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

[Neonchameleon]

Random musing: 5e doesn't really have enough forced movement to either really need a battlemap or to take full advantage of a 3d VTT. It's just bling. But if people really can make use of it easily good for them and another tool for DMs is good even if I'll probably never use it.

 

[darjr]

The video mentioned in posty 208 nicely outlines a bunch of reasons why the announcement trailer set off all the warning flags for

Spoiler: this kind of thing

View attachment 274679

I see this meme has suffered from feaping creatures.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

You only have to listen to the first couple of minutes to get the "It's destined to fail."

It's vaporware. We don't know what they're going to offer, we don't know how well it's going to work. Maybe it will be amazing, maybe it will be the next Duke Nukem Forever, a game with lots of hype that crashed and burned on release. We just don't know.

I would not describe it as Vaporware before we properly see it.

 

[darjr]

I would not describe it as Vaporware before we properly see it.

By definition you dint see vapor ware .

But I’ll grant it hasn’t had enough time to qualify yet.

 

[LordEntrails]

It depends. Depending on the resources being used and they are used for it can be easier than a 2d tabletop.

Please elaborate. I can't fathom any situation in which 3D is easier than 2D. More accurate yes, easier? No. And I spent decades doing 3D MCAD design.

As for vaporware, yes it is. Every software project is vaporware, until it isn't.

 

[Reynard]

I am really big on improvisation, and I really can't see how a 3D VTT can accomodate that playstyle. I feel like it'd force every DM to be a level designer, and I feel like that's one step too far. Even Foundry VTT feels a bit too much sometimes with dynamic lighting (which requires me to put walls, light sources, doors, windows etc.) and automation (automating spells so they immediately ask for saves, associating specific animations with specific spells, making it so casting a summon spell immediately creates a token for the desired creature etc.), and that's only a 2D VTT. I can't imagine needing to do the same with a 3D VTT.

I generally agree with you but we already have on the fly tools for 3D battlemap generation (DungeonAlchemistis one prominent example). Assuming WotC's VTT allows imports, my guess is there will be a stupid number of options in very short order.

 

[Reynard]

Except I can take any decent top-down battlemap that I find on the internet, plop some simple tokens to it and call it a day with a 2D VTT. I don't always do complicated spell animations or dynamic lighting.

But you can't have the equivalent of "just plop a .jpg from /r/battlemaps" with a 3D VTT. You either get a premade map that perfectly includes everything (which would be pretty good for APs, admittedly), or you need to design the whole 3D space from scratch, essentially becoming a level designer.

No you don't. The tools already exist.

 

[tetrasodium]

I generally agree with you but we already have on the fly tools for 3D battlemap generation (DungeonAlchemistis one prominent example). Assuming WotC's VTT allows imports, my guess is there will be a stupid number of options in very short order.

dungeon alchemist only offers 2d export& a single level so nothing like upstairs & downstairs or ground floor & basement levels.

No you don't. The tools already exist.

Not in a form you are describing.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Please elaborate. I can't fathom any situation in which 3D is easier than 2D. More accurate yes, easier? No. And I spent decades doing 3D MCAD design.

As for vaporware, yes it is. Every software project is vaporware, until it isn't.

It's entirely possible like a video game that most of the work will be done for you ahead of time. And it will be easy to make new maps and areas using the 3d tabletop. There is a good chance we won't have to manually put in vision blocking layers for example.

 

[Clint_L]

It's entirely possible like a video game that most of the work will be done for you ahead of time. And it will be easy to make new maps and areas using the 3d tabletop. There is a good chance we won't have to manually put in vision blocking layers for example.

I expect that they will probably sell the VTT as adventure sets, so there will be various pre-built maps. Then you will be able to use the tiles from those maps to make your own builds. Plus probably it'll be part of a subscription fee that integrates it with DDB.

I'll be interested to see the pricing structure.