D&D 5E Dungeonscape no more?

[Nylanfs]

I was going to quote just the first paragraph but these forums are awful on a mobile phone.

Use Tapatalk.

And the whole argument about copyright comes down to this. If WotC sends a C&D (or pursues legal action) unless you can afford to defend yourself (or get a LOT of community support or pro bono work), WotC will win. Who ever has the cash (or can hold out the longest) wins.

 

[fantasmamore]

Well, let's see what people need.

GMs
1. A tool that let them plan and write the adventure. As a friend said, something like scrivener.
2. A tool for creating encounters, implemented in the "scrivener - style" app.
3. The ability to insert images and maps
4. A tablet app that will be able to "read" all the above. It shouldn't do a lot of fancy things. Just show the text, double tap to show images in fullscreen, maybe the ability to subtract hp from monsters. It should present the content, not edit it.

Players
1. A nice character creator, like the 4e offline program.

Both
1. The ability to buy and read the books in a tablet or a pc. It could be an app, instead of a pdf, if they are afraid of piracy. Actually, it doesn't really matter, because everything digital is going to be pirated. However, everyone should be able to buy an electronic version of the books because if they don't, it's possible that they will try to find another way.

Many might say that that's not enough or that tools like these don't suit them. But we can't start from the ability to customize in order to import your home rules, before building the actual software. Wotc should start from asking "what people needs", what is the process of designing and then playing an adventure. Well, GMs plan, write and then must have a way to actually take with them the result of their efforts. Players create and upgrade their characters. Everything else is optional.
I am curious though, they asked as what colour the new logo should be, did they ever ask how the digital tools should be?
(sorry for my english)

 

[sgtscott658]

To me none of that stuff is needed, a pen, notebook, index cards and you are good to go.

Scott

Well, let's see what people need.

GMs
1. A tool that let them plan and write the adventure. As a friend said, something like scrivener.
2. A tool for creating encounters, implemented in the "scrivener - style" app.
3. The ability to insert images and maps
4. A tablet app that will be able to "read" all the above. It shouldn't do a lot of fancy things. Just show the text, double tap to show images in fullscreen, maybe the ability to subtract hp from monsters. It should present the content, not edit it.

Players
1. A nice character creator, like the 4e offline program.

Both
1. The ability to buy and read the books in a tablet or a pc. It could be an app, instead of a pdf, if they are afraid of piracy. Actually, it doesn't really matter, because everything digital is going to be pirated. However, everyone should be able to buy an electronic version of the books because if they don't, it's possible that they will try to find another way.

Many might say that that's not enough or that tools like these don't suit them. But we can't start from the ability to customize in order to import your home rules, before building the actual software. Wotc should start from asking "what people needs", what is the process of designing and then playing an adventure. Well, GMs plan, write and then must have a way to actually take with them the result of their efforts. Players create and upgrade their characters. Everything else is optional.
I am curious though, they asked as what colour the new logo should be, did they ever ask how the digital tools should be?
(sorry for my english)

 

[weldon]

The one thing I really want is a good character generator. The pathguy one is good enough for checking math, but I'd like to see something designed for ease of use and better print output. The main benefit is making it fast to try a build, try and alt build, and generate an NPC quickly.

While 5e is streamlined, there are still some spots where character creation gets complicated. Proficiencies is a good example. You have to bounce back and forth between the race, class, and background descriptions to get a handle on proficiencies for skills, weapons, and tools. Then figure out how to handle the duplicates. I'd like to have software to do that for me.

 

[Thaumaturge]

At some point posters on these forums are like robots posting the same stuff over and over.

X posts the same argument. Y posts the same rebuttal. Z posts the same non-sequitur.

That's not discussion. It's just bots having a pissing match.

You forgot about the bots that post snarkily at the other bots all along the way.

T.

 

[Joe Liker]

To me none of that stuff is needed, a pen, notebook, index cards and you are good to go.

Scott

I fully agree. I can easily run an entire session with nothing more than the books, some scratch paper, and dice (plus map and minis/markers if a tactical combat is called for -- but TotM is often all we need).

And my players have never felt the need for a character generator. They note their abilities on their single-page character sheets and refer to the PH for obscure spell details when necessary. It's really not that complicated.

 

[Lalato]

You forgot about the bots that post snarkily at the other bots all along the way.

T.

I didn't forget... just conveniently omitted them for fear that I would be called out on it (since I resemble that remark). And then you have to go call me out on it anyway. You can't win for trying. I'm starting to feel a bit like WotC.

 

[Dannager]

To me none of that stuff is needed, a pen, notebook, index cards and you are good to go.

I think most of us are capable of running games without any form of digital assistance. After all, that's how we started out.

That doesn't mean that we'd prefer to go back to those days. Many of us have been enjoying the fruits of digital gaming aids for years now.

It's cool if you don't see a need for them. This digital landscape, this product - and perhaps this thread - simply aren't for you.

 

[aramis erak]

Well, let's see what people need.

GMs
1. A tool that let them plan and write the adventure. As a friend said, something like scrivener.
2. A tool for creating encounters, implemented in the "scrivener - style" app.
3. The ability to insert images and maps
4. A tablet app that will be able to "read" all the above. It shouldn't do a lot of fancy things. Just show the text, double tap to show images in fullscreen, maybe the ability to subtract hp from monsters. It should present the content, not edit it.

I strongly disagree with #4. I take my tablet with me most places. I don't carry my laptop. And I don't want to have to link to a windows program on my Mac using WINE to be able to use an Android app on my tablet. (And I bet a number of Windows desktop/laptop and iOS tablet/phone users feel much the same way, except there's no convenient way to run Mac software on 'doz.)

 

[Nebulous]

I fully agree. I can easily run an entire session with nothing more than the books, some scratch paper, and dice (plus map and minis/markers if a tactical combat is called for -- but TotM is often all we need).

And my players have never felt the need for a character generator. They note their abilities on their single-page character sheets and refer to the PH for obscure spell details when necessary. It's really not that complicated.

I agree, i personally do not need any of that. Some people want it, more power to them, i hope that WotC comes out with a nicely rounded program that meets expectations. I'd like to see a good monster builder program like 4e had, but even that i can live without.

 

[LWDLiz]

Well, let's see what people need.


GMs
1. A tool that let them plan and write the adventure. As a friend said, something like scrivener.
2. A tool for creating encounters, implemented in the "scrivener - style" app.
3. The ability to insert images and maps
4. A tablet app that will be able to "read" all the above. It shouldn't do a lot of fancy things. Just show the text, double tap to show images in fullscreen, maybe the ability to subtract hp from monsters. It should present the content, not edit it.

While not D&D specific, you should check out Realm Works. (Full disclosure, I work for Lone Wolf - the company that created Realm Works and also Hero Lab.) But it's campaign neutral, and fits the bill for #1-3. We're planning a web app in the future, which would work for tablet users.

 

[Morrus]

Use Tapatalk.

And the whole argument about copyright comes down to this. If WotC sends a C&D (or pursues legal action) unless you can afford to defend yourself (or get a LOT of community support or pro bono work), WotC will win. Who ever has the cash (or can hold out the longest) wins.

A C&D is just a letter. It's not a lawsuit.

 

[fantasmamore]

To me none of that stuff is needed, a pen, notebook, index cards and you are good to go.

Scott

Well, yes, if you don't actually write the adventure. However, not all people have great improvisation skills. I don't even remember what happened to my players 2 weeks ago. But I understand what you mean.

 

[fantasmamore]

While not D&D specific, you should check out Realm Works. (Full disclosure, I work for Lone Wolf - the company that created Realm Works and also Hero Lab.) But it's campaign neutral, and fits the bill for #1-3. We're planning a web app in the future, which would work for tablet users.

It's available for windows only

 

[Kaychsea]

Well, yes, if you don't actually write the adventure. However, not all people have great improvisation skills. I don't even remember what happened to my players 2 weeks ago. But I understand what you mean.

The notebook can be used for more than characters. Most of my homebrew is in those.

 

[shayneb]

I believe Fantasy Grounds does all of the above-mentioned things and works on Macs. No offense to the makers of RealmWorks, but I have used both, and found Fantasy Grounds superior for all-inclusive campaign-planning. Just my "humble" opinion.

 

[Morrus]

I believe Fantasy Grounds does all of the above-mentioned things and works on Macs. No offense to the makers of RealmWorks, but I have used both, and found Fantasy Grounds superior for all-inclusive campaign-planning. Just my "humble" opinion.

It does character generation? I did not know that!

 

[shayneb]

It does character generation? I did not know that!

I do not know if it can do something like random NPC or character generation (haven't tried), but it definitely has character sheets that you can create, including auto-calculating of some fields, and the ability to do things like enter hit dice and attack stats that are rollable within the program. I've tried probably five programs (from MasterPlan to RealmWorks to Roll20), and find Fantasy Grounds the most all-inclusive and just generally "cool" for MY purposes. Obviously, YMMV.

But I definitely think it's at least worth checking out the demo (it's not too expensive to buy).

 

[Sonny]

It's available for windows only

For now, I know they've had issues with development, but eventually it should see release to Mac.

 

[Nylanfs]

It does character generation? I did not know that!

It doesn't do rules validation like PCGen, its more like a blank character sheet. But it does import PCGen and Herolab characters.