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.

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[Morrus]

That was my first thought too.

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

They have done in various pronunciation guides over the years. I don't expect they're changing anything since those were done; they're just adding voices to it.

 

[JeffB]

They have done in various pronunciation guides over the years. I don't expect they're changing anything since those were done; they're just adding voices to it.

This is true. But WOTC/Post Gary TSR has not always been faithful to the original pronunciations either.

 

[SkidAce]

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?

Because presumably Wizards will tell them the correct pronunciation in order for them to record it.


Edit: Should have read the thread, point was already made. Sorry.

 

[Henry]

This is true. But WOTC/Post Gary TSR has not always been faithful to the original pronunciations either.

Truthfully, I really don't think it matters; to quote Mike Mornard, as O.G. A gamer as there ever was (from Gary Gygax's and Rob Kuntz's first groups), their credo in the 70s was that they "... made up **** they thought would be fun." It's great to get the inout of people like Frank, Gary, Rob, and Mike, but considering they made it whole cloth or took inspiration from elsewhere, it's ours to customize as we see fit.

 

[EternalDungeonMaster]

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!

I'll be honest with you, Adam, even if you could sit down with everyone for 10 minutes and give your spiel, it would probably mean less than you think it would. I attended an entire presentation/game session for that whole Project Morningstar debacle at Origins a few years back. They gave a great, hands-on demonstration, gave their spiel, and I walked away excited and looking forward to it. And don't even get me started about D&D Insider. Words and intentions and plans mean absolutely nothing in this Internet age. When the product is released, the pricing structures revealed, the work reviewed by early adopters, etc., then and only then will jury no longer be out.

I wish you guys all the best, and I hope the product is as good as you say it is and at a price that I can justify paying. But I'm not getting my hopes up again.

 

[DnDBeyond]

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?

In one more time to confirm that the pronunciations that Matt and Marisha will voice come directly (and were blessed/ confirmed by) Wizards of the Coast.

As others have suggested, Matt and Marisha are doing the voice-over work for the feature.

 

[Malovech]

I can't believe how low on the list the encounter builder/tracker is. To me this is the most important feature they could be working on right now.

 

[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?

That was my first thought too.

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

That was exactly the point I was gonna re-post. Thanks!

Don't get me wrong, I'm 100% excited about DDB, I just found this a little more than annoying.

 

[darjr]

Why?

 

[Morrus]

Don't get me wrong, I'm 100% excited about DDB, I just found this a little more than annoying.

Yeah, to repeat [MENTION=52905]darjr[/MENTION]... why?

WotC has produced several written pronunciation guides over the years (one written by Frank Mentzer). Why is having a professional voice actor read them a problem?