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

[Thunder Brother]

I miss when they called D&D microtransactions Dungeon and Dragon magazines.

For me it was bringing chips and pizza to each session.

Gotta grease up those dice.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I miss when they called D&D microtransactions Dungeon and Dragon magazines.

Lemme tell ya all about the microtransactions to purchase miniatures...

 

[Azzy]

Lemme tell ya all about the microtransactions to purchase miniatures...

As a former WH40K addict, you ain't joking.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Lemme tell ya all about the microtransactions to purchase miniatures...

Ironically, the only minis I ever used before being gifted a fully painted mini of an NPC the party loved was the little paper cutouts from an issue of Dragon.

 

[MNblockhead]

Not a fan of 3D. Worry it will get in the way and require too much fiddling around with the viewer and with movement, etc. But if very well executed I could be won over for official, fully prepped adventures. I don't think I would want to prep my own maps in a 3D environment.

But 2D or 3D, I'll have no interest unless it has excellent support and automations for the rules. If it can handle applying area of effect damage and conditions, track conditions, and help combat run quicker and more smoothly I could see using it even if the graphic display or user interface isn't ideal in other aspects.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

maybe mistake is too strong.

Defiantly something I don't want and I don't really see a big demand for it. The big and growing vtt's are all 2d. That might be due to a variety of issues but I do think 2d preference is a big one.

That’s why it should be 3d. So it’s not competing with those things at the same level.

 

[Hussar]

As someone who's gamed through VTT longer than I've actually gamed in person (wow, I just realized that I started gaming VTT in 2002- yikes) I've got probably considerably more experience with VTT play than most people.

And even I voted Maybe.

It's going to come down to a few points that will make or break the VTT:

1. Ease of creating material. That's probably the number one thing right there. My current group is six people. We've all DM'd at various points. Of the six of us, only two of us will DM Fantasy Grounds because it's just too damn hard to figure out for the others. The constant mucking about with syntax and getting everything exactly right is just too much of a PITA for the other four. So, this VTT needs to be simple enough and robust enough that using it is no more difficult than pen and paper.
2. Technical aspects. This was mentioned earlier, but, unlike a lot of AAA video games, you cannot expect your users to be using top of the line equipment. If you're making a game for a PS5, you KNOW what technology they have. But a D&D VTT user might be someone like me who's currently writing this on a 2013 MacBook Air. ((My desktop machine is a bit newer but still nowhere even close to middle of the line)) While high speed internet is pretty common now, you still can't exactly presume it, so, that's an issue too. I've wasted far, far too much game time on tech issues.
3. Bringing the value. Ok, this one's a no brainer, but, for the VTT to succeed, it's going to have to bring something to the table that I can't already get. Granted, that might simply be things like a better GUI (looking at you Fantasy Grounds) or better looking (Yeah, sorry Roll20 but you is ugly). But, it has to be something.

Anyway, if they bring those three things to the table - ease of creating content, solid technical aspects and a value for the dollar, then I think that the new VTT will be successful.

 

[tetrasodium]

That’s why it should be 3d. So it’s not competing with those things at the same level.

That "it's an underserved niche" makes a few assumptions though

• is there a gameplay use case that needsthe jump?...
  • Is that use case something other than supporting microtransactions better than 2d tokens?
  • If that use case is something else, what is it?
  • does that use case depends on hardware that is an unrealistic buy like an occulus/meta VR headset or hololens?
• Can a new product provide enough assets to support GMs using it instead of the dramatically supported 2d ones?
  • If so is a single GM able to deploy those assets for an enjoyable game week after week or does it require a dedicated team of highly paid professionals like ESPN & stadium tech like this?

It doesn't matter how awesome the next level is. The ~$10,000 microsoft surface had a VTT techdemo that was amazing even today but it would have failed too many of those & probably still requires some near bleeding edge hardware (some of which is almost 100%DIY+hackish workaround)

What "level" is it competing at?

 

[MonsterEnvy]

That "it's an underserved niche" makes a few assumptions though

• is there a gameplay use case that needsthe jump?...
  • Is that use case something other than supporting microtransactions better than 2d tokens?
  • If that use case is something else, what is it?
  • does that use case depends on hardware that is an unrealistic buy like an occulus/meta VR headset or hololens?
• Can a new product provide enough assets to support GMs using it instead of the dramatically supported 2d ones?
  • If so is a single GM able to deploy those assets for an enjoyable game week after week or does it require a dedicated team of highly paid professionals like ESPN & stadium tech like this?

so we don’t know any of those details. We don’t even know if Micro transactions will be involved yet. Though it’s not likely to need a notable purchase as it’s just using the Unreal Engine.

Edit: the preview we got looked nicer than that tech demo.

 

[darjr]

I’d like to thank everyone so far, this thread has been rather fantastic. Thank y’all.