[UPDATED!] D&D Beyond: An Official D&D Digital Toolset & Character Builder

D&D Beyond has just been announced! Coming this summer, and billed as "Your digital D&D source", it has a compendium of official content, character builder and manager, the ability to use home-brew content, D&D forums, and is usable on any device. A 1-minute announcement trailer can be seen below. D&D Beyond is produced by a company called Curse Inc, owned by Twitch. Right now, there's a signup for the Beta version. More info as/when it becomes available! [UPDATES: The D&D Beyond folks have offered some more info, which I have included below; I will be chatting with them later this week, with luck!]

"We are excited to announce development of D&D Beyond, an official digital toolset for use with the Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition rules. We have partnered with Curse to take D&D players beyond pen and paper, providing a rules compendium, character builder, digital character sheets, and more—all populated with official D&D content. D&D Beyond aims to make game management easier for both players and Dungeon Masters by providing high-quality tools available on any device, empowering beginners and veterans alike!" goes the official description.

"D&D Beyond speaks to the way gamers are able to blend digital tools with the fun of storytelling around the table with your friends,” said Nathan Stewart, Senior Director of Dungeons & Dragons. "These tools represent a way forward for D&D, and we’re excited to get them into the hands of players soon!"

The company, Curse Inc., is owned by Twitch, and is based in San Francisco, with offices in various countries. They produce tools and communities for gamers - up until now, mainly video games. They started as a way to organise the founder's World of Warcraft add-ons about 10 years ago, and grew into a multinational company from there. The company makes a desktop app called the Curse Client, along with community driven wikis, tools, guides, and databases for games like Minecraft, Diablo, Countersrike, Overwatch, and more. In 2016, it was announced that Twitch would acquire Curse.

Features, from the website, include:

• D&D Compendium with Official Content
• Create, Browse, & Use Homebrew Content
• Manage Characters - Build, Progress, & Play
• D&D News, Articles, Forums, & More
• Access Anywhere, Anytime, on Any Device

That last item makes it sound like it'll work offline, which will be a popular move. And the home-brew content mention is also important, especially because WotC supports DMs Guild.

UPDATES: I checked with WotC's Greg Tito who confirmed "D&D Beyond will work without an internet connection. That's a big deal for the devs!"

Adam over at D&D Beyond confirmed a little about the pricing model:

"At launch, players will be able to access SRD content and build and view a small number of characters with a free D&D Beyond account.

We don’t have exact pricing nailed down, but you will also be able to buy official digital D&D content for all fifth edition products with flexible purchase options. You can pay only for the D&D content you need. If you only play fighters, for example, you’ll be able to just pick up the stuff you need to track swinging that giant two-handed sword.

A small monthly subscription will be needed to manage more than a handful of characters and to enable more advanced features, like homebrew content integration. At this time, we don’t know exactly how much the subscription will cost."

He also confirmed that the pricing structure is not about microtransactions: "I'm about to get on a plane so I've got to be brief, but I wanted to check in and make it clear that "microtransactions" were not mentioned and are not what the model is about."

And also that D&D Beyond is definitely not a Virtual Game Table (VTT): "D&D Beyond is intended to enhance gameplay around a table (virtual or otherwise) - we intend this to be completely complementary and have no intention of creating a VTT."

[video=youtube;Dn8Kpmm_aJA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn8Kpmm_aJA[/video]

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[Morrus]

The massive good will that would be engendered by giving these tools for free.

I'm not entirely sure that starving developers doing indentured labour counts as "goodwill"!

 

[Jester David]

The massive good will that would be engendered by giving these tools for free. Unlocked with each purchase of each hardcover..or online equivalent, would be immense.
This should be a tool that makes the game easier to play...across the country, the world, or across the street! Imagine kids using these tools to hook up with their friends in the evenings.

You should be thinking of a google hangouts/ skype like equivalent, with rules and content. Easy play, for theater of the mind.

Sadly, programmers and software developers can't support themselves and their families on "goodwill."

You are underpaying your developers! I hire new guys out of school for more than that, with benefits.

But if I went with the high salary rather than the lowball, it would have seemed unrealistic. Especially when even the low figures make the point...

 

[Koloth]

I know its early in the announcement process but a few questions:
What quits working if you let a subscription lapse?
Can you pause a subscription and resume later? (If your game goes on hiatus, be nice if you can pause the subscription costs)
What doesn't work if you don't have an internet connection? (They say it doesn't require a always on connection to work but is that all features?)
Any guarantees on how long it will be supported after V5 is no longer the current version?
Will they offer some kind of "Wrap Up" release to allow offline working after support ends?

 

[Lord_Blacksteel]

The massive good will that would be engendered by giving these tools for free. Unlocked with each purchase of each hardcover..or online equivalent, would be immense.
This should be a tool that makes the game easier to play...across the country, the world, or across the street! Imagine kids using these tools to hook up with their friends in the evenings.

You should be thinking of a google hangouts/ skype like equivalent, with rules and content. Easy play, for theater of the mind.

They've said though that this isn't a VTT - it's to enhance table play. So I don't think it's a goal to let kids play with their friends across the country or the world. If they're across the street they can walk over to each other's house and play in person - which this does seemed to be aimed at helping.

There are already VTTs out there, some of them fairly inexpensive. Not free, but close.

 

[Mercule]

You are underpaying your developers! I hire new guys out of school for more than that, with benefits.

Agreed. I made $50K/yr as a developer fresh out of school with a degree in Political Science. Over 20 years ago. In Iowa, which isn't exactly on the Seattle pay scale.

Even in the Midwest, if you aren't paying your leads $90K/year, you aren't going to attract the talent necessary to actually put together a prime-time product. Doing cross-platform development, you're either going to have multiple leads at that level or one or two principles/architects at a significantly higher rate, in addition to some general developers.

 

[Nylanfs]

Having been involved in this corner of the industry since shortly after 3e launched, I'll wait and see if this crashes and burns. I'm interested to seeing how this will be integrated with third party source material, not homebrewed. If it's the same level as the 4e (ie None) then Hero Lab and PCGen will be getting more users.

 

[Oofta]

I know we will never succeed at making everyone on the internet happy

And the award for understatement of the year goes to ... DnDBeyond!!!

I'm looking forward to the product, from what little you've shown so far it looks pretty amazing. As a developer myself who has done some small applications to implement this kind of stuff (and I guarantee I cost more than 50k per year, especially when you count in benefits and overhead) I know how much work it is.

I'm always amazed that people seem to think you can crank out this stuff for free, maintain it, add new features, keep up with errata, keep up with new rules and classes, etc. How are you supposed to make a living?

Anyway, good luck and I look forward to trying out the application.

 

[Zaukrie]

Pay for the book. Pay for the book again on fantasy grounds. Pay for the book again on these tools. Ugh.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Erik Westmarch]

We don’t have exact pricing nailed down, but you will also be able to buy official digital D&D content for all fifth edition products with flexible purchase options. You can pay only for the D&D content you need. If you only play fighters, for example, you’ll be able to just pick up the stuff you need to track swinging that giant two-handed sword.

Does this work out to more, less, or the same as buying a book? I can see this adding up to "more". But buying what you use makes sense, as long as the price is right.

A small monthly subscription will be needed to manage more than a handful of characters and to enable more advanced features, like homebrew content integration.

Are you kidding me? I have to subscribe to my own characters and my own house rules? Content that I'm doing the work of creating I have to pay to access?

No, sorry. Deal breaker. I can continue to save my character sheets and home brew rules doc right where they are. I don't have to worry they'll get locked away from me if I can't make a monthly payment. I could see subscribing to new rules or buying the new rules in "packs"; either one of those is fine. Subscribing to my own campaign isn't viable.

 

[Osgood]

I really hope this works out, but given past attempts, I'll believe it when I see it. Unfortunately, they start out in the hole because there are so many varying opinions about a) what the product should be and b) how much it should cost. They'll never be able to please everyone. Maybe they can do UA surveys and at least shoot for something that satisfies a majority.

For myself, simplicity to use is key. Personally I wouldn't touch something like Fantasy Grounds or Hero Lab with a standard issue 10-foot pole... I know plenty of folks love them, but I find them overly complex and unwieldy (screenshots looks simple enough, but I'm not sure about some of the formatting). As far as the pay model goes, maintenance and further development isn't cheap, and I don't begrudge anyone making a profit. I figure it'll cost what it costs, and some will be able to afford it, while others won't... they are luxuries for those with the resources, not requirements to play.