Hi there everyone! This is my first time posting here though Ive been lurking for some time.
I have been extremely tempted to pick up the legendary bundle on cyber monday (and hate myself for not doing it) but have waited because I am unsure if this medium provides all I need for a product. You see, I am very much into DnD for the past couple years but I havent been able to play physically that often. My work schedule means I can pretty much only play in the weekends and even those are hard to manage since it is hard to get people together. Now, I have been playing on Roll20 for a while and it is truly awesome. It allows me to play without the organizational challenges that a real life game provides, saving time that I honestly do not even have to begin with.
My dilemma is basically, I love DnD Beyond for its compendium, character builder and easy access and navigation through the links. However, would I be able to make use out of it enough to justify the investment cost? There is no map integration as far as I understand, there is no application to properly use the content on mobile devices and the products are designed for pen and paper play.
Will there be any online map integration and Roll20-esque system in the future to promote online play as well? Big dilemma! I dont think it is worth 300+ bucks for a fancy character builder, but I have a hard time seeing the value of the online adventure books. If you have no map integration, how will you even use those books?
The maps are there, and you also have the Player's version of them (no numbers or symbols on them) which you can link/make available to the players n the notes of the campaign or any other chat (Skype, discord, slack) so you can definitely use the adventures as you would in a home game using what is called the "Theatre of the Mind", basically just imagining what is going on and using the maps for spatial reference when needed (combat, mostly), but with no minis or tokens.
As Matthias said, Roll20 integration/partnership has come up now and then, but nothing concrete has been heard of so far, so, if you do not currently see much use for DDB, I'd also suggest waiting, and meanwhile maybe mess around with the Homebrew tools and keep an eye on the forums for news :)
I know they are currently interested in some form of negotiations, but Dndbeyond have more important goals for now.
However, I currently use both roll20 and DNDbeyond. The high definition maps can be uploaded into roll20 relatively easily, you just need to align the grids properly (takes a minute or 2 to do correctly). In regards to rolls, instead of roll20 I'm using one of the Chrome plugins available from the forums. I just have my screen set up so I can read the adventure and keep an eye on the maps. Since we play locally, my players all roll their dice anyway, we just have a couple tablets to pass around with the maps.
I know they are currently interested in some form of negotiations, but Dndbeyond have more important goals for now.
However, I currently use both roll20 and DNDbeyond. The high definition maps can be uploaded into roll20 relatively easily, you just need to align the grids properly (takes a minute or 2 to do correctly). In regards to rolls, instead of roll20 I'm using one of the Chrome plugins available from the forums. I just have my screen set up so I can read the adventure and keep an eye on the maps. Since we play locally, my players all roll their dice anyway, we just have a couple tablets to pass around with the maps.
Are there any guidelines as to how to import maps into Roll20? How to calculate the grid size and align the maps better?
I know they are currently interested in some form of negotiations, but Dndbeyond have more important goals for now.
However, I currently use both roll20 and DNDbeyond. The high definition maps can be uploaded into roll20 relatively easily, you just need to align the grids properly (takes a minute or 2 to do correctly). In regards to rolls, instead of roll20 I'm using one of the Chrome plugins available from the forums. I just have my screen set up so I can read the adventure and keep an eye on the maps. Since we play locally, my players all roll their dice anyway, we just have a couple tablets to pass around with the maps.
Are there any guidelines as to how to import maps into Roll20? How to calculate the grid size and align the maps better?
Unfortunately you're kinda stuck doing the math or using a ruler tool like in photoshop to measure the square size. Apparently a lot of the grid is hand-done so it never lines up well (certainly hasn't for me), but a solution is to align it as best you can then hide roll20's grid and it should look mostly fine.
I know they are currently interested in some form of negotiations, but Dndbeyond have more important goals for now.
However, I currently use both roll20 and DNDbeyond. The high definition maps can be uploaded into roll20 relatively easily, you just need to align the grids properly (takes a minute or 2 to do correctly). In regards to rolls, instead of roll20 I'm using one of the Chrome plugins available from the forums. I just have my screen set up so I can read the adventure and keep an eye on the maps. Since we play locally, my players all roll their dice anyway, we just have a couple tablets to pass around with the maps.
Are there any guidelines as to how to import maps into Roll20? How to calculate the grid size and align the maps better?
Unfortunately you're kinda stuck doing the math or using a ruler tool like in photoshop to measure the square size. Apparently a lot of the grid is hand-done so it never lines up well (certainly hasn't for me), but a solution is to align it as best you can then hide roll20's grid and it should look mostly fine.
What I did with the latest map I used is to calculate the aspect ratio of the map, divide the actual size by 70 to get the number of squares, give it some leg room and then adjust manually. It's not perfect but I think it'll work.
I did the same thing. Lucky for me I just use roll20 to show the map behind me during sessions and hide stuff in fog of war. The grid just helps when revealing stuff.
I think if I do roll20 stuff I'll just make my players split the cost of the module, since the maps and tokens and everything else are worth the cost it seems.
I did the same thing. Lucky for me I just use roll20 to show the map behind me during sessions and hide stuff in fog of war. The grid just helps when revealing stuff.
I think if I do roll20 stuff I'll just make my players split the cost of the module, since the maps and tokens and everything else are worth the cost it seems.
Have fun with that. I prefer to buy my content only once. :)
Unfortunately you're kinda stuck doing the math or using a ruler tool like in photoshop to measure the square size. Apparently a lot of the grid is hand-done so it never lines up well (certainly hasn't for me), but a solution is to align it as best you can then hide roll20's grid and it should look mostly fine.
There's an Align To Grid tool that'll let you enter how many pixels wide the map's squares are. I just open up the map in an image editor, measure out the length of 10 squares and average it. I agree with turning off roll20's grid if the map already has lines drawn on it. As long as the scale of the map is correct everything should be fine.
I've been a Roll20 player for several years now, but these days I have one campaign that runs exclusively on Google Hangouts + D&D Beyond. We try as much as possible to replicate the "you all sit around a table" experience. It's a very different playstyle, but if your games largely revolve around the social pillar and somewhat simpler (less tactical) combat, it works fantastically. Games that heavily feature dungeon exploration may not work as well in this way, however.
My wife, myself, and some of our internet friends are totally new to D&D and we wanted to start some online games. Probably do the Lost Mine of Phandelver to get us started and maybe one more before venturing off into our own custom campaigns which is what we really want to do. Pretty disappointed that I need to pick between roll20 and dndbeyond since I have to buy compendium content on both. Dndbeyond seems to be far superior when it comes to accessing the compendium and creating characters. Yet it offers no tabletop functionality like roll20 does. All my wife and friends really want is a visual clue so they can better visualize things in relation to each other so maybe roll20 is overkill and we should just use Google Drawings or something to do simple sketches instead? Though that roll20 grid is nice. Maybe I could get away with the free version of roll20 if all I'm gonna do is sketch on the grid? Anyone else use the free version? If so, do you eventually just hit a point where you feel like you need to spend the money on it?
My wife, myself, and some of our internet friends are totally new to D&D and we wanted to start some online games. Probably do the Lost Mine of Phandelver to get us started and maybe one more before venturing off into our own custom campaigns which is what we really want to do. Pretty disappointed that I need to pick between roll20 and dndbeyond since I have to buy compendium content on both. Dndbeyond seems to be far superior when it comes to accessing the compendium and creating characters. Yet it offers no tabletop functionality like roll20 does. All my wife and friends really want is a visual clue so they can better visualize things in relation to each other so maybe roll20 is overkill and we should just use Google Drawings or something to do simple sketches instead? Though that roll20 grid is nice. Maybe I could get away with the free version of roll20 if all I'm gonna do is sketch on the grid? Anyone else use the free version? If so, do you eventually just hit a point where you feel like you need to spend the money on it?
If you just want a visual clue, you don’t really needed any of the Roll20 Compendium. We bought our content on D&D Beyond, and then the adventures have high res players maps that we import into Roll20. Like someone mentioned above, I use the AlignToGrid to size it appropriately. I believe you can do all of that with the free Roll20.
Entering PCs into Roll20 isn’t bad, but you can even just use the dice roller in Roll20 without everything entered in. As DM, I usually don’t even bother entering in the monsters and NPCs. I did wind up subscribing mostly to get the cool dynamic lighting feature, which can add some nice moodiness. But other than, the free version does quite a bit.
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Hi there everyone! This is my first time posting here though Ive been lurking for some time.
I have been extremely tempted to pick up the legendary bundle on cyber monday (and hate myself for not doing it) but have waited because I am unsure if this medium provides all I need for a product. You see, I am very much into DnD for the past couple years but I havent been able to play physically that often. My work schedule means I can pretty much only play in the weekends and even those are hard to manage since it is hard to get people together. Now, I have been playing on Roll20 for a while and it is truly awesome. It allows me to play without the organizational challenges that a real life game provides, saving time that I honestly do not even have to begin with.
My dilemma is basically, I love DnD Beyond for its compendium, character builder and easy access and navigation through the links. However, would I be able to make use out of it enough to justify the investment cost? There is no map integration as far as I understand, there is no application to properly use the content on mobile devices and the products are designed for pen and paper play.
Will there be any online map integration and Roll20-esque system in the future to promote online play as well? Big dilemma! I dont think it is worth 300+ bucks for a fancy character builder, but I have a hard time seeing the value of the online adventure books. If you have no map integration, how will you even use those books?
There will probably not be a VTT (virtual tabletop), but there might be some sort of integration with Roll20. I recommend waiting.
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The maps are there, and you also have the Player's version of them (no numbers or symbols on them) which you can link/make available to the players n the notes of the campaign or any other chat (Skype, discord, slack) so you can definitely use the adventures as you would in a home game using what is called the "Theatre of the Mind", basically just imagining what is going on and using the maps for spatial reference when needed (combat, mostly), but with no minis or tokens.
As Matthias said, Roll20 integration/partnership has come up now and then, but nothing concrete has been heard of so far, so, if you do not currently see much use for DDB, I'd also suggest waiting, and meanwhile maybe mess around with the Homebrew tools and keep an eye on the forums for news :)
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I know they are currently interested in some form of negotiations, but Dndbeyond have more important goals for now.
However, I currently use both roll20 and DNDbeyond. The high definition maps can be uploaded into roll20 relatively easily, you just need to align the grids properly (takes a minute or 2 to do correctly). In regards to rolls, instead of roll20 I'm using one of the Chrome plugins available from the forums. I just have my screen set up so I can read the adventure and keep an eye on the maps. Since we play locally, my players all roll their dice anyway, we just have a couple tablets to pass around with the maps.
I'm just curious, I'm using D&D Beyond and Roll20, what's this chrome plug-in? Thanks
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
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May we live in Less Interesting Times
I did the same thing. Lucky for me I just use roll20 to show the map behind me during sessions and hide stuff in fog of war. The grid just helps when revealing stuff.
I think if I do roll20 stuff I'll just make my players split the cost of the module, since the maps and tokens and everything else are worth the cost it seems.
Check out all my important links here.
May we live in Less Interesting Times
The Forum Infestation (TM)
I've been a Roll20 player for several years now, but these days I have one campaign that runs exclusively on Google Hangouts + D&D Beyond. We try as much as possible to replicate the "you all sit around a table" experience. It's a very different playstyle, but if your games largely revolve around the social pillar and somewhat simpler (less tactical) combat, it works fantastically. Games that heavily feature dungeon exploration may not work as well in this way, however.
My wife, myself, and some of our internet friends are totally new to D&D and we wanted to start some online games. Probably do the Lost Mine of Phandelver to get us started and maybe one more before venturing off into our own custom campaigns which is what we really want to do. Pretty disappointed that I need to pick between roll20 and dndbeyond since I have to buy compendium content on both. Dndbeyond seems to be far superior when it comes to accessing the compendium and creating characters. Yet it offers no tabletop functionality like roll20 does. All my wife and friends really want is a visual clue so they can better visualize things in relation to each other so maybe roll20 is overkill and we should just use Google Drawings or something to do simple sketches instead? Though that roll20 grid is nice. Maybe I could get away with the free version of roll20 if all I'm gonna do is sketch on the grid? Anyone else use the free version? If so, do you eventually just hit a point where you feel like you need to spend the money on it?