D&D Reader App Coming This Fall? [UPDATED]

Many people have been asking for official D&D PDFs, and WotC has been addressing the need for electronic reference materials at the table in various ways. According to Mashable, WotC is releasing a D&D Reader App this fall. It's not a PDF, but it's basically a D&D-specific Kindle-esque app for iOS and Android. Mashable reports that "Each book is broken up into different sections. So with, say, the Player's Handbook, you can tap on little thumbnails in your library to check out the introduction, a step-by-step guide to character creation, a rundown of races, individual sections for each character class, equipment, and all the other pieces that, together, form the D&D Player's Handbook."

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It's possible they are just referring to D&D Beyond (some of the details below correspond very closely with that), but it may be that a separate D&D Reader is in the pipeline.

UPDATE -- EN World member TDarien asked Adam Rosenburg (the author of the article) whether this was different to D&D Beyond, who replied "Yup. Beyond is more activity-oriented, so it can handle stuff like dice rolls. Reader is basically Kindle, with good, clear chapter divides."

UPDATE 2 -- EN World member kenmarable has spotted that Polygon also has an article about this. It is a separate app called D&D Reader - not D&D Beyond - being made by Dialect, the company which does Dragon+ for WotC. They tried a beta version, although it wasn't complete at the time.

Other items from the report include:

• You can favourite specific pages.
• Some of it is free, and the rparts of books are paywalled. "If, for example, you'll only ever care about rolling a bard, you can just buy that. Prices for individual sections are $3 or $5 (depending on what you buy) and the three full rulebooks — Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide — are $30 apiece for everything."
• If you buy parts of a book then buy the full thing, the cost is pro-rated.The free sections include "character creation, basic classes, gear, ability scores, combat, spellcasting, and all the other sort of ground-level features that everyone needs to understand in order to play."

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[Ovinomancer]

Maybe one of these days, WotC will actually act like they want my money.

Well, they've put out a lot of products so far and seem to be okay not getting your money so far, but hope springs eternal, right?

People need to understand that companies do not pander to individual preferences with products. If you aren't motivated by the offerings of a given market, then you might want to consider that that market isn't very interested in you. Companies build products they think will sell, and aren't very concerned about who is buying on an individual level. Being angry about this doesn't change anything.

 

[Mistwell]

Maybe one of these days, WotC will actually act like they want my money.

I am unclear on whether this is actually a WOTC product, or a Dialect product, or a joint venture?

 

[JetstreamGW]

Well, they've put out a lot of products so far and seem to be okay not getting your money so far, but hope springs eternal, right?

People need to understand that companies do not pander to individual preferences with products. If you aren't motivated by the offerings of a given market, then you might want to consider that that market isn't very interested in you. Companies build products they think will sell, and aren't very concerned about who is buying on an individual level. Being angry about this doesn't change anything.

Companies do, however, pander to their shareholders and often make pants-on-head decisions based upon information. Especially old, calcified companies like Hasbro. They're huge, slow to adapt to change, and generally seem to not "get it" in a lot of circumstances.

They're leaving money on the floor by not offering digital products, and now they're rectifying that error in a confusing, overly complicated way.

I am unclear on whether this is actually a WOTC product, or a Dialect product, or a joint venture?

Meh. Once you get to the top level, it's a Hasbro product, that's all that really matters.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Companies do, however, pander to their shareholders and often make pants-on-head decisions based upon information. Especially old, calcified companies like Hasbro. They're huge, slow to adapt to change, and generally seem to not "get it" in a lot of circumstances.

They're leaving money on the floor by not offering digital products, and now they're rectifying that error in a confusing, overly complicated way.



Meh. Once you get to the top level, it's a Hasbro product, that's all that really matters.

No, it's pretty understandable. I clearly understand what DDB is, and know there's some other app based reader being developed with details to follow. I know about roll20 and fantasy grounds. These things aren't very confusing at all.

Unless, of course, you think the only real solution is the one you prefer, in which case I can see some confusion existing. My 7 year old daughter, for instance, experiences some confusion when the world doesn't pander to her whims as well.

 

[JetstreamGW]

Well, they've put out a lot of products so far and seem to be okay not getting your money so far, but hope springs eternal, right?

People need to understand that companies do not pander to individual preferences with products. If you aren't motivated by the offerings of a given market, then you might want to consider that that market isn't very interested in you. Companies build products they think will sell, and aren't very concerned about who is buying on an individual level. Being angry about this doesn't change anything.

No, it's pretty understandable. I clearly understand what DDB is, and know there's some other app based reader being developed with details to follow. I know about roll20 and fantasy grounds. These things aren't very confusing at all.

Unless, of course, you think the only real solution is the one you prefer, in which case I can see some confusion existing. My 7 year old daughter, for instance, experiences some confusion when the world doesn't pander to her whims as well.

"Confusing" in the sense of "why the hell would you do this," not "I don't know what it is." Obviously.

There's already a delivery method for this sort of product, it's proven, it works, and people like it. The only reason to do it this way is if you want to keep a stranglehold on an IP. Which they can't, and have already failed to do.

Thus their decision is confusing. Because it doesn't make any sense.

On another note, if you could cease being condescending, that would be amazing.

 

[Mistwell]

Companies do, however, pander to their shareholders and often make pants-on-head decisions based upon information. Especially old, calcified companies like Hasbro. They're huge, slow to adapt to change, and generally seem to not "get it" in a lot of circumstances.

They're leaving money on the floor by not offering digital products, and now they're rectifying that error in a confusing, overly complicated way.



Meh. Once you get to the top level, it's a Hasbro product, that's all that really matters.

No really, it's not. Dialect is not a Hasbro company in any way. They are a complete other company, a third party. If all this is, is a license to Dialect, then it's not WOTC "doing" anything other than giving them a license.

I also think you have some misconceptions about how Hasbro works with regard to WOTC, and how WOTC works with regard to the D&D division. Hasbro makes no internal decisions for WOTC beyond a budget, and some extreme high level things like the movies. WOTC makes only the highest level decisions for the D&D division, like sharing some accounting and HR people. For the most part, the D&D division of WOTC makes their own decisions on how to apply their budget, and they are almost entirely free of any direct Hasbro intervention. There is no stockholder issue in play - neither the D&D division nor WOTC have their own stock, and D&D has literally only made it into the stockholders quarterly report I think twice at this point. There is no stockholder influence on the internal workings of the D&D division...they are WAY WAY WAY too small for any of that. They are a rounding error for Hasbro.

As for confusion over their digital products, I am not sure what the confusion is. They've licensed to some other companies, mostly digital table tops. They've licensed to an Amazon company, which is mostly a character sheet and rules look-up service. And now they are possibly licensing or possibly issuing their own Kindle-like app. Nobody here seemed confused by any of that. What's the confusion?

[Edit - I see while I was typing you said it was confusion over you not understanding why they are doing it this way. To which I say...so? They've said many times why they didn't go with PDFs and nobody seems to accept what they said (it was a retail request). So who cares if you don't understand why they are doing it this way? They've been incredibly successful so far with this edition. You have no experience doing what they've so far been very successful doing. Why can't you just trust that they might know what they are doing without them doing it the way you'd have done it?]

 

[darjr]

Dude, there’s like what? Two? Three? Successful D&D digital things/products/initiatives for the rpg. You’d have to make a far stretch to claims fantasy grounds is a failure. Or roll20. Or DMsGuild. They are wildly successful. DDB might be as well.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Maybe one of these days, WotC will actually act like they want my money.

Nope, they don't want your money. You'll just have to hold onto it and spend it on something else. Try not to get too upset over it.

 

[Ovinomancer]

"Confusing" in the sense of "why the hell would you do this," not "I don't know what it is." Obviously.

There's already a delivery method for this sort of product, it's proven, it works, and people like it. The only reason to do it this way is if you want to keep a stranglehold on an IP. Which they can't, and have already failed to do.

Thus their decision is confusing. Because it doesn't make any sense.

On another note, if you could cease being condescending, that would be amazing.

Then you have much in common with my daughter, who also can't imagine how the world doesn't work the way she wants it to.

 

[rknop]

So, no amazement here.