Virtual Tabletop/ Gameboard

Planned

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130 comments

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    Jeremy Jernigen

    This would make me far more likely to purchase content on this platform.

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    Ryan Kremer

    Is this actually a planned feature? This entry is marked as planned, but I've heard everywhere else that this wasn't a planned feature. I'd love if it was planned.

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    Richard Lee Hurst

    @Ryan Kremer, it wasn't planned; however, many requests (such as this one) have put it on the road map.  
    I believe this has been mentioned in multiple dev update Twitch streams.  

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    Luis M. Burset-Cuevas

    I would be so very very interested in this.

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    Jeff Cigrand

    I would suggest to prioritize it, it is a major thing that holds many people back. Roll20 and Fantasygrounds have weird subscription plans and Most people would like to have everything at the same place. I personally am not fond of these 2 sites. Some open source and free alternatives lack a lot.

    I would be happy with just a live gameboard where people can see their stats, control their own figurines/tokens and the Dm the rest.

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    Chris Earhart

    This is one of the items that has prevented me from purchasing more content. Not a huge fan of theatre of the mind.

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    SPE825

    Would also love to see this prioritized, or there to be new hires made specifically to work on this. Seems like the VTT could in some way provide additional revenue for for DDB as well. Additional subscription tiers, etc. If a VTT existed, there wouldn't be much holding me back from getting that Legendary Bundle.

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    Cmorris05

    I already subscribe, and I would put more money if it meant I could get the content into a virtual tabletop like Roll20.

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    Kristjan Rohtla

    Would definitely love this.

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    Ian Sharp

    I'd like to add a caveat. A VTT would be a fantastic addition to DDB, I just hope when they work on developing this, they make it far more user-friendly than any of the others on the market. Admittedly, Roll20 wasn't that bad once I spent a little bit of time with it, but it still felt clunky and it was still something I had to spend time away from regular session prep to learn.

    I want to see a VTT that is intuitive and doesn't require knowledge of writing macros for use of more advanced features. Clickable buttons should take priority over chat commands for things like rolling dice. Dynamic lighting is cool, but Fog of War should be a standard feature too (looking at you, Astral).

    I remember one of the first pictures we saw of the DDB office showed them playing on a TV surface, and as someone who uses the same method, it would also be awesome to see a VTT designed with that method of play taken into account. Currently it seems like something you CAN do with others, but not something that the platforms were really designed to support. 

    Just my 2 cents!

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    Miriadis

    I'd love to have a thing to easily stream battle maps on a TV for my players, with area/distance visual calculations, movement and fog of war. Just for me, the DM, to control.

    This could be a first step to a fully fledged system like the others (and would be enough for me).

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    Ryan Rusch

    I have to add this is a high priority for me and my group, especially with the busy lives of my players we would love the option to play online through the site I am already heavily invested in. Keep up the great work and I can't wait to hear about the progress on this feature!

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    Jeff Cigrand

    VTT has been put in long-term development (not necessarily a priority) on their trello, as of January the 5th. https://trello.com/b/vIKxuEs8/dd-beyond-feature-roadmap


    Please prioritize and give us an update if it's just planned or you actually wanna work on it? Is there a team ready to work on it? What is your idea of a VTT? Maybe use the one made by Wotc that they aren't sharing anymore? Or are you planning to acquire Roll20? (would make most sense)

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    Tero Hänninen

    The VTT (or NextGen Visualization component) is the absolute DnD killer app for me. That would be the pivot point for me going all-in with digital purchases. Right now the stuff available on the VTT market is lacking the cross-section of stable development, DnD content, usability and sensible pricing. DnD Beyond is positioned to change that. Looking forward to this.

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    Mason McEwen

    It would be great to see them integrate with Talespire.

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    Richard Pruiett

    They have said they indeed plan on doing this but because there are multiple other VTTs on the market that it is not a high priority so they are concentrating and filling the gaps in the market the best that they can first which I think they are doing a pretty damn good job at so far.

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    Joshua Sikora

    With this generation of discord and virtual games, this should be at the top of the feature list.  A simple system of making a campaign go live with background image and the profile picture of a character sheet is a great start.  Don't over complicate it, add a dice roller, movable pieces (tied to character sheets) and a simple system.  I think this would absolutely crush the competition since you already have the best website available for online digital DnD content.  Best case scenario? Working with discord integrations as well.

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    John Babcock

    Adding this feature would allow us to use ONE product for all our gaming. ONE STOP SHOP!

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    Omair Quraishi

    Hey Guys,

    Please get the community to keep up voting this to #1.  I ran through the forums that referenced VTT and put this reply into each one:

    "

    please upvote DnDBeyond.com building out something for Virtual Groups (ie VTT). It would be great to have these tools all working together or in one place.

    https://dndbeyond.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115008597088-Virtual-Tabletop-Gameboard

     

    "

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    The Polyvangelist

    I already have my money in y'all with most of the books and content. If you add in a Roll20 style VTT, then I am going to be a huge customer. 

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    Robert A Meadows

    I like a lot of features in the roadmap, but this one is far FAR above any other for me personally.  I've bought all the books 3 times.  Physical, Fantasy Grounds, and then DND Beyond once they came out. And since ddb has been out i have loved every part of it. 

    I became a subscriber as soon as the features caught up with fg to where we only needed to use it for maps.  I use fg only because its the best alternative to me and my group of friends who cant meet physically to play.  If ddb had a virtual table top, i would drop fg instantly and use nothing but ddb.  Its an amazing system, and is only getting better.  The ui and features are light years beyond fg which seems like an app for win 95 in comparison.  Its much easier to use and can get far more things done.

    I love the weekly dev updates(much better than monthly imho) and get excited seeing all the stuff yet to come.  Ddb has made huge strides to turning so many of my friends on to d&d because of its user friendliness that its ridiculous.  We have turned both my friend's wife who is barely into games and their 10 year old son onto the game, and they had no previous interest in it.

    So my entire point is that having a VTT to interact with instaed of using an entirely different system would make it so much easier for people to start playing since everything would be in 1 system.  A VTT seems like such a great idea to me, and i cannot wait for it to be completed.  I imagine it's a long ways off, but I'll be waiting for it on the edge of my seat.

    Thanks for all the great work you all do, and i can't wait to see what the future holds!

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    Jeffery Estes

    Yes please!.  Implement a VTT of your own making or create and open up an API and let the 3rd party market or community build it for you.  Then we can use a VTT of our choice that has either a full integration or partial integration with the API and we  can live and breath in both worlds.   Or build the VTT yourselves and keep the paying customers tossing Cheddar in your revenue bucket. 

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    Zmpr0wler

    With myself becoming a vampire soon (getting a night shift job) i was hoping this could be a possible out let for me so that i could do more with something that i really only just fell in love with.

     

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    Samantha Loveless

    I literally am just starting to venture into D&D. I just got a new job where my coworkers do it every Friday night after we close. An old friend of mine also apparently plays. I really like the option here of buying the books digitally and having them on my phone to read up on while trying to learn right now. My only draw back though is trying to figure out how I play with some of my other friends online. I'm seeing things like Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds, but all of them require me to pay again for digital content I already have here, and at this point to play with them I'd need to buy the content all over again.

    I really hope this feature of a D&D Beyond tabletop option comes to pass, or even just a team up with Roll20 where things I've bought here register there for me to play online. I'm not too picky at this point, I just want to be able to play with a friend I know to teach me because I have no idea what I'm doing.

    So far though, I really prefer the style and features here, just hate the fact I can't also play with my friends online through the same site.

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    Ronald Turner

    This would be an amazing feature

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    Quinn

    This, this, this, this, this, and a thousand times this!

    I can play Theater of the Mind with my online buddies--we do since I do not enjoy Roll20 all that much--but I do miss the tactical nature of playing with a battle map; along with the visual aid that helps players visualize the environment more!

    I've bought the Legendary bundle when I had the funds awhile back, and I have bought almost every book on the DnD Beyond platform since. I enjoy this tool immensely! I stream my games and the Twitch extension is by far one of the coolest integrations any site has come up with to date, but this lack of not prioritizing the VTT is really starting to irk me. It's actually caused me to halt some of my purchases on the DnD Beyond platform so I can better understand Roll20 (Roll20 isn't perfect either--why the hell should I have to learn macros and code to play DnD? No thanks.).

    Now, I can understand the DM Screen and the Encounter Builder coming first. Those can be great tools for a VTT, but can we please put the VTT on the roadmap ahead of inventory management and other character sheet improvements? I'm assuming it's in their fiscal yearly goal since the Marketplace has added the official adventure tiles and maps.

    Not everyone enjoys playing Theater of the Mind. Some of us derive our enjoyment of the game from the combat strategy that comes from a Battle Map.

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    Greg Craill

    @Quinn ... 1001 times mate. Add me to that list. If a VTT was available I may look at buying module content but until then it is easier to free form adventures.

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    John Sweeney

    VTT is a feature that would turn me from a free user who's bought a PHB and is thinking about springing for Xanathar's and/or Mordenkainen's, into a subscribed user buying at least one module/year, and probably also a DDB Twitch streamer as well. It's not that I don't spend a lot of money on DnD stuff (I own all the core books, most of the supplemental rulebooks, and several of the campaign books), I just don't spend it on DDB. I can't justify to myself buying a campaign book on DDB when I'll need to turn around and pay for it again on Roll20 to run it there, and having a physical version is nicer/more convenient for my kitchen table game, but if I had a decent VTT here, I'd probably ditch roll20 altogether.

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    Phanoko

    If I can also make a suggestion.  More and more tables are using Chromebooks / Chrombox / Chromebits to run their tabletops.  They're crazy cheap, secure and work perfect for this.  Please keep this web based.

     

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    Mark Bunney

    I too would love to see this.  I'm a returning D&D player having not played for many years.  After trying to find a home game and failing I've joined a VTT as this is the only way I can play.  With that in mind I would love to see VTT integration with D&D beyond at the level and quantity that the current content is at.  It would just be so much better to have this all integrated in one place and it couldn't come soon enough for me.

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