With D&D Beyond has D&D Leap Frogged the Competition?

[fjw70]

For the last few years 5e D&D has been doing great with electronic versions of most of their content. Many (including me) have been asking for electronic copies note that to be available. Now with DDB IMO WotC has jumped ahead of everyone else in RPG tech and has fully entered the digital age in a dramatic way. I have a few questions to ponder.

Will this get signifcantly more people to drop other games and play D&D?

Will it encourage significantly more new players to enter the hobby?

Will Curse introduce similar products for other systems? Or will other companies use this model to create similar systems for other games?

Personally I am very excited about this product and it fills a need I have had for a while even better than I expected that need to be filled.

 

[Blue]

For the last few years 5e D&D has been doing great with electronic versions of most of their content. Many (including me) have been asking for electronic copies note that to be available. Now with DDB IMO WotC has jumped ahead of everyone else in RPG tech and has fully entered the digital age in a dramatic way. I have a few questions to ponder.

Will this get signifcantly more people to drop other games and play D&D?

Will it encourage significantly more new players to enter the hobby?

Will Curse introduce similar products for other systems? Or will other companies use this model to create similar systems for other games?

Personally I am very excited about this product and it fills a need I have had for a while even better than I expected that need to be filled.

I think you're starting with a false premise. This tech is already out there for a lot of games. Hero Forge, Fantasy Grounds, other games that are all SRD and have mobile apps for quite some time. And of course official, searchable, hyper-linked PDFs available.

D&D hasn't taken a technical lead. But it might have set a new floor for what's needed for an RPG to do well in the market, and that's an interesting question to ponder.

 

[grimfish]

Honest question: who is the competitors that they leapfrogged specifically? I don't see that it is much more than an electronic version of their paper offerings. Who else has electronic versions? Obviously Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds are sort of in the pool with them, but I would not call them competitors.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[fjw70]

Honest question: who is the competitors that they leapfrogged specifically? I don't see that it is much more than an electronic version of their paper offerings. Who else has electronic versions? Obviously Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds are sort of in the pool with them, but I would not call them competitors.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am thinking of other RPGs, Pathfinder, FFG, etc.

 

[fjw70]

I think you're starting with a false premise. This tech is already out there for a lot of games. Hero Forge, Fantasy Grounds, other games that are all SRD and have mobile apps for quite some time. And of course official, searchable, hyper-linked PDFs available.

D&D hasn't taken a technical lead. But it might have set a new floor for what's needed for an RPG to do well in the market, and that's an interesting question to ponder.

I guess my premise/discussion item is that DDB is ahead of what others are doing at the table top.

 

[Blue]

I guess my premise/discussion item is that DDB is ahead of what others are doing at the table top.

But that's what I'm saying - DDB is catch-up, not taking a lead. Many RPGs that the publishers are not as controlling have had out tech-based aids for quite some time, both professional and fan-made.

 

[fjw70]

But that's what I'm saying - DDB is catch-up, not taking a lead. Many RPGs that the publishers are not as controlling have had out tech-based aids for quite some time, both professional and fan-made.

Does any other game have an electronic aid that offers everything that DDB has? Access to all official content in a searchable database (including adventures), integrated character builder, and all elements easily accessible on a computer, tablet, or smart phone?

 

[Arilyn]

Does any other game have an electronic aid that offers everything that DDB has? Access to all official content in a searchable database (including adventures), integrated character builder, and all elements easily accessible on a computer, tablet, or smart phone?

I believe Hero Lab does all these things, and for lots of different game systems. Hero Lab was also more than willing to get the license for 5e, but WOTC said no, presumably because they wanted an exclusive system. The only problem with Hero Lab is that it doesn't work with Android, although, there are fan made fixes. Hero Lab has been around for a long time and is very popular.

 

[fjw70]

I believe Hero Lab does all these things, and for lots of different game systems. Hero Lab was also more than willing to get the license for 5e, but WOTC said no, presumably because they wanted an exclusive system. The only problem with Hero Lab is that it doesn't work with Android, although, there are fan made fixes. Hero Lab has been around for a long time and is very popular.

I thought Hero Lab was just a character builder. Can you look up spells, monsters, etc. using multiple criteria? Can you buy adventures through them. I am asking because I have never used it before?

EDIT: I just briefly checked out the HL iPad app and I don't see anywhere to search rules. It looks like just a character builder/sheet.

 

[LordEntrails]

Does any other game have an electronic aid that offers everything that DDB has? Access to all official content in a searchable database (including adventures), integrated character builder, and all elements easily accessible on a computer, tablet, or smart phone?

You mean everything that DDB PROMISES? They don't have all the content yet.

And as others have said, DDB may be a step forward for D&D, but it by no means is out in front of anybody except a few arcane publishers (grumpy old men?) that refuse anything electronic.