D&D's Lead Slightly Increases On Roll20 & World of Darkness On The Rise

Jester David · Jul 22, 2017

Over the Hill Gamer said:
5e is definitely driving players to roll20. I don't see a lot of evidence to suggest that "all boats are rising,"

I don't either. So far it looks like the other boats are just not sinking...
But 3rd party publishers that do D&D stuff are doing well. They can get three to four times the backers on Kickstarter than for Pathfinder content.

LordEntrails · Jul 22, 2017

Over the Hill Gamer said:
... If I had an RPG on the market, I'd promote it on roll20.

I'd try to promote it on all the main VTT's. But it suprises me how many don't, and from the comments I hear the developers/publishers make it's usually because they simple don't don't how to do it and don't want to allow someone else to do the necessary work.

But, maybe there is more to it than I know, probably.

Michael Hebert · Jul 22, 2017

At GenCon I will be looking at all the various VTT: Fantasy Grounds, Roll20, D20Pro, Infinitas, Mapforge
Anyway, any recommendations as to which is the easiest to use? I looked up comparisons online the results pulled up reviews from years ago which are probably no longer valid. My group primarily plays 5e, 3.5, occasionally FASERIP, Star Trek

Morrus · Jul 22, 2017

Jester David said:
I don't either. So far it looks like the other boats are just not sinking...
But 3rd party publishers that do D&D stuff are doing well. They can get three to four times the backers on Kickstarter than for Pathfinder content.

While that's been true for us (I can't speak for other publishers) I suspect in part that's a saturation issue. There's just so much choice for Pathfinder after all these years that it's harder to stand out.

darjr · Jul 22, 2017

At a recent con I had a table of folks completely new to gaming at the table top. ALL of them however had played online. One had played and run quite a lot. It was very strange.

Jester David · Jul 22, 2017

Morrus said:
While that's been true for us (I can't speak for other publishers) I suspect in part that's a saturation issue. There's just so much choice for Pathfinder after all these years that it's harder to stand out.

Well, my opinion on Pathfinder's saturation has been well stated.

Of course, right now we only have the micro view: a couple small years while D&D is still just growing. Everyone coming into the hobby or returning is playing D&D. In two or five years they might wrap up their major campaigns and feel tapped out with the game and want to try other RPGs: other genres, more complex systems, more story based systems, and the like. And then spread out elsewhere into the hobby.

Morrus · Jul 22, 2017

Jester David said:
Well, my opinion on Pathfinder's saturation has been well stated.

I’m sure it has! However, I am not familiar with said statement.

Jester David · Jul 22, 2017

Morrus said:
I’m sure it has! However, I am not familiar with said statement.

I just didn't want to crap on Pathfinder and Paizo in a thread about Roll20....
Because I do love the company and the people behind Pathfinder, and I wish them continual success, but IMHO, the product line isn't seguing well from being a growing line that needs lots of new support to a mature line that needs little support.

At this point I need negative numbers of books. I want their newest book to somehow, magically, remove a book full of options from my shelf. I'd love to keep buying their books and supporting their company, but they're not releasing products I want to buy.

I stopping buying their physical books a year or so ago, and purchased PDFs of their last few for review purposes but found myself filled with such apathy that I couldn't bother finishing them enough to give them an adequate review. Like the Adventurer's Guide, that's presented as a book of organisations, but gives each less than 1/2 a page (often far less than those organisations received in earlier products) and then follows than with page after page of mechanical options for a game that already has too many mechanical options.

darjr · Jul 22, 2017

It's a good cautionary tale. I fear that even WotC with 5e will get there considering that many, including me, thought that Paizo had a slow release schedule compared to 3 and had escaped this fate.

I hope WotC is watching this and planning accordingly. And I hope that plan isn't yet another edition. I don't think Paizo could do another edition either.

LordEntrails · Jul 22, 2017

Michael Hebert said:
At GenCon I will be looking at all the various VTT: Fantasy Grounds, Roll20, D20Pro, Infinitas, Mapforge
Anyway, any recommendations as to which is the easiest to use? I looked up comparisons online the results pulled up reviews from years ago which are probably no longer valid. My group primarily plays 5e, 3.5, occasionally FASERIP, Star Trek

I did this comparison a couple of years back (May 2015?) Here are the things that were important to me, and things that from my experience since then I would reccomend you consider;

1) Software Health - How often is the software update with new features? How quickly are bugs resolved? How long as the software been in production?
2) Software Architecture - Do you want all your data stored on your computer, or do you want it stored on somebody's server? Are you concerned what happens with what you create and purchase if the company goes out of business? Do you have a stable internet connection that you can host? Are you on someone else's network and are you going to have trouble allowing others to connect to you?
3) Community - How healthy is the user community? Is the community friendly and helpful to new users? Is the community tolerant of discussions of their competitors? (Or do they have a policy that such is forbidden and you will be banned if you ask?) How active is the community? Are the community leaders helpful to new people?
4) Technical Support - Can you get support from the community and/or company in a timely manner? This also ties into how friendly and helpful the community is and how quickly bugs are resolved.
5) How easy is the application to use during gameplay?
6) How easy is it for the DM/GM to create content? Homebrew (maps, races, spells, items, NPCs...)
7) Automation - Does the system handle things like hit and damage resolution? Conditions and effects? Are these built in or do you have to build them (macros or scripts) yourself?
8) Publisher support - Are the systems you want to use supported? To what level? Some product or all products? What about 3rd party products for such systems?

All that said, my decision was FG for 3 reasons; 1) Official 5E support with all products, 2) Community friendliness and support, 3) Ease of content/DM/GM creation

More questions should probably be directed to a different thread (either a new one or one of the old ones that discuss these).
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