What's Next For D&D? Live From Origins - D&D Beyond

D&D Beyond was covered at the What's Next For D&D? panel at Origins Game Fair. In a previous article, I covered Tomb of Annihilation, courtesy of Twitter user Kato Katonian who live-tweeted the panel. This article covers D&D Beyond, the upcoming digital tools suite for Dungeons & Dragons. Curse's Adam Bradford was on the panel to represent D&D Beyond.

• Simply provide tools for managing game easier. Not making [D&D] into a video game.
• Beta phase 2 of D&D Beyond is digital character builder. This month.
• Create characters in minutes instead of hours, is the promise. Quick build, randomized generator, or straight up full creation.
• Digital character sheet. Aiming to be useful on smartphone (as well as full PC) to use at table.
• Beta Phase 3 of D&D Beyond: Homebrew & Campaign management. E.g. DM can make custom magic item and PC can have it on their sheet.
• Home brew stuff can be made public for other users. Campaign mgmt will allow DM to see and edit player character sheets.
• Two tiers of subscriptions: Hero Tier for players (unlimited character slots)...
• Master Subscription: DMs can share any content they've bought through Beyond with their players. No price points yet.
• Future Beyond features: stream integration, pronunciation guide, native mobile app, monster progression, encounter builder, init trackr.
• Pronunciation guide done by Matt Mercer and Marisha Ray. Coming in next few months, possibly sooner.
• Native mobile app a priority.
• D&D Beyond is planning on having all 13 print products integrated at launch (no pricing yet).
• After release, content will be available in D&D Beyond same day as hobby store release.

SaveSave​

 

[DnDBeyond]

As a kid I used to just roll up characters when I was bored and build them out. Why, in 2017, you can't go to D&D's website and generate characters for fun, I have no idea. If you want to draw in a kid let him go and make a character! For free. This thing is going to be a pay site? This approach should be PART of the gaming experience now. You should get an account when you buy the handbook.

Hey, it's Adam here.

It actually will be free to create up to six characters with SRD/ Basic Rules/ EEPC content. And you can create six, delete them all, and start again if you want to do it over and over.

No need for a subscription or to buy additional content to use the builder and digital sheet for that.

There's no need to subscribe if six characters are enough for you. There's no need to buy additional official content if the SRD/ Basic Rules are enough for you.

We're just giving everyone all the options for them to make their choice.

We'll be launching fairly soon, and I still believe people will see the pricing we've pushed so hard to get and be pleasantly surprised. (Or maybe not. It is, after all, the internet.)

I would love to meet every single person that is skeptical about what we're doing and have a conversation about this game that we all love. I feel like if I could have just ten minutes, it could go a long way toward convincing everyone that we're really trying to do something good for players and the game, something that I myself have wanted to use for years.

* steps down from the table, rolls Persuasion...we'll see what I got on the check.

Thanks!

 

[Sands999]

Hey, it's Adam here.

It actually will be free to create up to six characters with SRD/ Basic Rules/ EEPC content. And you can create six, delete them all, and start again if you want to do it over and over.

No need for a subscription or to buy additional content to use the builder and digital sheet for that.

There's no need to subscribe if six characters are enough for you. There's no need to buy additional official content if the SRD/ Basic Rules are enough for you.

We're just giving everyone all the options for them to make their choice.

We'll be launching fairly soon, and I still believe people will see the pricing we've pushed so hard to get and be pleasantly surprised. (Or maybe not. It is, after all, the internet.)

I would love to meet every single person that is skeptical about what we're doing and have a conversation about this game that we all love. I feel like if I could have just ten minutes, it could go a long way toward convincing everyone that we're really trying to do something good for players and the game, something that I myself have wanted to use for years.

* steps down from the table, rolls Persuasion...we'll see what I got on the check.

Thanks!

CRITICAL SUCCESS

i am convinced. Where do I sign?

 

[darjr]

In game reference. That's what I need. I need to easily pull up several and different references and easily keep them 'around' to flip back to or somehow have on the same screen at the same time. Nothing quite does this well enough for me. Maybe a desktop with several copies open at a time so I can see page 3 and page 210 in one book while I have part of a page from book two open for reference.

I can right click to open things into other tabs from the search, then search again to open a new tab. However it's kinda combersome. Not enough is in the tab to easily find what I already pulled up. Also if I tear the tabed pages out into their own window it gets even more messy.

I'm not sure I have the answer, I'm just asking the question.

 

[MostlyHarmless42]

The only digital tool I have ever wanted for 5th edition is a monster builder. I want to be able to take a preexisting monster, and alter their stats on the fly, add hit dice, raise ac, change attacks/damage, add/remove preexisting monster abilities (or create my own), and automatically calculate the CR of the creature/fill in the appropriate stat block data. Giving me a blank stat block and making me calculate and fill it all put by hand will not cut it. Herolab was amazing for this with Pathfinder/3.5 and it is literally the only thing I miss from playing those editions. I realize 5th edition is a much more free form game and that that is asking a lot, but that is the only thing I want. Otherwise I will not be buying this product. I love this new edition and I wish this product line success, but short of a monster builder and digital searchable pdfs, the beauty of this edition is precisely that I *don't* need a bunch of electronics to run a game.

 

[TheSwartz]

And, why am I supposed to take "Matt Mercer and Marisha Ray" (whoever they are) as a definitive source for pronunciation? I assume these are online celebrities, so how does this clear up the pronunciation of classic monsters such as ixitxachitl or Blibdoolpoolp?

 

[Morrus]

And, why am I supposed to take "Matt Mercer and Marisha Ray" (whoever they are) as a definitive source for pronunciation? I assume these are online celebrities, so how does this clear up the pronunciation of classic monsters such as ixitxachitl or Blibdoolpoolp?

You can use their guide, or you can not use it. They are actors who have worked for/with WotC on their various media projects.

We have a guide here, too (again, you can use or ignore as you wish):

http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?151-D-D-Pronunciation-Guide#.WUZv6MbMxBw

 

[JeffB]

And, why am I supposed to take "Matt Mercer and Marisha Ray" (whoever they are) as a definitive source for pronunciation? I assume these are online celebrities, so how does this clear up the pronunciation of classic monsters such as ixitxachitl or Blibdoolpoolp?

That was my first thought too.

Here's an idea...call Frank Mentzer. Rob Kuntz, Tim Kask.

 

[DEFCON 1]

That was my first thought too.

Here's an idea...call Frank Mentzer. Rob Kuntz, Tim Kask.

How do we know the folks at WotC haven't already done that, received the proper pronounciation for these things from people like that, then have passed that info onto Curse (and thus Mercer and Ray) to have it recorded for others to hear?

Do people really think Mercer and Ray are just going into the recording booth and making up their own pronounciations on the fly?

 

[SigmaOne]

In game reference. That's what I need. I need to easily pull up several and different references and easily keep them 'around' to flip back to or somehow have on the same screen at the same time. Nothing quite does this well enough for me. Maybe a desktop with several copies open at a time so I can see page 3 and page 210 in one book while I have part of a page from book two open for reference.

I can right click to open things into other tabs from the search, then search again to open a new tab. However it's kinda combersome. Not enough is in the tab to easily find what I already pulled up. Also if I tear the tabed pages out into their own window it gets even more messy.

I'm not sure I have the answer, I'm just asking the question.

Are you taking part in the beta, and providing feedback in their web forums? These are good ideas, so you should be if you area not already.

 

[SigmaOne]

And, why am I supposed to take "Matt Mercer and Marisha Ray" (whoever they are) as a definitive source for pronunciation? I assume these are online celebrities, so how does this clear up the pronunciation of classic monsters such as ixitxachitl or Blibdoolpoolp?

They are voice actors, so my assumption is that they are simply providing the voices, and that the decisions on how things are pronounced are not happening with them. I haven't seen any specification on this, either way.