D&D Tools In Alpha - D&D Beyond Mobile and DungeonFog

When I originally started to use this website as a blog as well, it wasn’t really my intention to only ever do the World Building Wednesdays. But alas, with a family, a full time job, and a podcast to edit, finding the time for that has been difficult. Aside from the world building, I will probably never have a consistent blog schedule, but I want to start fitting more in. For today, there are some tools I am in the alpha for that I wanted to write about.

D&D Beyond – Mobile App

As a group, we have been using D&D Beyond since it’s official launch. It’s been a great tool for keeping a digital copy of (most) of our characters. It also gives me a good template follow for creating homebrew for Erylia. Two of them have even been approved for public use through D&D Beyond.

Last week, D&D Beyond launch it’s upcoming app’s alpha. I had pre-ordered a copy of Xanathar’s Guide To Everything on the site, which got me into the alpha test group. So far the alpha is in its early stages and can only be used for downloading and reading the content you have purchased. I have been taking advantage of this by using it to fill in more names for a random NPC generator spreadsheet while on breaks at work using my phone.

Even without the app, I have found the D&D Beyond website to be a very mobile friendly experience. I have used it on my phone while running the game to quickly look up information. I also play in a game of Storm King’s Thunder that Chris is running, where I exclusively manage my character with the mobile website. I am definitely looking forward to future updates to the offline app though. After the holidays I know they plan to work on updating it to bring more features like character management and creation.

If you’re interested in how testing is going, here is a link to the feedback forum for the alpha.

DungeonFog – Alpha v5 Update

I have yet to do any sort of write up on DungeonFog at this point, but it has been mentioned on the show. It is a pretty straight forward map creation tool for table top gaming. The maps are created on a grid, so it’s main focus will probably be battle maps or virtual tabletop maps for now. I haven’t done any sort of write up or review for them yet because I want to shine the best light possible on them when I do. I have personally submitted a lot of feedback while using it, but since it is in alpha, it is not quite where I want it to be before doing a full review. However, the guys there have come a long way since the alpha went live.

Just this week, Alpha v5 was released, which is their first iteration with the dynamic GM notes they have been working on. I am super excited for this to help with giving me written text to explain what is on the map. I think they will be great since the podcast is an audio medium, so if they tool is working well, it will hopefully aid in visualizing the setting for listeners. They have also announced that they are about to move from their Alpha stage into Beta testing early next year. This should open up the pool of testers quite a bit and increase feedback and conversation within the testing group. If you are interested in helping shape the tool, and just can’t wait to use something like it, you can pre-order it and gain access to the alpha and beta test groups!

Written By : 
Damian the DM
Originally Published : 
December 23, 2017
May 7, 2023
Updated On : 
May 7, 2023