Realmworks is a wikia type website that allows you to add notes and the likes to your realm. basically its a wikia of your world and campaign. Obsidian Portal does the same thing, as well as InfinitasDM which is a lot easier to use then those two.
in the end, i think those who want campaign management like obsidian or realm, actually only wants a true website for their world. its not to say they are bad or anything, they are great though they have limited capabilities in many aspects. but i think DDB cannot start incorporating websites for each individuals. i mean, those sites are for writters, not for campaign management. they dont have initiative trcking, they dont have encounter builders, nor do they have monster building abilities. they are only websites to which you write stuff. i can do that in Notepad++ which allows for tabs and all. i can even do that on google docs which allows me for much more then all of those websites combined.
thats where people have a problem with the words "Campaign Management". because people gives the terms numerous defiinitions. one of them being "use obsidian portal like stuff, so i can just write my world down and let my writting skills be shown." to me thats world building, not campaign managements. In the end as i tryed realmworks and obsidian and like 3 other sites, they awere all the same thing... write down stuff like cities, write down descriptions. put some images in to complement stuff... the impression i had was that i was making a website out of my world. while that has its uses, thats not campaign management. nothing i wrote down there, helped me actually run a campaign. everything i needed was already written down on RTF files and i already had several maps on my hard drive, which i use with my tablet for gaming. so why would i ever need to write everything down onto obsidian and the likes ? i don't need a website for my world, except when someone wants to learn about my world. at that point, i felt like i was more of a writter for a novel, then a d&d DM.
nope, i think the campaign management we have now, only really needs two improvements. the rest are already incoming as it is... for me campaign managements is the following stuff... - Monster Builder, like creating monsters but the ability to add calsses to them on the fly. you know level up monsters much like we do with characters. - Initiative tracker, already incoming. but it needs to be intuitive and thought for tablets without keyboard. like the ability to adjust hit points with sliders, i like that a lot. - Encounter Builder, already incoming and great at it. - Ability to put notes and keep those notes in ! - Ability to create adventure like table of content, but ability to add notes directly onto the map (picture). like add a pin, if clicked upon it shows the note. - sound board for ambience in various d&d sessions. things like... mysterious, creepy or festive. nothing too strict, keep them general to a mood.
to me that would be awesome. to me thats campaign management, as it allows me to create a timeline with notes, and it allows me to remember what hapenned in the campaign. as well as plan out up front whats arriving soon. but campaign management doesn't stop at writing stuff up... campaign management includes the usual per session stuff. the stuff like inititives and the likes. thus why its added.
i feel like when they started, we had only 3 text boxes, like regular textboxes, no formatting of any kinds. nothing ! we fixed that by simply asking for formatting of text. and they got us there in a matter of days. now we got 3 rich text boxes which allows for text formatting and the likes. if writting novels is all you want, then you don't need more then those ! i mean, creating a timeline is easy with all 3 of those boxes.
so a simple solution that can be done easily for them, would be these solutions... 1) add the ability to create subfolders for those 3 richboxes. the ability to create folder like notes would make this a much more viable campaign diary ! which is what they truly are. 2) the ability to see images in the text itself. i believe its already there considering we can link an image from other sites, but it would be great to be able to place where we want to in the text. not just following the text. 3) most important... the abilitty to have them at full scale, not just as 3 tiny boxes. i want them full on word website. taking the full width and height of my screen. right now they are way too ******* tiny ! heck making them open another window is quite easy by todays standard. so i don't understand why they are so tiny.
aside from those, i think their campaign management scheme are on point.
heres what i use for now... - my own developped D&D Tools. - Initiative tracking, flick of a finger and i get inititives numbers going up or down. push of a finger, adding an initiative card with Init, Hp, Monster Name. the only thig that requires a keyboard is monster name. which by default my monsters are numbered like this "Monster #1", "Monster #2" and i could simply tell my players, tell me which number you hit. so not even a need for keyboard if i need to be fast. - Sound board, musics chosen from mat mercer playlists, added a few key sound effects which can be played as the music goes. can repeat songs and all, much more versatile then windows media player and less intensive like the battle boards or sirenscape things. - a small Dm Screen, just a small notepad like thing with stuff tables i need to remember, like tracking people, NPC answers, Potions. the likes of those. - Generators of some kind, names for many races. Wheater generators, treasures generators. the likes of those... - Screen Viewer, used to craft stuff and the likes in 3D. now i just bring my flat 17 inches monitor and plug it in as a second screen for my tablet. s if i wanna show a picture to my players, i can easily do that and if i need to bring a combat screen on the fly, i can do it too. add tokens or just use true figurines on the monitor directly. - Facebook - adding photos to albums, maps they have seen, places and NPC they have seen. - using photoshop i designed neet images with the correct info on NPC and all, so if they need to remember an NPC, or i do... just need to go on facebook for the campaign. - Adding RTF or Doc style document for rules and new objects and the likes. so again if they need to remember things, its there.
that's really all i ever need ! those are Campaign management to me ! and yes, i have my own facebook page which i keep private for myself. have to remember to upload stuff there though, as everything is on my tablet hard drive. clouds are great in case of emergency. but thats what campaign management is for me. DDB as been a great aid, as in i can just create monsters with true stats blcks and all. thats great. same with races and objects. i like it a lot. but i'd like them to complement that with monsters that can be leveled up like the characters does. you know picka monster and add more hit dice, which in term can add more abilities from classes. just a box that literally ask you what kind of abilities you want to add as you add more hit dice. i was in the making of that toool when i saw DDB do it with homebrew and now i just use DDB. but i feel like i should resume the work, i think thats gonna be faster then waiting on beyond.
but thats another story... you get the drift... i think campaign management isn't just the ability to write your world down... and obsidian and realmworks aren't campaign management tools, they are more inline with world building. and world building is not campaign management to me.
I appreciate all the feedback! Thank you! Though I should note that Realmworks is NOT a website at all. It is software specifically designed for campaign management. It does allow you to have creature stat blocks, and it auto links everything you put in. For instance if I have a stat block for goblin, and I am writing a scene and write the word "goblin" it will auto link to my stat block. Additionally, when combined with Hero Lab, another tool I do have and use, I can have creature stats in there as well as my players and run combat through it, keeping track of initiative, HP, conditions, and anything else plus I can intergate those encounters directly into Realmworks. This allows me to have my players in Hero Lab, come to the encounter with 4 goblins, and a Hobgoblin for instance, click a button and those creatures are imported into Hero Lab with my players and I start combat. Auto roll initiative for the monsters (and players if I wanted) add player initiative and go. My problem with these tools is: 1: They are phasing out support due to money issues. 2: They are kind of cluncky (Hero lab is anyway. I don't hate Realmworks). 3: I want one tool. Not 3 or 4.
So all that said, I think we are on the same page as to what is Campaign Management vs World Building. To me Realmworks did both.
For instance, I could have a map with pins that link to the descriptions of those areas. This is a feature you said you want in DnDBeyond and I agree! I use that a ton!
Easy note taking. I always like to have a section where I put a recap of the session which I read at the beginning of my next session to my players.
Encounters in the adventure so I can add them quickly to the combat tracker.
The ability to make my own adventures in DnDBeyond with maps and everything else an adventure needs. (may already have this I don't know). There is this vast amount of content on DMsGuild that I love and I want to be able to play here.
Don't really need a VTT here for maps as there are other tools like Roll20 or FoundryVTT that can do it better and at little cost to me.
Sound would be great but there is no shortage of easy sounds out there to get but it would be nice if I could link it into an adventure scene. That way when I am reading the description of the creepy cave the party is entering I can just click a link and the sound starts playing, either in syrinscape, or youtube, or amazon music or where ever.
Ability to show pictures like you said. (Another thing Realmwors does). I generally have a flat screen on the table for maps, and I push images there as well.
DM screen is a great idea.
Of course the already incoming combat and encounter building tools. I just hope to see the encounters integrated into the adventures.
I see a lot of interesting stuff on the roadmap though I am unsure exactly what some of it is. Right now I am wanting to buy in to DnDBeyond but unsure if I want the Legendary pack or just the Source book bundle. I already have all the physical books and I have digitized my adventures using Realmworks. What I really want to know is if DnDbeyond is planning to create a campaign management system that can replace what Realworks is doing for me. Its nice that ToA for instance would be available to me if I bought that adventure, but can I put in notes, make changes to encounters, and customize it more, adding homebrew, and DMsGuild content to it? If I don't buy ToA, are the ToA magic items not available for me to give to my players?
I see the encounter builder is in development. Will that allow me to create an encounter, and place it in a certain spot in my adventure and add that to the combat tracker once both features are ready?
I guess my big question is, is it going to be worth buying the adventures digitally if I already have them? What do I get out of buying them on DnDBeyond now and more importantly, in the future?
Sorry for all the questions, but when you are about to drop $600 you want to know this stuff.
I don't know what Realmworks does but they are currently working on improvements to how games are managed and run.
Everything you buy on DNDBeyond provides a discount equal to the amount spent for anything that contains it. So, you can start with the Sources and then upgrade to the Legendary later. But if you already have the adventures, don't buy them unless you have money to spare.
My thoughts, I invested in DNDBeyond because, in my mind, it's *THE* tool for the game and it will only improve.
But if you don't buy the adventures do you still have access to the magic items and monsters that are specific to that adventure? For instance if I am running ToA, I want have Acererak's stat block if I don't buy ToA through DnD Beyond. This isn't important now, but once encounter builder and Combat Tracking are done, you would want to have this.
Same goes for something like the Ring of Winter. If my party grabs it I can't give it to them without purchasing the book. Also the custom backgrounds. 2 of my party have those custom backgrounds from the book. I guess I could just buy the backgrounds but can I also buy just the items and monster stats? And at that point, wouldn't it just be worth it to buy the whole thing? I could homebrew them all I guess but thats just more work.
But if you don't buy the adventures do you still have access to the magic items and monsters that are specific to that adventure? For instance if I am running ToA, I want have Acererak's stat block if I don't buy ToA through DnD Beyond. This isn't important now, but once encounter builder and Combat Tracking are done, you would want to have this.
Same goes for something like the Ring of Winter. If my party grabs it I can't give it to them without purchasing the book. Also the custom backgrounds. 2 of my party have those custom backgrounds from the book. I guess I could just buy the backgrounds but can I also buy just the items and monster stats? And at that point, wouldn't it just be worth it to buy the whole thing? I could homebrew them all I guess but thats just more work.
Yes, for any given adventure, you can buy any of the backgrounds, magic items and monsters piecemeal, though they do add up quickly. In the Marketplace, each adventure book has a "Additional Purchase Options" section. The alternative, as you said, is to just homebrew specific bits as you need them.
in the marketplace it is better to buy in bulk, cost much less then if you bought each items. so i really suggest you don't go down below buying all the magical items or all the monsters in one go. and even there, if you buy monsters and magical items, you will soon realise how fast you got to the bok total pricing and at that point you might as well buy the whole book for the same price. that said, compendium always cost about 10$ so, that is that. and later on, if you wanna buy the remaining stuff... the prices are lowered down according to what you already bought. so as mentionned, you can just buy stuff slowly at the pace you want it to be. exemple... took me about 2 years to buy myself a legendary bundle. bought stuff i needed until finally i had the remaining 200$ to buy the legendary which was at 200$ or so instead of 650 or so. definitely worth the price of buying in bulk though. but waiting is also an option. which is what i like about this place.
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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'm in my 30's, new to D&D and just wanted to say, Thank You for being you! Your site has made it very easy to create characters with tooltips along the way explaining various choices. I purchased the Essentials Kit and was able to claim the DRAGON OF ICESPIRE PEAK adventure for DnD Beyond. This was an amazing idea and I hope for more of this in the future. Most people comment when something is wrong, so I'd wager it's fairly rare to read something positive, so again thank you and your support team is quick to respond and helpful as well.
I have looked at the roadmap and still don't see any plans to add the class UA from November. I realize this is a big list of stuff to add but I am confused why I have not seen anything about adding it.
I have looked at the roadmap and still don't see any plans to add the class UA from November. I realize this is a big list of stuff to add but I am confused why I have not seen anything about adding it.
Hello there Hylid! The Class Variants UA is in development.
I have looked at the roadmap and still don't see any plans to add the class UA from November. I realize this is a big list of stuff to add but I am confused why I have not seen anything about adding it.
Hello there Hylid! The Class Variants UA is in development.
Cool, is there a roadmap or general ETA for that? I want to make a Captain America build and the unarmed fighting style would be perfect. Also a lot of cool stuff. Thanks for the reply. :)
I have looked at the roadmap and still don't see any plans to add the class UA from November. I realize this is a big list of stuff to add but I am confused why I have not seen anything about adding it.
Hello there Hylid! The Class Variants UA is in development.
Cool, is there a roadmap or general ETA for that? I want to make a Captain America build and the unarmed fighting style would be perfect. Also a lot of cool stuff. Thanks for the reply. :)
D&D Beyond does not offer ETAs ;) There'll be lots of announcements when there's more to share, I'm sure!
I have looked at the roadmap and still don't see any plans to add the class UA from November. I realize this is a big list of stuff to add but I am confused why I have not seen anything about adding it.
Hello there Hylid! The Class Variants UA is in development.
Cool, is there a roadmap or general ETA for that? I want to make a Captain America build and the unarmed fighting style would be perfect. Also a lot of cool stuff. Thanks for the reply. :)
D&D Beyond does not offer ETAs ;) There'll be lots of announcements when there's more to share, I'm sure!
I noticed the roadmap hasn't seemed to progress for several months and was just curious if it hadn't been updated or if the phases of development are still in the same stages as listed.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Thanks for taking my hobbies and ruining them, one genre at a time WotC and Hasbro.
I noticed the roadmap hasn't seemed to progress for several months and was just curious if it hadn't been updated or if the phases of development are still in the same stages as listed.
It does take sometime to progress on major software features.
If you would like to follow week by week, you can peak in on the unofficial summary page and see what has been mentioned in the dev updates.
I noticed the roadmap hasn't seemed to progress for several months and was just curious if it hadn't been updated or if the phases of development are still in the same stages as listed.
they do not seem to follow the roadmap though... as in right now, Async Dice Roller and Initiative Tracker seems to be the most developped right now. and those were like 3rd or 4th if i remember well. in any cases, you are much more informed by following the friday dev updates each weeks. you can get the summary episodes of it on youtube and the 45 to an hour long version still on youtube on their dndbeyond youtube page. just type in dndbeyond dev update and you should find it quite easily.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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 looked at the roadmap and still don't see any plans to add the class UA from November. I realize this is a big list of stuff to add but I am confused why I have not seen anything about adding it.
Hello there Hylid! The Class Variants UA is in development.
Cool, is there a roadmap or general ETA for that? I want to make a Captain America build and the unarmed fighting style would be perfect. Also a lot of cool stuff. Thanks for the reply. :)
its been mentionned a lot on the dev update as many many many people are asking about it. the answer is always the same... class features requires a complete rework of the system for them to work as dndbeyond was not developped with that kind of thing in mind. thus they are rewritting many aspect of the site for that to work and that is a very long process. last dev update adam said they were also making sure that the new system was working well with th eold one, the last thing they want is to port the new system and everyone losing their characters or having to redo their characters because they lost many a thing. so its a really big task and thus its a lot of work, waiting is the only thing we can do at this point.
my personnal opinion is, don't expect beyond to have that ready before wizard pull the plug on the UA and forces them to archive it. i don't think they have time to make that kind of thing before the UA becomes irrelevant. but, their new system seems promising and thus we can expect a lot of possibilities opening up by the new system. including the possibility of class feature, if... it makes the cut.
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 hope they don’t pull the plug on Class Feature Variants. I have been waiting patiently, and encouraging others to as well. I understand that these things take time and effort, and I appreciate that effort immensely, but for the love of Mary I just want either the UA material to go live, or else let us make custom classes so we can do it ourselves.
I have looked at the roadmap and still don't see any plans to add the class UA from November. I realize this is a big list of stuff to add but I am confused why I have not seen anything about adding it.
Hello there Hylid! The Class Variants UA is in development.
Is it still in development, or has it been abandoned?
Thank you. Did you see that on Twitch? I don’t have a twitch account, and nothing I have seen on DDB, nor on YouTube has mentioned this UA for the last two updates.
I'm referring to the last time it was mentioned, I can't remember the exact one however. It was in response to a question and Adam mentioned how it'd affect all 2.3 million plus character in DDB, so they're being exceptionally careful.
Ah, that was the 02/27 update. As far as I can tell, there has been no news from DDB on this subject since then. It’s starting to feel like we’ve been stood up.
I appreciate all the feedback! Thank you! Though I should note that Realmworks is NOT a website at all. It is software specifically designed for campaign management. It does allow you to have creature stat blocks, and it auto links everything you put in. For instance if I have a stat block for goblin, and I am writing a scene and write the word "goblin" it will auto link to my stat block. Additionally, when combined with Hero Lab, another tool I do have and use, I can have creature stats in there as well as my players and run combat through it, keeping track of initiative, HP, conditions, and anything else plus I can intergate those encounters directly into Realmworks. This allows me to have my players in Hero Lab, come to the encounter with 4 goblins, and a Hobgoblin for instance, click a button and those creatures are imported into Hero Lab with my players and I start combat. Auto roll initiative for the monsters (and players if I wanted) add player initiative and go. My problem with these tools is: 1: They are phasing out support due to money issues. 2: They are kind of cluncky (Hero lab is anyway. I don't hate Realmworks). 3: I want one tool. Not 3 or 4.
So all that said, I think we are on the same page as to what is Campaign Management vs World Building. To me Realmworks did both.
But if you don't buy the adventures do you still have access to the magic items and monsters that are specific to that adventure? For instance if I am running ToA, I want have Acererak's stat block if I don't buy ToA through DnD Beyond. This isn't important now, but once encounter builder and Combat Tracking are done, you would want to have this.
Same goes for something like the Ring of Winter. If my party grabs it I can't give it to them without purchasing the book. Also the custom backgrounds. 2 of my party have those custom backgrounds from the book. I guess I could just buy the backgrounds but can I also buy just the items and monster stats? And at that point, wouldn't it just be worth it to buy the whole thing? I could homebrew them all I guess but thats just more work.
Yes, for any given adventure, you can buy any of the backgrounds, magic items and monsters piecemeal, though they do add up quickly. In the Marketplace, each adventure book has a "Additional Purchase Options" section. The alternative, as you said, is to just homebrew specific bits as you need them.
in the marketplace it is better to buy in bulk, cost much less then if you bought each items. so i really suggest you don't go down below buying all the magical items or all the monsters in one go. and even there, if you buy monsters and magical items, you will soon realise how fast you got to the bok total pricing and at that point you might as well buy the whole book for the same price. that said, compendium always cost about 10$ so, that is that. and later on, if you wanna buy the remaining stuff... the prices are lowered down according to what you already bought. so as mentionned, you can just buy stuff slowly at the pace you want it to be. exemple... took me about 2 years to buy myself a legendary bundle. bought stuff i needed until finally i had the remaining 200$ to buy the legendary which was at 200$ or so instead of 650 or so. definitely worth the price of buying in bulk though. but waiting is also an option. which is what i like about this place.
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 D&D Beyond,
I'm in my 30's, new to D&D and just wanted to say, Thank You for being you! Your site has made it very easy to create characters with tooltips along the way explaining various choices. I purchased the Essentials Kit and was able to claim the DRAGON OF ICESPIRE PEAK adventure for DnD Beyond. This was an amazing idea and I hope for more of this in the future. Most people comment when something is wrong, so I'd wager it's fairly rare to read something positive, so again thank you and your support team is quick to respond and helpful as well.
I have looked at the roadmap and still don't see any plans to add the class UA from November. I realize this is a big list of stuff to add but I am confused why I have not seen anything about adding it.
Hello there Hylid! The Class Variants UA is in development.
Cool, is there a roadmap or general ETA for that? I want to make a Captain America build and the unarmed fighting style would be perfect. Also a lot of cool stuff. Thanks for the reply. :)
D&D Beyond does not offer ETAs ;) There'll be lots of announcements when there's more to share, I'm sure!
Ok thanks.
I noticed the roadmap hasn't seemed to progress for several months and was just curious if it hadn't been updated or if the phases of development are still in the same stages as listed.
Thanks for taking my hobbies and ruining them, one genre at a time WotC and Hasbro.
It does take sometime to progress on major software features.
If you would like to follow week by week, you can peak in on the unofficial summary page and see what has been mentioned in the dev updates.
Check out all my important links here.
May we live in Less Interesting Times
they do not seem to follow the roadmap though... as in right now, Async Dice Roller and Initiative Tracker seems to be the most developped right now. and those were like 3rd or 4th if i remember well. in any cases, you are much more informed by following the friday dev updates each weeks. you can get the summary episodes of it on youtube and the 45 to an hour long version still on youtube on their dndbeyond youtube page. just type in dndbeyond dev update and you should find it quite easily.
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)
its been mentionned a lot on the dev update as many many many people are asking about it. the answer is always the same...
class features requires a complete rework of the system for them to work as dndbeyond was not developped with that kind of thing in mind.
thus they are rewritting many aspect of the site for that to work and that is a very long process.
last dev update adam said they were also making sure that the new system was working well with th eold one, the last thing they want is to port the new system and everyone losing their characters or having to redo their characters because they lost many a thing. so its a really big task and thus its a lot of work, waiting is the only thing we can do at this point.
my personnal opinion is, don't expect beyond to have that ready before wizard pull the plug on the UA and forces them to archive it.
i don't think they have time to make that kind of thing before the UA becomes irrelevant.
but, their new system seems promising and thus we can expect a lot of possibilities opening up by the new system.
including the possibility of class feature, if... it makes the cut.
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 hope they don’t pull the plug on Class Feature Variants. I have been waiting patiently, and encouraging others to as well. I understand that these things take time and effort, and I appreciate that effort immensely, but for the love of Mary I just want either the UA material to go live, or else let us make custom classes so we can do it ourselves.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Is it still in development, or has it been abandoned?
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
The Class Variants UA is still in development as of the most recent updates.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Thank you. Did you see that on Twitch? I don’t have a twitch account, and nothing I have seen on DDB, nor on YouTube has mentioned this UA for the last two updates.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I'm referring to the last time it was mentioned, I can't remember the exact one however. It was in response to a question and Adam mentioned how it'd affect all 2.3 million plus character in DDB, so they're being exceptionally careful.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Ah, that was the 02/27 update. As far as I can tell, there has been no news from DDB on this subject since then. It’s starting to feel like we’ve been stood up.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting