It's nice to see the road map. I see one thing I want on there and thats a better app. The other stuff seems petty to me when compared to adding homebrew classes. They have told us it is in the works, but it is not on the road map. This saddens me. It sounds like something someone would do in a government office. LOL
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THAC0 means "To-Hit Armor Class 0", and depending on who you ask, it was either pronounced "thack-oh" or "thay-ko". When a -5 was amazing and an insult was asking, "What alignment are you again?"
I looked at the homebrew revamp and it's on the planned longterm (homebrew classes are there) but also making homebrew more user friendly and trying to add some of the capabilities that people have mentioned.
I will admit I wish it was further up the list but I know I'm not the average player and they have to get stuff more people want like the gm tools.
I looked at the homebrew revamp and it's on the planned longterm (homebrew classes are there) but also making homebrew more user friendly and trying to add some of the capabilities that people have mentioned.
I will admit I wish it was further up the list but I know I'm not the average player and they have to get stuff more people want like the gm tools.
I didn't see the option to view the road map in extended detail. Could you share the link to what you found? All I've been able to do is search the forms and compare dates of when homebrew classes were first requested and how many times it has been requested since. Then compare the replies and today's date. Which add up to many MANY requests and more than a year wait.
I'm the furthest from an average player as well. 35 years of play from original D&D to the 5e and now this new digital interface. If something like this begun in the '90s... I have no words.
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THAC0 means "To-Hit Armor Class 0", and depending on who you ask, it was either pronounced "thack-oh" or "thay-ko". When a -5 was amazing and an insult was asking, "What alignment are you again?"
It's the first link in this thread. it's like a spreadsheet that you can scroll right to see long term. I normally have to reload it to bring it up right.
I have shared this is something we have not planned to do with the complexity of a base class versus subclasses, but we have changed that stance based on feedback over the last year.
Whenever this is initially made available, it will include current modifier capability and very likely NOT cover the limitless possibilities for mechanics/ resources for some of the more divergent base classes out there. If you have a base class that uses mechanics similar to official classes, you should be able to get by.
THAC0 means "To-Hit Armor Class 0", and depending on who you ask, it was either pronounced "thack-oh" or "thay-ko". When a -5 was amazing and an insult was asking, "What alignment are you again?"
@dovolan its exactly because im a developper that i know they are not going as fast as they really should.
there is taking your time to do it right, and then there is taking your sweet ass time to do something that shouldn't take that long to do. i have this problem when i program where i just want to make it right from the get go. and you know what happens "ALL", not once in a while, but "ALL" the time ? i end up not finishing the god damn thing because there is always something thats not working.
there is a story about a guy who wrote a comic on the net. the guy took 14 years to make a comic book ! he was supposed to take 3. he's an artist who refused to do what others did and took his sweet ass time to do his comic thinking its gonna be the bomb. but now that his vision, is done. he reflect on the 14 years he took to make that comic and think to himself.. if i take another 14 years to make another one, then another one. i'll be 70 and only will have 3 comic books in the career. something i cannot live off. so his take on it, yes, take your time. but don't take it too much. be willing to compromise between quality and quantity because otherwise you will release something very great yes, but it will be the only thing you will ever release. that is not good. be also willing to do what others already did. there is a reason why others do it that way. maybe its because they already lived what you are living now.
as a developper myself... there are tons of unfinished projects of mine that i haven't finished because they are taking way too much times to create. i'm already 38 about to be 39. and i have yet to release anything because i take too much "sweet time" to do it. let's take beyond and the tendency they are doing based on long an edition usually last. at the speed they are going now, when 6th edition will be rolling, they won't even be finished with the site. you have to realise that between 3rd and fourth edition, there was 7 years, between 4th edition and 5th edition... there is about 5 years. considering that 5th edition is great, it might take on the road of 3rd edition. so let's honestly think 7 years time before another edition comes out. beyond came up in 2017. 3 years after the release of 5th editon. its already been 2 years since their start. that leaves them maximum 2 years to finish what they want before a 6th edition might come around the corner putting a stop to everything they are doing wright now and be forced to maybe redo the whole thing from scratch. look at their road... they are taking way too much time to do their stuff.
again... if you haven't checked up on Beyond Help for the Chrome browser. i suggest you do it now, because it only toys with the CSS of the website and add features that are greatly well integrated into beyond and looks awesome. features that people have been wanting for over 2 years now. he did it in less then 1. and he's alone. those are all cold hard fact about the industry and why beyond should definitely speed things up. the same way wotc has started to speed things up last year when it came to books and options for players. because they also realised how slow they were going with it.
also... i have a job, i have hobbies, so developping is something i cannot do all the time... them... they are paid to literally just do that every single day of the week. its hard to imagine them not having time to do anything else then doing simple things as the ability to click a dice roll and roll it for us. something beyond help does perfectly right now. heck, beyond help also enables you to lick on a picture of the adventures and hover you a tooltip of the said number. so you dont even have to go scrolling down to see whats in the room the players are going. how cool is that. if anything, they should literally hire the guy to make the beyond help apps a part of the beyond website.
yeah i understand fully well how things works. i also understand fully well how companies tends to screw up their own work because of constraints that shouldn't even be. i see it all the time at my job at mcdonalds where they ask the employees to work 6 hours work in 3 hours. i also see a ton of people who are not intelligent about doing their jobs. like those who just throw everything everywhere and then start yapping that they can't find their tools anymore. sometimes slowing down can make you gain a ton of time later on. but slowing too much isn't an option either.after all, you don't want to take 16 hours to do a 3 hour job. that's counter productive.
this is all i was saying and still am saying.
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DM of two gaming groups. Likes to create stuff. Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games --> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
Hello everyone, while you are very welcome to discuss and disagree with one another, please refrain from making personal evaluations of your fellow users. If you have any concerns about the progression of these conversations, we would invite you to reach out to any of us orange-named moderators. Thank you!
I have shared this is something we have not planned to do with the complexity of a base class versus subclasses, but we have changed that stance based on feedback over the last year.
Whenever this is initially made available, it will include current modifier capability and very likely NOT cover the limitless possibilities for mechanics/ resources for some of the more divergent base classes out there. If you have a base class that uses mechanics similar to official classes, you should be able to get by.
I'll add this much, the current Unearthed Arcana that just came out, allows for players to swap classes features for another one. aka variant features. if the beyond team adds this to their software, chances are that class per say won't even be necessary to change. you could be able to just make tons of variants and create your own class purely based on that. and this would be much better then creating a full class from scratch.
but that's if they implement that.
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DM of two gaming groups. Likes to create stuff. Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games --> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
I have shared this is something we have not planned to do with the complexity of a base class versus subclasses, but we have changed that stance based on feedback over the last year.
Whenever this is initially made available, it will include current modifier capability and very likely NOT cover the limitless possibilities for mechanics/ resources for some of the more divergent base classes out there. If you have a base class that uses mechanics similar to official classes, you should be able to get by.
I'll add this much, the current Unearthed Arcana that just came out, allows for players to swap classes features for another one. aka variant features. if the beyond team adds this to their software, chances are that class per say won't even be necessary to change. you could be able to just make tons of variants and create your own class purely based on that. and this would be much better then creating a full class from scratch.
but that's if they implement that.
I had read a bit about that. I've give up on running everything through D&D Beyond. I just use it for book reference, NPC builder, and encounter builder. I didn't see a need to keep arguing or asking for things on DDB when I was perfectly content before. I'm just going to stick to analog for my character building, world building, campaign setup, and notes. Maybe one day D&D Beyond will be the one stop site for Dungeons and Dragons... Maybe.
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THAC0 means "To-Hit Armor Class 0", and depending on who you ask, it was either pronounced "thack-oh" or "thay-ko". When a -5 was amazing and an insult was asking, "What alignment are you again?"
My humble opinion is that the features are being rolled out far too slowly. I think D&D Beyond has a great layout and usability in general. But there's simply not much that can be done with it. I want HP tracking. Initiative tracking. Combat tracking. An actual VTT.
It's not actually useful in the ways that would be truly helpful to me.
This is what holds me back. I like the online books and the encounter builder, but until I can use maps, dice, track ini, and show where people are on the board like roll20, etc. it’s only a second class tool. The VTT should be have been fast tracked long ago.
My humble opinion is that the features are being rolled out far too slowly. I think D&D Beyond has a great layout and usability in general. But there's simply not much that can be done with it. I want HP tracking. Initiative tracking. Combat tracking. An actual VTT.
It's not actually useful in the ways that would be truly helpful to me.
This is what holds me back. I like the online books and the encounter builder, but until I can use maps, dice, track ini, and show where people are on the board like roll20, etc. it’s only a second class tool. The VTT should be have been fast tracked long ago.
Well, unfortunately, I have to tell you that you're a minority. A lot of people, me among them, use DNDBeyond at the actual table or even while playing on Roll20.
Well, unfortunately, I have to tell you that you're a minority. A lot of people, me among them, use DNDBeyond at the actual table or even while playing on Roll20.
What do you use it for outside of a book reference? Why wouldn't I just use character sheets in Roll20?
This might be a bit off topic, in which case we can take this chat off of the thread. I'm just want to see how others run their game.
What do you use it for outside of a book reference? Why wouldn't I just use character sheets in Roll20?
This might be a bit off topic, in which case we can take this chat off of the thread. I'm just want to see how others run their game.
Thanks!
I use it for everything. I added a keyword to my chrome so I type 'dnd' and then get an immediate search reference for everything.
When I play, I have my character sheet open and an extension lets me roll on it.
When I guide, I have the campaign open with all my players' characters and I can access them in a couple of seconds (Because the sheet takes a while to load). And I also use it as the adventure reference.
Saberrunner... i am sorry to inform you that you are a minority that uses DDB for any other thing then a character sheet, which pretty much every single apps you can find on the net does already. book references... which pretty much roll20 and fantasy ground were doing already and at it, in a much much much more better way. the only reason i came here is that online book are cheaper here then on both the other site. also, both roll20 and FG allows not just for D&D but for many a TTRPG. making them much better for now. when it comes to any other thing then having the books. and having characters... everything we're seeing right now has been done by pretty much any other site in the last 4 years.
i do not agree that VTT should of been a priority... but i would argue that Dice Roller, Folders for characters, folders for campaign management, RTF boxes for management of text. the ability to modify the character sheet on the fly with anything we want. should all of been there right from the get go. and after two years of development. one could expect such a thing to be almost finished. all the features we have now, should of been there right fromt he get go. to me it feels like ddb was rushed and is still rushed for sake of not losing hype. hype that was lost by pretty much everyone at this point.
i'm glad we have ddb, but aside from making my homebrews and characters, as well as checking on books for a good read of ruling and adventures. this site has no other uses at my table. everything else, is from my tablet documents. for me the only way for DDB to be usefull, for me, would be for it to do these things... Folders in capaign management, the ability to add my own documents or create my documents in rich text boxes that can be added to the custom folders i created. i'll add, maybe, the ability to add my own photos and images, as i tend to draw stuff for my players and or show them some maps i did. in all the cases, this is not a big deal to create as i am not asking for full blown database access, but merely that i have kinda, a small forum-like campaign management, which i could use for my own notes !
as long as i dont have true campaign management... ddb is pretty much just an over beautifully rendered library.
all that said, i will admit that i love the homebrew section and use it a lot. as well as character builder... but again... nothing my fifth edition character sheet on androids couldn't already do by itself.
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DM of two gaming groups. Likes to create stuff. Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games --> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
i do not agree that VTT should of been a priority... but i would argue that Dice Roller, Folders for characters, folders for campaign management, RTF boxes for management of text. the ability to modify the character sheet on the fly with anything we want. should all of been there right from the get go. and after two years of development. one could expect such a thing to be almost finished. all the features we have now, should of been there right fromt he get go
OK, I mostly agree with this. I'm getting back into this after 2 years off and wanted to see what options I if I wanted to start a new campaign vs finding a new group.
I agree with you Paladin that those features make the site more usable. I think the VTT could be a good revenue stream for DDB and I'm surprised this site is not more along at this point.
Like it or not, VTT is where DnDBeyond's competition is. Without an exemplary VTT, they are just a Digital Library, and that isn't going to be profitable in the long run. And for them to take on the existing VTT they'll not be able to throw something together at the last minute. If they had an open API and partnered with an open source project, they'd likely be ahead of the curve on that front as the open source VTT are well ahead of the Commercial ones.
I'm with the contingent that sees no need for it, to be honest. If you want a VTT, then there are already two options that are well established and both carry the official content already. Going after market share there just means throwing a lot of time and money at it that is better spent elsewhere. Beyond's niche is as a strong digital library and tools to use at the table. I think they're doing that and want to see it coninue to grow in that direction.
While paladin continues to argue that he, by himself, could bang out a far superior site in a fraction of the time, I'm satisfied enough with what I get here for my money and what I see coming down the road from Adam and his team.
While paladin continues to argue that he, by himself, could bang out a far superior site in a fraction of the time.
while i agree with the rest of your post... this part is just plain wrong... me, alone... no it would take me at least a year. and thats working 8 hours a day on it. but i have to remind you... they are not alone working on this thing... they are more then 20 people and at that working at least 8 hours a day on it. and i also have to remind you, that fantasy ground took only 2 years to develop themselves and at lunch, had not just 1 ttrpg availlable... but 5 !
these are facts, not opinions like you may think. the same could apply for roll20 who didn't take 2 years for half a site. they took at least 2 years and when they lunched, again... more then 1 ttrpg was under their belt. and if i follow adams saying... they are more numerous then the other sites.
thats not mentionning how easy it seem to be for a lone guy developping a chrome browser app for beyond that already does everything the beyond team is promising in 3 years time. i mean... do we really need dice with awesome unreal 4 physics ? the initiative tracker i made for myself clearly didn't take me 2 years to do. and while it doesn't appeal with his appearance... it is still everything i needed and it took me about 4 hours to create. and thats counting that i am not an expert top of the line developper. i am mostly intermediate.
just saying... i love ddb otherwise i wouldn'T be using it... but again... aside from being a digital library, it struggles to find a place other then that in the current war in ttrpg. while other companies, boast to be "online tools"
as far as campaign management is asked about... i'm not asking for databasde like wikipedia like obsidien or pretty much all other sites. they already do it greatly. all i want, is the ability to create folders in which to manage my stuff. and the ability to add numerous stuff. i don't need more then that. a simple rtf box like they have now is perfect already. all that is missing is just two small buttons that says "save document" and "load document". i honestly dont think its that big of a deal to do that kind of thing. now the only argument i understand in that part. would be that profiles would get huge... but isn't it just text ? text is like the smallest a thing that can be added to a profile.
anyway. if you want true wikipedia like page for your world. gor for obsidien... they are already up and they are great. if you want VTT, go for fantasy ground and roll20. i mean its not like opening two websites is hard to do. i think what people want is what we had for 4e... the ability to have our homebrews and the ability to create monsters on the fly with a special builder. initiative trackers that are easy on a tablet. because not everyone have a keyboard to work it off.
while i like the encounter builder, everyone says it themselves... those builders are useless per say. the challenge rating isn't very representative. so i wonder why people keep asking for those when we could of had something much better like AL integration which is legit official.
butbeatsme, i'm waiting... but fact is... what i am missing, i already developped last year.
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DM of two gaming groups. Likes to create stuff. Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games --> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
Can we get back on topic? This forum post is for discussing the future of DBB, suggestions, and how to make it better. Not to brag about fantasy grounds or roll20. Either take that convo to direct messages or search for a forum post that fills your needs for discussion please.
Can we get back on topic? This forum post is for discussing the future of DBB, suggestions, and how to make it better. Not to brag about fantasy grounds or roll20. Either take that convo to direct messages or search for a forum post that fills your needs for discussion please.
we're talking about VTT, something which is on the roadmap of beyond, we're discussing the need for such a feature here. the fact we mention FG and Roll20 is simply the fact that they are both the only competitor on this domain. is it really necessary to have VTT ? that's on topic !
if you wanna know whats already ont he roadmap, i suggest you go look at it. its worth the read !
DM of two gaming groups. Likes to create stuff. Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games --> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
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It's nice to see the road map. I see one thing I want on there and thats a better app. The other stuff seems petty to me when compared to adding homebrew classes. They have told us it is in the works, but it is not on the road map. This saddens me. It sounds like something someone would do in a government office. LOL
THAC0 means "To-Hit Armor Class 0", and depending on who you ask, it was either pronounced "thack-oh" or "thay-ko". When a -5 was amazing and an insult was asking, "What alignment are you again?"
I looked at the homebrew revamp and it's on the planned longterm (homebrew classes are there) but also making homebrew more user friendly and trying to add some of the capabilities that people have mentioned.
I will admit I wish it was further up the list but I know I'm not the average player and they have to get stuff more people want like the gm tools.
I didn't see the option to view the road map in extended detail. Could you share the link to what you found? All I've been able to do is search the forms and compare dates of when homebrew classes were first requested and how many times it has been requested since. Then compare the replies and today's date. Which add up to many MANY requests and more than a year wait.
I'm the furthest from an average player as well. 35 years of play from original D&D to the 5e and now this new digital interface. If something like this begun in the '90s... I have no words.
THAC0 means "To-Hit Armor Class 0", and depending on who you ask, it was either pronounced "thack-oh" or "thay-ko". When a -5 was amazing and an insult was asking, "What alignment are you again?"
It's the first link in this thread. it's like a spreadsheet that you can scroll right to see long term. I normally have to reload it to bring it up right.
https://trello.com/b/vIKxuEs8/dd-beyond-feature-roadmap
Still couldn't find it a specific mention on homebrew classes on Trello. However, I did find this link deep in the meta links of Trello.
HERE
To quote a reply.
BadEye said on Dec 2018,
I have shared this is something we have not planned to do with the complexity of a base class versus subclasses, but we have changed that stance based on feedback over the last year.
Whenever this is initially made available, it will include current modifier capability and very likely NOT cover the limitless possibilities for mechanics/ resources for some of the more divergent base classes out there. If you have a base class that uses mechanics similar to official classes, you should be able to get by.
THAC0 means "To-Hit Armor Class 0", and depending on who you ask, it was either pronounced "thack-oh" or "thay-ko". When a -5 was amazing and an insult was asking, "What alignment are you again?"
@dovolan its exactly because im a developper that i know they are not going as fast as they really should.
there is taking your time to do it right, and then there is taking your sweet ass time to do something that shouldn't take that long to do.
i have this problem when i program where i just want to make it right from the get go. and you know what happens "ALL", not once in a while, but "ALL" the time ? i end up not finishing the god damn thing because there is always something thats not working.
there is a story about a guy who wrote a comic on the net. the guy took 14 years to make a comic book ! he was supposed to take 3. he's an artist who refused to do what others did and took his sweet ass time to do his comic thinking its gonna be the bomb. but now that his vision, is done. he reflect on the 14 years he took to make that comic and think to himself.. if i take another 14 years to make another one, then another one. i'll be 70 and only will have 3 comic books in the career. something i cannot live off. so his take on it, yes, take your time. but don't take it too much. be willing to compromise between quality and quantity because otherwise you will release something very great yes, but it will be the only thing you will ever release. that is not good. be also willing to do what others already did. there is a reason why others do it that way. maybe its because they already lived what you are living now.
as a developper myself... there are tons of unfinished projects of mine that i haven't finished because they are taking way too much times to create. i'm already 38 about to be 39. and i have yet to release anything because i take too much "sweet time" to do it. let's take beyond and the tendency they are doing based on long an edition usually last. at the speed they are going now, when 6th edition will be rolling, they won't even be finished with the site. you have to realise that between 3rd and fourth edition, there was 7 years, between 4th edition and 5th edition... there is about 5 years. considering that 5th edition is great, it might take on the road of 3rd edition. so let's honestly think 7 years time before another edition comes out. beyond came up in 2017. 3 years after the release of 5th editon. its already been 2 years since their start. that leaves them maximum 2 years to finish what they want before a 6th edition might come around the corner putting a stop to everything they are doing wright now and be forced to maybe redo the whole thing from scratch. look at their road... they are taking way too much time to do their stuff.
again... if you haven't checked up on Beyond Help for the Chrome browser. i suggest you do it now, because it only toys with the CSS of the website and add features that are greatly well integrated into beyond and looks awesome. features that people have been wanting for over 2 years now. he did it in less then 1. and he's alone. those are all cold hard fact about the industry and why beyond should definitely speed things up. the same way wotc has started to speed things up last year when it came to books and options for players. because they also realised how slow they were going with it.
also... i have a job, i have hobbies, so developping is something i cannot do all the time... them... they are paid to literally just do that every single day of the week. its hard to imagine them not having time to do anything else then doing simple things as the ability to click a dice roll and roll it for us. something beyond help does perfectly right now. heck, beyond help also enables you to lick on a picture of the adventures and hover you a tooltip of the said number. so you dont even have to go scrolling down to see whats in the room the players are going. how cool is that. if anything, they should literally hire the guy to make the beyond help apps a part of the beyond website.
yeah i understand fully well how things works. i also understand fully well how companies tends to screw up their own work because of constraints that shouldn't even be.
i see it all the time at my job at mcdonalds where they ask the employees to work 6 hours work in 3 hours. i also see a ton of people who are not intelligent about doing their jobs. like those who just throw everything everywhere and then start yapping that they can't find their tools anymore. sometimes slowing down can make you gain a ton of time later on. but slowing too much isn't an option either.after all, you don't want to take 16 hours to do a 3 hour job. that's counter productive.
this is all i was saying and still am saying.
DM of two gaming groups.
Likes to create stuff.
Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses
If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games
--> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
Hello everyone, while you are very welcome to discuss and disagree with one another, please refrain from making personal evaluations of your fellow users. If you have any concerns about the progression of these conversations, we would invite you to reach out to any of us orange-named moderators. Thank you!
I'll add this much, the current Unearthed Arcana that just came out, allows for players to swap classes features for another one. aka variant features.
if the beyond team adds this to their software, chances are that class per say won't even be necessary to change. you could be able to just make tons of variants and create your own class purely based on that. and this would be much better then creating a full class from scratch.
but that's if they implement that.
DM of two gaming groups.
Likes to create stuff.
Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses
If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games
--> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
I had read a bit about that. I've give up on running everything through D&D Beyond. I just use it for book reference, NPC builder, and encounter builder. I didn't see a need to keep arguing or asking for things on DDB when I was perfectly content before. I'm just going to stick to analog for my character building, world building, campaign setup, and notes. Maybe one day D&D Beyond will be the one stop site for Dungeons and Dragons... Maybe.
THAC0 means "To-Hit Armor Class 0", and depending on who you ask, it was either pronounced "thack-oh" or "thay-ko". When a -5 was amazing and an insult was asking, "What alignment are you again?"
This is what holds me back. I like the online books and the encounter builder, but until I can use maps, dice, track ini, and show where people are on the board like roll20, etc. it’s only a second class tool. The VTT should be have been fast tracked long ago.
Well, unfortunately, I have to tell you that you're a minority. A lot of people, me among them, use DNDBeyond at the actual table or even while playing on Roll20.
Check out all my important links here.
May we live in Less Interesting Times
What do you use it for outside of a book reference? Why wouldn't I just use character sheets in Roll20?
This might be a bit off topic, in which case we can take this chat off of the thread. I'm just want to see how others run their game.
Thanks!
I use it for everything. I added a keyword to my chrome so I type 'dnd' and then get an immediate search reference for everything.
When I play, I have my character sheet open and an extension lets me roll on it.
When I guide, I have the campaign open with all my players' characters and I can access them in a couple of seconds (Because the sheet takes a while to load). And I also use it as the adventure reference.
Check out all my important links here.
May we live in Less Interesting Times
Saberrunner... i am sorry to inform you that you are a minority that uses DDB for any other thing then a character sheet, which pretty much every single apps you can find on the net does already. book references... which pretty much roll20 and fantasy ground were doing already and at it, in a much much much more better way. the only reason i came here is that online book are cheaper here then on both the other site. also, both roll20 and FG allows not just for D&D but for many a TTRPG. making them much better for now. when it comes to any other thing then having the books. and having characters... everything we're seeing right now has been done by pretty much any other site in the last 4 years.
i do not agree that VTT should of been a priority... but i would argue that Dice Roller, Folders for characters, folders for campaign management, RTF boxes for management of text. the ability to modify the character sheet on the fly with anything we want. should all of been there right from the get go. and after two years of development. one could expect such a thing to be almost finished. all the features we have now, should of been there right fromt he get go. to me it feels like ddb was rushed and is still rushed for sake of not losing hype. hype that was lost by pretty much everyone at this point.
i'm glad we have ddb, but aside from making my homebrews and characters, as well as checking on books for a good read of ruling and adventures. this site has no other uses at my table. everything else, is from my tablet documents. for me the only way for DDB to be usefull, for me, would be for it to do these things... Folders in capaign management, the ability to add my own documents or create my documents in rich text boxes that can be added to the custom folders i created. i'll add, maybe, the ability to add my own photos and images, as i tend to draw stuff for my players and or show them some maps i did. in all the cases, this is not a big deal to create as i am not asking for full blown database access, but merely that i have kinda, a small forum-like campaign management, which i could use for my own notes !
as long as i dont have true campaign management... ddb is pretty much just an over beautifully rendered library.
all that said, i will admit that i love the homebrew section and use it a lot. as well as character builder...
but again... nothing my fifth edition character sheet on androids couldn't already do by itself.
DM of two gaming groups.
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OK, I mostly agree with this. I'm getting back into this after 2 years off and wanted to see what options I if I wanted to start a new campaign vs finding a new group.
I agree with you Paladin that those features make the site more usable. I think the VTT could be a good revenue stream for DDB and I'm surprised this site is not more along at this point.
Like it or not, VTT is where DnDBeyond's competition is. Without an exemplary VTT, they are just a Digital Library, and that isn't going to be profitable in the long run. And for them to take on the existing VTT they'll not be able to throw something together at the last minute. If they had an open API and partnered with an open source project, they'd likely be ahead of the curve on that front as the open source VTT are well ahead of the Commercial ones.
I'm with the contingent that sees no need for it, to be honest. If you want a VTT, then there are already two options that are well established and both carry the official content already. Going after market share there just means throwing a lot of time and money at it that is better spent elsewhere. Beyond's niche is as a strong digital library and tools to use at the table. I think they're doing that and want to see it coninue to grow in that direction.
While paladin continues to argue that he, by himself, could bang out a far superior site in a fraction of the time, I'm satisfied enough with what I get here for my money and what I see coming down the road from Adam and his team.
while i agree with the rest of your post... this part is just plain wrong... me, alone... no it would take me at least a year. and thats working 8 hours a day on it.
but i have to remind you... they are not alone working on this thing... they are more then 20 people and at that working at least 8 hours a day on it.
and i also have to remind you, that fantasy ground took only 2 years to develop themselves and at lunch, had not just 1 ttrpg availlable... but 5 !
these are facts, not opinions like you may think. the same could apply for roll20 who didn't take 2 years for half a site. they took at least 2 years and when they lunched, again... more then 1 ttrpg was under their belt. and if i follow adams saying... they are more numerous then the other sites.
thats not mentionning how easy it seem to be for a lone guy developping a chrome browser app for beyond that already does everything the beyond team is promising in 3 years time.
i mean... do we really need dice with awesome unreal 4 physics ? the initiative tracker i made for myself clearly didn't take me 2 years to do. and while it doesn't appeal with his appearance... it is still everything i needed and it took me about 4 hours to create. and thats counting that i am not an expert top of the line developper. i am mostly intermediate.
just saying... i love ddb otherwise i wouldn'T be using it... but again... aside from being a digital library, it struggles to find a place other then that in the current war in ttrpg.
while other companies, boast to be "online tools"
as far as campaign management is asked about... i'm not asking for databasde like wikipedia like obsidien or pretty much all other sites. they already do it greatly.
all i want, is the ability to create folders in which to manage my stuff. and the ability to add numerous stuff. i don't need more then that. a simple rtf box like they have now is perfect already. all that is missing is just two small buttons that says "save document" and "load document". i honestly dont think its that big of a deal to do that kind of thing. now the only argument i understand in that part. would be that profiles would get huge... but isn't it just text ? text is like the smallest a thing that can be added to a profile.
anyway. if you want true wikipedia like page for your world. gor for obsidien... they are already up and they are great.
if you want VTT, go for fantasy ground and roll20. i mean its not like opening two websites is hard to do.
i think what people want is what we had for 4e... the ability to have our homebrews and the ability to create monsters on the fly with a special builder. initiative trackers that are easy on a tablet. because not everyone have a keyboard to work it off.
while i like the encounter builder, everyone says it themselves... those builders are useless per say. the challenge rating isn't very representative.
so i wonder why people keep asking for those when we could of had something much better like AL integration which is legit official.
butbeatsme, i'm waiting... but fact is... what i am missing, i already developped last year.
DM of two gaming groups.
Likes to create stuff.
Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses
If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games
--> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
Can we get back on topic? This forum post is for discussing the future of DBB, suggestions, and how to make it better. Not to brag about fantasy grounds or roll20. Either take that convo to direct messages or search for a forum post that fills your needs for discussion please.
we're talking about VTT, something which is on the roadmap of beyond, we're discussing the need for such a feature here. the fact we mention FG and Roll20 is simply the fact that they are both the only competitor on this domain. is it really necessary to have VTT ? that's on topic !
if you wanna know whats already ont he roadmap, i suggest you go look at it. its worth the read !
DM of two gaming groups.
Likes to create stuff.
Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses
If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games
--> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)