It's unfortunate that third parties like Roll20 and Twitch all license the content separately. It would be nice if they could all reach some sort of group licensing deal with WotC so purchasing electronic access to the content on one platform would work for every platform in the group. But it hasn't turned out that way. That doesn't really matter for me as I prefer face to face play and don't have the content on Roll20 or FG but I could certainly understand not wanting to pay multiple times to access the same content on different platforms.
Personally, having used DDB for a while now, I really like the idea of being able to sit at the table with a bunch of DDB tabs open, one for my character, one to look up rules, one to look up spells etc. That would save both time and table space.
I'll echo what a few have said already: I will be buying them on DDB first, followed up slowly by the physical versions. I am a lover of books, and there's something really special about holding up a book, smelling the ink on the pages, and being able to not stare at a digital screen to read a story. However, I live my life online. Everything I do revolves around being on a device or computer, and I'm rarely seen away from a device. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I purchased all the five main books (PHB, DMG, MM, SCAG, and Volo's)
This bit makes me sad. SCAG and VGtM aren't core. SCAG, especially, is a setting book. By definition, setting books cannot be core because D&D does not have a core setting. The Realms are no more "core" to D&D than is Greyhawk, Mystara, or Krynn.
Sorry if you meant "main" as just a stand-in for "crunch" or "rules" books. This is just my personal peeve about how the D&D "brand" is being managed, right now, and a specific concern I have about only supporting the Realms in any meaningful way. The D&D brand is a settingless game system for playing in a pseudo-medieval fantasy genre. The Realms is simply a sample implementation of that genre that builds from the core rules. It's actually a related brand with strong overlap.
As soon as new players coming into the game assume that the Realms is any more "core" than any of the other worlds. the D&D "brand" is mostly dead. It becomes the Forgotten Realms RPG and is just waiting for the labeling to catch up.
This bit makes me sad. SCAG and VGtM aren't core. SCAG, especially, is a setting book. By definition, setting books cannot be core because D&D does not have a core setting. The Realms are no more "core" to D&D than is Greyhawk, Mystara, or Krynn.
Sorry if you meant "main" as just a stand-in for "crunch" or "rules" books. This is just my personal peeve about how the D&D "brand" is being managed, right now, and a specific concern I have about only supporting the Realms in any meaningful way. The D&D brand is a settingless game system for playing in a pseudo-medieval fantasy genre. The Realms is simply a sample implementation of that genre that builds from the core rules. It's actually a related brand with strong overlap.
As soon as new players coming into the game assume that the Realms is any more "core" than any of the other worlds. the D&D "brand" is mostly dead. It becomes the Forgotten Realms RPG and is just waiting for the labeling to catch up.
"Main" could have been being used to delineate between those books that are larger and beneficial to all campaigns and those which are only adventures or small mechanical supplements, rather than being a synonym for "core."
Also, the "core setting" of D&D 5th edition, officially speaking, is the D&D multiverse - so you are right that The Realms are no more core than Greyhawk, Mystara, or Krynn... but they also aren't any less core, since all of those settings are part of the core setting.
"Main" could have been being used to delineate between those books that are larger and beneficial to all campaigns and those which are only adventures or small mechanical supplements, rather than being a synonym for "core."
I absolutely and explicitly allowed for that possibility.
Also, the "core setting" of D&D 5th edition, officially speaking, is the D&D multiverse - so you are right that The Realms are no more core than Greyhawk, Mystara, or Krynn... but they also aren't any less core, since all of those settings are part of the core setting.
Absolutely agree. In a sense, the "core setting" of D&D has always been the multiverse, insomuch as "multiverse" means the collection of all published and custom settings that use the D&D rules set. Some of these settings have different planar configurations. Some of unique monsters and races. Some lack otherwise "standard" monsters and races. Having a sample/reference cosmology has also long been a part of the game. I'm just a bit concerned that the 5E presentation puts an unintentional(?) bias on things that indicates the Great Wheel and the Realms are what "normal" players use. That's probably largely true with the Great Wheel because few groups/settings care enough to even worry about it.
The focus on the Realms actually does a disservice to the game, IMO. In most ways that actually matter, D&D has always been a "generic" system. Sure, it only does pseudo-medieval fantasy (whatever that means) well, and there are a ton of assumptions made in how the rules are implemented that push a certain flavor (Vancian magic), but that isn't a setting-first stance. It comes from the history of just trying to make a system that works with some vague balance -- with some editions being more vaguely balanced than others. 5E isn't the first time it's happened, but it's much more in the mold of Realms-first and freely inject flavor into the core rules because it works well with the Realms. I have zero issue with anyone playing in the Realms or just generally being a Realms fanboy. My issue is when the SCAG becomes the "fourth core" book that new players assume they need to pick up to play the game. I also have an issue with every crunch book being named after something in a single setting -- mainly because it points back to that one setting as being the assumed/default/core setting.
If you want to make an assumption about groups and settings, assume they're using home brew. The Realms is great as a sample setting and/or the AL shared setting. It really shouldn't have significantly more weight than any other setting, though. Personally, I'd much rather see WotC actively and intentionally release products that discourage any single setting from becoming too dominant. That applies regardless of which setting would be dominant.
A mix of both, for me. Some I already have obviously. I do like physical books, and for the campaigns I will probably only get the physical version with perhaps some micropurchases of content from them. But sourcebooks I'll likely get both.
That being said, the more I use DDB the more it's growing on me and I do like the idea of not lugging books around everywhere.
Today was a turning point for me. I picked up Tomb of Annihilation early this morning and read a bunch while on break. It was easy to do and I can read it anywhere (on the bus, my desk and our gaming shed). I also picked up Storm King's Thunder even though I already have the book and did my game prep for tonight's adventure in MUCH less time than normal. Additionally, this has brought the cost of the Legendary Bundle to a little over a hundred bucks. If I pick up a couple more books as they come out, I will end up getting the bundle instead of buying anymore books individually.
Same here, I planned on picking up a couple books a month up til the legendary bundle was around 100 bucks, than pick it up. Right now I am sitting at around 170 (I was at 150 but than Tomb came out), so hoping I have the whole collection on here in January, plus will also have the physical books. Plan on using the physical books when I DM at my house and using laptop for reference, but during the winter we may do a few games at Dennys and I may try the mobile app and DM off of it.
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I use summon instrument to summon my kettle drum, hold it overhead like Donkey Kong, and chuck it at the nearest kobold.
Does anyone feel that purchasing the books should come with access to the online utilities that can be found in those books? Or at the very least a discount?
Does anyone feel that purchasing the books should come with access to the online utilities that can be found in those books? Or at the very least a discount?
I don't know what this means. This is the online utility.
Does anyone feel that purchasing the books should come with access to the online utilities that can be found in those books? Or at the very least a discount?
I don't know what this means. This is the online utility.
If I'm reading it right, it's the usual complaint.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
I know that some people feel that way but I do not. I think they are already heavily discounted (some are 50% cover price). The ability to share them with those in your campaign is wonderful. On top of that, when I stop running games, I could just stop my subscription and have more than enough character slots. I've already stopped purchasing books as I only peruse them when I first purchase them, then they become a tabletop reference. Instead, now I have all my books on my iPad as long as I am connected to the Internet, which is pretty much ubiquitous where I live.
I understand why people want a steeper discount but Curse/Twitch needs to pay for their servers, which is not cheap and also has to pay a license fee to WotC. I look at the whole situation as if you bought the Lord of the Rings novels and expected the movies for free. It's the "same" content but in a different form and you need to pay for that difference.
I use Maptools with a projector for my home games, so DDB having high-res digital maps I can use to project onto my table is a huge selling point honestly. I love having the physical copies, I'm a bit of collector dating all the way back to 89, so I guess I'll just have to increase my gaming budget by 50% and get both. Luckily, my wife plays too, so I won't be sofa-sleeping for the decision.
I'm starting to lean, more and more, towards going fully DDB, it also "helps" that my friend had borrowed my physical books, had all the recently released ones, and then a hurricane turned them into lumps of sodden paper. :( Really, I'm just glad he is OK!
I really hope the IOS and Android apps are great, because I'm not enjoying the user experience on my iPad right now, it just feels clunky, which is understandable.
I'm starting to lean, more and more, towards going fully DDB, it also "helps" that my friend had borrowed my physical books, had all the recently released ones, and then a hurricane turned them into lumps of sodden paper. :( Really, I'm just glad he is OK!
I really hope the IOS and Android apps are great, because I'm not enjoying the user experience on my iPad right now, it just feels clunky, which is understandable.
I hadn't thought of that but I suppose it's a benefit of DDB that, unlike paper copies, your DDB copies cannot be lost, stolen or destroyed. If they do come out with a dedicated app at some point, I hope they preserve the best thing about the web app, which is the ability to have multiple tabs open, once for your character, one for the rules, one for the spell listing etc.
I'm starting to lean, more and more, towards going fully DDB, it also "helps" that my friend had borrowed my physical books, had all the recently released ones, and then a hurricane turned them into lumps of sodden paper. :( Really, I'm just glad he is OK!
I really hope the IOS and Android apps are great, because I'm not enjoying the user experience on my iPad right now, it just feels clunky, which is understandable.
First, having been through an insurance claim, they should fully cover the cost of the books. Not that that's the most important thing, but it's a thing.
Second, I absolutely agree with the web experience being a bit clunky on mobile (iOS, in my case). The compendium is great for just looking up one-off things, and the character sheet mostly works, despite the occasional UI glitch. I'm very glad to be using my laptop will running the game, though, because of the smoother multi-tab and "open in new tab" experience.
The mobile app UX could make or break DDB as a game-time tool, vs. prep tool. It's one of my biggest concerns, right now (not that Curse has done anything wrong, just an awareness of the potential for misstep). If I can't have tabs for multiple monsters or it has to fetch the tab data every time I switch tabs or click through a link, the mobile app would, frankly, suck. The same goes if I lose state on the (eventual) initiative tracker every time I look up a monster's stats or there's no easy way to click through to stats.
I think the biggest issue will be in the layout and I don't have any real suggestions, here. I hope Curse pulls it off and there's good indication that they can do it. I don''t expect the day-one release to be ideal, and I get why -- there's a level of UX testing that can only happen with large numbers for feedback because interfaces tend to make sense to the guy who built them (very guilty of this, myself).
At this point I plan to get only the DDB version of future books. Not sure what I will do with the books I already have. I might keep them.
I will definitely purchase physical books in addition to D&D Beyond content. I prefer having physical books for extended reading sessions. Also, physical books are more portable... I can take them to the soccer field or where ever more easily. I prefer D&D Beyond at the table, because it makes it quicker to look up most reference data.
I'm starting to lean, more and more, towards going fully DDB, it also "helps" that my friend had borrowed my physical books, had all the recently released ones, and then a hurricane turned them into lumps of sodden paper. :( Really, I'm just glad he is OK!
I really hope the IOS and Android apps are great, because I'm not enjoying the user experience on my iPad right now, it just feels clunky, which is understandable.
First, having been through an insurance claim, they should fully cover the cost of the books. Not that that's the most important thing, but it's a thing.
Second, I absolutely agree with the web experience being a bit clunky on mobile (iOS, in my case). The compendium is great for just looking up one-off things, and the character sheet mostly works, despite the occasional UI glitch. I'm very glad to be using my laptop will running the game, though, because of the smoother multi-tab and "open in new tab" experience.
The mobile app UX could make or break DDB as a game-time tool, vs. prep tool. It's one of my biggest concerns, right now (not that Curse has done anything wrong, just an awareness of the potential for misstep). If I can't have tabs for multiple monsters or it has to fetch the tab data every time I switch tabs or click through a link, the mobile app would, frankly, suck. The same goes if I lose state on the (eventual) initiative tracker every time I look up a monster's stats or there's no easy way to click through to stats.
I think the biggest issue will be in the layout and I don't have any real suggestions, here. I hope Curse pulls it off and there's good indication that they can do it. I don''t expect the day-one release to be ideal, and I get why -- there's a level of UX testing that can only happen with large numbers for feedback because interfaces tend to make sense to the guy who built them (very guilty of this, myself).
I'm not sure they will, they aren't my friend's possessions, so I don't think the insurance will cover them.
I've already purchased the PHB, MM, and DMG in physical form last year. I was a bit disappointed when I discovered I had to re-purchase them in digital form, but ultimately found it worth the expense to incorporate them into the character builder (and share them with my group via Master Tier). All future books I purchase will be in digital only. I still enjoy having the physical books, so it's not a total loss.
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It's unfortunate that third parties like Roll20 and Twitch all license the content separately. It would be nice if they could all reach some sort of group licensing deal with WotC so purchasing electronic access to the content on one platform would work for every platform in the group. But it hasn't turned out that way. That doesn't really matter for me as I prefer face to face play and don't have the content on Roll20 or FG but I could certainly understand not wanting to pay multiple times to access the same content on different platforms.
Personally, having used DDB for a while now, I really like the idea of being able to sit at the table with a bunch of DDB tabs open, one for my character, one to look up rules, one to look up spells etc. That would save both time and table space.
I'll echo what a few have said already: I will be buying them on DDB first, followed up slowly by the physical versions. I am a lover of books, and there's something really special about holding up a book, smelling the ink on the pages, and being able to not stare at a digital screen to read a story. However, I live my life online. Everything I do revolves around being on a device or computer, and I'm rarely seen away from a device. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A mix of both, for me. Some I already have obviously. I do like physical books, and for the campaigns I will probably only get the physical version with perhaps some micropurchases of content from them. But sourcebooks I'll likely get both.
That being said, the more I use DDB the more it's growing on me and I do like the idea of not lugging books around everywhere.
Content director for Nerdarchy.com
Lifelong gamer and writer
Today was a turning point for me. I picked up Tomb of Annihilation early this morning and read a bunch while on break. It was easy to do and I can read it anywhere (on the bus, my desk and our gaming shed). I also picked up Storm King's Thunder even though I already have the book and did my game prep for tonight's adventure in MUCH less time than normal. Additionally, this has brought the cost of the Legendary Bundle to a little over a hundred bucks. If I pick up a couple more books as they come out, I will end up getting the bundle instead of buying anymore books individually.
Same here, I planned on picking up a couple books a month up til the legendary bundle was around 100 bucks, than pick it up. Right now I am sitting at around 170 (I was at 150 but than Tomb came out), so hoping I have the whole collection on here in January, plus will also have the physical books. Plan on using the physical books when I DM at my house and using laptop for reference, but during the winter we may do a few games at Dennys and I may try the mobile app and DM off of it.
I use summon instrument to summon my kettle drum, hold it overhead like Donkey Kong, and chuck it at the nearest kobold.
Does anyone feel that purchasing the books should come with access to the online utilities that can be found in those books? Or at the very least a discount?
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
I know that some people feel that way but I do not. I think they are already heavily discounted (some are 50% cover price). The ability to share them with those in your campaign is wonderful. On top of that, when I stop running games, I could just stop my subscription and have more than enough character slots. I've already stopped purchasing books as I only peruse them when I first purchase them, then they become a tabletop reference. Instead, now I have all my books on my iPad as long as I am connected to the Internet, which is pretty much ubiquitous where I live.
I understand why people want a steeper discount but Curse/Twitch needs to pay for their servers, which is not cheap and also has to pay a license fee to WotC. I look at the whole situation as if you bought the Lord of the Rings novels and expected the movies for free. It's the "same" content but in a different form and you need to pay for that difference.
I use Maptools with a projector for my home games, so DDB having high-res digital maps I can use to project onto my table is a huge selling point honestly. I love having the physical copies, I'm a bit of collector dating all the way back to 89, so I guess I'll just have to increase my gaming budget by 50% and get both. Luckily, my wife plays too, so I won't be sofa-sleeping for the decision.
I'm starting to lean, more and more, towards going fully DDB, it also "helps" that my friend had borrowed my physical books, had all the recently released ones, and then a hurricane turned them into lumps of sodden paper. :( Really, I'm just glad he is OK!
I really hope the IOS and Android apps are great, because I'm not enjoying the user experience on my iPad right now, it just feels clunky, which is understandable.
ill need to decide if ill just buy the books or go beyond, its to expensive for me to get both
I've already purchased the PHB, MM, and DMG in physical form last year. I was a bit disappointed when I discovered I had to re-purchase them in digital form, but ultimately found it worth the expense to incorporate them into the character builder (and share them with my group via Master Tier). All future books I purchase will be in digital only. I still enjoy having the physical books, so it's not a total loss.