D&D General Do you want a 3D vtt?

[Steel_Wind]

Last I checked the hero forge mini's are not free. Are they?

Also I don't think the D&D miniatures will be like mix and match dolls like Heroforges are. Not to take away from Heroforge, I have a few of them, all stls.

Oh don't go too far with that. They just might be. It's not like we haven't gone down that road before in the interest of versatility and customizability demanded by D&D. NWN1 was based on swapped out geometry. It causes constraints when animated so that is something no game does anymore. But in 2002? They sure did.

And if these are not animated? They might! The main reason for not doing so will have gone away, after all.

Heroforge models are not separately expertly textured and shaded by the way. Any faux paint they get in the paint shop is pretty basic; it might be generated procedurally for all I know.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Good point.

However I was thinking about the monsters.

Going by the video the monsters will come in several different poses.

 

[Malmuria]

But, again, my point was that we get a Monster Manual which has hundreds of pieces of art in it, for about 40 bucks. The idea that they're going to charge you several hundred dollars for the models (someone mentioned paying dollars/model) just to use the Monster Manual in the VTT is ridiculous. It's not going to happen.

so lets say the onednd monster manual is $40 on dnd beyond. That gets you the statblocks and art. How much do you think the vtt models will cost on top of that? There’s a likely price point in between $0 and hundreds of $

 

[MonsterEnvy]

so lets say the onednd monster manual is $40 on dnd beyond. That gets you the statblocks and art. How much do you think the vtt models will cost on top of that? There’s a likely price point in between $0 and hundreds of $

My bet is 0. I imagine getting the Book on beyond will unlock it's components including monster models on the VTT so long as you have the subscription to use the VTT. Like I am almost certain the VTT and Beyond are going to be joined at the hip. It just makes the most sense to do it that way.

 

[Hussar]

so lets say the onednd monster manual is $40 on dnd beyond. That gets you the statblocks and art. How much do you think the vtt models will cost on top of that? There’s a likely price point in between $0 and hundreds of $

Zero.

Why would you think that they would sell you a book that you cannot use? Since you are using the book with the VTT, and buying the book to use with the VTT, then that book will have to come with models to use with the VTT. If the book is 100 dollars (book+models), no one will buy it. Why would they?

Now, again, I wouldn't expect multiple models in multiple poses for the basic Monster Manual book. That would be unreasonable. But, you are certainly going to get one model per monster. Otherwise, the Monster Manual doesn't actually function in the VTT.

The money is in the subscription, not the book sale. The book sale is just icing. It's that monthly sub that you and your five players pay that is going to be where the big money is. But selling a Monster Manual without models is pointless and there's no way they'll be able to sell the Monster Manual for more than the print version. They'd get crucified if they tried it.

The biggest question in my mind is whether or not you will have separate books - one for D&D Beyond and one for the VTT. But, honestly? I doubt it. Far easier to bundle it all together. The model cost is a fixed cost. Once you've built the models for the Monster Manual, every single user that buys a VTT Monster Manual is going to contribute to paying off that fixed cost.

Sure, they will certainly sell premium models. No doubt in my mind about that. I would totally expect that. No different than the Beadles and Grimm stuff they sell right now for tabletop. But, when you buy whatever book from the D&D Beyond, you can almost guarantee that it will come with models and the price will be the same as a non-discounted print book.

 

[tetrasodium]

This is bringing up another issue in what I also do not see in that video... "poses" does very little for me as a gm. Don't make me play charades to guess what model my player is trying to describe via interpretive dance. I need visually indicative things like "the red/blue/green/red/yellow/etc one"

 

[TheSword]

The funny thing is that people said a lot of the same things about VTT when it came out… “I don’t need fancy maps, I can draw out my rooms myself.” Now we have hundreds of thousands of pounds going to patreons that do nothing but make maps and their assets.

I’m not saying I’m crying out for it, but I’m not going to make any decisions before I actually see it. I’m guessing that it will be terrible for a wilderness encounters, amazing for something like Undermountain or Rappan Athuk.

 

[Composer99]

I've enjoyed the way Solasta has made 3d exploration and fights come to life. So I could be convinced.

 

[darjr]

Going by the video the monsters will come in several different poses.

OK

But a gibbering mouther isn’t an iteration of a red dragon which isn’t an iteration of a unicorn which isn’t an iteration of a xorn.

Each will need at least a single custom sculpt.

I dunno if that matters if they are included or not.

 

[jmartkdr2]

As I think about it, I wonder if selling a Monster Manual really makes sense on a VTT, at least as the primary way to get monster tokens to dms.

It seems more logical to focus on making dming subscription-based: you pay your $15 a month or so and get access to the entire "DM Toolkit (tm)" which includes most monster tokens, basic maps, etc. Enough to run a game. You can also buy complete modules and special tokens for extra money, if you like, but the sub should be all you need to feel fully empowered as a dm. That means ways to add homebrew as well.

Most importantly, there should be a way for players to contribute, as part of their own subscriptions. So if each of your 5 players puts in an extra $3 a month, you get the toolkit for free.

There might be a way to buy the MM for lifetime access, but then you'd need to buy each new MM package (and other sets like a book of magic items) as they come out. The subscription would just be all the non-exclusive monsters (exclusives mostly being named npcs from adventures)