Project Sigil All the Deets on Project Sigil the D&D 3D Virtual Tabletop

• Danger in Dunbarrow is the adventure designed to introduced the 3D tabletop.
• Bring in any character from D&D Beyond.
• 'Mini Maker' lets you design digital miniatures.
• Assets designed to feel like buying a high-end mini or figure somewhere between painted and realistic.
• Plug in locations like graveyard, mine, town each with a premade story you can use or ignore.
• "Modding games more than making them whole cloth."
• The Level Builder is like 'the best miniatures set that you could have'. Snap together different kit pieces.
• Secret doors, traps, lifts that go up and down.
• Also use 2D tokens with artwork you have.
• Also use 2D maps.
• You can play other games with it, not just D&D.
• Have Drizzt fight Optimus Prime.
• Share content with others.
• Starting on PC, other platforms later including mobile and console.
• Will be available to try out for free.
• Closed beta coming this fall for those with a DDB account.
• Pre-order 2024 physical and digital core rulebook bundle to get a free digital gold dragon mini to 'kickstarter your Project Sigil collection'.

 

[Oofta]

What they should sell is voice packs. I would pay good money to have my quirky shopkeeper voiced by Matt Mercer!

Or a voice modulator that modifies your voice.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

But, again, those physical minis boxes are for miniature games aren't they? They aren't for D&D. Granted, I don't follow physical minis, like, at all, so, I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Random minis are done to keep the price point of minis lower. That's why they do the random packs. And, because you need a bunch of the same (or similar) mini to make up an army, it's fine - it works. But, anything for the VTT is largely just a cosmetic. Sure, people buy skins and all that for their games. Groovy. Again, I can spend any amount of money I want to spend on virtual minis for Fantasy Grounds. There are bajillions of them out there.

And I can certainly see WotC selling terrain packs. Here's the Spooky House Set. Here's the Halfling Village Set. Here's the Weird Caves Set. Absolutely can see that. The basic VTT will have basic terrain and if you want to go beyond that, you have to pay. That's how every VTT works right now.

Random packs though? .... I just can't even imagine what that would look like. I know that people keep shouting "LOOT BOXES" like it's some sort of explanation. But, I've yet to see anyone actually sit down and explain how they think WotC is going to do it.

Wizkids minis are in semi-randomized boxes.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Wizkids minis are in semi-randomized boxes.

Yes, but that doesn't make sense for a VTT as you should be able to copy minis, so dupes would serve no purpose on Project Sigil. I just don't think it's going to happen.

There is also the mini maker which instantly allows a lot of minis to be made here.

Like my guess is that you will get collections of minis from the basic version, having a sub, and whatever modules you buy.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Yes, but that doesn't make sense for a VTT .

Never said it did. I was just answering an implied question in hussar’s post.

 

[Hussar]

Wizkids minis are in semi-randomized boxes.

I'll be the first to admit, I don't pay any attention to Wizkids. Fair enough.

I'm thinking that the base point about the notion of random loot boxes for minis on a digital VTT pretty much stands.

 

[Argyle King]

Again, comparisons to MtG don't really follow. Part of the hobby of playing MtG is the fact that you have randomized packs of cards with which you build your deck. Randomized packs are the POINT of the game. The fact that you cannot (at least without buying from other markets) go out and buy your deck is exactly why they have randomized packs.

But a randomized pack isn't what virtual minis are about at all. We don't buy minis to play with the minis. We buy minis to play D&D. We buy cards in MtG to play with those cards. It's a totally different market. You don't go out, buy random minis, and then build and adventure around those minis. Minis are 100% secondary.

I said in a thread (a couple months ago) that I could see them having a chance to get "special" minis.

So, something like...

Sure, everybody gets the basic red dragon mini.

But were you one of the lucky ones to get Rotfeutanixn the Night Fire?

Did you get the Höllexeidex mini from purchasing the special Labor Day adventure pack?

 

[Clint_L]

I said in a thread (a couple months ago) that I could see them having a chance to get "special" minis.

So, something like...

Sure, everybody gets the basic red dragon mini.

But were you one of the lucky ones to get Rotfeutanixn the Night Fire?

Did you get the Höllexeidex mini from purchasing the special Labor Day adventure pack?

That’s more or less how Wizkids blind boxes work. It’s possible WotC could sell a product like that. We have no indication that they will, and I think it highly unlikely, simply because I don’t see much upside. But even if they did…okay. I trust folks to know how they want to spend their money.

Also, offering time-limited bargains is pretty normal practice.

 

[Hussar]

I said in a thread (a couple months ago) that I could see them having a chance to get "special" minis.

So, something like...

Sure, everybody gets the basic red dragon mini.

But were you one of the lucky ones to get Rotfeutanixn the Night Fire?

Did you get the Höllexeidex mini from purchasing the special Labor Day adventure pack?

Oh, sure. That I can see. Premium minis. Say the basic red dragon is the 3d model, maybe with a couple of animations. But the next step up model has a bunch more details, nicer colors, and maybe a few more animations. Then the top tier model is the really gorgeous model that makes your graphics card whine.

I mean, heck, I actually expect that sort of thing. If WotC doesn't offer it, but allows 3rd party artists to produce stuff for the VTT like other VTT's do, I would flat out be utterly shocked if we didn't get something like that.

Same goes for maps and tiles. Again, this is just standard VTT stuff. I can use the basic stuff that comes with Fantasy Grounds, or I can get on a Patreon or two and have freaking gorgeous maps. Again, this is all pretty basic stuff that's offered by every VTT out there.

But unless Rotfeutanixn is some sort of lore dragon that I've just missed, who cares? The minis in a VTT are not really that big of a deal. People don't sit down to a game of D&D on a VTT to ooh and ahh over minis that are going to be on the table for all of twenty minutes in the third session of a 60 session campaign. The point of a VTT is to play D&D. (Or whatever RPG you're going to be playing) I'm sure there are some people out there that will pay premium prices to get that super special mini. But, the vast majority won't care. It's not like a skin for Fortnight where you get to show off to all sorts of people that you have that special skin.

Minis in RPG's don't fill the same role.

 

[Argyle King]

Oh, sure. That I can see. Premium minis. Say the basic red dragon is the 3d model, maybe with a couple of animations. But the next step up model has a bunch more details, nicer colors, and maybe a few more animations. Then the top tier model is the really gorgeous model that makes your graphics card whine.

I mean, heck, I actually expect that sort of thing. If WotC doesn't offer it, but allows 3rd party artists to produce stuff for the VTT like other VTT's do, I would flat out be utterly shocked if we didn't get something like that.

Same goes for maps and tiles. Again, this is just standard VTT stuff. I can use the basic stuff that comes with Fantasy Grounds, or I can get on a Patreon or two and have freaking gorgeous maps. Again, this is all pretty basic stuff that's offered by every VTT out there.

But unless Rotfeutanixn is some sort of lore dragon that I've just missed, who cares? The minis in a VTT are not really that big of a deal. People don't sit down to a game of D&D on a VTT to ooh and ahh over minis that are going to be on the table for all of twenty minutes in the third session of a 60 session campaign. The point of a VTT is to play D&D. (Or whatever RPG you're going to be playing) I'm sure there are some people out there that will pay premium prices to get that super special mini. But, the vast majority won't care. It's not like a skin for Fortnight where you get to show off to all sorts of people that you have that special skin.

Minis in RPG's don't fill the same role.

(The following dramatization is based on an assumption that a large corporation wants to make more money.)

Don't underestimate the power of FOMO.
A team could also mix it with a little bit of guilt, crib some notes from televangelists, and BOOM Sales!

"Hey, everybody! This Faux Jangles, and I'm here to thank this month's list of special gold members. They have elevated their games to the next level..." "...and now, they're not only saving Faerun, but the baby turtles in the real world. You can be hero too; all you have to do is upgrade to gold, and we will donate a portion* of your subscription fee to the Imaginary Turtle Friend Network." *1% of net proceeds.


Depending upon the audience, a team could potentially leverage a combination of social issues & shame to sell something.

"Want to prove that you are a good ally to have in a party? Equip your next character with the new Rainbow Bolt cantrip."

(Note: I am not in any way against supporting marginalized people. I'm highlighting sales tactics common among contemporary companies -especially in America- that are used to push product at certain times of the year.)

Veterans Day: The limited edition 5-Finger-Death-Punch strike for your monk, for the character that was born with a shotgun I'm their hand. Want some boomstick for the other classes in your game? Buy the premium digital-foil pack.

Maybe each of those things is also just slightly mechanically better than the basic options.


For an extra level of obfuscation, don't directly charge for money. Instead of the special options being $20 (or whatever price,) they cost 100 Dungeon Bucks.

To get the Dungeon Bucks, you pay something, but the end result is that the "prices" listed on the content (or randomized packs or whatever) are not associated with real dollar amounts. So, mentally, the customer is gaslit into spending money without thinking of it as spending money.

As far as the dragons, I made those two names up. But a marketing team could attach special significance to them.

 

[Nylanfs]

"Sigil 2 is built on a new engine that is not compatible with the previous engine you'll have to re-purchase your collected miniatures"

This is one of the reasons I use Fantasy Grounds, they made sure that when they had to rebuild in a new engine that all the DLC's, campaign info, etc was forward compatible.