D&D (2024) D&D's Upcoming Digital Tabletop

Perhaps the showstopper of todays D&D Direct event was a preview of the upcoming D&D digital playspace. Hosts Gina Darling and Ify Nwadiwe met with Kale Stutzman, principal game designer of D&D Digital, where he ran them through an adventure using the technology. The video shown in the presentation, though, was labeled “Pre-alpha gameplay footage.”

The upcoming D&D VTT uses Unreal Engine 5 to power it.

“There are a lot of ways to play D&D online and we don't think a lot of them hit the big three things we think are important – fun, convenience, authenticity,” said Stutzman.

In the demo, you see the dice roll on the screen, and it bursts into the result. Encounter mode is when you roll initiative

“The DM can set the mood, the lighting, what time of day is it. Is it raining? Are there fire embers falling from the sky?” said Stutzman.

The community will be able to create and share assets. “We want to make content that's building blocks that people can break apart and make their own content with. That remix is core to the DNA of D&D, said Stutzman.

Stutzman didn't answer when the VTT will release, but he did say that D&D staff and limited friends and family are trying it now and that they're going to gradually open it up. “...and a lot of people listening will be able to play it this year,” Stutzman added, which means a play test in “late 2023.”

 

[Zaukrie]

Oh jeez, here we go. Losing D&D more and more. Hate what it's become within almost the past 2 decades. Last of it died out in 2008

What are your talking about? My friends live in other states, what would you like us to do? Seriously?

 

[mellored]

you can use other VTTs for that, what does this one get you that you are interested in it for that?

The best integration with all the rules, character builder, monsters, campaigns (presumably) . DMs searching for a monster, and dropping it in the game, stats ready. Players taking dropping in their characters. Ect...

Which should make it easier and faster to play. Or at least that seems to be the main goal.

Also, fancier graphics.

 

[GothmogTheMighty]

Looks great! But I don't think that it will be usefull for GMs who like to improvise. But buying and playing full ready to go Adventures might work very well. I am very curious about the pricing model they plan to have with it.

I know that was just a presentiation thing, but having all palyer on the same table with each their own laptop using the online 3D VTT seems like a strange usecase

Exactly, this’ll work only for prepackaged with modules, production costs for this fidelity will rule out 3rd parties entirely.

 

[Zaukrie]

Exactly, this’ll work only for prepackaged with modules, production costs for this fidelity will rule out 3rd parties entirely.

Nope. They do complex stuff already. If they allow people to build and sell stuff, they will.

 

[GothmogTheMighty]

Nope. They do complex stuff already. If they allow people to build and sell stuff, they will.

Ahh ha ha ha. No. You have no idea. If it’s not in the dataset wotc sells it will simply never happen. This sh*t is expensive. $5k per asset and up. No indie can afford that.

 

[doctorhook]

It looks beautiful, but I’ve been hurt before. Especially by Hasbro.

I would definitely use a tool that looks like this, but I’m not stoked about the inevitable microtransactions for new minis, tiles, and spells. I also assume it’ll be strongly locked into the core D&D ruleset, which is also a bummer. Finally, while it looks beautiful now, 3D stuff always ends up looking dated a few years later.

Ahh I’m being too negative. But I’m gonna wait before I let myself get excited about this.

 

[Zaukrie]

Ahh ha ha ha. No. You have no idea. If it’s not in the dataset wotc sells it will simply never happen. This sh*t is expensive. $5k per asset and up. No indie can afford that.

Ah. I misunderstood....I expect people to use the assets they supply and sell stuff, not build assets. If allowed.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Exactly, this’ll work only for prepackaged with modules, production costs for this fidelity will rule out 3rd parties entirely.

You don't know that, given that 2d maps are stated to work with it.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Oh jeez, here we go. Losing D&D more and more. Hate what it's become within almost the past 2 decades. Last of it died out in 2008

Love when nice things are previewed and grogs come out to complain about it. "How dare things not be exactly the same as I remember."

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I remember seeing previews for a similar product around 4th ed, which turned out to be vaporware. I like the idea and the 3 principles, but I'll reserve judgment until we see an actual product.

Considering I used the 4e vtt to run games…vapor ware is an exaggeration, IMO. It never left beta because the developer died, but it was already easy and fun to use, in beta. And integrated with the 4e character builder pretty well.
if they’d finished that suite of tools, the state of digital tools in TTRPGS would be a lot different.

I remember trying to go from the 4e tools to roll20 or one of its competitors, trying multiple programs, and even years later never having quite as easy a time, or having as much fun with as low a barrier to entry.

My concern with it being not part of DnD Beyond is having to buy stuff twice (three times!)....assuming they build maps/adventures based on books from WotC.

I doubt they’re going to halfway integrate it with ddb.

It...looks really cool. I have a lot of doubts about how easy it will be for my tired old brain to figure out, given that Roll20 was challenging. But given my staggering investment in miniatures and terrain, I don't see myself as the main target.

I'll give it a try though.

Oh, about how easy it will be to use on the fly: no idea, but that is very much an issue when you like building physical sets as well. My solution is to pre-prepare any sets that I think are likely to come into play, and if things go differently we just wing it using flip maps or even just theatre of the mind. When the sets do come out, they are the show stoppers. This might work the same way, where you pre-prepare (or purchase) the set beforehand.

Though given how good chatbots are at building a setting off a few prompts, I could see a use for AI here, if it was trained on the tools. It would be cool if the user was able to type something like "create a roughly 120'x120' swampy area with a few natural hazards and a shambling mound" and the AI did the rest.

Here's what ChatGPT did with that prompt, by the way:
You find yourself in the heart of a murky swamp, surrounded by tangled vegetation and bubbling mud. The air is thick with the scent of decay and the croaks of bullfrogs and the buzzing of insects. The ground beneath your feet is slick and uneven, making movement treacherous.

In the center of the swamp lies a 120'x120' clearing. The ground here is even more unstable than the surrounding area, with patches of quicksand and deep pools of stagnant water. The water here is murky, and you cannot see the bottom. The only safe path through the clearing is a narrow strip of solid ground that winds its way through the mire.

In the distance, you can see a large, hulking shape slowly making its way towards you through the muck. It is a shambling mound, a creature made of tangled vines and mud, with glowing yellow eyes and a gaping maw filled with razor-sharp teeth. The mound seems to be drawn to the scent of your flesh, and it is moving faster now, the mud churning beneath its massive feet.

As you prepare to face the shambling mound, you notice several other hazards in the area. Large, carnivorous plants with sharp, thorn-like teeth line the edges of the clearing, ready to ensnare any unwary travelers who stray too close. Poisonous snakes and leeches lurk in the water, waiting for their next victim. And overhead, a murder of crows circles, watching the scene with keen interest, perhaps waiting for the perfect moment to swoop down and grab a tasty snack.

Now imagine that something like it had access to the VTT tools instead of just text...

Yeah the potential to use procedural generation to help the DM improvise new scenes on the fly is pretty cool.

Oh jeez, here we go. Losing D&D more and more. Hate what it's become within almost the past 2 decades. Last of it died out in 2008

Lolwut?

You saw people playing pretty normal D&D with a digital tabletop instead of physical minis, complete with improvisation and bending the rules to facilitate play, and…someone see the end of D&D ? Hwhat?

Exactly, this’ll work only for prepackaged with modules, production costs for this fidelity will rule out 3rd parties entirely.

This is laughable. Not as bad as the comment above this one, but still quite out there.

Ahh ha ha ha. No. You have no idea. If it’s not in the dataset wotc sells it will simply never happen. This sh*t is expensive. $5k per asset and up. No indie can afford that.

Yeah video games at this fidelity never get fan made mods lol

Ah. I misunderstood....I expect people to use the assets they supply and sell stuff, not build assets. If allowed.

From all I’ve read, the engine should support fan mods just fine. And the goal is explicitly to allow users to make new stuff.