[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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[shamurai7]

What change did they make to the TOS in response to your product?

http://www.dmsguild.com/whatisdmsguild.php
Pretty much the entire 4th paragraph of their content guideline was not there....they added it afterward, or at least heavily revised it. They gave themselves a much more open-ended ability to say "We don't like your file because reasons..."

Originally all their published 5e books were at our disposal for data use and reference.
Maybe they didn't expect someone to actually type up all the spells into a user friendly format? hah hah

ALSO look on that same page under 'What can I publish' just above 'other questions'
They added that because of me..... lolz

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/races

It's happpennning!

Slowly but surely, they're getting to the point where Phase 2 will begin. Not yet, but getting there. Nice to see some progress. Was getting antsy there for awhile. Needs my fix.

 

[Nylanfs]

<COUGH>PCGen</cough>

 

[wedgeski]

http://www.dmsguild.com/whatisdmsguild.php
Pretty much the entire 4th paragraph of their content guideline was not there....they added it afterward, or at least heavily revised it. They gave themselves a much more open-ended ability to say "We don't like your file because reasons..."

Originally all their published 5e books were at our disposal for data use and reference.
Maybe they didn't expect someone to actually type up all the spells into a user friendly format? hah hah

IIRC the original guidelines did say something about "Create, don't copy."

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

<COUGH>PCGen</cough>

Piece of crap. No coughs needed.

 

[Jester David]

They specifically revised the TOS for DM's guild

http://www.dmsguild.com/whatisdmsguild.php
Pretty much the entire 4th paragraph of their content guideline was not there....they added it afterward, or at least heavily revised it. They gave themselves a much more open-ended ability to say "We don't like your file because reasons..."

Um.... that's not the Terms of Service. That's basically an layman's FAQ on their Terms of Service and some content guidelines. The actual Terms of Service would be the Community Content Agreement you sign when you add a new title.
The CCA is pretty vague on what products are and are not "acceptable" but does make it pretty clear the DMsGuild isn't obligated to sell your work. And the intent of the Guild as a place to create content (adventures, new rules options, adventure updates, alternate classes/races) was pretty clear from the beginning.

 

[Nylanfs]

Piece of crap. No coughs needed.

Gee, tell us how you really feel.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

 

[lkj]

So one of the developers at D&D Beyond just posted the following in response to a question about digital rulebooks:

"Eh, we're close enough that I can at least confirm this - you will absolutely be able to buy all the digital rulebooks, adventures, and any other published WotC content on D&D Beyond for a one-time purchase. A subscription is not required to be able to have full access to those materials.
Subscriptions will be used for other purposes, which will be revealed "soon.""

Link: http://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d...thoughts-subscriptions-costs-and?page=19#c378


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[SkidAce]

So one of the developers at D&D Beyond just posted the following in response to a question about digital rulebooks:

"Eh, we're close enough that I can at least confirm this - you will absolutely be able to buy all the digital rulebooks, adventures, and any other published WotC content on D&D Beyond for a one-time purchase. A subscription is not required to be able to have full access to those materials.
Subscriptions will be used for other purposes, which will be revealed "soon.""

Link: http://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d...thoughts-subscriptions-costs-and?page=19#c378


AD

Scarily, our custom or homebrew is not in that list...

 

[lkj]

Scarily, our custom or homebrew is not in that list...

Not really. They've mentioned that you'd be able to enter your own stuff in other responses and I'm pretty sure it was without subscription. I can try to dig up the quote.

AD