointed enough that I will not be purchasing any physical copies from them. I am not saying shipping should be free, but wow.
I have learned to never purchase physical books for campaigns, but source books I do occasionally buy physical copies for if the digital content is compelling enough. I have seen some absurd shipping prices before. WotC got some rough comments in the forums for shipping to... I believe Canada(?), but when I looked up the rates at the time, the shipping was actually generous for their physical bundles. I know shipping can be a major deterrent to making a purchase though, even when it is a relatively good deal. I have watched people cancel Kickstarter orders because shipping was more than the product itself!
It would be one thing if that was just how much shipping is, but it isn't, there are several places selling the books with shipping rates that are 60+% lower. It is not just them, I purchase a lot of physical books from a lot of places and it is something you have to watch out for if it matters to you. A recent purchase was book $14, shipping $45. Looked around got the same book shipping was $5 got it in 4 days (book was cheaper too).
It is almost like doesn't come out of our pocket so we don't care mark it up and pass it on to the customer.
Sorry for the rant, but doing all of this collab work to get it on DDB to get more customers then turn them off with high shipping?
Still love that it is here and I will likely buy more here but nothing from Ghostfire that requires shipping.
Most of my content is digital, but the stuff I like I buy physical copies as well.
Grimhollow - hugely in favour of it. My cards/dice are up in the air as the my D&D future, but as things stand this is most likely my last Campaign before switching to... PF2 or some kind of horror-based TTTPG - certainly as a DM/GM.
I could well be tempted to (ab)use the Grimhollow setting if I stick with fantasy, but aside from "everyone" plays D&D I can't see a good reason to stick with it. A statblock is a statblock and differentiating between AD&D >>> 5e isn't a huge deal in an academic sense, sure THAC0 Versus AC as is has gotten easier as a bar of entry and made the game more accessible, but there's been nothing released officially (discounting 3rd party here) that's set my imagination alight. Grimhollow is something I picked up after seeing some enthusiasm in a couple of places and doing some reading and "Hell Yeah!". That IS exactly what I want from a product, it's like the people behind it gave a damn and it feels like a labour of love.
It's just that ephemeral and to simplify an argument that I'm tired of making, I don't think anyone at WOTC's been in an employment position to do things that way or at least cared to within this edition. Maybe some people cared, but didn't have the power or vice versa, but that's how I feel. If there's a campaign available, I'll play, but I'm loathe to put money into half-baked product #98 or whatever. I think a break from fantasy TTRPG's might be best - it's the writing element I enjoy doing the most. Seeing a company (with Ghostfire) put something out they seem to genuinely have care for - I find inspiring, that makes me want to do my own work, create my own things and puts a spring in my step, Spelljammer just made me want to hold my head in my hands. Bigby's was gifted to me by my players and that was super-nice of them, it feels like a step towards the right direction, at least not so much of a stagnation.
As an aside to this, I think I'm "personally" struggling a bit with the (specific) D&D "community". We lost a player: no big deal - life happens, good terms etc. and they departed nicely. I did the standard recruitment drive/routine and damn, it's been painful. Really painful. I'm into some niche hobbies and generally think "gatekeeping" is bad, but seriously? No one reads anymore. Give a player more than half a page of content to read and it's not happening, suggest some reading for background to the setting and that's not happening either. "I just want to play homebrew" has been the stock response to campaign adverts that specify The Campaign Setting in the thread title. If I go to non-D&D forums - I don't have that issue. Maybe it's me being old and grumpy, maybe it's "this place" or the 5e Discord, but I think my niche-nerd-hobby ain't for "readers no more". Perhaps that's symptomatic of the times, tiktok, social media/whatever, but if I go to a Forum that's not branded D&D I can still find good "reading" D&D players. Sorry, that's not answering your question, just an old-man rant ;)
Grimhollow - hugely in favour, wish it had dovetailed timeframes better (for me), but it didn't. Would very happily play that world and brush up on my reading for it ;)
With the addition of Humblewood, I was hoping that someone might be able to tell me about it. I have read that it is Redwall-inspired. That is very interesting to me as I loved those books as a child. Anyone here who has used Humblewood, can you tell me about it? Bards are my favorite class, so I am hoping someone can give me a rundown of the subclass featured here.
With the addition of Humblewood, I was hoping that someone might be able to tell me about it. I have read that it is Redwall-inspired. That is very interesting to me as I loved those books as a child. Anyone here who has used Humblewood, can you tell me about it? Bards are my favorite class, so I am hoping someone can give me a rundown of the subclass featured here.
I was not a Redwall fan, so I cannot really comment on the setting itself.
The subclasses feel like they were designed by a homebrewer—and not always in a good way. The species it offers are all fine—most of them are pretty standard, with a few that have neat abilities, a few that have bad abilities, and a bunch that have fairly uninspired abilities.
The classes are all neat ideas mired by amateur implementation. The bard, for example, has a lot of neat ideas - you can customize it based on your adventures, so it reflects the abilities you have learned through the campaign. But a number of these abilities you can choose from are bad; others are absurdly powerful for a subclass trait. Scofflaw outlaw has some focus issues; the Community Cleric has a channel divinity which is basically Mass Bardic Inspiration (with multiple uses).
Most of the spells are okay, but one level 3 spell is incredibly broken, giving you the ability to use two pseudo-portents from the absurdly strong Divinity Wizard… for each use of a level 3 spell slot (that’s a lot of uses per day!).
The feats range from “meh” to “okay, but kind of fun.”
All told, the mechanical elements are a bit all over the place, with sone serious raised questions as to the designer’s understanding of game design.
The monsters are all fairly low level, so, if that is what you are looking for, that is fine. I think we already have enough things at CR 8 and under (and a lot of these are CR 3 and under), that I was rather disappointed with the new offerings on this front.
Magic items have some… questionable design choices, like a pretty strong 100 foot (!) cone attack.
Now, enough of my players are fans of Redwall and such that I am glad I got it for them. If you just want the races (and perhaps the lore, which I am offering no opinion on), I think that it provides a good set of options for folks who want more animal options. Still, overall, I do not think the design quality stands up against the other third-party content Beyond has releases thus far.
I've had Humblewood for a few years, actually first third party product I ever purchased shortly after the core. I'd say Caerwyn's difficulties/objections are in a minority based on my experience, the experience of other players, and reviewers, I liked it enough to back the KS for an additional volume of adventures.
I wasn't familiar with Redwall, most critics compare the humblefolk and birdfolk to the population of Disney's Robinhood ... and reading over Redwall, I don't see much beyond superficial resemblance in anthropomorphic wood folk. Humblewood has it's own tension between the humblefolk and birdfolk, with some simple politics, but it's pantheon is quite impressive (new forthcoming book takes on a new Druid/Ranger type too that's been interesting in playtest).
I would say, I have said, I don't know how well Humblewood "mixes" with someone's preexisting D&D world, I'd argue it's pretty internally balanced (a lot of the magic is specific to the campaign and campaign world) but I've yet to hear of people who've exported the player options etc into larger D&D games. I'm sure it's done, but I'm guessing it'd be a bit messy. The subclasses are very setting and campaign specific, and I think wouldn't port over well outside Humblewood, but that an untested gut feeling.
There's a pretty thorough deep dive into Humblewood in this review, and I'm generally in agreement with it:
My only quibble is that it's D&D Beyond pricing seems to be reflective of the boxed set rather than the campaign book. Frankly I taught myself the basics of home brewing on DDB through Humblewood. The boxed set gets you battlemaps and some cardboard standees (of NPCs, they put a miniature line for PCs); but the maps also exist in the book so I would have treated the product like a D&D adventure book and price accordingly.
Hit Point Press is a very reputable press, not considered mere home brewers, and definitely one of those industry standard bearers of 3PP. I was sort of surprised to see them here, as one of their main authors, the guy behind Gryphons Saddlebags had some strong words for WotC during the OGL thing, Hit Points' words were a bit more measured, so I guess that means we'll likely see Heckna! from them on here before we see Gryphons I+II (despite that being one of the most popularly home-brewed 3pp on here).
Here's hoping they add The Grimhollow Campaign Setting, to DnDB, I want to blow a bunch of money for some of those subclasses/classes. Hopefully, in the near future, too.
Here's hoping they add The Grimhollow Campaign Setting, to DnDB, I want to blow a bunch of money for some of those subclasses/classes. Hopefully, in the near future, too.
That is a great point. I too am more inclined to buy partnered content when there are more player options. I have not picked up the recent releases but the one I am most thinking about has some subclasses.
Dungeons of Drakkenheim has mostly magic items, a handful of spells, and 5 backgrounds, which is neat. Lairs of Etharis has far less. Thematically very cool from what I am seeing in both that I am accessing through a shared campaign, but Humblewood hits on more of what I am after. I think many people will share that feeling and here's hoping you get your wish in the near future.
Here's hoping they add The Grimhollow Campaign Setting, to DnDB, I want to blow a bunch of money for some of those subclasses/classes. Hopefully, in the near future, too.
That is a great point. I too am more inclined to buy partnered content when there are more player options. I have not picked up the recent releases but the one I am most thinking about has some subclasses.
Dungeons of Drakkenheim has mostly magic items, a handful of spells, and 5 backgrounds, which is neat. Lairs of Etharis has far less. Thematically very cool from what I am seeing in both that I am accessing through a shared campaign, but Humblewood hits on more of what I am after. I think many people will share that feeling and here's hoping you get your wish in the near future.
Well, one thing about Grim Hollow in general is that if they gave us the entire Campaign Setting, that would be quite a bit of content alone. Since The Player's Guide for Grim Hollow has 24 subclasses, races, backgrounds, a "Variant Inspiration System" whatever that means, new schools of magic like Sangromancy, new magical items in general including some related to transformation. And transformations in general revolving around Fey, Elementals, and Spectres. Personally, A Circle of Blood Druid would fit quite well in a campaign I'm in. Plus if they add the other monsters from Grim Hollow, since they've made 400 some monsters in that setting, I don't think I'd run out of content any time soon for a West March.
Is there a Way to unlock the 3p books if you already bought hard copies/pdf's from the original creator? I mean I already payed $40+ for some of them but I still have to manually "homebrew" all of the content into DnD-Beyond.
Is there a Way to unlock the 3p books if you already bought hard copies/pdf's from the original creator? I mean I already payed $40+ for some of them but I still have to manually "homebrew" all of the content into DnD-Beyond.
No there isn't, just like with WOTC first party purchases (as well as almost any physical v digital by any company such as a book v Kindle purchase) the physical book and the digital toolset are two separate purchases
having just gotten around to watching the pointy hat video on wizards, i'd be strongly interested in hearing whether or not Antonio Demico's Hexbound would ever come to DBB. a yes would be incredible, but a no would suggest to me that the devs had reserved 'witchcraft' for themselves.
( obviously the most likey thing is silence until one day years later it just sorta pops into being on the DBB main page :p )
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unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: providefeedback!
is there any chance that the new grim hollow supplement books will be added?
cant create the new subclasses from Raiders Guide To Valika especially the spell casters. someone did make post the barbarian, the 1 fighter and the rogue tho. please gimmie good news
is there any chance that the new grim hollow supplement books will be added?
cant create the new subclasses from Raiders Guide To Valika especially the spell casters. someone did make post the barbarian, the 1 fighter and the rogue tho. please gimmie good news
idk about grim hollow but dungeon dudes have chances, saw comments of one of them:
"We are very hopeful that our second book Sebastian Crowe’s Guide to Drakkenheim will be added in the future. I want nothing more than to be creating apothecaries on D&D beyond. We just have to see how our first book does." quote from 4 month back, and then like 2 weeks ago or so he agreed with comment that their new book (i think from context it was their monster book that is now at kickstarter stage) will be on DDB. Ik that Etharis and Drakkenheim is kind of different but still
and yeah Raiders Guide is cool one, though i think those classes still can be homebrewed - yeah maneuvers will need manual check during play and their table need to be copypasted though google sheets or similar app into subclass - but it's bearable issue.
This. I know we want to keep things positive on this thread, so all I will say is that I'm glad DDB will signal boost third-party content so that I can go buy it directly from the third-party vendors when I like it enough...
So, Tal Dorei isn't my setting of choice and Critical Role not my viewing of choice, but I think this is cause for celebration.
WOTC puts on its big-boy pants finally and I feel there's been legitimate cause to be super critical* of their actions over recent history.
* That doesn't necessarily mean "damning", but the actions are definitely noteworthy and criticism is valid.
Anyway... There's so much good, really high-quality third party content out there that it seems a no-brainer to start bundling it in under the WOTC umbrella.
This hobby, with (decent support) in the age of digital publishing, with some oversight, moderation and hell, even proof-reading/editorial work can only be a bonus to the players and hopefully the actual content-producers get a decent percentage.
There's a few other Campaign settings that I already own that I'd consider buying a second time through DDB just for the digital access (Foundry). I'd part with money right now for an easy-import of Midgard - and most of the work's done, I <3 that setting. This is really the direction that WOTC should embrace I think and so long as they're being fair, this benefits us all.
Now, I actually miss the "good old days" of 3rd/3.5 and endless splatbooks - I know that's probably a minority, but as a kid - that stuff set my imagination on fire and now I have disposable income - or can simply pick/choose where that goes. The market's changed a lot, I'm not longer a completist. The hobby is too big to own/consume/read everything and I actually have an irl life. I think the market largely reflects people settling into what they want/need from TTRPG's and D&D. More Critical Role content? Cool - because that's going to equate to more happy fellow nerds and maybe one day they'll want to visit The Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun or Eberron etc. if they can easily access "more stuff", sweet. In the long-run we all benefit.
It may mean slower sales, but this hobby's a long-term thing and if WOTC/Hasbro can recognise that, then I'm hugely in favour of this.
https://wulfgold.substack.com
Blog - nerd stuff
https://deepdreamgenerator.com/u/wulfgold
A.I. art - also nerd stuff - a gallery of NPC portraits - help yourself.
Having read through Lairs of Etharis a few times and starting to prep to DM it for a group next month I am very excited to play through it. I am also excited to use the individual adventures as side quests, or to run when the whole group isn't able to make a session.
I will say I was quite disappointed with the shipping rates from Ghostfire Gaming when I went to purchase a physical copy of their core rule books. Disappointed enough that I will not be purchasing any physical copies from them. I am not saying shipping should be free, but wow.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
I have learned to never purchase physical books for campaigns, but source books I do occasionally buy physical copies for if the digital content is compelling enough. I have seen some absurd shipping prices before. WotC got some rough comments in the forums for shipping to... I believe Canada(?), but when I looked up the rates at the time, the shipping was actually generous for their physical bundles. I know shipping can be a major deterrent to making a purchase though, even when it is a relatively good deal. I have watched people cancel Kickstarter orders because shipping was more than the product itself!
DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form | He/Him/They/Them
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It would be one thing if that was just how much shipping is, but it isn't, there are several places selling the books with shipping rates that are 60+% lower. It is not just them, I purchase a lot of physical books from a lot of places and it is something you have to watch out for if it matters to you. A recent purchase was book $14, shipping $45. Looked around got the same book shipping was $5 got it in 4 days (book was cheaper too).
It is almost like doesn't come out of our pocket so we don't care mark it up and pass it on to the customer.
Sorry for the rant, but doing all of this collab work to get it on DDB to get more customers then turn them off with high shipping?
Still love that it is here and I will likely buy more here but nothing from Ghostfire that requires shipping.
Most of my content is digital, but the stuff I like I buy physical copies as well.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
Grimhollow - hugely in favour of it. My cards/dice are up in the air as the my D&D future, but as things stand this is most likely my last Campaign before switching to... PF2 or some kind of horror-based TTTPG - certainly as a DM/GM.
I could well be tempted to (ab)use the Grimhollow setting if I stick with fantasy, but aside from "everyone" plays D&D I can't see a good reason to stick with it. A statblock is a statblock and differentiating between AD&D >>> 5e isn't a huge deal in an academic sense, sure THAC0 Versus AC as is has gotten easier as a bar of entry and made the game more accessible, but there's been nothing released officially (discounting 3rd party here) that's set my imagination alight. Grimhollow is something I picked up after seeing some enthusiasm in a couple of places and doing some reading and "Hell Yeah!". That IS exactly what I want from a product, it's like the people behind it gave a damn and it feels like a labour of love.
It's just that ephemeral and to simplify an argument that I'm tired of making, I don't think anyone at WOTC's been in an employment position to do things that way or at least cared to within this edition. Maybe some people cared, but didn't have the power or vice versa, but that's how I feel. If there's a campaign available, I'll play, but I'm loathe to put money into half-baked product #98 or whatever. I think a break from fantasy TTRPG's might be best - it's the writing element I enjoy doing the most. Seeing a company (with Ghostfire) put something out they seem to genuinely have care for - I find inspiring, that makes me want to do my own work, create my own things and puts a spring in my step, Spelljammer just made me want to hold my head in my hands. Bigby's was gifted to me by my players and that was super-nice of them, it feels like a step towards the right direction, at least not so much of a stagnation.
As an aside to this, I think I'm "personally" struggling a bit with the (specific) D&D "community". We lost a player: no big deal - life happens, good terms etc. and they departed nicely. I did the standard recruitment drive/routine and damn, it's been painful. Really painful. I'm into some niche hobbies and generally think "gatekeeping" is bad, but seriously? No one reads anymore.
Give a player more than half a page of content to read and it's not happening, suggest some reading for background to the setting and that's not happening either. "I just want to play homebrew" has been the stock response to campaign adverts that specify The Campaign Setting in the thread title. If I go to non-D&D forums - I don't have that issue. Maybe it's me being old and grumpy, maybe it's "this place" or the 5e Discord, but I think my niche-nerd-hobby ain't for "readers no more". Perhaps that's symptomatic of the times, tiktok, social media/whatever, but if I go to a Forum that's not branded D&D I can still find good "reading" D&D players. Sorry, that's not answering your question, just an old-man rant ;)
Grimhollow - hugely in favour, wish it had dovetailed timeframes better (for me), but it didn't. Would very happily play that world and brush up on my reading for it ;)
https://wulfgold.substack.com
Blog - nerd stuff
https://deepdreamgenerator.com/u/wulfgold
A.I. art - also nerd stuff - a gallery of NPC portraits - help yourself.
Not exactly “third party,” but I’d love to see Six Faces of Death here.
Kobold Press material, especially Margreve and the monster books, would be welcome.
Aetherial Expanse would be cool, but I can’t speak for its quality because it’s not yet out.
Terra Lubridia archive:
The Bloody Barnacle | The Gut | The Athene Crusader | The Jewel of Atlantis
Yeah. Anything and everything by KP would be welcome at my digital table. Their content is creative and usually pretty well balanced.
Terra Lubridia archive:
The Bloody Barnacle | The Gut | The Athene Crusader | The Jewel of Atlantis
With the addition of Humblewood, I was hoping that someone might be able to tell me about it. I have read that it is Redwall-inspired. That is very interesting to me as I loved those books as a child. Anyone here who has used Humblewood, can you tell me about it? Bards are my favorite class, so I am hoping someone can give me a rundown of the subclass featured here.
DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form | He/Him/They/Them
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I was not a Redwall fan, so I cannot really comment on the setting itself.
The subclasses feel like they were designed by a homebrewer—and not always in a good way. The species it offers are all fine—most of them are pretty standard, with a few that have neat abilities, a few that have bad abilities, and a bunch that have fairly uninspired abilities.
The classes are all neat ideas mired by amateur implementation. The bard, for example, has a lot of neat ideas - you can customize it based on your adventures, so it reflects the abilities you have learned through the campaign. But a number of these abilities you can choose from are bad; others are absurdly powerful for a subclass trait. Scofflaw outlaw has some focus issues; the Community Cleric has a channel divinity which is basically Mass Bardic Inspiration (with multiple uses).
Most of the spells are okay, but one level 3 spell is incredibly broken, giving you the ability to use two pseudo-portents from the absurdly strong Divinity Wizard… for each use of a level 3 spell slot (that’s a lot of uses per day!).
The feats range from “meh” to “okay, but kind of fun.”
All told, the mechanical elements are a bit all over the place, with sone serious raised questions as to the designer’s understanding of game design.
The monsters are all fairly low level, so, if that is what you are looking for, that is fine. I think we already have enough things at CR 8 and under (and a lot of these are CR 3 and under), that I was rather disappointed with the new offerings on this front.
Magic items have some… questionable design choices, like a pretty strong 100 foot (!) cone attack.
Now, enough of my players are fans of Redwall and such that I am glad I got it for them. If you just want the races (and perhaps the lore, which I am offering no opinion on), I think that it provides a good set of options for folks who want more animal options. Still, overall, I do not think the design quality stands up against the other third-party content Beyond has releases thus far.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/general-discussion/191161-experiences-with-humblewood-setting
I've had Humblewood for a few years, actually first third party product I ever purchased shortly after the core. I'd say Caerwyn's difficulties/objections are in a minority based on my experience, the experience of other players, and reviewers, I liked it enough to back the KS for an additional volume of adventures.
I wasn't familiar with Redwall, most critics compare the humblefolk and birdfolk to the population of Disney's Robinhood ... and reading over Redwall, I don't see much beyond superficial resemblance in anthropomorphic wood folk. Humblewood has it's own tension between the humblefolk and birdfolk, with some simple politics, but it's pantheon is quite impressive (new forthcoming book takes on a new Druid/Ranger type too that's been interesting in playtest).
I would say, I have said, I don't know how well Humblewood "mixes" with someone's preexisting D&D world, I'd argue it's pretty internally balanced (a lot of the magic is specific to the campaign and campaign world) but I've yet to hear of people who've exported the player options etc into larger D&D games. I'm sure it's done, but I'm guessing it'd be a bit messy. The subclasses are very setting and campaign specific, and I think wouldn't port over well outside Humblewood, but that an untested gut feeling.
There's a pretty thorough deep dive into Humblewood in this review, and I'm generally in agreement with it:
https://rollingboxcars.com/2020/11/11/a-deep-dive-review-of-the-humblewood-campaign-setting-box-set/
My only quibble is that it's D&D Beyond pricing seems to be reflective of the boxed set rather than the campaign book. Frankly I taught myself the basics of home brewing on DDB through Humblewood. The boxed set gets you battlemaps and some cardboard standees (of NPCs, they put a miniature line for PCs); but the maps also exist in the book so I would have treated the product like a D&D adventure book and price accordingly.
Hit Point Press is a very reputable press, not considered mere home brewers, and definitely one of those industry standard bearers of 3PP. I was sort of surprised to see them here, as one of their main authors, the guy behind Gryphons Saddlebags had some strong words for WotC during the OGL thing, Hit Points' words were a bit more measured, so I guess that means we'll likely see Heckna! from them on here before we see Gryphons I+II (despite that being one of the most popularly home-brewed 3pp on here).
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
And now Tome of Beasts 1!
DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form | He/Him/They/Them
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Here's hoping they add The Grimhollow Campaign Setting, to DnDB, I want to blow a bunch of money for some of those subclasses/classes. Hopefully, in the near future, too.
That is a great point. I too am more inclined to buy partnered content when there are more player options. I have not picked up the recent releases but the one I am most thinking about has some subclasses.
Dungeons of Drakkenheim has mostly magic items, a handful of spells, and 5 backgrounds, which is neat. Lairs of Etharis has far less. Thematically very cool from what I am seeing in both that I am accessing through a shared campaign, but Humblewood hits on more of what I am after. I think many people will share that feeling and here's hoping you get your wish in the near future.
DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form | He/Him/They/Them
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Doctor/Published Scholar/Science and Healthcare Advocate/Critter/Trekkie/Gandalf with a Glock
Try DDB free: Free Rules (2024), premade PCs, adventures, one shots, encounters, SC, homebrew, more
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Well, one thing about Grim Hollow in general is that if they gave us the entire Campaign Setting, that would be quite a bit of content alone. Since The Player's Guide for Grim Hollow has 24 subclasses, races, backgrounds, a "Variant Inspiration System" whatever that means, new schools of magic like Sangromancy, new magical items in general including some related to transformation. And transformations in general revolving around Fey, Elementals, and Spectres. Personally, A Circle of Blood Druid would fit quite well in a campaign I'm in. Plus if they add the other monsters from Grim Hollow, since they've made 400 some monsters in that setting, I don't think I'd run out of content any time soon for a West March.
Is there a Way to unlock the 3p books if you already bought hard copies/pdf's from the original creator?
I mean I already payed $40+ for some of them but I still have to manually "homebrew" all of the content into DnD-Beyond.
No there isn't, just like with WOTC first party purchases (as well as almost any physical v digital by any company such as a book v Kindle purchase) the physical book and the digital toolset are two separate purchases
having just gotten around to watching the pointy hat video on wizards, i'd be strongly interested in hearing whether or not Antonio Demico's Hexbound would ever come to DBB. a yes would be incredible, but a no would suggest to me that the devs had reserved 'witchcraft' for themselves.
( obviously the most likey thing is silence until one day years later it just sorta pops into being on the DBB main page :p )
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
is there any chance that the new grim hollow supplement books will be added?
cant create the new subclasses from Raiders Guide To Valika especially the spell casters. someone did make post the barbarian, the 1 fighter and the rogue tho. please gimmie good news
idk about grim hollow but dungeon dudes have chances, saw comments of one of them:
"We are very hopeful that our second book Sebastian Crowe’s Guide to Drakkenheim will be added in the future. I want nothing more than to be creating apothecaries on D&D beyond. We just have to see how our first book does." quote from 4 month back, and then like 2 weeks ago or so he agreed with comment that their new book (i think from context it was their monster book that is now at kickstarter stage) will be on DDB. Ik that Etharis and Drakkenheim is kind of different but still
and yeah Raiders Guide is cool one, though i think those classes still can be homebrewed - yeah maneuvers will need manual check during play and their table need to be copypasted though google sheets or similar app into subclass - but it's bearable issue.
ps just checked kickstatarter, and yeah looking from cover it's confirmed "mosters of drakkenheim" will land on ddb https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dungeondudes/monsters-of-drakkenheim-5e