D&D 5E D&D Next will succeed or die on the basis of its digital apps.

[Hussar]

Yeah, I think we're well beyond the days when an RPG can survive in the market, as a serious contender anyway, without digital offerings. Between a virtual tabletop, character builder, encounter builder, etc, we've certainly beyond the point where the digital tools are mostly optional.

 

[Dannager]

I definitely disagree with the thread title. A good RPG shouldn't require any digital tools to be successful or easy to play.

What a product requires to be successful is a function of the market. If competing products which are otherwise comparable offer digital app support and your product does not, the typical consumer will have a clear reason for choosing your competitor's product over yours.

 

[sabrinathecat]

I don't care if they make to tools online or not. Some people like digital tools/toys. That's fine.
But rather than (yet another) source book, I would like to see published modules. Yes, if you want to sell online PDF files, fine, but print them as well. Heck, make it a two-fer and include a digital version with the printed one (or some access to the online printed version).
The DDI subscription method left me cold and totally unimpressed.
Remember 2nd edition? With Dungeon magazine producing 4-6 adventures every month? On top of all the other published mods?
Of course, that was when an edition had more than 4 years before being shunted aside for a new one.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

What a product requires to be successful is a function of the market. If competing products which are otherwise comparable offer digital app support and your product does not, the typical consumer will have a clear reason for choosing your competitor's product over yours.

That assumes that digital tools are so valuable to the game experience that enough people find them a deciding component to affect success. I simply don't think this is the case due to the sheer number of successful RPGs that don't rely on digital tools at all.

 

[timASW]

That assumes that digital tools are so valuable to the game experience that enough people find them a deciding component to affect success. I simply don't think this is the case due to the sheer number of successful RPGs that don't rely on digital tools at all.

I'd say that would require a VERY liberal interpretation of successful to be true.

More then that I think RPG's more then almost any other pastime can benefit from digital tools. Just look at the number of online campaigns. Theres lots of people who would love to game or who used to game and now live somewhere where theres no gaming to be had.

I've lived in 2 places like that. One in Nevada and One in Wisconsin. The town in Nevada only had 2 gamers, including me. And in Wisconsin we could get up to 3 players, if someone was willing to drive 50 miles each way to play.

How many people would love to reconnect with an old group thatss scattered over the years and have had luck doing so online? How many more could do so with really good digital support?

Hell if they want to grow D&D they should make a really bad ass, fully functional VTT with easy start up digital aids and integrated support with VOIP like skype and host it on facebook. They could probably double the gaming base in a couple years with something like that.

 

[iwarrior-poet]

I don't care if they make to tools online or not. Some people like digital tools/toys. That's fine.
But rather than (yet another) source book, I would like to see published modules. Yes, if you want to sell online PDF files, fine, but print them as well. Heck, make it a two-fer and include a digital version with the printed one (or some access to the online printed version).
The DDI subscription method left me cold and totally unimpressed.
Remember 2nd edition? With Dungeon magazine producing 4-6 adventures every month? On top of all the other published mods?
Of course, that was when an edition had more than 4 years before being shunted aside for a new one.

I am all for digital tools (duh), but Lord---I miss hard copy versions of the Dragon and Dungeon magazines. They blew it when they made them online only.

 

[Dannager]

That assumes that digital tools are so valuable to the game experience that enough people find them a deciding component to affect success.

They only need to be valuable to some people. DDI's tens of thousands of subscribers are all the evidence you need that they are.

I simply don't think this is the case due to the sheer number of successful RPGs that don't rely on digital tools at all.

We're not discussing reliance. We're discussing availability. I don't think anyone is suggesting that RPGs make themselves reliant upon a digital tool set. But we're saying that a suite of digital tools is going to be very, very important for the next generation of tabletop roleplaying games. And it will only become more crucial after that.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

They only need to be valuable to some people. DDI's tens of thousands of subscribers are all the evidence you need that they are.

We're not discussing reliance. We're discussing availability. I don't think anyone is suggesting that RPGs make themselves reliant upon a digital tool set. But we're saying that a suite of digital tools is going to be very, very important for the next generation of tabletop roleplaying games. And it will only become more crucial after that.

I simply don't think they're that crucial. Useful? Yes. Profitable? Probably. But if D&DNext is a good game, it will succeed, even without digital tools, because those tools are not a core part of the experience of roleplaying.

 

[Imperialus]

I'm with Dice, I could care less if there are any digital apps for Next. I don't want any of that stuff at the table while playing - it completely takes away from the game and the experience.

I dunno, since I started GMing my game of Dungeon Crawl Classics I've found my tablet to be a pretty useful tool. I've got the core book on it, it's searchable and bookmarked so I can pull up relevant stuff quickly, I've got my campaign on Obsidian Portal so I write my session notes up on that and recap them prior to the start of the session. I take notes on it throughout play, use the scratch pad for stuff like initiative and monster HP's and I used Purple Sorcerers dice roller for the 'funky' dice that DCC uses.

 

[Hussar]

I am all for digital tools (duh), but Lord---I miss hard copy versions of the Dragon and Dungeon magazines. They blew it when they made them online only.

Yeah, I know. Doubling or tripling their subscription rates was a total and complete failure.