I am relatively new to digital d&d platforms any stuff that I have done in the past has always been with physical books, character sheets and pencils. So I am curious, can I run my whole campaign on here. By which I mean:
Can players use the digital character sheets to keep track of their stats and can I see those stats as the DM - Basically, I need to know my players stats to make sure they aren't trying to cheat me out of an extra spell or give themselves more HP or something. It would be great if the player digital character sheets allowed both them and me to keep a track of their stats at any given moment?
Does DDB have a digital dice system that I can use - not all of my players can afford to buy loads of dice and stuff, so is there a digital dice system I can use in my campaigns?
Can I upload custom documents for my campaign to DDB - stuff like PDF maps and other world documents like shop price lists and inventories. Or if my players got something like a spell, can I upload a PDF of the spell for them that looks like it came out of an old spell book, allowing them to print it and put a physical spell book together for their character or just keep it all digital. Also, what about character art? Can my players upload portraits of their characters or drawings of the world and things like that?
How easy is it to search the digital PHB, DMG, Monster Manuals and other related content - not everyone knows everything or can remember something in the heat of the moment and stopping to search a book (digital or otherwise) breaks immersion, so how quickly can the digital material be searched?
Do my players need to have a subscription as well, if I have the masters level one - some of the players that I will be DMing for are teens whose parents might not be able to afford to buy their kids lots of stuff like digital subscriptions. Will my players be able to play with me on DDB if they only have the free level account?
Theres other stuff as well but I think that just about covers most of the important point, thanks.
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
hey can create and maintain 6 characters for free, they have access to any books owned here at D&DB, they cannot use things that have not been purchased on D&DB. I mention that as so many folks ask I already own the Players handbook why do I have to buy it here. Now you mentioned you have the master subscription which will allow you to share purchased materials in up to 3 campaigns. They have to join your campaign for anything your sharing, others that join your campaign also share anything book wise they bought here on D&DB. Now if no one has any purchased products from here then you have access to the D&D Basic Rules and the System Reference Document SRD. these have been released by Wizards of the Coast as free products.
Other stuff. Dice rollers D&DB has not released any but some others have in the way of Chrome addons for interacting with D&DB, which you can find links to here in the general forum.
Can players use the digital character sheets to keep track of their stats and can I see those stats as the DM? Yes.
Does DDB have a digital dice system that I can use? Yes; however, the dice system is built into the forums so you'd have to create a thread someplace and have everyone post their rolls there. Not super convenient or fast, imo.
Can I upload custom documents for my campaign to DDB? No. It might be possible to share via the forums, but that's all.
How easy is it to search the digital PHB, DMG, Monster Manuals and other related content? I'd say it's pretty easy. It takes a few visits to figure out, but ultimately it is much quicker than flipping pages in a text book.
Do my players need to have a subscription as well, if I have the masters level one? Nope. There is a setting that allows them access to your purchased content once they've joined your campaign.
Can players use the digital character sheets to keep track of their stats and can I see those stats as the DM - The DM of a campaign can see the character sheet of any character in the campaign.
Does DDB have a digital dice system that I can use - The forums have a limited dice rolling ability. There are also a few really nice Chrome extensions that help in this regard until DDB's encounters system is more robust.
Can I upload custom documents for my campaign to DDB - I believe that files would have to be hosted on some other site.
How easy is it to search the digital PHB, DMG, Monster Manuals and other related content - The compendium and the global search functions are quite good.
Do my players need to have a subscription as well, if I have the masters level one - Only one person in the campaign needs the master subscription (not even the DM) to turn on content sharing.
All of this being said, based on the priorities in development I believe the philosophy of DDB has been about enhancing at-table play rather than replacing it. Of your list, the dice and documents areas are the two places where DDB doesn't seem ready to meet your needs yet. Both of these are often very tactile features of a TTRPG, so I imagine there are higher priorities for the developers. People can share dice. Or there are dice rolling apps if necessary. And if it is not desirable to have physical maps, clues, and documents, there is always digital sharing of documents, maps, and images using something like Google Drive or even Facebook groups. DDB is not a one-stop shop for all our needs, although I believe I recall in the earliest days that that was a long-term goal. I think that might have been pie-in-the-sky optimism, since the community is large and it's needs are diverse.
I am relatively new to digital d&d platforms any stuff that I have done in the past has always been with physical books, character sheets and pencils. So I am curious, can I run my whole campaign on here. By which I mean:
Can players use the digital character sheets to keep track of their stats and can I see those stats as the DM - Basically, I need to know my players stats to make sure they aren't trying to cheat me out of an extra spell or give themselves more HP or something. It would be great if the player digital character sheets allowed both them and me to keep a track of their stats at any given moment?
Does DDB have a digital dice system that I can use - not all of my players can afford to buy loads of dice and stuff, so is there a digital dice system I can use in my campaigns?
Can I upload custom documents for my campaign to DDB - stuff like PDF maps and other world documents like shop price lists and inventories. Or if my players got something like a spell, can I upload a PDF of the spell for them that looks like it came out of an old spell book, allowing them to print it and put a physical spell book together for their character or just keep it all digital. Also, what about character art? Can my players upload portraits of their characters or drawings of the world and things like that?
How easy is it to search the digital PHB, DMG, Monster Manuals and other related content - not everyone knows everything or can remember something in the heat of the moment and stopping to search a book (digital or otherwise) breaks immersion, so how quickly can the digital material be searched?
Do my players need to have a subscription as well, if I have the masters level one - some of the players that I will be DMing for are teens whose parents might not be able to afford to buy their kids lots of stuff like digital subscriptions. Will my players be able to play with me on DDB if they only have the free level account?
Theres other stuff as well but I think that just about covers most of the important point, thanks.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
hey can create and maintain 6 characters for free, they have access to any books owned here at D&DB, they cannot use things that have not been purchased on D&DB. I mention that as so many folks ask I already own the Players handbook why do I have to buy it here. Now you mentioned you have the master subscription which will allow you to share purchased materials in up to 3 campaigns. They have to join your campaign for anything your sharing, others that join your campaign also share anything book wise they bought here on D&DB. Now if no one has any purchased products from here then you have access to the D&D Basic Rules and the System Reference Document SRD. these have been released by Wizards of the Coast as free products.
Other stuff. Dice rollers D&DB has not released any but some others have in the way of Chrome addons for interacting with D&DB, which you can find links to here in the general forum.
You can actually create a forum in which you could do dice rolling if you wanted it for keeping people honest.
PC: Sven Gard Lvl 2 Fighter LMOP OTR
Can players use the digital character sheets to keep track of their stats and can I see those stats as the DM? Yes.
Does DDB have a digital dice system that I can use? Yes; however, the dice system is built into the forums so you'd have to create a thread someplace and have everyone post their rolls there. Not super convenient or fast, imo.
Can I upload custom documents for my campaign to DDB? No. It might be possible to share via the forums, but that's all.
How easy is it to search the digital PHB, DMG, Monster Manuals and other related content? I'd say it's pretty easy. It takes a few visits to figure out, but ultimately it is much quicker than flipping pages in a text book.
Do my players need to have a subscription as well, if I have the masters level one? Nope. There is a setting that allows them access to your purchased content once they've joined your campaign.
Does DDB have a digital dice system that I can use - The forums have a limited dice rolling ability. There are also a few really nice Chrome extensions that help in this regard until DDB's encounters system is more robust.
Can I upload custom documents for my campaign to DDB - I believe that files would have to be hosted on some other site.
How easy is it to search the digital PHB, DMG, Monster Manuals and other related content - The compendium and the global search functions are quite good.
Do my players need to have a subscription as well, if I have the masters level one - Only one person in the campaign needs the master subscription (not even the DM) to turn on content sharing.
All of this being said, based on the priorities in development I believe the philosophy of DDB has been about enhancing at-table play rather than replacing it. Of your list, the dice and documents areas are the two places where DDB doesn't seem ready to meet your needs yet. Both of these are often very tactile features of a TTRPG, so I imagine there are higher priorities for the developers. People can share dice. Or there are dice rolling apps if necessary. And if it is not desirable to have physical maps, clues, and documents, there is always digital sharing of documents, maps, and images using something like Google Drive or even Facebook groups. DDB is not a one-stop shop for all our needs, although I believe I recall in the earliest days that that was a long-term goal. I think that might have been pie-in-the-sky optimism, since the community is large and it's needs are diverse.