With D&D Beyond has D&D Leap Frogged the Competition?

[fjw70]

Is it weird that I find using a pencil and a piece of paper faster than using the programs?

I think having the tools available is great. I also imagine that someone who grew up with digital books being the norm likely leans toward using digital products more than I do. So, with that in mind, maybe the tools will help generate some sales. I can't say.

For me personally? I'm barely aware that the tools exist outside of the occasional discussion here.

For a character that uses one book to make then yes I think paper and pencil is faster. The electronic tolls allow you to more quickly look at options across multiple books. I like having my character on an online tool so that it is with me no matter where I go.

However the character builder is just a small piece of DDB to me. I am more interested in the ebooks and the ability to search things like monsters, magic items, and spells.

 

[Argyle King]

For a character that uses one book to make then yes I think paper and pencil is faster. The electronic tolls allow you to more quickly look at options across multiple books. I like having my character on an online tool so that it is with me no matter where I go.

However the character builder is just a small piece of DDB to me. I am more interested in the ebooks and the ability to search things like monsters, magic items, and spells.

I usually just look at the index in the book. Though, truth be told, that's one area in which I find the 5E books to be occasionally poor in user-friendliness, so perhaps a digital tool might be better.

I can perhaps see lists of spells and things of that nature being useful. (But I'm inclined to say that I find those useful because of areas of the book that I find lacking in navigational information.) Being able to sort spells by class, level, and whether or not they are rituals is nice.

I do use a few pdfs in other games that I play because being able to search for things is helpful. On the other hand, I tend to quickly memorize where things which I use a lot are located.

As said, I think the tools are nice. I imagine that many people have many uses for them. I just don't believe I'm among the target audience.

 

[fjw70]

I usually just look at the index in the book. Though, truth be told, that's one area in which I find the 5E books to be occasionally poor in user-friendliness, so perhaps a digital tool might be better.

I can perhaps see lists of spells and things of that nature being useful. (But I'm inclined to say that I find those useful because of areas of the book that I find lacking in navigational information.) Being able to sort spells by class, level, and whether or not they are rituals is nice.

I do use a few pdfs in other games that I play because being able to search for things is helpful. On the other hand, I tend to quickly memorize where things which I use a lot are located.

As said, I think the tools are nice. I imagine that many people have many uses for them. I just don't believe I'm among the target audience.

I agree. I don't think you are innhe target audience for this.

 

[L R Ballard]

They could crush the market and drive enourmous [sic] growth if they created the VTT/Boardgame platform with support for 3rd party content. That would be leapfrogging everyone.

The above statement is on the right track, though I qualify it with the following:

When a VTT introduces 3D art assets on par with Skyrim or Witcher 3 graphics, that's the leapfrog. When VTTs can represent PCs, NPCs, monsters, and locations and allow third-party creators to modify those assets to create NPCs, adventures, and world-size maps with AAA gaming graphics in turn-based platforms--leapfrog.

When DMs Guild meets Skyrim mods, that's the leapfrog.

 

[Jhaelen]

I will guarantee you that a high school student can write a java app to store/display text in less than a week. This is not even entry level work.

Yup, and that's exactly what you'll get. I.e. nothing that would have much use for anyone and _definitely_ nothing anyone would pay for.

I can tell you're an expert on the matter.

 

[fjw70]

I think the reference was to the digital tools (like the much hyped VTT DDI was going to include) that WotC themselves tries to build or have built for them. There have been numerous games (I remember one touted at GenCon a few years ago for Facebook) that never made it anywhere.

You can Google or search the forums here for numerous examples and discussions.

As for DDI, I would not call it an overwhelming success, and personally it never met my expectations or the hype they advertised it with. That said, I gave it several years before finally giving up on it.

As for FG and R20, those were/are both successful applications that WotC has just recently allowed to license their content. WotC has nothing to do with the development of either platform and 5E was being happily played on both before the licensing.

All that said, I agree that DDB won't be much a dent in the historical waves of D&D. What if anything will revolutionize D&D with a true breakthrough? Don't know, but it certainly won't be some VTT/boardgame platform as there is little new and nothing revolutionary there.

Something doesn't need to be an overwhelming success to not be a failure.

On the FG and R20, yes WotC isn't responsible for developing them but that is the point. WotC has gotten much better at digital since they are using established partners.

 

[fjw70]

We will see in 3 weeks.

Well tomorrow is launch day and I believe all the tools that were promised for launch are active in the system. Just waiting for tomorrow to start unlocking content. I stand by my position that DDB is the single best electronic tool for table top play and is setting a new standard in digital tools for table top play.