So I am very new to D&D Beyond, I am running a 5e group and I want to switch over to using Beyond to help me with combat, character management, encounters and anything else I can get out of it. I started a Campaign but I do not see a button, tab or link to start a game or begin running the campaign. Like I said I am very new to beyond and could seriously use some help. Right now this seems like I have wasted my money on source books and subscription to this service. Please help prove me wrong about that. i really want D&D Beyond to make my gaming life easier.
Welcome to the site! D&D Beyond can be broken down roughly into three things; Compendium, Listings and Tools
Compendium
These are your digital books and you get them when you either buy the whole book, or the compendium only option. They can be accessed through the Sources menu and when you select a book, you will be taken to its contents page. From there you can browse the book in much the same layout as the physical book.
Listings
Listings are the various parts of the book broken up into individual elements. You get all the listings of a book when you buy the whole book, or you can buy them individually. Listings can be accessed through the Game Rules menu, and cover the following areas:
It's important to note that listings are what appear in the tools. So if you only have the compendium of a book, it's options will not appear in the character builder, combat tracker etc.
Tools
D&D Beyond uses the listings in its tools, of which there are the following
Digital dice let you roll from character sheets and monster stat blocks, and share results through the game log to your players, even on the mobile app, and discord bot
My Campaigns lets the DM view their players characters, share content (with a Master Tier subscription), import characters into the encounter builder for difficulty calculation, and share dice rolls
Now, as for what you've said about trying 'start a game or begin running the campaign', this depends what you mean. There is no option in a book to generate a campaign automatically, but you can just go to My Campaigns and create a new one. Give your players the invite link and you're good to go.
If you're looking for a virtual tabletop, that is not something D&D Beyond offers. All the maps in all the adventures are available as high resolution images, both in DM and Player versions where available, but there's no native map sharing and token system.
I hope this helps answer your questions and queries.
The site isn't very intuitive, but you'll find anything you need using the pull-down menus at the top of the page. Collections is where you'll want to go to start a campaign, among other things; Game Rules is where you go to look up mechanics (classes, races, etc); Sources has all the books - if you want to read something from a book rather than look it up in Game Rules, this is where you go (it's also where you go to consult adventures you bought); Tools is the section with the character builder, encounter builder and combat tracker.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Thank you for your response. I am not looking for a VTT. I am running a tabletop game. So as I understand what you are saying I use the campaign tool to gather players together and import them into encounters. And encounters tool to create all of my encounters. Then run them using the Alpha version combat tracker? Does the system allow for stuff like a timeline or story building chapters or do I need to purchase prebuilt adventures for that? Honestly I am looking for a tool to help me keep all of the events of my self build campaign sorted and accessible. Plus help with character management and combat.
Does the system allow for stuff like a timeline or story building chapters or do I need to purchase prebuilt adventures for that? Honestly I am looking for a tool to help me keep all of the events of my self build campaign sorted and accessible.
No, DDB doesn’t have anything like that. There are other sites that offer tools for this kind of thing, but nothing that really suits me enough that I’d pay for it. I stick with my flash card approach. Lots of options though, as many as there are different DMs I guess.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
DDB is great for character sheets, initiative tracking, items, monsters, building encounters, and referencing official D&D content that you purchase through the site.
If you're looking for something to keep track of story progression/world building, maybe try World Anvil? I don't know much about it. I tried it and didn't find it very intuitive. I've stuck to pen & paper for that stuff. You could also create private channels in Discord, if your group uses that, to keep track of things.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
So I am very new to D&D Beyond, I am running a 5e group and I want to switch over to using Beyond to help me with combat, character management, encounters and anything else I can get out of it. I started a Campaign but I do not see a button, tab or link to start a game or begin running the campaign. Like I said I am very new to beyond and could seriously use some help. Right now this seems like I have wasted my money on source books and subscription to this service. Please help prove me wrong about that. i really want D&D Beyond to make my gaming life easier.
Welcome to the site! D&D Beyond can be broken down roughly into three things; Compendium, Listings and Tools
Compendium
These are your digital books and you get them when you either buy the whole book, or the compendium only option. They can be accessed through the Sources menu and when you select a book, you will be taken to its contents page. From there you can browse the book in much the same layout as the physical book.
Listings
Listings are the various parts of the book broken up into individual elements. You get all the listings of a book when you buy the whole book, or you can buy them individually. Listings can be accessed through the Game Rules menu, and cover the following areas:
It's important to note that listings are what appear in the tools. So if you only have the compendium of a book, it's options will not appear in the character builder, combat tracker etc.
Tools
D&D Beyond uses the listings in its tools, of which there are the following
Now, as for what you've said about trying 'start a game or begin running the campaign', this depends what you mean. There is no option in a book to generate a campaign automatically, but you can just go to My Campaigns and create a new one. Give your players the invite link and you're good to go.
If you're looking for a virtual tabletop, that is not something D&D Beyond offers. All the maps in all the adventures are available as high resolution images, both in DM and Player versions where available, but there's no native map sharing and token system.
I hope this helps answer your questions and queries.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
The site isn't very intuitive, but you'll find anything you need using the pull-down menus at the top of the page. Collections is where you'll want to go to start a campaign, among other things; Game Rules is where you go to look up mechanics (classes, races, etc); Sources has all the books - if you want to read something from a book rather than look it up in Game Rules, this is where you go (it's also where you go to consult adventures you bought); Tools is the section with the character builder, encounter builder and combat tracker.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Here's a quick guide on YouTube for setting up a campaign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtmV2UjhOA8
Davyd's reply is full of information as well.
Thank you for your response. I am not looking for a VTT. I am running a tabletop game. So as I understand what you are saying I use the campaign tool to gather players together and import them into encounters. And encounters tool to create all of my encounters. Then run them using the Alpha version combat tracker? Does the system allow for stuff like a timeline or story building chapters or do I need to purchase prebuilt adventures for that? Honestly I am looking for a tool to help me keep all of the events of my self build campaign sorted and accessible. Plus help with character management and combat.
No, DDB doesn’t have anything like that. There are other sites that offer tools for this kind of thing, but nothing that really suits me enough that I’d pay for it. I stick with my flash card approach. Lots of options though, as many as there are different DMs I guess.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
DDB is great for character sheets, initiative tracking, items, monsters, building encounters, and referencing official D&D content that you purchase through the site.
If you're looking for something to keep track of story progression/world building, maybe try World Anvil? I don't know much about it. I tried it and didn't find it very intuitive. I've stuck to pen & paper for that stuff. You could also create private channels in Discord, if your group uses that, to keep track of things.