D&D 5E Dungeonscape no more?

[LWDLiz]

It's available for windows only

Yes, it's currently for Windows only. As I mentioned before, we're currently planning to add support through a web app, which will be great for both tablet and mac users.

 

[Jester David]

Use Tapatalk.

I refuse to install an app for the sole purpose of using a single forum.

 

[Jester David]

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.

Arguably, you could do most of that with Google Drive, via Docs or Sheets.

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.

Given the ability to take screenshots, an app would do less than nothing to stop piracy. That's time spent developing and writing an app for no real reason when a PDF is easily made in the process of creating the books.

 

[Nylanfs]

I refuse to install an app for the sole purpose of using a single forum.

Well you can also use it on our forums at groups.PCGen.org

 

[Jester David]

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.

Realm Works is on my to-buy list when I have more spare cash. I get a lot of use out of Hero Labs, so LWD has piqued my interest. What I saw at GenCon looked good.

But I think @Morrus needs a review copy.

 

[aramis erak]

I refuse to install an app for the sole purpose of using a single forum.

Tapatalk is a standard interface for a variety of VBB forums, and not a few non-VBB forums. That said, I don't use it, because my tablet uses the standard interface just fine, except on one board, where they won't accept "Send me the desktop view"...

 

[Jester David]

(Every single time I see the name of this thread I get this picture in my head:

Every. Single. Time.)

 

[Dire Bare]

I refuse to install an app for the sole purpose of using a single forum.

I get ya. I installed tapatalk on my phone mostly because I got sick of the pop-up asking me to install tapatalk EVERY TIME I visited ENWorld on my phone's browser. It seemed a pyrrhic victory.

 

[delericho]

I thought there was supposed to be Dungeonscape news yesterday? Did I miss it?

 

[Tormyr]

I thought there was supposed to be Dungeonscape news yesterday? Did I miss it?

Today. https://twitter.com/dungeonscape

 

[Olaf the Stout]

As for the tools, I'm surprised Hero Lab wasn't used. Pathfinder is an incredibly complex game and the folks at Lone Wolf have done an amazing job at keeping up with the new releases. The only drawback to it is that it's rather pricey if you get data from all the sourcebooks.

I hope there is Hero Lab support for 5E at some point in the future. I’ve only been a bit of a Hero Lab dabbler in the past. I’ve owned the program for several years, but didn’t really do too much with it when I was DMing 3.5E. They do have an encounter builder and other combat tools to help DM the game at the table. However, when I bought Hero Lab my game was already around 10th level and I just didn’t have the time or inclination to re-creating all the PC’s in Hero Lab and then learn how to use the software to handle real-time encounters. The manual method I had going worked well enough, so I just stuck with that.

After the end of the last campaign one of my players stepped up to the DM plate. So I got a chance to play in a 3.5E game for the first time in about a decade. I decided to create my character (a Gnome Wizard) using Hero Lab. There are still a few bits to the software that I need to wrap my head around, but it was definitely a lot quicker creating a character using Hero Lab than by hand.

Levelling up is quicker too. I only need to worry about things like choosing which class to go up in, roll hit points, allocate skill points, choose 2 free spells, choose a feat (if required) and increase an attribute (if level 4, 8, etc.). Everything else is updated automatically, so the whole process takes a couple of minutes.

After that I generate a PDF of the new character sheet, as well as my updated list of spells, print them off and I’m done.

The 3.5E Hero Lab licence only covers the rules from the OGL, so core rules only. However, users have created data sets for most of the WotC splatbooks. So, when my Wizard learned a few spells from the Spell Compendium I was able to add them just as easily as adding in a spell from the PHB.

I was disappointed to discover that no one had created a data set for the Complete Book of Eldritch Might (Malhavoc Press), so when I wanted to add in some spells from there I had to create them in myself. There is an editor for that, which made the process manageable. It took me a couple of hours to enter in all the spells I wanted, but most of that was typing up the spell info (spell school, range, saves, spell descriptions, etc.) I’ve since also created a couple of custom magic items without too much trouble.

My problem now is that I’ve spent several hours learning how to use Hero Lab, but this will likely be the last 3.5E campaign for my group before we switch to 5E. Now that I’ve seen how much quicker things can be with digital tools, I don’t really want to go back to doing things manually.

So I really hope that we see a 5E version of Hero Lab sooner rather than later.