What previous supplements would you like to see brought back for 5e?

TheSword · Jun 2, 2019

Either the Ruins of Myth drannor or Menzoberranzan. My two favourite boxed sets.

A'Kin · Jun 2, 2019

Do module's count?

I can think of a lot of old stuff even from the original D&D (without "Advanced") that I'd love to see adapted. Like Earthshaker and Dungeonland

TwoSix · Jun 2, 2019

LordEntrails said:
You two do know this exists for 5E right? I mean you are both regulars here you got to know right? Is it just that the product isn't the U/I you want or at the price you want so you ignore it right?

Fantasy Grounds. sure, it's designed as a VTT, but it does everything you say you want.

- Offline: yep, it is.
- Creates and Updates PCs; yep, does that with drag and drop or direct text entry. Agreed it's not billed as a character manager, because you can't easily remove levels, but PC's only take minutes to create and update.
- Creates Encounters; yep, does that. Calculates the CR and XP and links to all the NPC entries (plus places them on maps and into the Combat Tracker if you want that).
- Digital copies of the Core Books; Yep, they are in a proprietary format so you have to read them in FG, but it's much like any e-pub with inline images, searching, etc. And you do have to buy the books you want or make them yourself.
- Basic Map Making with Hyperlinks; OK, so the native map making sucks. But its easy to import any map image in and then hyperlink it to encounters, stories, treasure parcels, etc. And, the new FGU that just completed its Kickstarter with over 8k backers is scheduled for release by December this year and has both tile and brush based map creation in it.
- Custom material creation and import; Yep, as evidenced by all the DMsGuild content available for FG and all the free stuff available on it's forums.

So, its not that what you want does not already exists. Is it just not as cheap as you want it? Or is it because it's marketed as a VTT and not a D&D digital tool pack? What is it that keeps you from using it for what you say you want?

Probably for the same reason I don't buy a new car just to get something to play music on.

I don't want a VTT, so paying for one is a little silly. I want a character builder. I don't want to pay for another copy of a book I own, although I'm happy to pay a few extra bucks for the electronic implementation of the rules in the book.

Arnwolf666 · Jun 2, 2019

Poor wizards almanac and tall tales of the wee folk

LordEntrails · Jun 2, 2019

TwoSix said:
I don't want a VTT, so paying for one is a little silly. I want a character builder. I don't want to pay for another copy of a book I own, although I'm happy to pay a few extra bucks for the electronic implementation of the rules in the book.

Not if it does exactly what you want at a price you are ok with. Who cares what it is called? Now, if (as you state) you don't want to pay the price, that's fine. But folks should not continue to claim no such tool exists just because its called something different and costs more than they are willing to pay.

TwoSix · Jun 2, 2019

LordEntrails said:
Not if it does exactly what you want at a price you are ok with. Who cares what it is called? Now, if (as you state) you don't want to pay the price, that's fine. But folks should not continue to claim no such tool exists just because its called something different and costs more than they are willing to pay.

If you can me a sample PDF of the characters it generates, I’ll see if it fits my desires well enough to try a demo.

Sacrosanct · Jun 2, 2019

LordEntrails said:
You two do know this exists for 5E right? I mean you are both regulars here you got to know right? Is it just that the product isn't the U/I you want or at the price you want so you ignore it right?

Fantasy Grounds. sure, it's designed as a VTT, but it does everything you say you want.

- Offline: yep, it is.
- Creates and Updates PCs; yep, does that with drag and drop or direct text entry. Agreed it's not billed as a character manager, because you can't easily remove levels, but PC's only take minutes to create and update.
- Creates Encounters; yep, does that. Calculates the CR and XP and links to all the NPC entries (plus places them on maps and into the Combat Tracker if you want that).
- Digital copies of the Core Books; Yep, they are in a proprietary format so you have to read them in FG, but it's much like any e-pub with inline images, searching, etc. And you do have to buy the books you want or make them yourself.
- Basic Map Making with Hyperlinks; OK, so the native map making sucks. But its easy to import any map image in and then hyperlink it to encounters, stories, treasure parcels, etc. And, the new FGU that just completed its Kickstarter with over 8k backers is scheduled for release by December this year and has both tile and brush based map creation in it.
- Custom material creation and import; Yep, as evidenced by all the DMsGuild content available for FG and all the free stuff available on it's forums.

So, its not that what you want does not already exists. Is it just not as cheap as you want it? Or is it because it's marketed as a VTT and not a D&D digital tool pack? What is it that keeps you from using it for what you say you want?

Whao, slow down with the assumptions and accusations. I'm not ignoring FG for whatever spurious reasons you're implying.

For one, you do need to be online to use it. Every time you start it, it checks the validity of your license online. So while you don't need a connection to use it after that, you do in fact require an online connection to start the program. That's one of my key things I want that CoreRules had that I wish was back.

Secondly, price is a factor. If I want what CoreRules provided, I'd have to spend about $200 to do so.

Thirdly, the lack of built in map making is a big one.

Fourthly, the books included in CoreRules were in .doc format, so I could read/edit/print them anywhere and easily. It sounds like you aren't familiar with what CoreRules was, so it seems odd you say it does everything I want when it in fact doesn't.

LordEntrails · Jun 2, 2019

Sacrosanct said:
For one, you do need to be online to use it. Every time you start it, it checks the validity of your license online. So while you don't need a connection to use it after that, you do in fact require an online connection to start the program. That's one of my key things I want that CoreRules had that I wish was back.

You are wrong. You never need to be online to start the program or access your content. You do need to be online in 2 cases only; 1) when players are joining you from remote locations (i.e. using the internet), 2) if you have players local to your network that are connecting to your game and you use an Ultimate license and the player does not have a license. But neither are those cases relevant to use case you outlined because those are VTT capabilities, not an offline character and campaign builder that you said you wanted.

Secondly, price is a factor. If I want what CoreRules provided, I'd have to spend about $200 to do so.

Valid reason. And why it was one of the reasons I explicitly said was understandable. Not sure your price estimate is right, but FG is does cost more than "free" to do what you want.

Thirdly, the lack of built in map making is a big one.

Ok, if it is to you, fine. But given their are numerous offline map builders available (many free), I have no idea why a single tool that does both is so important to you, but if that's your requirement you'll have to wait for FGU (~December 2019) to have everything in one package.

Fourthly, the books included in CoreRules were in .doc format, so I could read/edit/print them anywhere and easily. It sounds like you aren't familiar with what CoreRules was, so it seems odd you say it does everything I want when it in fact doesn't.

You are now changing the goal posts so to speak. You stated digital format, now you are demanding a specific digital format. Are you going to keep adding requirements? You said "like" the CR CD, not identical to it. And by the way, I do have the Core Rules CD, but haven't had a need or desire to use it since I got FG.

Anyways, my point is that something "like" what you originally said you wanted exists. Is it identical? Nope!

LordEntrails · Jun 2, 2019

TwoSix said:
If you can me a sample PDF of the characters it generates, I’ll see if it fits my desires well enough to try a demo.

Here are three random AL formatted sheets from recent campaigns I've run.

View attachment Drangen_13.pdf
View attachment Meinan_5.pdf
View attachment Ray_5.pdf

ccs · Jun 2, 2019

Telvin said:
Point 2, however, dredging up an old copy (especially if you the type that likes physical books as opposed to PDF) can be time consuming and expensive.

You've heard of EBay right?
A moments search for D&D Deities & Demigods yielded me at least 70some results starting as low as $10 (for a 1e Legends & Lore - same book, just different cover art & title used on the 6th+ printings) up to the ridiculous$ (for 1st prints with Cthulu/Elric). With many 2nd+ prints being in the $20-$40 range.
It's consistently like this btw.

So I'm guessing by expensive you meant "likely cheaper than a current 5e book", & by time consuming you meant "greater than 3 minutes"?