Many of us in the D&D community already own the rule books and so for some this investment can be difficult to justify. But I want to take a minute to talk to you about what D&D Beyond offers compared to your physical books, how it’s not just some cash grab scheme, and how the prices are actually better than what you can get compared to other formats. Please note that when I am comparing prices, I am not considering apps and tools that provide non-OGL content without a license.
Keep reading if you think you can be convinced to take the plunge, otherwise I'd recommend skipping to the last paragraph.
Business Model
For starters, let’s talk about this “cash grab scheme”. Many people seem to think that D&D Beyond is a product of Wizards of the Coast - the company that makes the physical books. In reality, however, it is owned by company called Curse. The way you need to think about it is that D&D Beyond is like a proxy local game store… on the internet of course. Wizards of the Coast manufactures the game. And then sells its products to retailers. Those retailers sell the product to their customers for profit. It is a business model that D&D Beyond very closely resembles as you see here:
This is what you normally think of when you buy a book from your local game store.
Disclaimer: Images are copyright their respective owners (Wizards of the Coast) and (Curse). I am using them under Fair Use Act terms.
This is what it's like buying a book from D&D Beyond. They’re pretty similar.
Disclaimer: Images are copyright their respective owners (Wizards of the Coast) and (Curse). I am using them under Fair Use Act terms.
The caveat here is that game stores sell you a physical product that will last as long as you take care of it. D&D Beyond sells access to the content in its database as well as use of that content in their digital character and campaign tools - just like iTunes, Amazon Video, and Kindle. It also has many more features coming soon. These are features you can find in various places on the web, but not all of them are using the commercial content legally with a license. Those that do charge for that use.
If you’d rather support your local businesses and buy the physical books, that’s awesome! Way to support your local gaming community. But then if you want to use this digital service, you need to understand that just like your local game store, Curse also needs to make money for their business. It’s not that WotC, Curse, or anyone else is trying to nickel and dime you.
When you buy a regular physical copy in one local game store, but then you see another local game store selling a special edition. Is store B trying to nickel and dime you to buy the special edition? Of course not. First of all, nobody is trying to force you to buy anything here. The incentive to buy is due to the appeal you find in its value, which is a subjective measure. “The beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Second, even though the content is the same, it’s not a cash grab scheme to ask you to pay for this separate product. Normally what a person would do in this case is sell their book on Facebook, eBay, or some other easy way to sell things they don’t want or need anymore. And then use that money to reimburse themselves for the new and better copy or simply own both copies. It is up to you to decide if either or both products provide you the value you seek for its cost.
Homebrew (aka Free Stuff)
Another answer to this "cash grab scheme" complaint is that you are in no way required to purchase anything to make full use of the character builder (up to 6 characters). Aside from the full classes, every other aspect of a character that is non-SRD can still be utilized by entering it for personal use in the homebrew system. It is the same system which the admins use to enter this information, so you know that you are not missing out on anything. If you want to use a digital tool to track your characters, then with D&D Beyond you won't have to pay for anything unless you want the information conveniently already set up for you.
If what you want is the book text and artwork (aka the Compendium materials) for free, because you have already purchased the physical version, then I'm sorry. There is just no legal (or economically viable) way to provide this content without purchasing a license for the digital version. It may be possible for D&D Beyond to acquire physical copies that they could sell with a code for their own site, but it is not possible to link existing physical copies to your account. And those bundles would probably be almost as expensive as their individual components anyway.
Features
The difference between D&D Beyond’s product and your local game store’s physical copies is that the D&D Beyond team had to hand enter all of that information in an easily digestible format with cross-linking tooltips to make understanding the content so much easier than seeing a term in the book and having to find what it means manually. And D&D Beyond is more than just a product, it’s also a service. But I’ll get more into what kind of services they offer in a moment. You're probably asking, “but what am I getting for my money from D&D Beyond that I’m not getting (or already have gotten) from my physical copy?” Let's compare what you get when you buy the book here vs a physical book:
Content & Convenience
Physical Book: You get the book and all of its contents in a physical form that when you have many of them can be cumbersome to carry. Trust me, I’ve gone to conventions and it can be difficult to carry your clothes, laptop, half a dozen books, food, etc.
D&D Beyond: You get the same content you get from the physical copies, but in this case the content comes with cross-linking tooltips for easy access to information you’d otherwise have to go digging for as well as a global search feature to find any other information you need from all of the sources you own on D&D Beyond, the forums, and possibly their new article content courtesy of Dungeon Life.
Community
Physical Book: When it comes to community, yeah great you have this book. But unless you have somebody to play with it’s not going to do you a whole lot of good.
D&D Beyond: With D&D Beyond you have access to a tool with its convenient search and tooltips right there whether you’re playing at a table with a phone, tablet, or laptop or online in the play-by-post part of the forums or virtual table tops. The dev staff has also expressed interest in providing an integration between their service and virtual table tops. This is miles ahead of what you’d get from a physical book.
Character Building
Physical Book: This can be the most frustrating part for newer players. Not only do you need to have the physical copies to do this, but there is no convenient automatic math and pointers to help with this process. Many new players will require coaching on how to build a character unless they sit down and study the book.
D&D Beyond: The character builder (WIP) allows for quick and easy to understand character building experience for new and seasoned players alike. It helps you know what features you gain access to as you build your character and what features require more selections. The math is done automatically for you and most of the hurdles, aside from acquiring the content to use, have been addressed. They even have a beginner’s tips feature for coaching them through the experience. Finally, D&D Beyond lets you export (WIP) your character into a physical character sheet you can print out.
Campaign Management
Physical Book: In a physical game play experience, the DM may have to handle their characters’ character sheets, bring not only their physical core books, but their DM books, tools, etc.
D&D Beyond: Their campaign management tools offer the sort of things you’d look for as a DM including character management, the ability to share invites to a campaign by URL, the ability for players to see other characters’ names, races, level, etc, and if you have a Master Tier subscription the ability to turn on content sharing so that any content the players in the campaign own on D&D Beyond will be accessible by the other members of the campaign. Plus many more features are coming soon such as turn tracking, a dice roller, and an encounter builder. If you have an interesting feature you’d like to see, drop a suggestion in the forums! The staff are very responsive to feedback. :)
Homebrew
Physical Book: Physical books don’t have any built in tools or advice for homebrewing. This is something you’d have to seek other tools or advice on.
D&D Beyond: (WIP) The forum has an active homebrew community and the tools D&D Beyond provides for homebrewing are free to use. If you wish to enter in the commercial content for free as private homebrew so that you don’t have to pay for it, this is something you’ll be able to do. With a Master Tier subscription you can share the publicly published homebrew content you own with members of your campaign.
Twitch Streaming
Physical Book: Many people have live streamed their games, and you’ve probably noticed how messy a table can get with many books, character sheets, dice, the DM screen, etc. And any existing overlays can be cumbersome to update with information for the viewers.
D&D Beyond: I’ll let this video give you a brief glance at what you can look forward to. And this will tie into the campaign management features described above so that you can see conditions, hit points, etc updated in real time.
Pricing
And finally I want to help you understand the pricing structure. For starters, here are some frequently asked questions answered. So now that I’ve shown you the value you’d be getting in comparison to the physical books, let me explain why the prices aren’t too high. I won’t get into the subscription prices, because people have already stated they’re comfortable with those. Let’s start with the basic numbers for the books:
MSRP: $50
Amazon: $30
D&D Beyond: $30
As you can see D&D Beyond already offers one of the lowest prices you’ll find anywhere for a brand new copy. And the D&D Beyond team worked hard to provide this price point to you. And when you remember that D&D Beyond is more like a proxy game store and does in fact have a margin and expenses they need to cover, this price is actually very reasonable. In addition, over time it’s probable you’ll see some promotional sales going on to celebrate an event, bring more people into the game, and so on. During the first week the core books cost only $20.
You can buy pieces of the book such as the chapters' compendium content, bundles (Spells, Monsters, etc) or individual components (Booming Blade, Chromatic Orb) to save money when you don’t need other aspects of the book. If all you want is the character builder pieces and individual listings for spells, magic items, etc you’d likely only be set back about $70 total.
They also have the Legendary Bundle which gives you every current and future book at a 15% discount. So the most you’d have to pay for the books after this purchase would be $25.50 for the whole book. Admittedly sale prices won’t normally translate to the bundle. However, if you get this sooner rather than later, any discounts they offer later that exceed 15% you should be able to take full advantage of.
In addition, any purchase you make is credited toward the full book and toward the legendary bundle as explained in the FAQ I mentioned above. So you’ll be able to slowly work your way up to the whole thing.
Also, given that the character builder, the basic rules, the homebrew system, and campaign manager can all be used in limited scope for free means you don't necessarily have to pay anything to use the service. I don't think there is anything else the D&D Beyond team could have legally done to satisfy even the greediest of consumers.
Overall, I’d like to finish off by saying that what D&D Beyond has to offer at the price they're offering it is incredible and absolutely a worthwhile investment for many new and seasoned players alike. However in the end, the value for each individual is purely subjective and no matter what Curse decides to do, they won’t be able to please everyone. If you’re comfortable using your physical books the way you have been until now and aren’t comfortable paying for what D&D Beyond offers. This community would still like to welcome you to partake in the free features, community discussions, and maybe at some point down the road you’ll see the value you’re looking for as more and more features continue to come to D&D Beyond.
FWIW - I am more than happy to pay an additional fee to have the rule books available to me online. I have already bought 4 books - PH, DMG, MM, and HotDQ (which I am currently playing with my children).
For Dragon Queen, I really like the hyperlinks to different monsters/opponents, so that I don't have to juggle multiple books as I am running the campaign. It makes management easier. Also, if I run a campaign other than with my family, I can share the books I've bought with other members of the campaign. So instead of 4/5/whatever people buying, say, the $20 PHB (intro pricing), we would all get it for the $20 price, meaning it is just a few bucks per person.
Not a bad price, considering the other things you get with DDB (character builder, campaign organizer, etc).
I've only recently rekindled an interest in playing D&D, partly due to finding myself with some extra free time, during which I did a major clear-out of attic boxes, one of which contained a load of my old gaming stuff.
I had no idea until about a week ago what edition of the game was current !
I was also pretty amazed at how expensive the rulebooks etc have gotten.
So finding this site at just the right time has seemed extremely lucky.
It's helped me immensely with regaining a feel for character creation, etc
I've very happy to get my PHB and other resources at a great price here.
I'm planning on getting comfortable here, playing some Play By Post and experimenting with different characters, then taking all that out to the real world and hopefully finding a group to play with over a table.
If there was anything to add, I think it'd be to gently summarize the positives of the physical books over Beyond - e.g., that they are not a limited digital license, that they can be used offline (don't start talking about the app until it's actually available - and that still won't solve using a laptop), and that they are easily skimmable. In other words, players should not feel "ripped off" for having to pay for both, as they have different features and different functions. And it is up to individual players to decide whether the features of Beyond are worth the additional cost (which is what is meant by the word "value").
And it's worth considering that the basic rules and tools are eminently playable at zero cost, which I think is the ideal business model for something like this.
I think you're missing a fundamental difference in buying the book at DDB instead of in print. You are not buying a book on DDB, you are buying access to it via the platform.
Since you only own access to the material, you are handcuffed to DDB. If the access is interrupted (server down, license lost w/WotC, Bankruptcy, internet loss) you no longer have the material. The value proposition is that the convenience of the tool is equal to the risk of losing access to the content.
I think you're missing a fundamental difference in buying the book at DDB instead of in print. You are not buying a book on DDB, you are buying access to it via the platform.
Since you only own access to the material, you are handcuffed to DDB. If the access is interrupted (server down, license lost w/WotC, Bankruptcy, internet loss) you no longer have the material. The value proposition is that the convenience of the tool is equal to the risk of losing access to the content.
I've updated the original post to address this, and to explain that as this is a risk you take, I explain that the value of such a tool is subjective in nature. Here is the addition:
The caveat here is that game stores sell you a physical product that will last as long as you take care of it. D&D Beyond sells access to the content in its database as well as use of that content in their digital character and campaign tools. It also has many more features coming soon. These are features you can find in various places on the web, but not all of them are using the commercial content legally with a license. Those that do charge for that use.
And here is the explanation of the subjective nature of the value of any product, not just D&D Beyond:
When you buy a regular physical copy in one local game store, but then you see another local game store selling a special edition. Is store B trying to nickel and dime you to buy the special edition? Of course not. First of all, nobody is trying to force you to buy anything here. The incentive to buy is due to the appeal you find in its value, which is a subjective measure. “The beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Second, even though the content is the same, it’s not a cash grab scheme to ask you to pay for this separate product. Normally what a person would do in this case is sell their book on Facebook, eBay, or some other easy way to sell things they don’t want or need anymore. And then use that money to reimburse themselves for the new and better copy or simply own both copies. It is up to you to decide if either or both products provide you the value you seek for its cost.
The fact that you're buying a license to use the content through a service, rather than buying the physical product itself, is not unique to D&D Beyond. It's an issue faced by anyone who consumes any kind of content in the 21st century.
Do you buy a CD, which you will own, or buy a license to listen to an album on iTunes?
Do you buy a DVD or purchase a license to watch a movie on Amazon?
Do you buy a copy of the New York Times or buy a license to read its content online?
In my opinion, there are valid and legitimate concerns with this kind of business--if a service goes under, you just lost access to your purchases. But you're putting your trust in the longevity and good faith of the service. All service providers will stop functioning at some point in the future--iTunes, Amazon, New York Times, etc, just like D&D Beyond will. But the best case scenario is one in which that happens years (or decades) into the future, rather than next week.
I'm normally good with purchasing both physical and digital content. In the past, I've purchased content for Fantasy Grounds and no longer use their service. And while I paid for the books to use and no longer use their service, it's not like I'm going to get my money back for not using the books - I accept those terms because of my choices. My only problem now is that apparently the Core Books were on sale during the first week of D&D Beyond being live and I did not get any notification in my email informing me that this was happening or that it was going live. I had a lot going on at work for the past month, so I didn't have time to just browse forums and the like to know what was happening. And now the price has jumped. I now get to purchase all 3 core books for $90 when I could have purchased the 3 core books and possibly 1 or 2 more for the same $90 - that kinda sucks. But at least I'll be setting up a Master Tier subscription for my players who will probably only grab a free subscription for themselves. If I read this all properly, at least if I purchase these books then my players will have access to the data, right?
I'm normally good with purchasing both physical and digital content. In the past, I've purchased content for Fantasy Grounds and no longer use their service. And while I paid for the books to use and no longer use their service, it's not like I'm going to get my money back for not using the books - I accept those terms because of my choices. My only problem now is that apparently the Core Books were on sale during the first week of D&D Beyond being live and I did not get any notification in my email informing me that this was happening or that it was going live. I had a lot going on at work for the past month, so I didn't have time to just browse forums and the like to know what was happening. And now the price has jumped. I now get to purchase all 3 core books for $90 when I could have purchased the 3 core books and possibly 1 or 2 more for the same $90 - that kinda sucks.
The release date and pricing details were announced several weeks before launch. If you want to get notifications, you can subscribe to the announcements forum and setup email notifications on your account page.
But at least I'll be setting up a Master Tier subscription for my players who will probably only grab a free subscription for themselves. If I read this all properly, at least if I purchase these books then my players will have access to the data, right?
Correct. You'll have to toggle on content sharing, but if you or anybody else in your campaign has the Master Tier subscription, every piece of content that anyone in that campaign owns will be shared with everyone else. They'll be adding content sharing filters soon.
Many of us in the D&D community already own the rule books and so for some this investment can be difficult to justify. But I want to take a minute to talk to you about what D&D Beyond offers compared to your physical books, how it’s not just some cash grab scheme, and how the prices are actually better than what you can get compared to other formats. Please note that when I am comparing prices, I am not considering apps and tools that provide non-OGL content without a license.
Keep reading if you think you can be convinced to take the plunge, otherwise I'd recommend skipping to the last paragraph.
(edited for length)
Overall, I’d like to finish off by saying that what D&D Beyond has to offer at the price they're offering it is incredible and absolutely a worthwhile investment for many new and seasoned players alike. However in the end, the value for each individual is purely subjective and no matter what Curse decides to do, they won’t be able to please everyone. If you’re comfortable using your physical books the way you have been until now and aren’t comfortable paying for what D&D Beyond offers. This community would still like to welcome you to partake in the free features, community discussions, and maybe at some point down the road you’ll see the value you’re looking for as more and more features continue to come to D&D Beyond.
Here's the ONLY issue I have currently; at the 7:20 mark he talks about the digital books and beginning at 7:29 he states "Once you unlock that content you get that copy of that book digitally, but then you'll also get all the other things that I described...". Now that's not a promise or a binding contract, so I'm not beating on my chest saying "you HAVE to give me this, you said so!". It could have been a poor choice of words on his part or me reading too much into those words on mine, but I do want a digital copy of the book as well as the integrated, searchable content on DDB. I'd even be willing to spend an extra $5.00 to get that.
Curse is owned/backed (not sure which) by Amazon, and I'm pretty sure Amazon isn't going out of business soon regardless of what our new Potus wants to tweet. Don't be confused though, if DDB becomes a cash hole instead of a cash flow Amazon will cut it off in an instant, leaving me with no lasting product for my money. At that point I have to go out and buy these again. I can't guarantee that a fire won't destroy all my physical books tomorrow, but I have insurance so I can replace them. What protects my investment here if this goes up in flames?
To everyone working on DDB - you folks are AWESOME! Thank you for letting us all into your beta! To the community - thank you for being the friendliest I've ever experienced in a forum!
I'm normally good with purchasing both physical and digital content. In the past, I've purchased content for Fantasy Grounds and no longer use their service. And while I paid for the books to use and no longer use their service, it's not like I'm going to get my money back for not using the books - I accept those terms because of my choices. My only problem now is that apparently the Core Books were on sale during the first week of D&D Beyond being live and I did not get any notification in my email informing me that this was happening or that it was going live. I had a lot going on at work for the past month, so I didn't have time to just browse forums and the like to know what was happening. And now the price has jumped. I now get to purchase all 3 core books for $90 when I could have purchased the 3 core books and possibly 1 or 2 more for the same $90 - that kinda sucks. But at least I'll be setting up a Master Tier subscription for my players who will probably only grab a free subscription for themselves. If I read this all properly, at least if I purchase these books then my players will have access to the data, right?
Right you start a campaign, turn on content sharing, invite your friends and they share the books you have purchased. If they don't see them initially they may need to leave the campaign and join again.
But I will say that this is a known risk with digitally hosted content. If Steam goes up in flames, what happens to all my games? You have to trust that they're not in this to fail.
To everyone working on DDB - you folks are AWESOME! Thank you for letting us all into your beta! To the community - thank you for being the friendliest I've ever experienced in a forum!
If Steam goes up in flames, what happens to all my games? You have to trust that they're not in this to fail.
That's a good analogy. And just as in the case of D&D Beyond (made much easier once the offline-capable app version comes out), a person putting in a bit of effort to keep their digital content in the event of the provider crapping out can do so - with Steam, that would just mean removing or tricking any code put into the games that checks for a connection to Steam since the games are still installed on your computer.
Probably no more difficult than fooling games that used to "require" the CD be in the drive to run (which I used to do because switching out discs to switch what game I was playing used to irritate me - probably the impatience of youth, since now I don't mind switching discs/cartridges and even consoles (though my TV thankfully switches inputs automatically) when going from one game to the next in those times of knowing I want to play a video game, but having no earthly idea which one I actually feel like playing at the moment.
In relation to the discussion about the ownership of content; previously in the Mobile App Thread StormKnoght made mention that a main feature of the mobile app would be downloadable content - usability offline.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
" Video Games don't kill people; Lag kills people " ~ A Wise Old Man
In relation to the discussion about the ownership of content; previously in the Mobile App Thread StormKnoght made mention that a main feature of the mobile app would be downloadable content - usability offline.
I'm also happy to confirm here!
The main focus of the app will be to allow you to read through your compendium (rulebooks & adventures) without needing a connection to the internet.
In relation to the discussion about the ownership of content; previously in the Mobile App Thread StormKnoght made mention that a main feature of the mobile app would be downloadable content - usability offline.
This does not imply that the ownership of the content changes. You can download movies on Netflix, you can download music from your Google Play Music account, and you can download games on your Steam account. In each of these cases, you are provided limited offline access to content by the provider. You do not "own" the content, and you will be prevented from using it if you do not occasionally connect to the internet to verify that you are still subscribed to the service.
I would assume that Beyond's offline service will work in a similar fashion, though those details will be clearer later.
The contention of online ownership is a fallacy. Online storage is a service. You cannot purchase a service indefinitely. As in the case of DND Beyond, I will not tell you what you can and cannot do as it is not online yet. Thank you for your input.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
" Video Games don't kill people; Lag kills people " ~ A Wise Old Man
Many of us in the D&D community already own the rule books and so for some this investment can be difficult to justify. But I want to take a minute to talk to you about what D&D Beyond offers compared to your physical books, how it’s not just some cash grab scheme, and how the prices are actually better than what you can get compared to other formats. Please note that when I am comparing prices, I am not considering apps and tools that provide non-OGL content without a license.
Keep reading if you think you can be convinced to take the plunge, otherwise I'd recommend skipping to the last paragraph.
Business Model
For starters, let’s talk about this “cash grab scheme”. Many people seem to think that D&D Beyond is a product of Wizards of the Coast - the company that makes the physical books. In reality, however, it is owned by company called Curse. The way you need to think about it is that D&D Beyond is like a proxy local game store… on the internet of course. Wizards of the Coast manufactures the game. And then sells its products to retailers. Those retailers sell the product to their customers for profit. It is a business model that D&D Beyond very closely resembles as you see here:
This is what you normally think of when you buy a book from your local game store.
Disclaimer: Images are copyright their respective owners (Wizards of the Coast) and (Curse). I am using them under Fair Use Act terms.
This is what it's like buying a book from D&D Beyond. They’re pretty similar.
Disclaimer: Images are copyright their respective owners (Wizards of the Coast) and (Curse). I am using them under Fair Use Act terms.
The caveat here is that game stores sell you a physical product that will last as long as you take care of it. D&D Beyond sells access to the content in its database as well as use of that content in their digital character and campaign tools - just like iTunes, Amazon Video, and Kindle. It also has many more features coming soon. These are features you can find in various places on the web, but not all of them are using the commercial content legally with a license. Those that do charge for that use.
If you’d rather support your local businesses and buy the physical books, that’s awesome! Way to support your local gaming community. But then if you want to use this digital service, you need to understand that just like your local game store, Curse also needs to make money for their business. It’s not that WotC, Curse, or anyone else is trying to nickel and dime you.
When you buy a regular physical copy in one local game store, but then you see another local game store selling a special edition. Is store B trying to nickel and dime you to buy the special edition? Of course not. First of all, nobody is trying to force you to buy anything here. The incentive to buy is due to the appeal you find in its value, which is a subjective measure. “The beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Second, even though the content is the same, it’s not a cash grab scheme to ask you to pay for this separate product. Normally what a person would do in this case is sell their book on Facebook, eBay, or some other easy way to sell things they don’t want or need anymore. And then use that money to reimburse themselves for the new and better copy or simply own both copies. It is up to you to decide if either or both products provide you the value you seek for its cost.
Homebrew (aka Free Stuff)
Another answer to this "cash grab scheme" complaint is that you are in no way required to purchase anything to make full use of the character builder (up to 6 characters). Aside from the full classes, every other aspect of a character that is non-SRD can still be utilized by entering it for personal use in the homebrew system. It is the same system which the admins use to enter this information, so you know that you are not missing out on anything. If you want to use a digital tool to track your characters, then with D&D Beyond you won't have to pay for anything unless you want the information conveniently already set up for you.
If what you want is the book text and artwork (aka the Compendium materials) for free, because you have already purchased the physical version, then I'm sorry. There is just no legal (or economically viable) way to provide this content without purchasing a license for the digital version. It may be possible for D&D Beyond to acquire physical copies that they could sell with a code for their own site, but it is not possible to link existing physical copies to your account. And those bundles would probably be almost as expensive as their individual components anyway.
Features
The difference between D&D Beyond’s product and your local game store’s physical copies is that the D&D Beyond team had to hand enter all of that information in an easily digestible format with cross-linking tooltips to make understanding the content so much easier than seeing a term in the book and having to find what it means manually. And D&D Beyond is more than just a product, it’s also a service. But I’ll get more into what kind of services they offer in a moment. You're probably asking, “but what am I getting for my money from D&D Beyond that I’m not getting (or already have gotten) from my physical copy?” Let's compare what you get when you buy the book here vs a physical book:
Content & Convenience
Physical Book: You get the book and all of its contents in a physical form that when you have many of them can be cumbersome to carry. Trust me, I’ve gone to conventions and it can be difficult to carry your clothes, laptop, half a dozen books, food, etc.
D&D Beyond: You get the same content you get from the physical copies, but in this case the content comes with cross-linking tooltips for easy access to information you’d otherwise have to go digging for as well as a global search feature to find any other information you need from all of the sources you own on D&D Beyond, the forums, and possibly their new article content courtesy of Dungeon Life.
Community
Physical Book: When it comes to community, yeah great you have this book. But unless you have somebody to play with it’s not going to do you a whole lot of good.
D&D Beyond: With D&D Beyond you have access to a tool with its convenient search and tooltips right there whether you’re playing at a table with a phone, tablet, or laptop or online in the play-by-post part of the forums or virtual table tops. The dev staff has also expressed interest in providing an integration between their service and virtual table tops. This is miles ahead of what you’d get from a physical book.
Character Building
Physical Book: This can be the most frustrating part for newer players. Not only do you need to have the physical copies to do this, but there is no convenient automatic math and pointers to help with this process. Many new players will require coaching on how to build a character unless they sit down and study the book.
D&D Beyond: The character builder (WIP) allows for quick and easy to understand character building experience for new and seasoned players alike. It helps you know what features you gain access to as you build your character and what features require more selections. The math is done automatically for you and most of the hurdles, aside from acquiring the content to use, have been addressed. They even have a beginner’s tips feature for coaching them through the experience. Finally, D&D Beyond lets you export (WIP) your character into a physical character sheet you can print out.
Campaign Management
Physical Book: In a physical game play experience, the DM may have to handle their characters’ character sheets, bring not only their physical core books, but their DM books, tools, etc.
D&D Beyond: Their campaign management tools offer the sort of things you’d look for as a DM including character management, the ability to share invites to a campaign by URL, the ability for players to see other characters’ names, races, level, etc, and if you have a Master Tier subscription the ability to turn on content sharing so that any content the players in the campaign own on D&D Beyond will be accessible by the other members of the campaign. Plus many more features are coming soon such as turn tracking, a dice roller, and an encounter builder. If you have an interesting feature you’d like to see, drop a suggestion in the forums! The staff are very responsive to feedback. :)
Homebrew
Physical Book: Physical books don’t have any built in tools or advice for homebrewing. This is something you’d have to seek other tools or advice on.
D&D Beyond: (WIP) The forum has an active homebrew community and the tools D&D Beyond provides for homebrewing are free to use. If you wish to enter in the commercial content for free as private homebrew so that you don’t have to pay for it, this is something you’ll be able to do. With a Master Tier subscription you can share the publicly published homebrew content you own with members of your campaign.
Twitch Streaming
Physical Book: Many people have live streamed their games, and you’ve probably noticed how messy a table can get with many books, character sheets, dice, the DM screen, etc. And any existing overlays can be cumbersome to update with information for the viewers.
D&D Beyond: I’ll let this video give you a brief glance at what you can look forward to. And this will tie into the campaign management features described above so that you can see conditions, hit points, etc updated in real time.
Pricing
And finally I want to help you understand the pricing structure. For starters, here are some frequently asked questions answered. So now that I’ve shown you the value you’d be getting in comparison to the physical books, let me explain why the prices aren’t too high. I won’t get into the subscription prices, because people have already stated they’re comfortable with those. Let’s start with the basic numbers for the books:
MSRP: $50
Amazon: $30
D&D Beyond: $30
As you can see D&D Beyond already offers one of the lowest prices you’ll find anywhere for a brand new copy. And the D&D Beyond team worked hard to provide this price point to you. And when you remember that D&D Beyond is more like a proxy game store and does in fact have a margin and expenses they need to cover, this price is actually very reasonable. In addition, over time it’s probable you’ll see some promotional sales going on to celebrate an event, bring more people into the game, and so on. During the first week the core books cost only $20.
You can buy pieces of the book such as the chapters' compendium content, bundles (Spells, Monsters, etc) or individual components (Booming Blade, Chromatic Orb) to save money when you don’t need other aspects of the book. If all you want is the character builder pieces and individual listings for spells, magic items, etc you’d likely only be set back about $70 total.
They also have the Legendary Bundle which gives you every current and future book at a 15% discount. So the most you’d have to pay for the books after this purchase would be $25.50 for the whole book. Admittedly sale prices won’t normally translate to the bundle. However, if you get this sooner rather than later, any discounts they offer later that exceed 15% you should be able to take full advantage of.
In addition, any purchase you make is credited toward the full book and toward the legendary bundle as explained in the FAQ I mentioned above. So you’ll be able to slowly work your way up to the whole thing.
Also, given that the character builder, the basic rules, the homebrew system, and campaign manager can all be used in limited scope for free means you don't necessarily have to pay anything to use the service. I don't think there is anything else the D&D Beyond team could have legally done to satisfy even the greediest of consumers.
Overall, I’d like to finish off by saying that what D&D Beyond has to offer at the price they're offering it is incredible and absolutely a worthwhile investment for many new and seasoned players alike. However in the end, the value for each individual is purely subjective and no matter what Curse decides to do, they won’t be able to please everyone. If you’re comfortable using your physical books the way you have been until now and aren’t comfortable paying for what D&D Beyond offers. This community would still like to welcome you to partake in the free features, community discussions, and maybe at some point down the road you’ll see the value you’re looking for as more and more features continue to come to D&D Beyond.
DDB Guides & FAQs, Class Guides, Character Builds,
Game Guides, Useful Websites, and WOTC Resources
Business Model, Feature Comparison, Pricing Model
Homebrew, Explanation; Is it really a "cash grab"?
Minimal work still required.
FWIW - I am more than happy to pay an additional fee to have the rule books available to me online. I have already bought 4 books - PH, DMG, MM, and HotDQ (which I am currently playing with my children).
For Dragon Queen, I really like the hyperlinks to different monsters/opponents, so that I don't have to juggle multiple books as I am running the campaign. It makes management easier. Also, if I run a campaign other than with my family, I can share the books I've bought with other members of the campaign. So instead of 4/5/whatever people buying, say, the $20 PHB (intro pricing), we would all get it for the $20 price, meaning it is just a few bucks per person.
Not a bad price, considering the other things you get with DDB (character builder, campaign organizer, etc).
-Leetaur
I've only recently rekindled an interest in playing D&D, partly due to finding myself with some extra free time, during which I did a major clear-out of attic boxes, one of which contained a load of my old gaming stuff.
I had no idea until about a week ago what edition of the game was current !
I was also pretty amazed at how expensive the rulebooks etc have gotten.
So finding this site at just the right time has seemed extremely lucky.
It's helped me immensely with regaining a feel for character creation, etc
I've very happy to get my PHB and other resources at a great price here.
I'm planning on getting comfortable here, playing some Play By Post and experimenting with different characters, then taking all that out to the real world and hopefully finding a group to play with over a table.
Great post, thank you.
If there was anything to add, I think it'd be to gently summarize the positives of the physical books over Beyond - e.g., that they are not a limited digital license, that they can be used offline (don't start talking about the app until it's actually available - and that still won't solve using a laptop), and that they are easily skimmable. In other words, players should not feel "ripped off" for having to pay for both, as they have different features and different functions. And it is up to individual players to decide whether the features of Beyond are worth the additional cost (which is what is meant by the word "value").
And it's worth considering that the basic rules and tools are eminently playable at zero cost, which I think is the ideal business model for something like this.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
I think you're missing a fundamental difference in buying the book at DDB instead of in print. You are not buying a book on DDB, you are buying access to it via the platform.
Since you only own access to the material, you are handcuffed to DDB. If the access is interrupted (server down, license lost w/WotC, Bankruptcy, internet loss) you no longer have the material. The value proposition is that the convenience of the tool is equal to the risk of losing access to the content.
DDB Guides & FAQs, Class Guides, Character Builds,
Game Guides, Useful Websites, and WOTC Resources
Business Model, Feature Comparison, Pricing Model
Homebrew, Explanation; Is it really a "cash grab"?
Minimal work still required.
The fact that you're buying a license to use the content through a service, rather than buying the physical product itself, is not unique to D&D Beyond. It's an issue faced by anyone who consumes any kind of content in the 21st century.
Do you buy a CD, which you will own, or buy a license to listen to an album on iTunes?
Do you buy a DVD or purchase a license to watch a movie on Amazon?
Do you buy a copy of the New York Times or buy a license to read its content online?
In my opinion, there are valid and legitimate concerns with this kind of business--if a service goes under, you just lost access to your purchases. But you're putting your trust in the longevity and good faith of the service. All service providers will stop functioning at some point in the future--iTunes, Amazon, New York Times, etc, just like D&D Beyond will. But the best case scenario is one in which that happens years (or decades) into the future, rather than next week.
I'm normally good with purchasing both physical and digital content. In the past, I've purchased content for Fantasy Grounds and no longer use their service. And while I paid for the books to use and no longer use their service, it's not like I'm going to get my money back for not using the books - I accept those terms because of my choices. My only problem now is that apparently the Core Books were on sale during the first week of D&D Beyond being live and I did not get any notification in my email informing me that this was happening or that it was going live. I had a lot going on at work for the past month, so I didn't have time to just browse forums and the like to know what was happening. And now the price has jumped. I now get to purchase all 3 core books for $90 when I could have purchased the 3 core books and possibly 1 or 2 more for the same $90 - that kinda sucks. But at least I'll be setting up a Master Tier subscription for my players who will probably only grab a free subscription for themselves. If I read this all properly, at least if I purchase these books then my players will have access to the data, right?
DDB Guides & FAQs, Class Guides, Character Builds,
Game Guides, Useful Websites, and WOTC Resources
Business Model, Feature Comparison, Pricing Model
Homebrew, Explanation; Is it really a "cash grab"?
Minimal work still required.
To everyone working on DDB - you folks are AWESOME! Thank you for letting us all into your beta! To the community - thank you for being the friendliest I've ever experienced in a forum!
There has been a lengthy discussion about that here:
http://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/general-discussion/6240-what-happens-if-d-d-beyond-fails
But I will say that this is a known risk with digitally hosted content. If Steam goes up in flames, what happens to all my games? You have to trust that they're not in this to fail.
DDB Guides & FAQs, Class Guides, Character Builds,
Game Guides, Useful Websites, and WOTC Resources
Business Model, Feature Comparison, Pricing Model
Homebrew, Explanation; Is it really a "cash grab"?
Minimal work still required.
A valid point, and I do use Steam. I guess all I can say on my behalf is that I value D&D much higher than my video game collection.
To everyone working on DDB - you folks are AWESOME! Thank you for letting us all into your beta! To the community - thank you for being the friendliest I've ever experienced in a forum!
In relation to the discussion about the ownership of content; previously in the Mobile App Thread StormKnoght made mention that a main feature of the mobile app would be downloadable content - usability offline.
" Video Games don't kill people; Lag kills people " ~ A Wise Old Man
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Standard "free" content is restricted to the D&D 5th Edition Basic Rules, SRD, and other free content.
"What do you do when your Sea Monster rental runs out? You re-lease the Kraken!"
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
Considering you do not need to subscribe for the content, not sure if you'd need to login to verify the purchase more than once.
DDB Guides & FAQs, Class Guides, Character Builds,
Game Guides, Useful Websites, and WOTC Resources
Business Model, Feature Comparison, Pricing Model
Homebrew, Explanation; Is it really a "cash grab"?
Minimal work still required.
The contention of online ownership is a fallacy. Online storage is a service. You cannot purchase a service indefinitely. As in the case of DND Beyond, I will not tell you what you can and cannot do as it is not online yet. Thank you for your input.
" Video Games don't kill people; Lag kills people " ~ A Wise Old Man
Any idea what kinda file size we're looking at here? Am I gonna a need a separate SD card for DDB Offline?
DM for the Adventures in Erylia Podcast
Where five friends sit around the table and record themselves playing Dungeons and Dragons