[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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[Oofta]

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

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Your original statement ...

And the poor DM, who needs all the rules? Look, I am not arguing they shouldn't make money. I am arguing that for people with other hobbies, who play some remotely, this is no cheap hobby.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

My response is that if you don't want (or don't have) the money to spend you will have to decide where to put your cash. Nobody is disagreeing with that.

You may have to decide what is more important: books, a full featured remote tool (vs skype), an electronic version of the rules you can access offline. I would say that this product may give some people a cheaper option. Don't buy the 3 big books (PHB, MM, DMG), just subscribe to what you need. We won't know for certain until the pricing model comes out.

Both WOTC and the folks behind D&D Beyond need to make a reasonable profit. If they offer a product you don't find useful or can't afford, don't purchase them. If you can't afford a product, don't buy it and run a campaign off the free basic rules and free content you can find online.

IMHO, there has never been a better time for a cash-strapped folks who want to play official D&D.

 

[robus]

Everybody has different levels of disposable income. What's cheap to someone could be expensive to someone else.

An ongoing subscription can be too much of a burden for some people - whereas a one-off purchase might be manageable (and of course everyone loves free!)

Let's try to be a bit more considerate?

 

[Corpsetaker]

Unless, overall, this tool system turns out to be really cheap, I don't see it really succeeding. I couldn't see people who are using Fantasy Grounds using this tool because it would be something else to have to purchase which this on top of Fantasy Grounds would cost you a fortune. Being a DM would get very expensive to the point where it would put people off.

I see what they are doing here by trying not to make the same mistake with the 4th edition character builder but I just don't see people really sinking money into this thing unless they have absolutely nothing else they purchase.

 

[Kabouter Games]

What a condescending post.

But apparently not demonstrably false. If you'd like to address the facts of that post, I encourage you to do so.

You're right that my judgment was, well, judgy. It was meant to be. So much of this hobby is already free or ridiculously underpriced. This breeds an unreasonable expectation that exacerbates the problem. Look at DM's Guild - tons of people kvetch about how it's all dreck, then complain, sometimes in the same sentence, about how $1.95 is too much for an adventure. Then they get stroppy when they're confronted with statements about how you get what you pay for.

Every time someone comes out with a new product, there's a demographic which chimes in with doom and woe about how expensive it is. That demographic needs to be firmly told that they already pay less for their hobby than virtually every other hobby in the modern age, and that good "stuff" for any hobby costs money.

Everybody has different levels of disposable income. What's cheap to someone could be expensive to someone else.

An ongoing subscription can be too much of a burden for some people - whereas a one-off purchase might be manageable (and of course everyone loves free!)

True! I was merely trying to point out the inherent falseness of claiming that TTRPGs are expensive. They're not.

A person whose budget is so tight that a subscription or one-time purchase is that sweat-worthy can easily decide not to purchase something which isn't necessary to enjoy their favorite TTRPG. It's a complete no-brainer. As I pointed out, if you're that strapped, you can enjoy D&D 5e without spending a single penny. To complain about the product, especially before knowing the pricing structure, therefore presents itself as whiny.

Let's try to be a bit more considerate?

You're right about that. For my part, I'm sorry that I let my dudgeon get the better of me. I've said my piece.

 

[robus]

As a DM if it lets me quickly pull together the resources I expect to need for a session, maps, monsters, spells etc that would be great. I'm doing a lot of data entry at the mo trying to provide myself with quick reference sheets for those things.

And certainly cost is always a question.

 

[redrick]

The Monster Builder for the 4e tools was worth the subscription alone. Being able to quickly hop onto my computer and print out an index card for each monster (pulling straight from the complete set of official monsters) I planned to have on deck for an adventure saved thumbing through books at the table or having to copy a bunch of monster abilities down every week. Plus, I could quickly modify monsters to fit my particular needs. A tool like that for 5e would be worth the price of admission for me.

Character generators are less essential for 5e than 4e, as there are far fewer feats to copy down and fiddly modifiers to calculate, but, hey, if a digital tool makes it easier to copy down the full text of feats and features when making characters, this could be useful for the right kind of table. And, again, thinking of the DM, character generators are a great tool when you want to come up with a bunch of pre-gens for a one-shot game with new players. I know there are other tools out there making use of the SRD, but if this one works well and comes with the more essential monster tools, I'm all over it.

I look forward to the beta. Though, sure, cautiously optimistic. Fortunately, we've been doing fine with the tools we (don't) have for however long 5e has been on the market, so if this doesn't live up to expectations, we'll still be in pretty good shape.

 

[DM Magic]

Unless, overall, this tool system turns out to be really cheap, I don't see it really succeeding. I couldn't see people who are using Fantasy Grounds using this tool because it would be something else to have to purchase which this on top of Fantasy Grounds would cost you a fortune. Being a DM would get very expensive to the point where it would put people off.

I see what they are doing here by trying not to make the same mistake with the 4th edition character builder but I just don't see people really sinking money into this thing unless they have absolutely nothing else they purchase.

Just once it would be interesting to see what a positive post from you would look like.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

Unless, overall, this tool system turns out to be really cheap, I don't see it really succeeding. I couldn't see people who are using Fantasy Grounds using this tool because it would be something else to have to purchase which this on top of Fantasy Grounds would cost you a fortune.

That makes no sense. I have no interest in FG or Roll 20. Neither do most players, I'd be willing to bet. That puts the majority of players in the basket of potential customers. I know that, if it is a good tool that is well made and at a reasonable price, I'll be encouraging my players to use it. I can't get them to use Hero Lab for this because, well, it's not a very well made tool and it's pricey for what you get, considering all you get is the SRD for $35 US.

The Monster Builder for the 4e tools was worth the subscription alone. Being able to quickly hop onto my computer and print out an index card for each monster (pulling straight from the complete set of official monsters) I planned to have on deck for an adventure saved thumbing through books at the table or having to copy a bunch of monster abilities down every week. Plus, I could quickly modify monsters to fit my particular needs. A tool like that for 5e would be worth the price of admission for me.

Oh man, if I could print out a monster stat block, or access them on a laptop at the table, wow, that would be a game-changer.

Currently I use Valloric's statblocks that I make my own versions of monsters with. It's not difficult, but it's time-consuming and an extra step in the prep process. I'd love a statblock that I could print out like with Valloric's.

 

[fantasmamore]

@ Curse Inc.

I am a graphic & web designer and every month I have to pay subscriptions for my work (servers, photo banks, domain names and other stuff). On top of that I have to pay other bills as everyone else (rent, transportation, internet etc). Even as a gamer I have a roll20 subscription. The last thing that I need is another monthly fee even if it's as low as 1 dollar per month. I just can't. My income is not steady and there are months (August and September) that are really bad while others (December, May) that I can spend more.
Plus, I was a subscriber during the DDi era and I paid hundreds of dollars until the day that I couldn't even level up my characters or renew my subscription. So to me, a subscription plan means that I only borrow stuff and that the publisher will remove my access whenever they want.
On the other hand I will pay for content that I can use whenever I want, even if it costs a little bit more.
So, please, do whatever is best for your company and the publisher but give me the alternative to buy things that I can own. I will never go back to the DDi model, ever again.
Thank you and good luck!

 

[wedgeski]

The Monster Builder for the 4e tools was worth the subscription alone. Being able to quickly hop onto my computer and print out an index card for each monster (pulling straight from the complete set of official monsters) I planned to have on deck for an adventure saved thumbing through books at the table or having to copy a bunch of monster abilities down every week. Plus, I could quickly modify monsters to fit my particular needs. A tool like that for 5e would be worth the price of admission for me.

Couldn't agree more. When I left 4E behind, the Monster Builder and Compendium were difficult losses.