Text reads: D&D Beyond AMA. Image displays a pensive Owlin in the foreground, as two magic students practice their craft in the background.
Welcome to our monthly D&D Beyond Staff AMA! Each month we bring one of our team members to answer questions here in our forums about themselves and their work with D&D Beyond.
The second guest for May 2022 is Andrew Searles (he/him), a Principle Product Manager for D&D Beyond. Andrew will be answering questions throughout his workday on Wednesday, May 18th, between the hours of 07:00 - 16:00 PT / 09:00 - 17:00 CST (when is this for me?). We know that D&D Beyond has an international audience, so you can begin asking your questions now! The thread will be closed when Andrew gives his last answer.
What is an AMA?
AMA stands for "Ask Me Anything" - it's a thread on our forums, where you can go ahead and ask questions, and I'll answer them. Your questions can be anything from serious stuff about D&D Beyond, to what Andrew's favorite natural landmarks in the USA are!
AMA Guidelines
Please do not reply to nor answer the questions of other users, let our guest answer the questions given to them.
Unless more clarification is needed to properly answer your question, please refrain from asking follow-up questions to avoid clutter in the thread.
Remain respectful of our guest and their time. They will be answering questions throughout their regular workday, answers will not be instantaneous. While guests will try to answer every question, their department with the company may not be the right one for your inquiry. We will work to have guests from different departments each month.
1. What does a product manager do on a day-to-day basis, and what kind of experience/education does it take to get that kind of role?
What is it like to be a Product Manager? Oh good question. Well... a product manager is a lot of things. They tend to wear a lot of hats. Ultimately, a product manager is responsible for the success for the product they are given. If the product is successful, they are successful. So, a product manager does whatever it takes to make sure things go smoothly. If that means scheduling a meeting to hash something out, we do that. If that means digging into a support ticket, we do that. If it means getting on the phone with a customer to clear up a problem, we do that. If it means trying to convince someone above us that we should do something different, we do that.
The one big responsibility a product manager has for the team is determining priority of what to work on. For the last couple of years, we've been collecting and saving EVERY single piece of feedback users have given us. We have tens of thousands of them. We use them to make sure we know EVERYTHING we could do to improve the product. As you can imagine, there's a lot of ideas. So it's the product manager's job to decide what is the BEST thing to do that will bring the most value for users as quickly as the team can build it. So I often say to people, "If we haven't built the thing you really want, it's my fault."
Here's a few statements that I've used to describe a Product Manager
A Product Manager is like a tiny CEO for their area. They do whatever it takes to succeed.
A Product Manager is a Cheerleader. Making sure that the team gets the praise they deserve.
A Product Manager must be an expert in their area.
A Product Manager must know and understand the user.
A Product Manager falls in love with the problem; not the solution.
2. What's the thing about D&D Beyond that you've been the most excited to work on?
Oh man. This is an interesting question, because the things that I've been MOST excited to work on, I haven't even gotten started on yet! But of the things that I can talk about, that are already released into the wild, I'd probably say the Game Log. Wait, maybe dice rolling. Oh I don't know one of those two. Regardless, here's why.
The Game Log is a major step in the direction of playing together on D&D Beyond. It was a major moment for us as we realized that we can do SO much more if we can get everyone at the table to play on D&D Beyond together. It opens the door for all kinds of extra functionality. The Game Log today only shares rolls with others at your table, but the potential is immense. With the Game Log, we can start to group rolls, share inventory, updates on Encounters, rules sharing, spell description sharing, image sharing, etc. And in the future, once all of this data has been shared in a log, we can start to run ALL KINDS of metrics off of it like, the amount of damage the party has done, the total death savings throws, and the number of skill checks. What's more than that, we COULD start to summarize that Game Log into session notes that you don't have to take anymore. Imagine being able to just focus on play instead of writing every little thing that happens in the game. There's so much we can do with the future of the Game Log!
Dice rolling is the first and biggest piece of the Game Log's future. By allowing users to roll on the site, we can start to understand how people are playing by using data! This is really the first time in the history of D&D where we'll start to be able to use usage data to help improve D&D in the future. And now that we're linked with Wizards, we'll be able to give them that data to help inform how future versions are made. It's super exciting and opens a world of opportunities.
---- Well, I hope that answers those questions for you. Sorry if I got a little long there. I get so passionate. WHICH is another thing that product managers are; passionate!
On the topic of the game log and dice rolling-- I agree these are awesome features and they have seen extensive use at my table. I also see, as you note, the immense potential. They have, however, been out for awhile. I've seen on a dev update that the sharing inventory has obviously been getting some development (though it as been quiet on that front for awhile). But have other aspects of 'playing on DDB together' been seeing meaningful development? Or have they been sidelined by other, more urgent, priorities? Totally understand you can't reveal unannounced features or give timelines. I'm not asking for either. But I recall some months ago, during several dev updates, hints were given like, 'and we can't even show you what we've been working on'. And I did wonder if virtual game space stuff was part of that. I'll have to just speculate.
On that topic, I'll be excited to see the implementation of temporary effects (rage, spell buffs etc.)-- both shared and just within sheet-- as well as some ability to have maps or battlemaps that can be used in game. (I realize the former has been mentioned specifically by the DDB team in the past, the latter only maybe vaguely hinted at, maybe)
Any plan to sell cheaper rule set packages so that those of use who buy the Physical copies don't have the buy the book twice in order to use D&D Beyond?
But have other aspects of 'playing on DDB together' been seeing meaningful development? Or have they been sidelined by other, more urgent, priorities?
You're right in saying that I can't really talk too much about things that are currently in development, but I can say that we have like 60 people working hard. And we're building more than just dice :wink:. Right now, (today is literally the day) we're transitioning over to Wizards. This means a LOT of new things become available to us. Everything has changed. Now that we can work hand-in-hand with the makers of D&D, we can start to reimagine what is possible. So, I would say, there are lots of cool things in the works and lots more things that we can start doing, but until we're ready to commit to those things and KNOW that we're going to release them soon, we can't talk about them too much.
Regarding "Playing on DDB together", our goal is to make it easy to play D&D. We'll keep doing that. We're seeing that a lot of our tools can be used without the group, but we can do a lot more if you're entire group is willing to play in the same system. We're intrigued by the possibilities there and hope to continue to improve a shared play experience for D&D.
Any chance that "Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy" will be made available on DnDBeyond now, like the other Extra life content has been? I'd really like to get it, but since I'm exclusively using DDB it doesn't really make sense for me to buy the pdf.
Any plan to sell cheaper rule set packages so that those of use who buy the Physical copies don't have the buy the book twice in order to use D&D Beyond?
Hey Beowulph,
I can't give you a straight answer here and I'm sorry for that. It's because we don't know yet. Today, we transition to Wizards (the company that owns and makes D&D). That opens SO many doors for us now that we're all working together to make D&D the greatest roleplaying game in the world.
I can tell you that we all see the problem that customers are having. Purchasing the rules in physical form and digital form can be a lot! And each one is good in its own circumstance. We're not 100% sure what the best plan is yet and what's all doable for us now that we're all one big team, but I can say, we're going to try to work towards alleviating that burden in some way.
Can we expect some hiding options for our character sheets from other players when joining a ddb campaign?
Options to hide things like hiding class and race, background, alignment or flaws, bonds from other players that tend to metagame are needed to preserve in-game character narrative choices and avoid that some mystery for characters getting revealed and ruin the fun. Ofc not applicable to the DM.
From the time you get a new sourcebook from Wizards to making it officially available to the public, how long does it usually take to get all that into your system and up and running? Do you get revisions from them as they finish the book? What's that process like?
Do you have something to be able to talk to us about Japanese ver.D&D From July onward？
Hey Geleboo,
Over the past few years, we've talked a lot about other language versions. It's difficult to support localizations on D&D Beyond today for a lot of different reasons. The biggest is that if we're going to do it, we have to do it ALL. That means it's a pretty huge project to make everything on D&D Beyond today translated into different languages. It's something that we hope to do in the future and now that we're hand-in-hand with Wizards, we might do it sooner than we hoped. We'll have to see what the priorities are once everything has settled with the transition.
If you could take a three-week vacation anywhere in the world on a not-too-limiting budget, what would you have to eat for lunch on the second Tuesday?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
=========================== Laugh at life or life will laugh at you.
Current D&D Characters: Kromen Flintfist, Hill Dwarf Order of the Scribes Wizard/Armorer Artificer Eiphrok, Half-Orc Oath of Glory Paladin/Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer
1. With the acquisition by WotC, will more resources be devoted to addressing known bugs (for example, Psionic and Clockwork Spells features)?
2. Are there any plans for a DNDBeyond VTT or something similar?
Thanks!
Hey Gravewise,
Thanks for those questions!
First Question We've been REALLY focused on this for a while. I know it might not seem that way, but we have been. Rules support is our bread and butter and the reason people use us. Knowing that, we have calculated our "rules debt" and found ourselves in a place we don't want to be. This debt is MUCH bigger than just a few different rules. We could focus on each individual rule so that we can start making tiny dents in our debt. Instead, we want to rebuild the underlying system so that we can more easily support a LOT more rules. We call that the Generic Feature System. If you follow the Dev Update, we've talked about it a few times.
But here's the problem and where the acquisition from Wizards comes into play. When a book comes out, we must drop everything so that we can try to minimally support that book in the given time frame before we have to release the book. In the past, we were given that book the same time as all the other licensed partners received the book; a few months before the release. Which means we had to drop everything to try and make sure we could support that book in a minimal way. It left us with little time to improve the overall system. Now that we are Wizards (:wink:) we will know about the book when it's in development and we can start supporting it a year in advance. This one thing is a game-changer on SO many levels.
So back to your question, "Will more resources be devoted?" It's not about the number of resources, it's about efficiently planning our work and doing the things that are going to get us there faster. We can work SMARTER now that we're Wizards.
Second Question Wizards has talked about digital tools in 2024. As we transition to Wizards (today is the day!!!) we are learning what those plans are and how they fit with D&D Beyond. I can't talk too much about what those plans are, but I can say, we will 100% work together. Does that mean it's a D&D Beyond VTT? Does that mean it's a D&D VTT? How will the two systems work together? I can't say. But I'm VERY excited.
Can we expect some hiding options for our character sheets from other players when joining a ddb campaign?
Options to hide things like hiding class and race, background, alignment or flaws, bonds from other players that tend to metagame are needed to preserve in-game character narrative choices and avoid that some mystery for characters getting revealed and ruin the fun. Ofc not applicable to the DM.
Hey FreyaMaluk,
This is such a good question! I encounter this problem a lot. Secrets are SO important in D&D (and in RPGs in general). And preserving that secret for the right time can mean the difference of a lackluster character realization and the blowing the minds of everyone at the table. I played a changing once and I didn't want to players to know that my character wasn't human. The players I play with are good about metagaming, but still, I wanted it to be a surprise! So I actually went and created a homebrew race base on the changling and called it Human. In my campaign, everyone thought my character was a human male until... my character died in a tragic Orge with a spear incident. And the DM was able to narrate my character's change back into a female changling that looked completely different. The table was in up-roar! It was a great moment and one I'll never forget. It wouldn't have been possible if I couldn't hide details about my character.
This is totally something we want to preserve. There's a lot that goes into it, but as we improve and redesign our systems. It's something that we're keeping in mind. Soon, I hope to redesign and revamp the campaign area entirely, from the ground up, and I hope to keep preserving secrets at the top of the "Must Have" list.
That's great to hear. I'm a physical book buyer as PDF's don't display on bookshelves very well. :) But I enjoy a character creator to double check my character is correct plus I can't read my own handwriting. With that said. I'd buy access to ruleset for $12.99 much like places like HeroLab does for other systems, if a scannable QR code inside the book is decided against.
From the time you get a new sourcebook from Wizards to making it officially available to the public, how long does it usually take to get all that into your system and up and running? Do you get revisions from them as they finish the book? What's that process like?
Thanks!
--Brian
Thanks for asking Brian. I'm excited to answer that question.
We take pride in making our system as bespoke as we can so we can support the D&D rules. I'll answer this in two different parts; (1)how it worked in the past, and (2) how it might work in the future.
The Past In the past, because we were a licensed partner, we got the books a few months before the release to the public. At that time, the book was completely done (barring some typos) and we could start putting in the content. One caveat, our process has changed significantly over the 5 years that we've been doing this, but the most recent process loosely looks like this.
Read through the book looking for problem areas. Mark anything with one of these labels, "fully supported", "partially supported", "unsupported".
Review that document with the engineering teams, showing them the potential problems that we have.
The product team starts leads the teams in potential solutions for the partially supported and unsupported items. Sometimes we decide that we will NOT support something because of the given work and the potential workarounds that might exist.
We create tickets for each piece that has to get done and start working on them.
The Lorekeepers (that's what we call the folks responsible for making the digital book) start putting content in a private environment of D&D Beyond (so we don't leak anything).
By the time we're ready to release, all the teams have done their parts to get the whole thing together and ready by the release date.
We review our process and talk about what we can do better
Anything we choose to leave as unsupport gets added to the list of rules debt. That's what we call the stuff that is unsupported. We keep this list because we intend to come back to it and support it in the future.
That whole process usually happens from the time that licensees get the books to the release date, which is about as long as the book is on pre-order. So a few months.
The Future As we're transitioning to Wizards, we're going to be working hand-in-hand with the people that are writing the books. This means we'll have 3 or 4 times longer to support the book! Also, in the past, we've been reactive to what the book is. In the future, we can start being proactive. Regarding a new process, we're not sure exactly what that will look like yet and it'll probably change significantly over the next few years. But either way, it's a game-changer, literally and figuratively.
Hi. As a fellow programmer, I'm often wondering why "The System" need to be remade so much. First with the character process rebuild, then the General Feature System and now you're saying there's another and I don't know if I missed any. Wasn't it built generic from the start? Wasn't there a way, for example, to have an open field for weapon damage and crit range so users can edit it?
Any chance that "Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy" will be made available on DnDBeyond now, like the other Extra life content has been? I'd really like to get it, but since I'm exclusively using DDB it doesn't really make sense for me to buy the pdf.
Hey ixniz,
That is a great adventure for sure! At the moment, we're not really sure. In the past, Wizards was in charge with what we got to publish and what we did not. Now that we ARE Wizards a lot more things are possible, but, unfortunately, I don't have any update on this.
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Text reads: D&D Beyond AMA. Image displays a pensive Owlin in the foreground, as two magic students practice their craft in the background.
Welcome to our monthly D&D Beyond Staff AMA! Each month we bring one of our team members to answer questions here in our forums about themselves and their work with D&D Beyond.
The second guest for May 2022 is Andrew Searles (he/him), a Principle Product Manager for D&D Beyond. Andrew will be answering questions throughout his workday on Wednesday, May 18th, between the hours of 07:00 - 16:00 PT / 09:00 - 17:00 CST (when is this for me?). We know that D&D Beyond has an international audience, so you can begin asking your questions now! The thread will be closed when Andrew gives his last answer.
What is an AMA?
AMA stands for "Ask Me Anything" - it's a thread on our forums, where you can go ahead and ask questions, and I'll answer them. Your questions can be anything from serious stuff about D&D Beyond, to what Andrew's favorite natural landmarks in the USA are!
AMA Guidelines
Hi Andrew! A few questions:
1. What does a product manager do on a day-to-day basis, and what kind of experience/education does it take to get that kind of role?
2. What's the thing about D&D Beyond that you've been the most excited to work on?
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AlumniWhat is it like to be a Product Manager? Oh good question. Well... a product manager is a lot of things. They tend to wear a lot of hats. Ultimately, a product manager is responsible for the success for the product they are given. If the product is successful, they are successful. So, a product manager does whatever it takes to make sure things go smoothly. If that means scheduling a meeting to hash something out, we do that. If that means digging into a support ticket, we do that. If it means getting on the phone with a customer to clear up a problem, we do that. If it means trying to convince someone above us that we should do something different, we do that.
The one big responsibility a product manager has for the team is determining priority of what to work on. For the last couple of years, we've been collecting and saving EVERY single piece of feedback users have given us. We have tens of thousands of them. We use them to make sure we know EVERYTHING we could do to improve the product. As you can imagine, there's a lot of ideas. So it's the product manager's job to decide what is the BEST thing to do that will bring the most value for users as quickly as the team can build it. So I often say to people, "If we haven't built the thing you really want, it's my fault."
Here's a few statements that I've used to describe a Product Manager
Oh man. This is an interesting question, because the things that I've been MOST excited to work on, I haven't even gotten started on yet! But of the things that I can talk about, that are already released into the wild, I'd probably say the Game Log. Wait, maybe dice rolling. Oh I don't know one of those two. Regardless, here's why.
The Game Log is a major step in the direction of playing together on D&D Beyond. It was a major moment for us as we realized that we can do SO much more if we can get everyone at the table to play on D&D Beyond together. It opens the door for all kinds of extra functionality. The Game Log today only shares rolls with others at your table, but the potential is immense. With the Game Log, we can start to group rolls, share inventory, updates on Encounters, rules sharing, spell description sharing, image sharing, etc. And in the future, once all of this data has been shared in a log, we can start to run ALL KINDS of metrics off of it like, the amount of damage the party has done, the total death savings throws, and the number of skill checks. What's more than that, we COULD start to summarize that Game Log into session notes that you don't have to take anymore. Imagine being able to just focus on play instead of writing every little thing that happens in the game. There's so much we can do with the future of the Game Log!
Dice rolling is the first and biggest piece of the Game Log's future. By allowing users to roll on the site, we can start to understand how people are playing by using data! This is really the first time in the history of D&D where we'll start to be able to use usage data to help improve D&D in the future. And now that we're linked with Wizards, we'll be able to give them that data to help inform how future versions are made. It's super exciting and opens a world of opportunities.
----
Well, I hope that answers those questions for you. Sorry if I got a little long there. I get so passionate. WHICH is another thing that product managers are; passionate!
On the topic of the game log and dice rolling-- I agree these are awesome features and they have seen extensive use at my table. I also see, as you note, the immense potential. They have, however, been out for awhile. I've seen on a dev update that the sharing inventory has obviously been getting some development (though it as been quiet on that front for awhile). But have other aspects of 'playing on DDB together' been seeing meaningful development? Or have they been sidelined by other, more urgent, priorities? Totally understand you can't reveal unannounced features or give timelines. I'm not asking for either. But I recall some months ago, during several dev updates, hints were given like, 'and we can't even show you what we've been working on'. And I did wonder if virtual game space stuff was part of that. I'll have to just speculate.
On that topic, I'll be excited to see the implementation of temporary effects (rage, spell buffs etc.)-- both shared and just within sheet-- as well as some ability to have maps or battlemaps that can be used in game. (I realize the former has been mentioned specifically by the DDB team in the past, the latter only maybe vaguely hinted at, maybe)
AD
Any plan to sell cheaper rule set packages so that those of use who buy the Physical copies don't have the buy the book twice in order to use D&D Beyond?
Do you have something to be able to talk to us about Japanese ver.D&D From July onward？
Hi Andrew! Two quick questions:
1. With the acquisition by WotC, will more resources be devoted to addressing known bugs (for example, Psionic and Clockwork Spells features)?
2. Are there any plans for a DNDBeyond VTT or something similar?(edited for an answered question!)
Thanks!
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AlumniYou're right in saying that I can't really talk too much about things that are currently in development, but I can say that we have like 60 people working hard. And we're building more than just dice :wink:. Right now, (today is literally the day) we're transitioning over to Wizards. This means a LOT of new things become available to us. Everything has changed. Now that we can work hand-in-hand with the makers of D&D, we can start to reimagine what is possible. So, I would say, there are lots of cool things in the works and lots more things that we can start doing, but until we're ready to commit to those things and KNOW that we're going to release them soon, we can't talk about them too much.
Regarding "Playing on DDB together", our goal is to make it easy to play D&D. We'll keep doing that. We're seeing that a lot of our tools can be used without the group, but we can do a lot more if you're entire group is willing to play in the same system. We're intrigued by the possibilities there and hope to continue to improve a shared play experience for D&D.
Hi!
Any chance that "Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy" will be made available on DnDBeyond now, like the other Extra life content has been? I'd really like to get it, but since I'm exclusively using DDB it doesn't really make sense for me to buy the pdf.
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AlumniHey Beowulph,
I can't give you a straight answer here and I'm sorry for that. It's because we don't know yet. Today, we transition to Wizards (the company that owns and makes D&D). That opens SO many doors for us now that we're all working together to make D&D the greatest roleplaying game in the world.
I can tell you that we all see the problem that customers are having. Purchasing the rules in physical form and digital form can be a lot! And each one is good in its own circumstance. We're not 100% sure what the best plan is yet and what's all doable for us now that we're all one big team, but I can say, we're going to try to work towards alleviating that burden in some way.
Can we expect some hiding options for our character sheets from other players when joining a ddb campaign?
Options to hide things like hiding class and race, background, alignment or flaws, bonds from other players that tend to metagame are needed to preserve in-game character narrative choices and avoid that some mystery for characters getting revealed and ruin the fun. Ofc not applicable to the DM.
Hey Andrew!
From the time you get a new sourcebook from Wizards to making it officially available to the public, how long does it usually take to get all that into your system and up and running? Do you get revisions from them as they finish the book? What's that process like?
Thanks!
--Brian
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View Posts
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Send Message
AlumniHey Geleboo,
Over the past few years, we've talked a lot about other language versions. It's difficult to support localizations on D&D Beyond today for a lot of different reasons. The biggest is that if we're going to do it, we have to do it ALL. That means it's a pretty huge project to make everything on D&D Beyond today translated into different languages. It's something that we hope to do in the future and now that we're hand-in-hand with Wizards, we might do it sooner than we hoped. We'll have to see what the priorities are once everything has settled with the transition.
If you could take a three-week vacation anywhere in the world on a not-too-limiting budget, what would you have to eat for lunch on the second Tuesday?
===========================
Laugh at life or life will laugh at you.
Current D&D Characters:
Kromen Flintfist, Hill Dwarf Order of the Scribes Wizard/Armorer Artificer
Eiphrok, Half-Orc Oath of Glory Paladin/Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer
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AlumniHey Gravewise,
Thanks for those questions!
First Question
We've been REALLY focused on this for a while. I know it might not seem that way, but we have been. Rules support is our bread and butter and the reason people use us. Knowing that, we have calculated our "rules debt" and found ourselves in a place we don't want to be. This debt is MUCH bigger than just a few different rules. We could focus on each individual rule so that we can start making tiny dents in our debt. Instead, we want to rebuild the underlying system so that we can more easily support a LOT more rules. We call that the Generic Feature System. If you follow the Dev Update, we've talked about it a few times.
But here's the problem and where the acquisition from Wizards comes into play. When a book comes out, we must drop everything so that we can try to minimally support that book in the given time frame before we have to release the book. In the past, we were given that book the same time as all the other licensed partners received the book; a few months before the release. Which means we had to drop everything to try and make sure we could support that book in a minimal way. It left us with little time to improve the overall system. Now that we are Wizards (:wink:) we will know about the book when it's in development and we can start supporting it a year in advance. This one thing is a game-changer on SO many levels.
So back to your question, "Will more resources be devoted?" It's not about the number of resources, it's about efficiently planning our work and doing the things that are going to get us there faster. We can work SMARTER now that we're Wizards.
Second Question
Wizards has talked about digital tools in 2024. As we transition to Wizards (today is the day!!!) we are learning what those plans are and how they fit with D&D Beyond. I can't talk too much about what those plans are, but I can say, we will 100% work together. Does that mean it's a D&D Beyond VTT? Does that mean it's a D&D VTT? How will the two systems work together? I can't say. But I'm VERY excited.
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AlumniHey FreyaMaluk,
This is such a good question! I encounter this problem a lot. Secrets are SO important in D&D (and in RPGs in general). And preserving that secret for the right time can mean the difference of a lackluster character realization and the blowing the minds of everyone at the table. I played a changing once and I didn't want to players to know that my character wasn't human. The players I play with are good about metagaming, but still, I wanted it to be a surprise! So I actually went and created a homebrew race base on the changling and called it Human. In my campaign, everyone thought my character was a human male until... my character died in a tragic Orge with a spear incident. And the DM was able to narrate my character's change back into a female changling that looked completely different. The table was in up-roar! It was a great moment and one I'll never forget. It wouldn't have been possible if I couldn't hide details about my character.
This is totally something we want to preserve. There's a lot that goes into it, but as we improve and redesign our systems. It's something that we're keeping in mind. Soon, I hope to redesign and revamp the campaign area entirely, from the ground up, and I hope to keep preserving secrets at the top of the "Must Have" list.
That's great to hear. I'm a physical book buyer as PDF's don't display on bookshelves very well. :) But I enjoy a character creator to double check my character is correct plus I can't read my own handwriting. With that said. I'd buy access to ruleset for $12.99 much like places like HeroLab does for other systems, if a scannable QR code inside the book is decided against.
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AlumniThanks for asking Brian. I'm excited to answer that question.
We take pride in making our system as bespoke as we can so we can support the D&D rules. I'll answer this in two different parts; (1)how it worked in the past, and (2) how it might work in the future.
The Past
In the past, because we were a licensed partner, we got the books a few months before the release to the public. At that time, the book was completely done (barring some typos) and we could start putting in the content. One caveat, our process has changed significantly over the 5 years that we've been doing this, but the most recent process loosely looks like this.
That whole process usually happens from the time that licensees get the books to the release date, which is about as long as the book is on pre-order. So a few months.
The Future
As we're transitioning to Wizards, we're going to be working hand-in-hand with the people that are writing the books. This means we'll have 3 or 4 times longer to support the book! Also, in the past, we've been reactive to what the book is. In the future, we can start being proactive. Regarding a new process, we're not sure exactly what that will look like yet and it'll probably change significantly over the next few years. But either way, it's a game-changer, literally and figuratively.
Hi. As a fellow programmer, I'm often wondering why "The System" need to be remade so much. First with the character process rebuild, then the General Feature System and now you're saying there's another and I don't know if I missed any. Wasn't it built generic from the start? Wasn't there a way, for example, to have an open field for weapon damage and crit range so users can edit it?
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AlumniHey ixniz,
That is a great adventure for sure! At the moment, we're not really sure. In the past, Wizards was in charge with what we got to publish and what we did not. Now that we ARE Wizards a lot more things are possible, but, unfortunately, I don't have any update on this.