I developed a free chrome extensions that put an entire VTT inside the DnDBeyond.com website. After you install it it will look as if DDB has its own VTT, fully integrated. please take a look at this demo .
The code is still "alpha" but you can already download it from the chrome store and test it. I'm looking for feedback on it.
As an option why couldn’t DnD Beyond partner with a VTT like Foundry to create a direct link with the DnD Beyond app. There are already work arounds to do just this. Just not elegant ones. DnD Beyond could then market this to their monthly/yearly subscription payers for added benefit. I believe by doing just this they could bring more people into their paid services. At this time it’s quite easy to just have one player in the group with a paid subscription share the content to the group he/she has created.
Instead if each individual had to have a paid account to link their DnD Beyond character to the VTT they could increase their subscription base.
How I envision playing would be to have the players on an iPad roll initiative/select the attack/make damage roll all from the ease of said ipad/tablet. While having a VTT setup on a TV in the center of the gaming table as the map that the DM could control from a laptop or separate computer.
I don't think you'll ever see a supported third party VTT integration.
Foundry VTT has his own data model.. so the current process is that you "export" data from DDB and put it into foundry. I think that once an user is able to export all data in Foundry VTT, there's no way to prevent him to share that data with other users... and I personally think that's why you won't ever see that kind of integration.
That's why I took a different approach with AboveVTT. I basically push a VTT inside DnDBeyond instead of extracting data from it :)
I wonder if the license DDB has with WOTC would actually allow them to develop a VTT anyway. It is outside the immediate remit of digital rules and character generation.
Really, a $15 dollar dice roller when the VTT isn't even visible in the pipeline? Why?
Finish the table top so all of us web dms can stop paying for like 3 different subs each month.
Beyond was originally envisioned to be a supplement for real-life table-top play to only replace pen and paper character sheets. It was not intended to be a VTT to completely replace real-life table-top play.
While having a VTT would be nice, I much rather have Beyond focus on their core strengths first, which are their searchable database of monsters and items, compendium app, and most importantly their flagship character creation/character sheet. I want them to focus on making real life table top experience better first and foremost, even if I cannot play D&D in real life with my friends right now. The pandemic is a temporary thing and will come to pass. VTT can come later after they have more or less perfected their character sheets. While their characters sheets are great, there are still many things to improve upon and iron out.
I am not a huge fan of the dice roller since it lags my old computer a bit and I already got my own dice that I can roll in real life, but the dice roller is absolutely free. $15 is only for cosmetics, and while it is a little steep, cosmetics are totally optional and have no impact on actual play, so high cosmetic prices are not really an issue in my opinion. Developers have to eat and got bills to pay just like the rest of us. I rather have Beyond charge a high price on cosmetics than to charge a high price on books.
Yeah that doesn't really register. I don't need digital tools nor do I want ipads and computers at the table when I'm playing a live session so having digital stuff for my table games is kind of useless to me. On the digital side when I do play online and want the content digitally, I want a all in one digital solution aka a VTT with everything in it.
As it stands I don't really see the point of DnD Beyond, it tries to solve problems I don't have and its really expensive. I don't understand why anyone would pay for a character creator or a bloody digital dice roller for playing at the table. Does anyone seriously use digital dice instead of real dice at the table?
Plus I don't get buying digital books over real books, that is one of the strangest things to me. The books have a intangible quality, I don't use or even allow digital anything at the table because its about the most distracting and destructive things I can think of to have at the table, I think I rather people watch tv while we play over screwing about on their phones.
It hysterical to see you using this site to constantly talk about how you dislike 5e and how you don't need/use DDB.
DDB serves a purposed for many a people - guess who wouldn't be able to play D&D because he constantly travels for work and can't sit down at a table with his friends who live 5 states away - this guy. DDB has helped me introduce 5 brand new people to the hobby because it quickly and easily walked them through everything and they could play around with my "books" without me being in the room to hand them over.
I wonder if the license DDB has with WOTC would actually allow them to develop a VTT anyway. It is outside the immediate remit of digital rules and character generation.
I mean we don't know the license but I highly doubt it is so restrictive if they can indeed put a roller on monster stat blocks like will be coming out this year.
Really, a $15 dollar dice roller when the VTT isn't even visible in the pipeline? Why?
Finish the table top so all of us web dms can stop paying for like 3 different subs each month.
Beyond was originally envisioned to be a supplement for real-life table-top play to only replace pen and paper character sheets. It was not intended to be a VTT to completely replace real-life table-top play.
While having a VTT would be nice, I much rather have Beyond focus on their core strengths first, which are their searchable database of monsters and items, compendium app, and most importantly their flagship character creation/character sheet. I want them to focus on making real life table top experience better first and foremost, even if I cannot play D&D in real life with my friends right now. The pandemic is a temporary thing and will come to pass. VTT can come later after they have more or less perfected their character sheets. While their characters sheets are great, there are still many things to improve upon and iron out.
I am not a huge fan of the dice roller since it lags my old computer a bit and I already got my own dice that I can roll in real life, but the dice roller is absolutely free. $15 is only for cosmetics, and while it is a little steep, cosmetics are totally optional and have no impact on actual play, so high cosmetic prices are not really an issue in my opinion. Developers have to eat and got bills to pay just like the rest of us. I rather have Beyond charge a high price on cosmetics than to charge a high price on books.
Yeah that doesn't really register. I don't need digital tools nor do I want ipads and computers at the table when I'm playing a live session so having digital stuff for my table games is kind of useless to me. On the digital side when I do play online and want the content digitally, I want a all in one digital solution aka a VTT with everything in it.
As it stands I don't really see the point of DnD Beyond, it tries to solve problems I don't have and its really expensive. I don't understand why anyone would pay for a character creator or a bloody digital dice roller for playing at the table. Does anyone seriously use digital dice instead of real dice at the table?
Plus I don't get buying digital books over real books, that is one of the strangest things to me. The books have a intangible quality, I don't use or even allow digital anything at the table because its about the most distracting and destructive things I can think of to have at the table, I think I rather people watch tv while we play over screwing about on their phones.
Well I use it at the Table while I play the game I roll real dice, but due to having suffered a stroke that has left me disabled with half of my body being weak and lack of feeling/touch I cannot carry my books everywhere. When I am playing I have my chromebook opened to the character I am playing and I am paying attention to the DM. The only time I have ever seen electronics take focus away from the DM and the game being played was when the DM was boring and running a lame adventure, so if your not a boring DM or run lame adventures why would you have issue with anyone using a device with DDB on it?
Really, a $15 dollar dice roller when the VTT isn't even visible in the pipeline? Why?
Finish the table top so all of us web dms can stop paying for like 3 different subs each month.
Beyond was originally envisioned to be a supplement for real-life table-top play to only replace pen and paper character sheets. It was not intended to be a VTT to completely replace real-life table-top play.
While having a VTT would be nice, I much rather have Beyond focus on their core strengths first, which are their searchable database of monsters and items, compendium app, and most importantly their flagship character creation/character sheet. I want them to focus on making real life table top experience better first and foremost, even if I cannot play D&D in real life with my friends right now. The pandemic is a temporary thing and will come to pass. VTT can come later after they have more or less perfected their character sheets. While their characters sheets are great, there are still many things to improve upon and iron out.
I am not a huge fan of the dice roller since it lags my old computer a bit and I already got my own dice that I can roll in real life, but the dice roller is absolutely free. $15 is only for cosmetics, and while it is a little steep, cosmetics are totally optional and have no impact on actual play, so high cosmetic prices are not really an issue in my opinion. Developers have to eat and got bills to pay just like the rest of us. I rather have Beyond charge a high price on cosmetics than to charge a high price on books.
Yeah that doesn't really register. I don't need digital tools nor do I want ipads and computers at the table when I'm playing a live session so having digital stuff for my table games is kind of useless to me. On the digital side when I do play online and want the content digitally, I want a all in one digital solution aka a VTT with everything in it.
As it stands I don't really see the point of DnD Beyond, it tries to solve problems I don't have and its really expensive. I don't understand why anyone would pay for a character creator or a bloody digital dice roller for playing at the table. Does anyone seriously use digital dice instead of real dice at the table?
Plus I don't get buying digital books over real books, that is one of the strangest things to me. The books have a intangible quality, I don't use or even allow digital anything at the table because its about the most distracting and destructive things I can think of to have at the table, I think I rather people watch tv while we play over screwing about on their phones.
I find smartphones to be indispensable at the table. Being able to quickly look up monsters on my phone makes things so much easier than flipping through books. I also do not have to teach my players how to build characters since the character builder pretty much guides them through the whole process, and keeping track of progression via Beyond's character sheet is a lot easier than using pen and paper. With databases and character sheets in the palm of our hands, it frees up a ton of real estate on the table, allowing us to use bigger battle mats. We can also forgo using a table entirely if we choose to use theater of the mind, so we play literally anywhere (we played in my car once) since everything is in our hands and there are no books, papers, pencils, erasers, dice, etc. to juggle around.
Beyond might not solve your problems, but it does solve my problems. While I do want to see Beyond build a VTT eventually, it is not something I want them to prioritize at the expense of improving their character sheet, and their character sheet can still use a lot of work in terms of stuff like Epic Boons, spell points, and other optional rules. VTT just is not something I care enough about since I prefer to play D&D in real life using mats and minis, and if my friends and I are interacting online, we rather do something else other than D&D. For my group, if Beyond has a VTT, the only major positive change that I can think of is that I do not have to lug around my mats and minis anymore and we can play grid D&D literally anywhere; it is definitely a nice quality of life feature, but I just do not see myself taking advantage of it much since moving around minis and rolling physical dice is part of what makes D&D come alive for me.
I do not use Beyond's dice for D&D, as it slows down my computer, and while my phone can handle it, I prefer Google's dice since it gives me results more immediately. I also use physical dice. Google dice and physical dice are my main ways to roll dice. I think roll physical dice more, but I use Google's dice for rolls where discretion is important. As for Beyond's dice, I have only used it on my phone a few times when I play card games and board games where rolling dice is less frequent, so I do not mind waiting an extra second or so for the results to come out.
I do not find distractions to be a big deal. Everyone is an adult, and as long as everyone still knows what is going on by the time their turn comes around, I do not care if they are watching YouTube videos or browsing supermodels on Instagram. For my group at least, there is also a lot of communication going on between players during turns ("I go this way, you go that way, then we flank this dude.", "Do you want me to cast Bless on you now?", "Heal me quickly!", etc.) so there is strong pull from the game to keep everyone interested even if it is not their turn.
I wonder if the license DDB has with WOTC would actually allow them to develop a VTT anyway. It is outside the immediate remit of digital rules and character generation.
I mean we don't know the license but I highly doubt it is so restrictive if they can indeed put a roller on monster stat blocks like will be coming out this year.
They've talked about going in a VTT direction, though that stalls. I do imagine they can't just partner with an outside VTT on account of the license (since that would be exporting their licensed content to another entity. If they bought something outright that became a wholly owned subsidiary, sure; but most VTTs aren't going to sell themselves to then become dedicated to one game system.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Well I use it at the Table while I play the game I roll real dice, but due to having suffered a stroke that has left me disabled with half of my body being weak and lack of feeling/touch I cannot carry my books everywhere. When I am playing I have my chromebook opened to the character I am playing and I am paying attention to the DM. The only time I have ever seen electronics take focus away from the DM and the game being played was when the DM was boring and running a lame adventure, so if your not a boring DM or run lame adventures why would you have issue with anyone using a device with DDB on it?
This is precisely why I started to use DDB if I'm honest. I'm visually impaired and need to use a magnifier to read a book....which makes me really self conscious (people can be *****). On a tablet I can pinch zoom and make things as big as I want. Problem solved. VTT takes things a step further for me and allows me to plan EVERYTHING in advance.
I don't think you'll ever see a supported third party VTT integration.
Foundry VTT has his own data model.. so the current process is that you "export" data from DDB and put it into foundry. I think that once an user is able to export all data in Foundry VTT, there's no way to prevent him to share that data with other users... and I personally think that's why you won't ever see that kind of integration.
That's why I took a different approach with AboveVTT. I basically push a VTT inside DnDBeyond instead of extracting data from it :)
Are you sure Foundry enforces you to use data models they defined?
I thought the game systems (which are basically mods?), define the data models using the compendiums as data bases. I also thought the structure of those data bases can be defined by your self or any mod, because there are mods that seem to store spells (for example) in a different way than the game system itself (for example: with additional data to create auras).
I mean... foundry seems to be very flexible and customizable.. but if I understand correctly (and I may be wrong9.. if you want to have DDB data into foundry you have to EXPORT form DDB and IMPORT into foundry. You cannot have real time integration.
Did you take a look at Above VTT ? That's a completely different thing. It's not customizable.. but it provides an integrated experience with DDB. You start your game by going the DDB campaign page. You can immediately use any DDB map you have, add tokens for any monsters you own (or just SRD) and players use their DDB sheet. And that is possible because it doesn't exists outside of DDB.
It hysterical to see you using this site to constantly talk about how you dislike 5e and how you don't need/use DDB.
DDB serves a purposed for many a people - guess who wouldn't be able to play D&D because he constantly travels for work and can't sit down at a table with his friends who live 5 states away - this guy. DDB has helped me introduce 5 brand new people to the hobby because it quickly and easily walked them through everything and they could play around with my "books" without me being in the room to hand them over.
For better or for worse, D&D Beyond forums is the center of the D&D community, it shifted here after Wizards shut down their official forum. I don't see the community here as being a "DND Beyond" or "5e Community", this is the home of the D&D community. There are of course others, but if you want to hold discussion with contemporary & current D&D players, this is the place to be and so this is where I am.
I would argue that I don't dislike 5e or DnD Beyond, I would simply point out that 5e has enough issues that I don't have a player base for it and I wasn't arguing that there was no use for DnD Beyond, I was pointing out that I (ME) have no use for it.
Really? These forums seem to be 90% the same 10 posters rehashing the same arguments over and over in every post.
I developed a free chrome extensions that put an entire VTT inside the DnDBeyond.com website. After you install it it will look as if DDB has its own VTT, fully integrated. please take a look at this demo .
The code is still "alpha" but you can already download it from the chrome store and test it. I'm looking for feedback on it.
Where is this 'hosted'? Does the DM host the game and everyone else connects to the DM like Foundry?
It hysterical to see you using this site to constantly talk about how you dislike 5e and how you don't need/use DDB.
DDB serves a purposed for many a people - guess who wouldn't be able to play D&D because he constantly travels for work and can't sit down at a table with his friends who live 5 states away - this guy. DDB has helped me introduce 5 brand new people to the hobby because it quickly and easily walked them through everything and they could play around with my "books" without me being in the room to hand them over.
For better or for worse, D&D Beyond forums is the center of the D&D community, it shifted here after Wizards shut down their official forum. I don't see the community here as being a "DND Beyond" or "5e Community", this is the home of the D&D community. There are of course others, but if you want to hold discussion with contemporary & current D&D players, this is the place to be and so this is where I am.
I would argue that I don't dislike 5e or DnD Beyond, I would simply point out that 5e has enough issues that I don't have a player base for it and I wasn't arguing that there was no use for DnD Beyond, I was pointing out that I (ME) have no use for it.
Really? These forums seem to be 90% the same 10 posters rehashing the same arguments over and over in every post.
Reddit has a much more active D&D community.
Huh I never quite realized it but yeah all the threads do seem to be mostly the same folks...
I know I likely argue more than I need to on these forums but I do appreciate people's thoughts on things for the most part....if you actually want to have an open mind about it.
As for the VTT I think that the ship sailed when they had to do the sheet overhaul over a year ago...it put them so far behind development on the VTT that it would be likely a bad idea to try to jump in now. I honestly think WotC should approach Foundry, Astral, or another VTT and just look at buying one if they really want to go down that route....they could likely integrate that much easier than attempting to from scratch....and its mostly from scratch at this point.
It hysterical to see you using this site to constantly talk about how you dislike 5e and how you don't need/use DDB.
DDB serves a purposed for many a people - guess who wouldn't be able to play D&D because he constantly travels for work and can't sit down at a table with his friends who live 5 states away - this guy. DDB has helped me introduce 5 brand new people to the hobby because it quickly and easily walked them through everything and they could play around with my "books" without me being in the room to hand them over.
For better or for worse, D&D Beyond forums is the center of the D&D community, it shifted here after Wizards shut down their official forum. I don't see the community here as being a "DND Beyond" or "5e Community", this is the home of the D&D community. There are of course others, but if you want to hold discussion with contemporary & current D&D players, this is the place to be and so this is where I am.
I would argue that I don't dislike 5e or DnD Beyond, I would simply point out that 5e has enough issues that I don't have a player base for it and I wasn't arguing that there was no use for DnD Beyond, I was pointing out that I (ME) have no use for it.
Really? These forums seem to be 90% the same 10 posters rehashing the same arguments over and over in every post.
Reddit has a much more active D&D community.
Huh I never quite realized it but yeah all the threads do seem to be mostly the same folks...
I know I likely argue more than I need to on these forums but I do appreciate people's thoughts on things for the most part....if you actually want to have an open mind about it.
As for the VTT I think that the ship sailed when they had to do the sheet overhaul over a year ago...it put them so far behind development on the VTT that it would be likely a bad idea to try to jump in now. I honestly think WotC should approach Foundry, Astral, or another VTT and just look at buying one if they really want to go down that route....they could likely integrate that much easier than attempting to from scratch....and its mostly from scratch at this point.
Look at Cyrantir's post that I quoted above, he's done a lot of work on a DDB specific VTT chrome extension.
It hysterical to see you using this site to constantly talk about how you dislike 5e and how you don't need/use DDB.
DDB serves a purposed for many a people - guess who wouldn't be able to play D&D because he constantly travels for work and can't sit down at a table with his friends who live 5 states away - this guy. DDB has helped me introduce 5 brand new people to the hobby because it quickly and easily walked them through everything and they could play around with my "books" without me being in the room to hand them over.
For better or for worse, D&D Beyond forums is the center of the D&D community, it shifted here after Wizards shut down their official forum. I don't see the community here as being a "DND Beyond" or "5e Community", this is the home of the D&D community. There are of course others, but if you want to hold discussion with contemporary & current D&D players, this is the place to be and so this is where I am.
I would argue that I don't dislike 5e or DnD Beyond, I would simply point out that 5e has enough issues that I don't have a player base for it and I wasn't arguing that there was no use for DnD Beyond, I was pointing out that I (ME) have no use for it.
Really? These forums seem to be 90% the same 10 posters rehashing the same arguments over and over in every post.
Reddit has a much more active D&D community.
Huh I never quite realized it but yeah all the threads do seem to be mostly the same folks...
I know I likely argue more than I need to on these forums but I do appreciate people's thoughts on things for the most part....if you actually want to have an open mind about it.
As for the VTT I think that the ship sailed when they had to do the sheet overhaul over a year ago...it put them so far behind development on the VTT that it would be likely a bad idea to try to jump in now. I honestly think WotC should approach Foundry, Astral, or another VTT and just look at buying one if they really want to go down that route....they could likely integrate that much easier than attempting to from scratch....and its mostly from scratch at this point.
Look at Cyrantir's post that I quoted above, he's done a lot of work on a DDB specific VTT chrome extension.
Yeah this might be their best bet to move forward with honestly....it reminds me of Avrae. That bot was immensely helpful on discord chats and larger servers.
Instead of trying to make their own they just hired the developer.
It hysterical to see you using this site to constantly talk about how you dislike 5e and how you don't need/use DDB.
DDB serves a purposed for many a people - guess who wouldn't be able to play D&D because he constantly travels for work and can't sit down at a table with his friends who live 5 states away - this guy. DDB has helped me introduce 5 brand new people to the hobby because it quickly and easily walked them through everything and they could play around with my "books" without me being in the room to hand them over.
For better or for worse, D&D Beyond forums is the center of the D&D community, it shifted here after Wizards shut down their official forum. I don't see the community here as being a "DND Beyond" or "5e Community", this is the home of the D&D community. There are of course others, but if you want to hold discussion with contemporary & current D&D players, this is the place to be and so this is where I am.
That's just not true. If I wasn't a DDB user, I wouldn't be here. I come here because my campaign's characters are all based here and a good chunk of my library is here too. If I didn't use DDB, there are many many sites and forums to discuss 5e. I really don't understand why the people who AD&D, OSR etc don't avail themselves of the large communities out there supporting those modes of D&D instead of this space which is clearly designed to support the present edition. It's like we're a Windows Users group and a bunch of Linnux people want in on the bandwidth. Or it's a forum dedicated to the Chevy Bolt with half a dozen people really into Biodiesel popping up with threads telling us we're doing it wrong. I guess that's the thing, while maybe not intended the "well actually I play a different system" always becomes antagonistic and as someone who respects multiple systems I find myself scratching my head really wanting to have a "Sir, this is a Wendy's" moment when things get really heated by the proponents of other game editions or systems. Sure 5e is "centered" in the hobby because of market share, and DDB does a great service to that "center" but there are plenty of people actually producing a mix of professional and hobbyist content in the OSR and AD&D and retro-gaming zones that have never been present here and likely never will. Reddit alone does a much finer, and I'd much larger volume work in entertaining spaces for the various systems.
The impact or weight of this forum just isn't what I think you think it is. Discussion on Reddit or ENWorld sometimes wind up in the trade publications. That just doesn't happen here.
And this thread was started / is supposed to be about DDB finishing an in house VTT. By the nature of the DDB, in that 5e is integral to its function, why is this thread talking about non 5e systems? There are system agnostic VTT's. DDB won't be developing one, nor do I see I system agnostic VTT developer getting acquired by DDB. So why is this thread getting derailed by folks who aren't even playing the ruleset that's actually under discussion?
I am curious what if any DDB data there is on user use of the system, if they have a way of determining what percentage of players use VTTs and which don't and how much that plays into whether an in house VTT is a priority as opposed to say developing or unlocking a homebrew CFV system (which begs the question on homebrew usage). I don't know if that's data DDB has or is comfortable sharing but since it's basically a portrait of the community and people like to be reflective in general (somewhere on the spectrum of meditation and narcissism) I think users would be interested.
I developed a free chrome extensions that put an entire VTT inside the DnDBeyond.com website. After you install it it will look as if DDB has its own VTT, fully integrated. please take a look at this demo .
The code is still "alpha" but you can already download it from the chrome store and test it. I'm looking for feedback on it.
Hi guys,
I developed a free chrome extensions that put an entire VTT inside the DnDBeyond.com website. After you install it it will look as if DDB has its own VTT,
fully integrated. please take a look at this demo .
The code is still "alpha" but you can already download it from the chrome store and test it.
I'm looking for feedback on it.
As an option why couldn’t DnD Beyond partner with a VTT like Foundry to create a direct link with the DnD Beyond app. There are already work arounds to do just this. Just not elegant ones. DnD Beyond could then market this to their monthly/yearly subscription payers for added benefit. I believe by doing just this they could bring more people into their paid services. At this time it’s quite easy to just have one player in the group with a paid subscription share the content to the group he/she has created.
Instead if each individual had to have a paid account to link their DnD Beyond character to the VTT they could increase their subscription base.
How I envision playing would be to have the players on an iPad roll initiative/select the attack/make damage roll all from the ease of said ipad/tablet. While having a VTT setup on a TV in the center of the gaming table as the map that the DM could control from a laptop or separate computer.
I don't think you'll ever see a supported third party VTT integration.
Foundry VTT has his own data model.. so the current process is that you "export" data from DDB and put it into foundry. I think that once an user is able to export all data in Foundry VTT, there's no way to prevent him to share that data with other users... and I personally think that's why you won't ever see that kind of integration.
That's why I took a different approach with AboveVTT. I basically push a VTT inside DnDBeyond instead of extracting data from it :)
I wonder if the license DDB has with WOTC would actually allow them to develop a VTT anyway. It is outside the immediate remit of digital rules and character generation.
It hysterical to see you using this site to constantly talk about how you dislike 5e and how you don't need/use DDB.
DDB serves a purposed for many a people - guess who wouldn't be able to play D&D because he constantly travels for work and can't sit down at a table with his friends who live 5 states away - this guy. DDB has helped me introduce 5 brand new people to the hobby because it quickly and easily walked them through everything and they could play around with my "books" without me being in the room to hand them over.
I mean we don't know the license but I highly doubt it is so restrictive if they can indeed put a roller on monster stat blocks like will be coming out this year.
Well I use it at the Table while I play the game I roll real dice, but due to having suffered a stroke that has left me disabled with half of my body being weak and lack of feeling/touch I cannot carry my books everywhere. When I am playing I have my chromebook opened to the character I am playing and I am paying attention to the DM. The only time I have ever seen electronics take focus away from the DM and the game being played was when the DM was boring and running a lame adventure, so if your not a boring DM or run lame adventures why would you have issue with anyone using a device with DDB on it?
I find smartphones to be indispensable at the table. Being able to quickly look up monsters on my phone makes things so much easier than flipping through books. I also do not have to teach my players how to build characters since the character builder pretty much guides them through the whole process, and keeping track of progression via Beyond's character sheet is a lot easier than using pen and paper. With databases and character sheets in the palm of our hands, it frees up a ton of real estate on the table, allowing us to use bigger battle mats. We can also forgo using a table entirely if we choose to use theater of the mind, so we play literally anywhere (we played in my car once) since everything is in our hands and there are no books, papers, pencils, erasers, dice, etc. to juggle around.
Beyond might not solve your problems, but it does solve my problems. While I do want to see Beyond build a VTT eventually, it is not something I want them to prioritize at the expense of improving their character sheet, and their character sheet can still use a lot of work in terms of stuff like Epic Boons, spell points, and other optional rules. VTT just is not something I care enough about since I prefer to play D&D in real life using mats and minis, and if my friends and I are interacting online, we rather do something else other than D&D. For my group, if Beyond has a VTT, the only major positive change that I can think of is that I do not have to lug around my mats and minis anymore and we can play grid D&D literally anywhere; it is definitely a nice quality of life feature, but I just do not see myself taking advantage of it much since moving around minis and rolling physical dice is part of what makes D&D come alive for me.
I do not use Beyond's dice for D&D, as it slows down my computer, and while my phone can handle it, I prefer Google's dice since it gives me results more immediately. I also use physical dice. Google dice and physical dice are my main ways to roll dice. I think roll physical dice more, but I use Google's dice for rolls where discretion is important. As for Beyond's dice, I have only used it on my phone a few times when I play card games and board games where rolling dice is less frequent, so I do not mind waiting an extra second or so for the results to come out.
I do not find distractions to be a big deal. Everyone is an adult, and as long as everyone still knows what is going on by the time their turn comes around, I do not care if they are watching YouTube videos or browsing supermodels on Instagram. For my group at least, there is also a lot of communication going on between players during turns ("I go this way, you go that way, then we flank this dude.", "Do you want me to cast Bless on you now?", "Heal me quickly!", etc.) so there is strong pull from the game to keep everyone interested even if it is not their turn.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
They've talked about going in a VTT direction, though that stalls. I do imagine they can't just partner with an outside VTT on account of the license (since that would be exporting their licensed content to another entity. If they bought something outright that became a wholly owned subsidiary, sure; but most VTTs aren't going to sell themselves to then become dedicated to one game system.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
This is precisely why I started to use DDB if I'm honest. I'm visually impaired and need to use a magnifier to read a book....which makes me really self conscious (people can be *****). On a tablet I can pinch zoom and make things as big as I want. Problem solved. VTT takes things a step further for me and allows me to plan EVERYTHING in advance.
Are you sure Foundry enforces you to use data models they defined?
I thought the game systems (which are basically mods?), define the data models using the compendiums as data bases. I also thought the structure of those data bases can be defined by your self or any mod, because there are mods that seem to store spells (for example) in a different way than the game system itself (for example: with additional data to create auras).
Am i wrong with my thoughts?
I mean... foundry seems to be very flexible and customizable.. but if I understand correctly (and I may be wrong9.. if you want to have DDB data into foundry you have to EXPORT form DDB and IMPORT into foundry. You cannot have real time integration.
Did you take a look at Above VTT ? That's a completely different thing. It's not customizable.. but it provides an integrated experience with DDB.
You start your game by going the DDB campaign page. You can immediately use any DDB map you have, add tokens for any monsters you own (or just SRD) and players use their DDB sheet. And that is possible because it doesn't exists outside of DDB.
Really? These forums seem to be 90% the same 10 posters rehashing the same arguments over and over in every post.
Reddit has a much more active D&D community.
Where is this 'hosted'? Does the DM host the game and everyone else connects to the DM like Foundry?
Huh I never quite realized it but yeah all the threads do seem to be mostly the same folks...
I know I likely argue more than I need to on these forums but I do appreciate people's thoughts on things for the most part....if you actually want to have an open mind about it.
As for the VTT I think that the ship sailed when they had to do the sheet overhaul over a year ago...it put them so far behind development on the VTT that it would be likely a bad idea to try to jump in now. I honestly think WotC should approach Foundry, Astral, or another VTT and just look at buying one if they really want to go down that route....they could likely integrate that much easier than attempting to from scratch....and its mostly from scratch at this point.
Look at Cyrantir's post that I quoted above, he's done a lot of work on a DDB specific VTT chrome extension.
Yeah this might be their best bet to move forward with honestly....it reminds me of Avrae. That bot was immensely helpful on discord chats and larger servers.
Instead of trying to make their own they just hired the developer.
That's just not true. If I wasn't a DDB user, I wouldn't be here. I come here because my campaign's characters are all based here and a good chunk of my library is here too. If I didn't use DDB, there are many many sites and forums to discuss 5e. I really don't understand why the people who AD&D, OSR etc don't avail themselves of the large communities out there supporting those modes of D&D instead of this space which is clearly designed to support the present edition. It's like we're a Windows Users group and a bunch of Linnux people want in on the bandwidth. Or it's a forum dedicated to the Chevy Bolt with half a dozen people really into Biodiesel popping up with threads telling us we're doing it wrong. I guess that's the thing, while maybe not intended the "well actually I play a different system" always becomes antagonistic and as someone who respects multiple systems I find myself scratching my head really wanting to have a "Sir, this is a Wendy's" moment when things get really heated by the proponents of other game editions or systems. Sure 5e is "centered" in the hobby because of market share, and DDB does a great service to that "center" but there are plenty of people actually producing a mix of professional and hobbyist content in the OSR and AD&D and retro-gaming zones that have never been present here and likely never will. Reddit alone does a much finer, and I'd much larger volume work in entertaining spaces for the various systems.
The impact or weight of this forum just isn't what I think you think it is. Discussion on Reddit or ENWorld sometimes wind up in the trade publications. That just doesn't happen here.
And this thread was started / is supposed to be about DDB finishing an in house VTT. By the nature of the DDB, in that 5e is integral to its function, why is this thread talking about non 5e systems? There are system agnostic VTT's. DDB won't be developing one, nor do I see I system agnostic VTT developer getting acquired by DDB. So why is this thread getting derailed by folks who aren't even playing the ruleset that's actually under discussion?
I am curious what if any DDB data there is on user use of the system, if they have a way of determining what percentage of players use VTTs and which don't and how much that plays into whether an in house VTT is a priority as opposed to say developing or unlocking a homebrew CFV system (which begs the question on homebrew usage). I don't know if that's data DDB has or is comfortable sharing but since it's basically a portrait of the community and people like to be reflective in general (somewhere on the spectrum of meditation and narcissism) I think users would be interested.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
This is incredible! Wow!
Well.. this is the kind of reaction I hope to get from all the people that want a VTT inside DDB.
Also.. that demo is really outdated.. now it has more features and looks nicer :)
There are people who are already playing with this.