D&D (2024) I am highly skeptical of the Unreal VTT

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.

Tell that to cliff divers

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

I’m sure that the WotC VTT will sell stuff too. But, again, I doubt you’ll be paying five bucks for a single mini skin or paying for access to a single spell.

Meanwhile, in the real world of DnDBeyond, the spell Silvery Barb is on sale for 1.99 USD.

You can get the discount of your lifetime by getting all 5 Strixhaven spells bundled for a mere 4.99, a 49.9% discount. Buy now and get the best value!

 

[MarkB]

This is another element of visually strong (2D or 3D) VTTs I have noticed some folks get frustrated with: the higher the visual fidelity, the harder it can be to make your character (or monster or adventure location or whatever) appear like the one in your head and the less you can rely on other players using their minds eye. This isn't really a new problem. People have been seeking just the right mini and struggling with building perfect terrain since the inception of the hobby, but I think graphic intensive VTTs exacerbate the problem.

There are a number of services such as HeroForge which allow people to create highly detailed minis in-browser, and then purchase them either as 3D printer files or physical minis. Despite the expense, a lot of players seem to use them in order to get just the right look for their character.

As I speculated upthread, it would not at all surprise me if WotC either acquires such an app or builds their own, and adds the option to export your mini to their VTT.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There are a number of services such as HeroForge which allow people to create highly detailed minis in-browser, and then purchase them either as 3D printer files or physical minis. Despite the expense, a lot of players seem to use them in order to get just the right look for their character.

As I speculated upthread, it would not at all surprise me if WotC either acquires such an app or builds their own, and adds the option to export your mini to their VTT.

Hasbro buying HeroForge is something they have the money to do and which would be a huge power move.

It'd also enable them to make miniatures available for all of their monsters and NPCs the same day as their books go on sale, which would be a very big deal for folks who use them, and they could integrate that with their VTT and just export those modified STL files (I assume) directly to that instead.

 

[Hussar]

Meanwhile, in the real world of DnDBeyond, the spell Silvery Barb is on sale for 1.99 USD.

You can get the discount of your lifetime by getting all 5 Strixhaven spells bundled for a mere 4.99, a 49.9% discount. Buy now and get the best value!

Is that a micro transaction when you can buy the whole book?

Maybe I’m interpreting this wrong. That’s certainly possible. My understanding of micro transactions is that you paid a bit of money for content and that was the only way to get that content. So if you wanted a skin for your gun, you either played a bunch of hours hoping to earn it somehow, or you ponied up the money and bought it.

Which also plays into the pay to win scheme where micro transactions resulted in true in game advantages for the player.

Am I using the wrong definition?

Because from my point of view, making bits of a whole book available for individual purchase isn’t really a micro transaction. There’s no advantage to to buyer. And overall it’s more expensive to purchase this way.

But if all I need from a book is one spell, well I pay my 2 bucks and I’ve got it. It saves me copying out the text and allows me to integrate it into my own account.

Not really seeing the issue here.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In fact, it's even better than that @Hussar. If you decide to buy just some pieces of the book, it discounts the remainder of the book. The most you will ever pay is full price, even if you just buy it piecemeal, as it will eventually scale the rest of the book down to next to nothing, at which point, it's cheapest to just buy the remainder as one package.

 

[Reynard]

There are a number of services such as HeroForge which allow people to create highly detailed minis in-browser, and then purchase them either as 3D printer files or physical minis. Despite the expense, a lot of players seem to use them in order to get just the right look for their character.

As I speculated upthread, it would not at all surprise me if WotC either acquires such an app or builds their own, and adds the option to export your mini to their VTT.

I'm not sure how that refutes my point. Yes, hero forge has a wide variety of options to fiddle with. It doesn't guarantee that someone is going to be able to represent their character -- a problem they don't have on a basic whiteboard with a token that just says "B" or whatever.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm not sure how that refutes my point. Yes, hero forge has a wide variety of options to fiddle with. It doesn't guarantee that someone is going to be able to represent their character -- a problem they don't have on a basic whiteboard with a token that just says "B" or whatever.

I have been unable to make my main D&D character in HeroForge, although I have been able to make an acceptable gnome who is very much not him.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

The fact that existing VTTs all have a pretty steep learning curve suggests this is hard to get right as a truly mass market product.

Well unlike the others they own the product it's being made for and it's only meant to work with that product.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Well unlike the others they own the product it's being made for and it's only meant to work with that product.

I don't think that's the biggest part of the learning curve for VTTs, although it certainly will help.