D&D (2024) How much would you spend on monthly subscriptions for dnd?

[MNblockhead]

The Forge allows you to host online your foundry games. I beleive its like 40 bucks a year for the entry tier which gets you a few game worlds. I have put a ton of art and journals into my Traveller game.

WotC sub system would have to offer at least that much. I know some folks are freaking out because they dont think you will be able to play 5E anywhere but on WotC system, but Foundry has proven to be pretty easy to use. Affordable to boot. So there is definitely levels of survival I am ready to accept.

Yeah, WotC may be able to make it more difficult to import their content from DDB into non-WotC VTTs, but there's nothing they can really do to stop people from using their VTT of choice. I tend to run third-party published adventures anyway, so am already doing most of my own VTT prep. If they made it impossible for me to import my paid-for content into Foundry, that would just make DDB that much less valuable to me. WotC should focus on making their VTT the best experience for running D&D online rather than trying to make it more difficult for everyone using other VTTs. If they took the later approach that would certainly get me looking seriously into switching to Pathfinder 2e.

 

[Clint_L]

So if the results so far and my own vote are any indicator, if they do not want to lose more than half their players, they better not do this.

They've already done it, and DnDBeyond is incredibly popular. So are various non-WotC subscriptions, such as Roll20. So, yeah. They didn't lose more than half their players. I suspect that votes on a forum like this bear very, very little relationship to the vast population of D&D players.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

At much as I like DDB, I never liked using it as a character sheet when playing in person. I find having everything in front of me on paper is still more convenient than tapping around on a phone, tablet, or laptop. I also find electronics take me out of the game.

One thing DDB sorely lacks is good printable versions of the character sheets. The PDFs it generates are crap. When I was playing in person in the early days of 5e, I used Hero Lab. I would print my character sheets from Hero Lab which were very well laid out to easily reference even very complicated characters, had tick boxes for expendables like spell slots and ammo and many other nice touches.

Each to their own but I have an uncanny ability to loose paper.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I guess it depends on what your live table play is like. When I ran games in person, I was printing out battlemaps with a plotter printer and also had a lot of terrain and 2d and 3d minies. I have a paper cutting machine and made lots of paper terrain and paper standee minis. My D&D group is decidedly more on the tactical wargame side of the spectrum, more than TOTM. Actually, I first started using VTT or VTT like setups for my live game to save time and money. I bought an LCD TV and put it in a case to lay horizontally and display maps with fog of war, first in RealmWorks and then with Map Tool.

When a new job made it so I had to run my games remotely, at first I tried to run it via Google Meet. It just didn't feel like live table play to me. Once I started using VTT it felt a lot more like our games when we played in person.

My live table play is mostly theater of the mind (with occasional miniature use for things like very large battles), so that does affect the outcome here for me. That said, when I have used VTT or other online platforms that make use of battlemats, I find the process to be a lot slower than at a regular table. That might just be me or the people I game with. Either way, I discovered pretty quickly I didn't enjoy gaming with VTT and that if I shifted to all theater of the mind for online play, it was basically 95% like a real session for me.

 

[DEFCON 1]

They've already done it, and DnDBeyond is incredibly popular. So are various non-WotC subscriptions, such as Roll20. So, yeah. They didn't lose more than half their players. I suspect that votes on a forum like this bear very, very little relationship to the vast population of D&D players.

And of course the other point about all of this... it is very easy for all of us to make our declarations here and now when there's no actual demand or requirement for us acting out our choices. But if/when the situation postulated ever actually came to be... who knows whether we'd actually stick with the answer we gave? Thus it's kind of pointless for any of us to even bother "making a choice" right now. We can all say one thing in this thread, but can easily change our answers once we find ourselves actually in the situation for real.

 

[MNblockhead]

Each to their own but I have an uncanny ability to loose paper.

Which is why I like the best of both worlds. Make the character online and print it before the game. I have an uncanny ability to forget to charge my phone.

Then again, I still print out copies of my boarding passes when possible. Just in case.

 

[MNblockhead]

And of course the other point about all of this... it is very easy for all of us to make our declarations here and now when there's no actual demand or requirement for us acting out our choices. But if/when the situation postulated ever actually came to be... who knows whether we'd actually stick with the answer we gave? Thus it's kind of pointless for any of us to even bother "making a choice" right now. We can all say one thing in this thread, but can easily change our answers once we find ourselves actually in the situation for real.

And then we can enjoy defending out actual decisions on the interwebs as much as we enjoyed arguing about what we would or should do before we had to make a decision.

 

[Mistwell]

How much would you spend per month on subscriptions related to dnd? This could be from dndbeyond, your VTT of choice, or even patreon subscriptions for things you use in your games.

I don't subscribe to the tier on DNDBeyond that gives you unlimited characters but I've been thinking about it. Our DM subscribes to the sharing option on DNDBeyond and that has been a lifesaver as he has the "all books" library which means all his players can access all the books. Extremely valuable to our groups.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Which is why I like the best of both worlds. Make the character online and print it before the game. I have an uncanny ability to forget to charge my phone.

Then again, I still print out copies of my boarding passes when possible. Just in case.

It I bring my tablet then I will bring the charger.

 

[MostlyHarmless42]

$0 monthly and this is a hill I will die on. I am one of those "whales" that Wizards is wanting to exploit. Tabletop games are one of my biggest hobbies and I spend at least a couple thousand dollars each year on rpg products between offical stuff, miniatures, dice, 3rd party products, and other stuff, and my wife is a avid Magic the Gathering fan. Neither of us is fond of the idea of Wizards turning DnD into a "live service digital" experience.

I am openly opposed to using DnD Beyond already, have no desire to use a virtual tabletop that I have to pay for, and will refuse to give wizards a single cent of money EVER again if they dare try to force a) force everyone to use a subscription service to play their game, b) implement any sort of microtransactions in order to play their products, or c) take any steps that outright destroy the ability for creators to release 3rd party products without using their oppressive DMsguild.

I already refuse to purchase apple products for similar reasons with their app store for taking absurd cuts from creators, and refuse to play any video game labeled a "live service" or purchase any sort of lootboxes, so why would I not be consistant with DnD?

No matter what happens I'll still be willing to play the new ruleset if I feel it's superior as a gaming experience. I'm just not allowed mention how as it's against forum rules. I just fear a handful of out of touch Wizards executives need a reminder of what happened with they tried this stuff last time. Pathfinder is still around after all.