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2017/03/13 15:06:22
Subject: 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."
some pics via the link...
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
2017/03/13 16:10:41
Subject: D&D Beyond: An Official D&D Digital Toolset & Character Builder
I feel like we have seen this over and over again and everytime it ends up sort of puttering out. There is no need to go "beyond" pen and paper when it comes to developing your pen and paper RPG. How about some actual supplements instead???
Manchu wrote: I feel like we have seen this over and over again and everytime it ends up sort of puttering out. There is no need to go "beyond" pen and paper when it comes to developing your pen and paper RPG. How about some actual supplements instead???
As far as? My impressions are that this is more a digital catalog of all your character sheets, DM's notes, modules, etc. Also, this is being developed by Curse Inc., not WotC (it looks like they just let them use the license).
WotC itself does very little with D&D. Even the modules are licensed products. The D&D name brand is what they care about, exactly because they can sell licenses to third-party developers (including movie production companies). This is like the third or fourth time WotC has announced some third-party digital character tracking rigamarole - complete with slick looking trailer and epic musical score.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/03/13 18:01:07
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