Exactly. I love VTT, some folks don't need or want it. Seems a valid discussion in a, "what should we work on?", forum. Is the issue other services being mentioned? If so, McBucky, you may want the big boy shorts because, those are the competition. Best deal with it and not bury the head in the sand.
I just went back to the start of this thread (2.5 years ago) and many of the things that folks were asking for on page 1 and 2 are still not out yet or in alpha\beta. I guess I should be happy I took a 2 year D&D break at the right time. Given that, I can say it's not really worth talking about VTT because that is, given the development pace which I agree is far too slow for this day and age, years out.
That said, if I have the right tools to help track the numbers flying around the table, I can share my screen using discord, twitch, etc., make that work and not toss money at another site. Therefore I would say that Combat Tracking should be fast tracked. It doesn't need to be tied into the character sheets yet, just get something usable out there.
I mean, I could just use paper and pencil like I did when I was 12-13 years old, but I'm 51 now and would rather not use the same tools as I did back then if I can help it. :)
I know this may never happen but id definitely be interested in being able to purchase the frames and backdrops from past books that had come out before I had signed up for dndbeyond.
Exactly, what i really need are these... - Initiative Tracker with the initiative cards for each players and monsters. the cards would have the name, the initiative of the player/monster, its hit points with little buttons aside it to add or remove hit points. or we could just scroll up or down with finger on hit points. anything that makes it easier to add or remove without the need for a keyboard of any kind. obviously it should be able to place initive in the correct order by itself. either by pushing a button to place it or by just doing it automatically.
- a small DM screen, where i can put the information i want to place. like crafting, cause some of my players use it. or potions, or weapons and equipements. these things, anything i want can be placed in there.
- a random treasure generator. yup, i use the DMG treasure generator. its awesome. of course the abilityt ocreate my own generators would be great as well, but i dont expect that to happen. the thing is, i use random generators to make shops and the likes.
- a random name generator, yeah for a few different types of creatures. like dragons for draconics creatures like kobolds and lizardfolks. alien for anything aberrant. things like that.
- Sound Board. yes i use sounds, its easy to use. its just a bunch of musics splits into different categories, like Initiatives for those combats. or buildings for those ambient sounds in a smiths or library. and on that sound board i add the SFX section, still in development but eventually i hope i can create random ambient music that just create itself. but thats a far away dream. but a basic sound board would still be appreciated. before everyone try to tell me, there are tons of them already... i know about all of them, and i preffered to create my own.
That's pretty much the only thing i really need. of course if i could see my players stats, i would like that, but some friends of mine dont like DDB and thus they aren't creating characters on it. so i cannot expect DDB to accomodate that. though it would be great if it could allow to add data to the page without a need for an account or a player joining DDB. aside from those, i really don't need anything else. not as tools for actual gameplay. everything else i want is for session creation.
heres what i want from a session creation standpoint. - Monster builder, not somethign liek we have here, but let's say i want a monster and then adding more levels of classes to it. you know, kind of a builder like the chgaracters, but for monsters. that would make monster creation so faster and easier.
in fact thats about it. i'm fine with the rest.
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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
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I really don't know why people are so obsessed with virtual tabletops. That is not and never has been the focus for DDB.
I mean seriously, does nobody play with actual people anymore?
All we need is a digital character sheet and a digital library for source material so we don't need to lug around 10 books or something. DDB does that really well and the homebrew tools and new encounter builder and campaign notes tools are extra goodies.
DDB is meant to be a companion to actually sitting around a table rolling physical dice. It's not supposed to be THE tabletop it's meant to be a tabletop companion.
I personally hope that it never loses that focus.
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Playing with actual people was easier when I was young. Now the demands of real life and the fact that my friends are across the US makes that not really doable.
Cutting out travel to a game store playing D&D likely saves me 60-90 mins (depending on traffic). That's extra time to play D&D online, be with family, work if paged, etc. Like everything else in life, there are pluses and minuses.
Well, for the rest of us it is extremely hard to maintain a game where everyone has to be physically present. My work and home life is busy enough to almost demand online gaming. This has worked out as I have made very very good friends through this. I wouldn't be so quick to assume everyone has the exact circumstance as yourself
Well, for the rest of us it is extremely hard to maintain a game where everyone has to be physically present. My work and home life is busy enough to almost demand online gaming. This has worked out as I have made very very good friends through this. I wouldn't be so quick to assume everyone has the exact circumstance as yourself
I think you are correct. I made an assumption there that I probably should not have. I must have rolled a natural one on my intelligence check - or would it have been wisdom?
Regardless I just had a critical fail.
Though, although I can't find it now there was an official article/post that discussed this and said something like; and I am paraphrasing here as I can't remember word for word, "if you are looking for VTT or if that is crucial to your game, then you might be better off looking elsewhere for now."
That would say to me that VTT is not a priority. Of course, that's another assumption my part and I do seem to recall seeing it on the roadmap, so maybe that has all changed.
What I would like to see though and the thing I agree should have been there from the start is folders for sorting related character sheets. I do wish they'd work more quickly on that.
Well, for the rest of us it is extremely hard to maintain a game where everyone has to be physically present. My work and home life is busy enough to almost demand online gaming. This has worked out as I have made very very good friends through this. I wouldn't be so quick to assume everyone has the exact circumstance as yourself
and VTT is on the roadmap, it has been requested often and it will come to DDB. but its in the long run. so you can't expect it to be there in the next 2 years. people votes for what they want the most, and people seems to think, in general, that VTT is not as important as the rest of the tools. that's what i said, go read the roadmap first. vote for your favorite features and hope it gets to the top.
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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 really don't know why people are so obsessed with virtual tabletops. That is not and never has been the focus for DDB.
I mean seriously, does nobody play with actual people anymore?
All we need is a digital character sheet and a digital library for source material so we don't need to lug around 10 books or something. DDB does that really well and the homebrew tools and new encounter builder and campaign notes tools are extra goodies.
DDB is meant to be a companion to actually sitting around a table rolling physical dice. It's not supposed to be THE tabletop it's meant to be a tabletop companion.
I personally hope that it never loses that focus.
You're being a bit gatekeepery here, acting like online play isn't 'real D&D'. DDB is a digital tool set that is designed around improving all ways of playing D&D, physical and digital. That's why they're adding tools like the encounter tracker, virtual DM screen and built in dice rolling.
I run four groups, 2 digital, 2 irl. One of the groups started IRL and would've ended had I not had the option to move it to digital. Online play lets people enjoy D&D even if there's no one around to play with. Acting like the only right way to play is in person is not an attitude that benefits the hobby.
Well, for the rest of us it is extremely hard to maintain a game where everyone has to be physically present. My work and home life is busy enough to almost demand online gaming. This has worked out as I have made very very good friends through this. I wouldn't be so quick to assume everyone has the exact circumstance as yourself
and VTT is on the roadmap, it has been requested often and it will come to DDB. but its in the long run. so you can't expect it to be there in the next 2 years. people votes for what they want the most, and people seems to think, in general, that VTT is not as important as the rest of the tools. that's what i said, go read the roadmap first. vote for your favorite features and hope it gets to the top.
you really misunderstood the intent of what I was saying here. I have no issues on that front
Well, for the rest of us it is extremely hard to maintain a game where everyone has to be physically present. My work and home life is busy enough to almost demand online gaming. This has worked out as I have made very very good friends through this. I wouldn't be so quick to assume everyone has the exact circumstance as yourself
I think you are correct. I made an assumption there that I probably should not have. I must have rolled a natural one on my intelligence check - or would it have been wisdom?
Regardless I just had a critical fail.
Though, although I can't find it now there was an official article/post that discussed this and said something like; and I am paraphrasing here as I can't remember word for word, "if you are looking for VTT or if that is crucial to your game, then you might be better off looking elsewhere for now."
That would say to me that VTT is not a priority. Of course, that's another assumption my part and I do seem to recall seeing it on the roadmap, so maybe that has all changed.
What I would like to see though and the thing I agree should have been there from the start is folders for sorting related character sheets. I do wish they'd work more quickly on that.
For sure, and I can understand that. The VTT is by no means the biggest thing that I would like to see DDB put out but it is something I very much hope happens at some point. As for me, I have been really pleased with everything that DDB has provided and can't wait to see how it develops moving forward. Cheers my dude
I really don't know why people are so obsessed with virtual tabletops. That is not and never has been the focus for DDB.
I mean seriously, does nobody play with actual people anymore?
All we need is a digital character sheet and a digital library for source material so we don't need to lug around 10 books or something. DDB does that really well and the homebrew tools and new encounter builder and campaign notes tools are extra goodies.
DDB is meant to be a companion to actually sitting around a table rolling physical dice. It's not supposed to be THE tabletop it's meant to be a tabletop companion.
I personally hope that it never loses that focus.
You're being a bit gatekeepery here, acting like online play isn't 'real D&D'. DDB is a digital tool set that is designed around improving all ways of playing D&D, physical and digital. That's why they're adding tools like the encounter tracker, virtual DM screen and built in dice rolling.
I run four groups, 2 digital, 2 irl. One of the groups started IRL and would've ended had I not had the option to move it to digital. Online play lets people enjoy D&D even if there's no one around to play with. Acting like the only right way to play is in person is not an attitude that benefits the hobby.
you have to admit though... looking at a camera and actually looking at your friends to interact with them, is truly not the same feeling. its much less interactive to be online. i will agree that playing is better then not playing. but having tryed through discord to do actual gameplay, was much less fun for us all as we could see the others surfing the web while playing, playing other games while talking to us in D&D. and when we tryed to interact with a friend, we had to specifically tell them that we'd interact with them because of the lack of visual representation. as in i'm looking at my camera, and thus, at everyone at the same time. that's the sad truth about online versus real life... in real life you can have truly meaningful interactions. while in online play, you are even more describing things because there are tons of interactions that cannot be done.
our group that tryed online, did it for 5 sessions... then we stopped... we truly all preffered to be at the same place around the table. or in this case, the camp fire with marshmellows, toast and weiners. it was just better to be in person. but we did still enjoy d&d... but to do that, do you really need virtual table top software ? we did it with discord and it was fine. one time we did it with skype and it was fine. do you really really need a virtual table top to be playing online ? that's my beef with the argument. everyone seems to think VTT is a necessity to play online. that tokens and maps are a must have. on discord all we did was video chat. and then if we needed a map or something, the DM would simply send it through the chat room as discord can show images. so whats the real argument of VTT then ? if it is online play, then yes it is great to have for those who can't play live. but if its to get awesome tools that make the game much more visually attracting, then i feel like that argument is lacking severely. One doesn't need all that visuals to play, otherwise it feels much more like a video game. and to me... TTRPGs aren't video games !
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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)
VTT's are not a requirement in the same way that having a kitchen table isn't a requirement to playing in person. You can sit on the floor but a table helps.
A VTT would be nice, but even more valuable would be a bit in dice roller with integration with sheets and the database for the DM. Using DDB to run games is about a billion times easier than using hardback books, so and the ability to click a link on a monster page that rolls it's attack would be an improvement on an already excellent tool.
Just accept the fact that not everyone likes everything. I love playing online. I started playing by writing in a forum more than 20 years ago and it was great. But some people can't handle that.
Some people like to play by just talking and I can't handle that (I need something to fiddle with).
In the end, I play in person, I play online (And no one is playing anything else and everyone is very interactive and gesticulating), and I play in writing. These are all valid forms. As long as everyone is having fun, you're doing it right.
Personally, even in person, I would prefer to project a map so people could have visual cues.
As for feature development, the people making the big decisions have access to much more data than we do, they know where the majority and minority really are, and they aim their resources accordingly. If a VTT is on the long term roadmap then it's because it's not a huge priority. And I can understand that. I would love to have it. But I'm using Roll20 just fine and even if the DDB VTT came out tomorrow, my campaign has already started there and I will finish it there.
SaberRunner: and you need to open "your" mind. right now it feels like, if people are not agreeing with you, then they are wrong. thats how it fels to me when i read your post. all we're saying, is that all of these aren't necessary. again and i will say it again and again if need be...
even in big bold letter... "TO ME" VTT is a thing people don't need.
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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)
Online and IRL each have their advantages. There's a lot of nuance in communication that can't be conveyed online, but equally, online allows for much more reliable play and easier setup. My main group that's been going for 3 years has been online for half that time and it's actually been easier to get together regularly since we made that transition. Conversely, my IRL group is more flaky because physically getting into the same place takes more effort to coordinate.
Online play doesn't work for everyone, but equally online play is the only way some people can play. I don't think VTTs are essential to play online, but much like a battlemap and minis, they certainly help. The real VTT argument is that it's something that improves play for a lot of people, in the same way services like heroforge and companies like wizkids and chessix improve IRL play. It's not essential, much in the same way that a lot of things in D&D aren't. But it's a big quality of life improvement.
I have to say, I find the anti-VTT sentiment shown by some a little gatekeepery; basically saying it's not 'real D&D' and DDB shouldn't focus on developing it. What SabreRunner said is very true; DDB has access to a lot more data than any of us and is committing resources proportionately.
even in big bold letter... "TO ME" VTT is a thing people don't need.
Dude, c'mon. Mixed messages, friend. It's fine if you want to say that VTT is not something YOU need. "To me." But it's not on you to decide for "people". Different playstyles and needs.
Obviously there is enough call for it that the devs added it to the roadmap. Not enough to prioritize it over other things, but it's there. You don't need to argue so vocally against it. We get it, you're not a fan.
Let me put the argument to rest by saying... i agree to all of what you guys have said, except for the gatekeeping thing... but... mostly, most of the gaming are either theater of the minds. which requires no maps whatsoever. or with visual cues that takes a lot of time to design and literally stops the gameplay. on VTT people say its easier because they mostly plays adventures that are literally already having everything done for you. but if you are like half the community, and i mean half the community.... designing your own world and or designing your own adventures, those maps have to be made. and that takes time. all in all, preparation for a game session is awefully long for those like us who design their own adventures. i am in no way saying there is good or wrong way to play. as for once i know a DM who cannot play anything then anime fantasy level 20 versus gods and armies games. believe me, he had trouble finding players who wanted the same thing. yet he did. but the reality being... VTT is only truly necessary for those who are visual mostly and can't seem to work right without a visual cue of anykind. after all there are as much audio people then there is visual people.
that said... the face VTT shows most of the time, is that of a board game instead of a TTRPG. moving tokens on screen, playing mostly dungeon crawls. if you look at pretty much all online streaming gaming sessions... what you see is not boardgames, they do not even use VTT. they mostly use the cameras only. there is a great reason for that. and i believe this view of mine is what ddb has seen in their numbers. only a minority actually need VTT.
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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)
Exactly. I love VTT, some folks don't need or want it. Seems a valid discussion in a, "what should we work on?", forum. Is the issue other services being mentioned? If so, McBucky, you may want the big boy shorts because, those are the competition. Best deal with it and not bury the head in the sand.
I just went back to the start of this thread (2.5 years ago) and many of the things that folks were asking for on page 1 and 2 are still not out yet or in alpha\beta. I guess I should be happy I took a 2 year D&D break at the right time. Given that, I can say it's not really worth talking about VTT because that is, given the development pace which I agree is far too slow for this day and age, years out.
That said, if I have the right tools to help track the numbers flying around the table, I can share my screen using discord, twitch, etc., make that work and not toss money at another site. Therefore I would say that Combat Tracking should be fast tracked. It doesn't need to be tied into the character sheets yet, just get something usable out there.
I mean, I could just use paper and pencil like I did when I was 12-13 years old, but I'm 51 now and would rather not use the same tools as I did back then if I can help it. :)
I know this may never happen but id definitely be interested in being able to purchase the frames and backdrops from past books that had come out before I had signed up for dndbeyond.
Exactly, what i really need are these...
- Initiative Tracker with the initiative cards for each players and monsters.
the cards would have the name, the initiative of the player/monster, its hit points with little buttons aside it to add or remove hit points. or we could just scroll up or down with finger on hit points. anything that makes it easier to add or remove without the need for a keyboard of any kind. obviously it should be able to place initive in the correct order by itself. either by pushing a button to place it or by just doing it automatically.
- a small DM screen, where i can put the information i want to place. like crafting, cause some of my players use it. or potions, or weapons and equipements. these things, anything i want can be placed in there.
- a random treasure generator. yup, i use the DMG treasure generator. its awesome. of course the abilityt ocreate my own generators would be great as well, but i dont expect that to happen. the thing is, i use random generators to make shops and the likes.
- a random name generator, yeah for a few different types of creatures. like dragons for draconics creatures like kobolds and lizardfolks. alien for anything aberrant. things like that.
- Sound Board. yes i use sounds, its easy to use. its just a bunch of musics splits into different categories, like Initiatives for those combats. or buildings for those ambient sounds in a smiths or library. and on that sound board i add the SFX section, still in development but eventually i hope i can create random ambient music that just create itself. but thats a far away dream. but a basic sound board would still be appreciated. before everyone try to tell me, there are tons of them already... i know about all of them, and i preffered to create my own.
That's pretty much the only thing i really need.
of course if i could see my players stats, i would like that, but some friends of mine dont like DDB and thus they aren't creating characters on it. so i cannot expect DDB to accomodate that. though it would be great if it could allow to add data to the page without a need for an account or a player joining DDB. aside from those, i really don't need anything else. not as tools for actual gameplay. everything else i want is for session creation.
heres what i want from a session creation standpoint.
- Monster builder, not somethign liek we have here, but let's say i want a monster and then adding more levels of classes to it. you know, kind of a builder like the chgaracters, but for monsters. that would make monster creation so faster and easier.
in fact thats about it. i'm fine with the rest.
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
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I really don't know why people are so obsessed with virtual tabletops. That is not and never has been the focus for DDB.
I mean seriously, does nobody play with actual people anymore?
All we need is a digital character sheet and a digital library for source material so we don't need to lug around 10 books or something. DDB does that really well and the homebrew tools and new encounter builder and campaign notes tools are extra goodies.
DDB is meant to be a companion to actually sitting around a table rolling physical dice. It's not supposed to be THE tabletop it's meant to be a tabletop companion.
I personally hope that it never loses that focus.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Playing with actual people was easier when I was young. Now the demands of real life and the fact that my friends are across the US makes that not really doable.
Cutting out travel to a game store playing D&D likely saves me 60-90 mins (depending on traffic). That's extra time to play D&D online, be with family, work if paged, etc. Like everything else in life, there are pluses and minuses.
Well, for the rest of us it is extremely hard to maintain a game where everyone has to be physically present. My work and home life is busy enough to almost demand online gaming. This has worked out as I have made very very good friends through this. I wouldn't be so quick to assume everyone has the exact circumstance as yourself
I think you are correct. I made an assumption there that I probably should not have. I must have rolled a natural one on my intelligence check - or would it have been wisdom?
Regardless I just had a critical fail.
Though, although I can't find it now there was an official article/post that discussed this and said something like; and I am paraphrasing here as I can't remember word for word, "if you are looking for VTT or if that is crucial to your game, then you might be better off looking elsewhere for now."
That would say to me that VTT is not a priority. Of course, that's another assumption my part and I do seem to recall seeing it on the roadmap, so maybe that has all changed.
What I would like to see though and the thing I agree should have been there from the start is folders for sorting related character sheets. I do wish they'd work more quickly on that.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
and VTT is on the roadmap, it has been requested often and it will come to DDB. but its in the long run. so you can't expect it to be there in the next 2 years.
people votes for what they want the most, and people seems to think, in general, that VTT is not as important as the rest of the tools. that's what i said, go read the roadmap first.
vote for your favorite features and hope it gets to the top.
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)
You're being a bit gatekeepery here, acting like online play isn't 'real D&D'. DDB is a digital tool set that is designed around improving all ways of playing D&D, physical and digital. That's why they're adding tools like the encounter tracker, virtual DM screen and built in dice rolling.
I run four groups, 2 digital, 2 irl. One of the groups started IRL and would've ended had I not had the option to move it to digital. Online play lets people enjoy D&D even if there's no one around to play with. Acting like the only right way to play is in person is not an attitude that benefits the hobby.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
you really misunderstood the intent of what I was saying here. I have no issues on that front
For sure, and I can understand that. The VTT is by no means the biggest thing that I would like to see DDB put out but it is something I very much hope happens at some point. As for me, I have been really pleased with everything that DDB has provided and can't wait to see how it develops moving forward. Cheers my dude
you have to admit though... looking at a camera and actually looking at your friends to interact with them, is truly not the same feeling.
its much less interactive to be online. i will agree that playing is better then not playing. but having tryed through discord to do actual gameplay, was much less fun for us all as we could see the others surfing the web while playing, playing other games while talking to us in D&D. and when we tryed to interact with a friend, we had to specifically tell them that we'd interact with them because of the lack of visual representation. as in i'm looking at my camera, and thus, at everyone at the same time. that's the sad truth about online versus real life... in real life you can have truly meaningful interactions. while in online play, you are even more describing things because there are tons of interactions that cannot be done.
our group that tryed online, did it for 5 sessions... then we stopped... we truly all preffered to be at the same place around the table. or in this case, the camp fire with marshmellows, toast and weiners. it was just better to be in person. but we did still enjoy d&d... but to do that, do you really need virtual table top software ? we did it with discord and it was fine. one time we did it with skype and it was fine. do you really really need a virtual table top to be playing online ? that's my beef with the argument. everyone seems to think VTT is a necessity to play online. that tokens and maps are a must have. on discord all we did was video chat. and then if we needed a map or something, the DM would simply send it through the chat room as discord can show images. so whats the real argument of VTT then ? if it is online play, then yes it is great to have for those who can't play live. but if its to get awesome tools that make the game much more visually attracting, then i feel like that argument is lacking severely. One doesn't need all that visuals to play, otherwise it feels much more like a video game. and to me... TTRPGs aren't video games !
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)
VTT's are not a requirement in the same way that having a kitchen table isn't a requirement to playing in person. You can sit on the floor but a table helps.
A VTT would be nice, but even more valuable would be a bit in dice roller with integration with sheets and the database for the DM. Using DDB to run games is about a billion times easier than using hardback books, so and the ability to click a link on a monster page that rolls it's attack would be an improvement on an already excellent tool.
All y'all need some Theory of Mind.
Just accept the fact that not everyone likes everything. I love playing online. I started playing by writing in a forum more than 20 years ago and it was great. But some people can't handle that.
Some people like to play by just talking and I can't handle that (I need something to fiddle with).
In the end, I play in person, I play online (And no one is playing anything else and everyone is very interactive and gesticulating), and I play in writing. These are all valid forms. As long as everyone is having fun, you're doing it right.
Personally, even in person, I would prefer to project a map so people could have visual cues.
As for feature development, the people making the big decisions have access to much more data than we do, they know where the majority and minority really are, and they aim their resources accordingly. If a VTT is on the long term roadmap then it's because it's not a huge priority. And I can understand that. I would love to have it. But I'm using Roll20 just fine and even if the DDB VTT came out tomorrow, my campaign has already started there and I will finish it there.
Check out all my important links here.
May we live in Less Interesting Times
SaberRunner: and you need to open "your" mind.
right now it feels like, if people are not agreeing with you, then they are wrong. thats how it fels to me when i read your post.
all we're saying, is that all of these aren't necessary. again and i will say it again and again if need be...
even in big bold letter... "TO ME" VTT is a thing people don't need.
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
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Online and IRL each have their advantages. There's a lot of nuance in communication that can't be conveyed online, but equally, online allows for much more reliable play and easier setup. My main group that's been going for 3 years has been online for half that time and it's actually been easier to get together regularly since we made that transition. Conversely, my IRL group is more flaky because physically getting into the same place takes more effort to coordinate.
Online play doesn't work for everyone, but equally online play is the only way some people can play. I don't think VTTs are essential to play online, but much like a battlemap and minis, they certainly help. The real VTT argument is that it's something that improves play for a lot of people, in the same way services like heroforge and companies like wizkids and chessix improve IRL play. It's not essential, much in the same way that a lot of things in D&D aren't. But it's a big quality of life improvement.
I have to say, I find the anti-VTT sentiment shown by some a little gatekeepery; basically saying it's not 'real D&D' and DDB shouldn't focus on developing it. What SabreRunner said is very true; DDB has access to a lot more data than any of us and is committing resources proportionately.
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Dude, c'mon. Mixed messages, friend. It's fine if you want to say that VTT is not something YOU need. "To me." But it's not on you to decide for "people". Different playstyles and needs.
Obviously there is enough call for it that the devs added it to the roadmap. Not enough to prioritize it over other things, but it's there. You don't need to argue so vocally against it. We get it, you're not a fan.
Let me put the argument to rest by saying...
i agree to all of what you guys have said, except for the gatekeeping thing... but... mostly, most of the gaming are either theater of the minds. which requires no maps whatsoever.
or with visual cues that takes a lot of time to design and literally stops the gameplay. on VTT people say its easier because they mostly plays adventures that are literally already having everything done for you. but if you are like half the community, and i mean half the community.... designing your own world and or designing your own adventures, those maps have to be made. and that takes time. all in all, preparation for a game session is awefully long for those like us who design their own adventures. i am in no way saying there is good or wrong way to play. as for once i know a DM who cannot play anything then anime fantasy level 20 versus gods and armies games. believe me, he had trouble finding players who wanted the same thing. yet he did. but the reality being... VTT is only truly necessary for those who are visual mostly and can't seem to work right without a visual cue of anykind. after all there are as much audio people then there is visual people.
that said... the face VTT shows most of the time, is that of a board game instead of a TTRPG. moving tokens on screen, playing mostly dungeon crawls. if you look at pretty much all online streaming gaming sessions... what you see is not boardgames, they do not even use VTT. they mostly use the cameras only. there is a great reason for that. and i believe this view of mine is what ddb has seen in their numbers. only a minority actually need VTT.
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--> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
Then you should, probably, stop. Because you keep misreading them.
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