So just got into the DND:B life, after 20 years of pen and paper. Can someone point me to a step by step guide for creating and running campaigns thru DND:B?
Thank you all for the help, really inspired by the outcry of support. Just learned that Beyond has zero support for DMs other than Encounter calculator, which is still in Beta, and likely isn't as good as the exterior options anyway.
I'm sorry no one responded to you sooner. While I'm a forum regular in some of the other forums here, this is not one i check in all that often. As you have discovered, it all depends on what you mean by support for DMs. The original vision for DDB (which has since expanded) was to provide digital tools for DMs and players who sat around a physical table together. It was not intended to be a VTT (Virtual Table Top) or to be a "one stop shop" for running virtual games. As I said, the vision has expanded to include all of that, but we are not there yet.
I'm guessing you have already decided that DDB won't fit your needs, but just in case you are still wondering about running a campaign here, I will briefly share what I do:
I create a campaign (Collections>My Campaign)
I turn on content sharing so my players have access to my content (note: anyone in the campaign who has a Master Tier sub can enable content sharing, it needn't be the DM; and everyone's content is shared)
I invite players (using the invite link)
I put public notes about the campaign in the public notes section. I used to keep recaps/planning notes in the DM private notes section; That worked well for a bit, but as the notes grew it became unwieldy. I now use Dropbox's Paper function to do that. (Others use OneNote or Google Drive or other things)
I create encounters in the encounter builder ahead of time, and run them when appropriate during the game: this often includes using the homebrew tools to create or tweak monsters.
I use the combat tracker to track initiative, Monster HP, etc.
I'm happy to answer other questions if you have them--now that I have responded, I will be alerted to additional posts on this thread.
Nope, I am sticking with the DDB, because I love the ease of the UI and how convenient it all is. But my main concerns are meta gaming. I don't want all my players to see each other's character sheets. Can I gate off what they can see as to character sheets, npc stats, or monster stats? I just want them to be able to use their sheets or create characters on my account's campaign. We'll likely be using a physical table (SAFELY DISTANCED!) for the actual game play. But I don't want them viewing the monsters in the encounter, or looking up the monster when off turn.
If the players set their characters to private, all they will be able to see of the other characters are the info that shows up in the "badge" on the main campaign page. That includes name, race, class (including subclass), and level.
If you have a Master Tier subscription, any purchased content owned by anyone in the campaign is shared with everyone else. You can turn off access to the compendium content by books, (so for example, they can't read the Tomb of Annihilation adventure), but you can't turn off access to character options (so even with TOA turned off, they can still choose the archaeologist background). That also means they could look up monsters through the extras section of the sheet, and maybe from the monsters listing (Game Rules>Monsters).
Any homebrew that is in anyone's collection is shared with the campaign. For things you homebrew yourself, you can remove them from your collection and refer to them in your creations, but if you do so, you won't be able to access them in the encounter builder.
All that is to say that in most respects, there is not a sure proof way to prevent metagaming with the tools here. I keep hoping that more granularity and control over what is shared will be added, but I also know there is a huge list of features that people want, and they can't all be done at once.
So just got into the DND:B life, after 20 years of pen and paper. Can someone point me to a step by step guide for creating and running campaigns thru DND:B?
Thank you for all your help!
Thank you all for the help, really inspired by the outcry of support. Just learned that Beyond has zero support for DMs other than Encounter calculator, which is still in Beta, and likely isn't as good as the exterior options anyway.
I'm sorry no one responded to you sooner. While I'm a forum regular in some of the other forums here, this is not one i check in all that often. As you have discovered, it all depends on what you mean by support for DMs. The original vision for DDB (which has since expanded) was to provide digital tools for DMs and players who sat around a physical table together. It was not intended to be a VTT (Virtual Table Top) or to be a "one stop shop" for running virtual games. As I said, the vision has expanded to include all of that, but we are not there yet.
I'm guessing you have already decided that DDB won't fit your needs, but just in case you are still wondering about running a campaign here, I will briefly share what I do:
I create a campaign (Collections>My Campaign)
I turn on content sharing so my players have access to my content (note: anyone in the campaign who has a Master Tier sub can enable content sharing, it needn't be the DM; and everyone's content is shared)
I invite players (using the invite link)
I put public notes about the campaign in the public notes section. I used to keep recaps/planning notes in the DM private notes section; That worked well for a bit, but as the notes grew it became unwieldy. I now use Dropbox's Paper function to do that. (Others use OneNote or Google Drive or other things)
I create encounters in the encounter builder ahead of time, and run them when appropriate during the game: this often includes using the homebrew tools to create or tweak monsters.
I use the combat tracker to track initiative, Monster HP, etc.
I'm happy to answer other questions if you have them--now that I have responded, I will be alerted to additional posts on this thread.
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;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
Nope, I am sticking with the DDB, because I love the ease of the UI and how convenient it all is. But my main concerns are meta gaming. I don't want all my players to see each other's character sheets. Can I gate off what they can see as to character sheets, npc stats, or monster stats? I just want them to be able to use their sheets or create characters on my account's campaign. We'll likely be using a physical table (SAFELY DISTANCED!) for the actual game play. But I don't want them viewing the monsters in the encounter, or looking up the monster when off turn.
Thank you for your reply!
If the players set their characters to private, all they will be able to see of the other characters are the info that shows up in the "badge" on the main campaign page. That includes name, race, class (including subclass), and level.
If you have a Master Tier subscription, any purchased content owned by anyone in the campaign is shared with everyone else. You can turn off access to the compendium content by books, (so for example, they can't read the Tomb of Annihilation adventure), but you can't turn off access to character options (so even with TOA turned off, they can still choose the archaeologist background). That also means they could look up monsters through the extras section of the sheet, and maybe from the monsters listing (Game Rules>Monsters).
Any homebrew that is in anyone's collection is shared with the campaign. For things you homebrew yourself, you can remove them from your collection and refer to them in your creations, but if you do so, you won't be able to access them in the encounter builder.
All that is to say that in most respects, there is not a sure proof way to prevent metagaming with the tools here. I keep hoping that more granularity and control over what is shared will be added, but I also know there is a huge list of features that people want, and they can't all be done at once.
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;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk