[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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[speculart]

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

I am advocating innovation instead of the subscription method. Obviously not underpaying developers.

Modernising and changing the way kids can play this wonderful game. In a way that is affordable to kids.

 

[Zaukrie]

Do they? If people are using the app, the characters will be accurate. They can use the application for monsters. Magic items are optional or they can just make up stuff that makes sense.

At the worst a DM may need to buy a DMG.

If you choose to buy the books, have subscriptions to other services, it's up to you. All you really need to run a game online is skype, from what I'm seeing all you need to run a game will be a subscription to this service.

I get that people have a limited budget to spend on hobbies. I'm just saying that expecting a company to give you something for free because you already paid other companies money is silly.

Ya, that's totally the opposite of what I typed. I said they should make money. Sigh.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Patrick McGill]

I'm not sure I can agree that buying something on FG or this program (if that is how content is distributed) is akin to buying a book twice or three times. You're getting new utility out of it; you're buying it to convenience yourself.

I'm not paying for the PHB twice when I buy all of the Spellbook Cards from Gale Force 9, am I? I already own these spells, why should I pay a second time to get them in a different (more convenient) form?

I'd be willing to pay a pretty penny for a subscription, something like this would be of great use to me. I already use a laptop to help me run since I use a lot of PDF products from Drive Thru RPG. I know my players would love to have a player character builder. I'm pretty sure it's the first thing on all of our wish lists for 5e right now.

And a compendium? My kingdom for a well-hyperlinked 5e rules compendium!

 

[Salamandyr]

Well, signed up. If this can replace my books and let me add custom art, it'll be a day one purchase.

 

[shamurai7]

This is awful..... I currently have zero problems creating and managing characters.
You know I was just sitting on my couch wishing I had another monthly subscription bill.
Please....
Fans make krap like this all the time FOR FREE. I myself have already made digital sortable searchable forms of all the monsters from every official book. Also made digital sortable searchable spell compilation with every spell.
EZ....and I have never asked for a dime.

 

[Morrus]

This is awful..... I currently have zero problems creating and managing characters.
You know I was just sitting on my couch wishing I had another monthly subscription bill.
Please....

So don't. What's the problem?

 

[DM Magic]

EZ....and I have never asked for a dime.

You wouldn't be able to ask for a dime. It's not your content.

 

[Kabouter Games]

I think this is still one of the cheapest hobbies you can participate in.

It absolutely is. People who think TTRPGs are expensive make me shake my head at how indescribably parsimonious some people can be. They clearly have no other hobbies. At all. Except maybe reading library books.

Every single hobby has a cost-of-entry as well as maintenance costs. TTRPGs have a very low maintenance cost and a relatively low cost of entry. $50 to $150 to get started, for books and dice (and a few minis if you want them), and practically zilch to maintain, unless you count pop and Chee-tos. If you want/need to play online, you can play on Roll20 for free - I run a weekly game there and haven't paid a cent.

That's fantastically inexpensive for a hobby. If you (not you, Valdier, the colloquial "you," the people you and I are sternly talking to) think it is expensive, just look at what other hobbies cost.

I'll show you. Let me break down one of my others: Music. I'm a percussionist. I'm classically trained, but we'll leave the cost of my education out of it, since I'm not doing it professionally. Just for the essential gear I'll need, I need: Drum kit: $800; Cymbals: ~$1000; Hardware: ~$500; Sticks, heads, etc: ~$300.

That's just to let me play in my basement with an instrument that's worth picking up the sticks in the first place. If I want to play out with a band, add in a set of gig bags (~$200). Maybe I'll need to add a set of mics for gigs - those run about $600 for a set of mics worth using, plus cables and all. Okay, now it's really loud, and I care about my hearing, so I need a set of in-ear monitors and the system to make them work. There's another $400.

Now add in lessons, travel expenses, etc. All to play, what? Three gigs a month for $100 a toss? Yeah, that'll pay me back in never.

Add it all up, and the cost of entry for having the hobby of playing drums in a rock-and-roll band, to start, is upwards of $3000, probably pushing $4000 once you start figuring in the different odds and sods you need once you've figured out that the first stuff you bought isn't exactly what you required.

Ah, I hear you cry, but that's exceptional. Okay. Let me give you another: Swords. I used to practice historical European martial arts. You know, the guys who complained about why the D&D longsword, well, wasn't? Anyway, a high-quality weapon from a reputable supplier like Darkwood Armory is between $400 and $500. Protective gear will run at least another $200, probably closer to $300 if you do it right. And that's about half of what something like Kendo will cost you. Just to start. Not to do, which means weekly lessons and sparring at about $50 a pop. Just to start.

Yeah, you're still saying, but that's also exceptional! Okay. Let me give you another, for a thing I wouldn't do if you threatened to behead me: Golf. An entry-level set of golf bats is $200 at my local Dick's Sporting Goods. Shoes, another $50. A couple dozen balls? $15. A round of 18 at the nearest public course to me? $20. That's $300 just to start, with crappy gear at that.

Imagine in this space a picture of a middle-aged guy looking from that cost list to a free PDF he downloaded from Wizards, plus a free dice app, both of which are on his phone, plus the character sheet he wrote out on the back of a piece of scrap paper using a pencil that cost him a quarter.

Now whine about how expensive TTRPGing is. That middle-aged guy? He makes this face.

So yeah, cry me a river about how $pendy TTRPGing is. It's the least-expensive hobby I've ever had.

Cheers,

Bob

www.r-p-davis.com

 

[Zaukrie]

It absolutely is. People who think TTRPGs are expensive make me shake my head at how indescribably parsimonious some people can be. They clearly have no other hobbies. At all. Except maybe reading library books.

Every single hobby has a cost-of-entry as well as maintenance costs. TTRPGs have a very low maintenance cost and a relatively low cost of entry. $50 to $150 to get started, for books and dice (and a few minis if you want them), and practically zilch to maintain, unless you count pop and Chee-tos. If you want/need to play online, you can play on Roll20 for free - I run a weekly game there and haven't paid a cent.

That's fantastically inexpensive for a hobby. If you (not you, Valdier, the colloquial "you," the people you and I are sternly talking to) think it is expensive, just look at what other hobbies cost.

I'll show you. Let me break down one of my others: Music. I'm a percussionist. I'm classically trained, but we'll leave the cost of my education out of it, since I'm not doing it professionally. Just for the essential gear I'll need, I need: Drum kit: $800; Cymbals: ~$1000; Hardware: ~$500; Sticks, heads, etc: ~$300.

That's just to let me play in my basement with an instrument that's worth picking up the sticks in the first place. If I want to play out with a band, add in a set of gig bags (~$200). Maybe I'll need to add a set of mics for gigs - those run about $600 for a set of mics worth using, plus cables and all. Okay, now it's really loud, and I care about my hearing, so I need a set of in-ear monitors and the system to make them work. There's another $400.

Now add in lessons, travel expenses, etc. All to play, what? Three gigs a month for $100 a toss? Yeah, that'll pay me back in never.

Add it all up, and the cost of entry for having the hobby of playing drums in a rock-and-roll band, to start, is upwards of $3000, probably pushing $4000 once you start figuring in the different odds and sods you need once you've figured out that the first stuff you bought isn't exactly what you required.

Ah, I hear you cry, but that's exceptional. Okay. Let me give you another: Swords. I used to practice historical European martial arts. You know, the guys who complained about why the D&D longsword, well, wasn't? Anyway, a high-quality weapon from a reputable supplier like Darkwood Armory is between $400 and $500. Protective gear will run at least another $200, probably closer to $300 if you do it right. And that's about half of what something like Kendo will cost you. Just to start. Not to do, which means weekly lessons and sparring at about $50 a pop. Just to start.

Yeah, you're still saying, but that's also exceptional! Okay. Let me give you another, for a thing I wouldn't do if you threatened to behead me: Golf. An entry-level set of golf bats is $200 at my local Dick's Sporting Goods. Shoes, another $50. A couple dozen balls? $15. A round of 18 at the nearest public course to me? $20. That's $300 just to start, with crappy gear at that.

Imagine in this space a picture of a middle-aged guy looking from that cost list to a free PDF he downloaded from Wizards, plus a free dice app, both of which are on his phone, plus the character sheet he wrote out on the back of a piece of scrap paper using a pencil that cost him a quarter.

Now whine about how expensive TTRPGing is. That middle-aged guy? He makes this face.

So yeah, cry me a river about how $pendy TTRPGing is. It's the least-expensive hobby I've ever had.

Cheers,

Bob

www.r-p-davis.com

What a condescending post.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Oofta]

This is awful..... I currently have zero problems creating and managing characters.
You know I was just sitting on my couch wishing I had another monthly subscription bill.
Please....
Fans make krap like this all the time FOR FREE. I myself have already made digital sortable searchable forms of all the monsters from every official book. Also made digital sortable searchable spell compilation with every spell.
EZ....and I have never asked for a dime.

And ... so what? Afraid the DDRS* is going to come knocking on your door? Those tools are not going to disappear.


*D&D Revenue Service