So, I purchased several adventures through the marketplace, like "Curse of Strahd". but now that I'm holding a game session soon, I'm having trouble figuring out how to access the game. Since there are encounters and NPCs that accompany the players, I thought that official content could be accessible with the same system as the homebrew campaigns/ encounters; however, I'm not finding that option. I would use a VTT, but I don't exactly want to purchase the campaign all over again to do so, since I own it here. I tried searching for a solution, but I seem to have just run into walls over and over. There doesn't seem to be any solution like importing a code or something that I can see to use it on a VTT without having to buy the same book again.
Does anyone have a suggestion? I could just do paper and pencil, but I would prefer the nice orderly structure of that virtual supplies. Thank you.
You purchased the adventures here. You didn’t purchase them on Roll20, FantasyGrounds, or any actual VTT. Beyond is a great system and you can absolutely make it work with various Google tools (put the map on a Google Image and make little player tokens to move around, project this image in your Google Hangout, etc.). There are some apps that create some connection between Beyond and Roll20 in terms of character sheets (I think it’s called Beyond20, but I don’t use it so I’m not sure), but they don’t import adventure/dm material. If you want the bells and whistles of the VTT, you have to buy the adventure there or do the work yourself.
They haven’t added any pre-generated encounters like those from the Adventures to the system yet. For now we all still have to recreate them ourselves manually on the Encounter Builder. Truth be told, both the Encounter Builder and the Combat Tracker are still only in Beta testing, and they haven’t finished adding all the things to them yet. They were probably hoping to develop those further by now but Tasha’s Cauldron basically sucked up an entire year of development time from them. And fixing the stuff that doesn’t work correctly on the character sheets is a more pressing priority since that’s their big selling point and the other stuff is more of an additional incentive for DMs.
-I prep potential upcoming encounters in the builder; yes, it would be nice if they were included, and the plan is to do so eventually, but it doesn't really make sense to do so until the builder and combat tracker are finished, as the fields used in both could change before all is said and done.
-I would download the relevant maps and then upload them to the VTT I was using. I just started using a VTT (in my case owlbear.rodeo) and am not currently using an official adventure, so I haven't actually done with with maps from a published adventure, but I have done so with other maps and it works quite well.
-I use the compendium and the tools for easy access to spells, monsters, areas, etc.
Note that there is a Chrome extension called Beyond20 that connects DDB with several VTTS (not owlbear, though). It is a written by a member of the community, and not officially supported, but I've heard it works pretty well.
You don't 'buy book again' (even thought that's not technically correct lol) on Shard. You can create your own content in it (even from another source) quite easily though!
D&D Beyond is owned by Fandom, and Fandom has a policy that content originating from D&D Beyond is not to be exported or used with other "toolkits".
From the Terms of Sale:
(d) that digital goods made available by Fandom on D&D Beyond are only usable in conjunction with the D&D Beyond toolkits, and are not designed to be exported or used with other toolkits or systems,
I'm not a lawyer, but the above sounds like they're saying their content is designed to be used by D&D Beyond and they have no intention of making it work anywhere else.
From the Terms of Use:
Except as expressly permitted by the Company (for example with respect to the use of text content that is submitted to particular Fandom communities as permitted as set forth at our licensing page), you may not modify, publish, transmit, reproduce, scrape, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, adapt, aggregate, sell, transfer or in any way exploit any of the content, in whole or in part,
That part is pretty clear. You can only use your content on D&D Beyond in the way that it is served to you (a webpage from their website displayed on a screen). Your character sheets can be exported to a .pdf, for use at a gaming table, but any other kind of use that is not served by the D&D Beyond Website without any modification is a violation of the ToS.
What I do adventures that are in dndbeyond. I just copy maps to Roll20, add monsters (and their hp:s to token) and use roll20 init tracker and hps in encounters. Then just use adventure from dndbeyond and open moster tabs in separate browser tab as story progress (Dndbeyond, monsters stats and roll20 all are in separate browser tabs). Im using beyond20 so all rolls from monsters are directly transferred to roll20. Now this works wonderfully when there are not tons of maps, but example Dungeon of Mad Mage would be nightmare (you have to basically redo whole campaing to roll20 and there are lot of maps).
Create your encounter in Encounter Builder. Then you will have all your creatures in one webpage, like a DM screen. Just click on a creature to display the monster block for that creature in that webpage/tab. Much simpler than having 5 tabs open for 5 different creatures.
So, I purchased several adventures through the marketplace, like "Curse of Strahd". but now that I'm holding a game session soon, I'm having trouble figuring out how to access the game. Since there are encounters and NPCs that accompany the players, I thought that official content could be accessible with the same system as the homebrew campaigns/ encounters; however, I'm not finding that option. I would use a VTT, but I don't exactly want to purchase the campaign all over again to do so, since I own it here. I tried searching for a solution, but I seem to have just run into walls over and over. There doesn't seem to be any solution like importing a code or something that I can see to use it on a VTT without having to buy the same book again.
Does anyone have a suggestion? I could just do paper and pencil, but I would prefer the nice orderly structure of that virtual supplies. Thank you.
You purchased the adventures here. You didn’t purchase them on Roll20, FantasyGrounds, or any actual VTT. Beyond is a great system and you can absolutely make it work with various Google tools (put the map on a Google Image and make little player tokens to move around, project this image in your Google Hangout, etc.). There are some apps that create some connection between Beyond and Roll20 in terms of character sheets (I think it’s called Beyond20, but I don’t use it so I’m not sure), but they don’t import adventure/dm material. If you want the bells and whistles of the VTT, you have to buy the adventure there or do the work yourself.
They haven’t added any pre-generated encounters like those from the Adventures to the system yet. For now we all still have to recreate them ourselves manually on the Encounter Builder. Truth be told, both the Encounter Builder and the Combat Tracker are still only in Beta testing, and they haven’t finished adding all the things to them yet. They were probably hoping to develop those further by now but Tasha’s Cauldron basically sucked up an entire year of development time from them. And fixing the stuff that doesn’t work correctly on the character sheets is a more pressing priority since that’s their big selling point and the other stuff is more of an additional incentive for DMs.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I can tell you what I do:
-I prep potential upcoming encounters in the builder; yes, it would be nice if they were included, and the plan is to do so eventually, but it doesn't really make sense to do so until the builder and combat tracker are finished, as the fields used in both could change before all is said and done.
-I would download the relevant maps and then upload them to the VTT I was using. I just started using a VTT (in my case owlbear.rodeo) and am not currently using an official adventure, so I haven't actually done with with maps from a published adventure, but I have done so with other maps and it works quite well.
-I use the compendium and the tools for easy access to spells, monsters, areas, etc.
Note that there is a Chrome extension called Beyond20 that connects DDB with several VTTS (not owlbear, though). It is a written by a member of the community, and not officially supported, but I've heard it works pretty well.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
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You don't 'buy book again' (even thought that's not technically correct lol) on Shard. You can create your own content in it (even from another source) quite easily though!
D&D Beyond is owned by Fandom, and Fandom has a policy that content originating from D&D Beyond is not to be exported or used with other "toolkits".
From the Terms of Sale:
(d) that digital goods made available by Fandom on D&D Beyond are only usable in conjunction with the D&D Beyond toolkits, and are not designed to be exported or used with other toolkits or systems,
I'm not a lawyer, but the above sounds like they're saying their content is designed to be used by D&D Beyond and they have no intention of making it work anywhere else.
From the Terms of Use:
Except as expressly permitted by the Company (for example with respect to the use of text content that is submitted to particular Fandom communities as permitted as set forth at our licensing page), you may not modify, publish, transmit, reproduce, scrape, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, adapt, aggregate, sell, transfer or in any way exploit any of the content, in whole or in part,
That part is pretty clear. You can only use your content on D&D Beyond in the way that it is served to you (a webpage from their website displayed on a screen). Your character sheets can be exported to a .pdf, for use at a gaming table, but any other kind of use that is not served by the D&D Beyond Website without any modification is a violation of the ToS.
Man, I wish dndbeyond could have a roll20-esque system. Life would be sweet in these covid times.
What I do adventures that are in dndbeyond. I just copy maps to Roll20, add monsters (and their hp:s to token) and use roll20 init tracker and hps in encounters. Then just use adventure from dndbeyond and open moster tabs in separate browser tab as story progress (Dndbeyond, monsters stats and roll20 all are in separate browser tabs). Im using beyond20 so all rolls from monsters are directly transferred to roll20. Now this works wonderfully when there are not tons of maps, but example Dungeon of Mad Mage would be nightmare (you have to basically redo whole campaing to roll20 and there are lot of maps).
Handy tip:
Create your encounter in Encounter Builder. Then you will have all your creatures in one webpage, like a DM screen. Just click on a creature to display the monster block for that creature in that webpage/tab. Much simpler than having 5 tabs open for 5 different creatures.