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It is theft if they used the content and did not pay for it. I am mildly amused at all the open access advocates that screamed for years about big publishers now realizing that giant billionaire company AI just took all that work to train their models for free to make more money. In STM...

You can still get the e-tools full disk on eBay or place like Noble Knight. It is near impossible to find the old datasets unless you get them from folks who saved them or use something like pcgen. It is sad but another example of losing a bit of unarchived history.

Actually, 3e has a really good set of tools. The CD in the book was expanded into E-Tools that was further developed by Code Monkey Publishing. You were able to buy expansion sets for new 3e/3.5 books from CMP. In fact, I still have most of my CMP datasets and the e-tools CD. It never fizzled...

Yeah and I really doubt anyone pre-ordered for the gold dragon mini.

Ok, I agree with you as well. I work with a lot of tech publishing vendors and convincing them that polishing the UI is always an uphill battle versus developing the next new thing.

They are focusing their limited dev resources on adding new content to the platform. This is for direct sales. Quality of Life is not a priority for them. Bugs can affect subs or direct sales but a simple toggle for 5 vs 5.5 do not since it is "good enough." Sure, if a QOL patch is easy or if...

They do not make any money for QOL improvements in DDB. They will fix serious bugs but development will only focus on money makers.

I am not concerned about DDB. I worked closely with several software developers in publishing and this is just normal behavior. The software is making money now and improving the database is going to be a low priority versus adding new content that makes more money. A lot of development teams...

They have had plenty of time to improve DDB since purchase. The poor 5.5 tools release shows they did not prioritize it. I doubt they will add resources to it.

It depends on the campaign world. If you're a rural farmer and there are no decent towns or cities close by, then it makes perfect sense that reading is not on the table.

It is pretty easy to use. I was up and running in less than 5 minutes with a map that I cut and pasted from a module. The main Maps page even asks you to either pick your campaign or use one of the premades. Of course, I am a heavy DDB user and always use the campaign feature to share content...

They just fired a bunch of WOTC digital devs. I am not sure how this can be positive. Sigil has been a massive plan for the future of D&D as well as incorporating other brands into RPG play.

We may need some new spells: 3rd level: Mass Comprehend Languages 5th Level: Fluency: Touch a creature and immediately become fluent (speak, read, and write) in one of its known languages. If the creature is unwilling, it may make a Intelligence saving throw to resist. A successful save causes...

If things were gangbusters, then a company that just stated that they were moving into digital and digital gaming in a big way would not be mass firing a digital gaming team. I am not saying that 5.5 absolutely tanked, but D&D was largely silent on the latest earnings report and this was after...

Sure. There have been rumors that it was not selling well for weeks and if it was gangbusters and driving people to DDB, then they would not so quickly abandon Sigil.

This tells me that 5.5 (2024) did not do well.

This is why I do not do traditional dungeons. The locations in my games all relate to the adventure or story. If they go to a pirate base, they face pirates. I am not a fan of dungeons with no explanation for why some creatures may be there. Now, if it controlled by a mind flayer, then there is...

I am not worried about the fact that they make assumptions based on their own prejudices. I never lack for players and have people that ask me to run on a regular basis. I tend to be an open DM, always ask and listen to feedback, and folks seem to have fun which is my metric for success. I...

Not at all. It makes them consider how they want to handle the situation. They often look to talk first or scout the situation to see if they can gain advantage. What they do not do it just attack and act like combat junkies. I rarely use dungeons in a traditional sense so there is usually no...

Castles and Crusades launched in 2004 with a goal of bringing old school concepts to modern d20.