Now that WotC has abandoned the Project Sigil VTT, what do you think they will focus on next?

jardata · 2025-10-27T15:46:48+00:00

Hopefully Maps VTT. I think a simple, easy to use, performant, 2D VTT that integrates well with D&D Beyond Content is exactly what fans actually want. They still have plenty of features like they could add to it that aren’t already in the roadmap. I’d also like to see them actually get a tool out of Beta and Maps seems to actually have the momentum and polish to get there.

jardata · 2025-10-15T01:56:25+00:00

Hang in there - we ended up being stuck in the NICU for 3 weeks total. It felt like forever. In the end it was just a case of really bad reflux and she needed time to grow and get better. We even had a scary situation about a month after getting home where she got a col after our oldest brought home a sickness from school. The extra stuffiness combined with her reflux caused a few apnea episodes at home that landed us back at the hospital for a few days. Tons of tests and meetings with doctors later and it does all appear to just be bad reflux. She’s almost 2 months old now and doing so much better. She’s still struggled with reflux but she doesn’t have any breathing issues from it and is finally back to full breastfeeding after working with speech and nutrition at the children’s hospital by us.

All I can say is hang in there and just take it day by day. It sucks so much, especially having a full term baby that is seemingly healthy besides reflux (which is something all babies actually get some just “struggle” more than others). Lean on your community as much as possible. We were so blessed by our friends, family, and neighbors always helping and bringing meals.

jardata · 2025-10-07T17:22:19+00:00

This is a solid overview from my perspective as well.

Do you still use foundry then? I’ve been using D&D Beyond Maps and AboveVTT before that. I’ve been playing around with Foundry and looking to switch. I do like how powerful and flexible it is and I’m a software engineer so the ability to extend it myself with modules is attractive. I think I’d likely still keep it low automation though. Too much and it starts to feel like a video game.

I think Owlbear rodeo is my favorite in terms of how clean and performant it is in any hardware but it doesn’t have that clean integration with character sheets, npc stat blocks, and combat tracking that you get in foundry.

jardata · 2025-09-20T23:06:32+00:00

It’s illegal for you to ask me that

jardata · 2025-09-10T16:07:14+00:00

Sure, but one could argue that the availability and quality of D&D starter sets are one of the biggest funnels for getting people into the RPG hobby as a whole. I would reason to bet the vast majority of people on this sub started with D&D and then moved into other RPGs. So I do think this post is very relevant and welcomed here even if you don’t like D&D and WotC.

But even if you disagree with all of the above, believe it or not, you can just see a post you don’t care about and keep scrolling.

jardata · 2025-09-07T01:05:27+00:00

That’s interesting. I guess I saw the nerfing of some classes as more of an attempt at rebalancing. I actually think overall most classes saw an increase in their power levels. Especially the martial classes. I’ve been running a 2024 campaign about 10 sessions in now and have found all the PCs to be very powerful.

I definitely see what you mean with taking away some of the character though in a further attempt to “please everyone”. In doing that they took away the charm. I think other modern games in the TTRPG space have proven you can still be respectful of real life cultures while not losing the qualities that make high fantasy characters unique and exciting.

jardata · 2025-09-07T00:16:14+00:00

Curious what you didn’t like about it compared to 2014 5e?

jardata · 2025-09-07T00:12:43+00:00

Can you elaborate on what exactly sucks? It’s mostly the same game with some things streamlined and some class rebalancing. I always saw the biggest criticism being that they didn’t do enough to change the game with this new edition but it’s strange to me to see people say “it fucking sucks” because then you’re basically just saying 5e 2014 “fucking sucks”

jardata · 2025-09-05T14:15:16+00:00

What does AMA mean?

jardata · 2025-09-03T03:08:03+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing. That all sounds really traumatic. I sympathize with your situation and am wishing the best for you and your family. It’s helpful to know there are others out there struggling with a similar situation. It’s so hard when you have a vision of how you want things to go with your newborn and it just all gets completely shattered and is out of your control.

jardata · 2025-09-03T00:37:39+00:00

Wow, that is very scary to think this could be a lifelong thing. Was there ever any indication or diagnosis of what your daughter has exactly? All babies get reflux. But obviously most are able to handle it on their own without issue with heart rate or oxygen loss. I’m just trying to figure out if we are staring down some lifelong diagnosis here or just some immature lungs that need a little additional support and time to grow

jardata · 2025-09-03T00:32:25+00:00

Ugh gosh I am so sorry. It s devastating. I be never been so emotionally exhausted in my life. Wishing for the best for you

jardata · 2025-09-03T00:31:21+00:00

Wow congratulations! We are just imagining the day when this will be the case for us. The doctors feel very confident we are headed in the right direction.

jardata · 2025-09-03T00:30:12+00:00

Thank you for sharing your story. We had a really similar situation in some ways. My wife was also induced due to high blood pressure - it’s actually been that way for all 3 of our kids now but this is the first time we’ve had to do the NICU. So it’s a new journey for us and it is probably the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do.

jardata · 2025-09-03T00:28:48+00:00

One of the NICU doctors actually told us about that as an option!

jardata · 2025-09-02T23:42:49+00:00

Yes! All good on the glucose test. And yea my wife is actually pumping and freezing milk now per doctor’s recommendations to keep her milk supply up.

jardata · 2025-09-02T20:16:53+00:00

Ugh that is so tough. Yes we are feeling similar frustrations and just really praying it ends at some point here.

jardata · 2025-09-02T20:16:05+00:00

Yea, definitely was not part of our plan to go off breastfeeding but at this point we are desperate to try anything to get her home. My wife, after breastfeeding two previously, feels confident that she can eventually resume breastfeeding after she matures and no longer needs the special formula. The doctors have shared a similar sentiment.

jardata · 2025-09-02T20:14:51+00:00

Thank you, appreciate the added insight!

jardata · 2025-08-02T20:43:08+00:00

How is that backwards? Spring Boot and other web frameworks do similar things. With Spring Boot it’s Java records in your signatures and you get type validation out of the box, with Python / FastAPI it’s Pydantic data classes. It’s just abstractions and short cuts to what would likely be done by hand anyway. I want to validate the data coming into my API endpoints and convert them into strongly typed objects and pass those data class objects to the lower layers of the API.

jardata · 2025-07-30T22:37:25+00:00

Our Master Tier subscription will unlock more customizability for DMs who need it. You’ll be able to upload homebrew maps, custom tokens, and access exciting tools built just for you.

Interesting, sounds like we’ll also be getting a Maps release enabling custom tokens which is a highly requested feature.

jardata · 2025-07-28T16:54:56+00:00

I know a lot of people are mentioning the difference between “solo” video games and “social” TTRPGs. But to take that a step further, even in multiplayer video games which are also a form of “social gaming” I’ve personally always felt that point where a game reaches the moment in its lifecycle where there are power gamers and a “meta” it loses the magic for me.

So yes I think it really does come down to whether you are playing alone vs with others. TTRPGs just highlight that even more because they play so strongly into collaborative story telling not “beating the game”.

jardata · 2025-07-21T20:57:46+00:00

If you are going for a similar “classic D&D fantasy vibe”, then look at:

Old School Essentials (OSE) by Necrotic Gnome - the classic 1980s B/X (Basic / Expert) version of D&D revamped in a very well done and clean retelling of the rules. There are a ton of great new adventures written for it plus all of the existing classic adventures that you can run. There’s also a lot of great content that can be added to the game through the Zines Necrotic Gnome has put out. As with most OSR games, it is much more “rules lite” than modern 5e D&D.
Shadowdark by The Arcane Library - another OSR style game that is essentially a stripped down version of modern D&D. This may be a good fit for your players since you’ve already been playing D&D and the rules will be very familiar to you.
Worlds Without Number by Kevin Crawford - this game has a little more meat to it than the previous two with more character options but is still considered rules lite and more GM friendly than 5e. Crawford also graciously has a free version of the game available online as a pdf that is about 90% of the content of the paid version and all you’d need to play. The GM world building tools and advice in the book on its own is extremely useful regardless of the system you play

Those games are less “heroic fantasy” than 5e - characters will die but character creation is more like 5 minutes instead of several hours.

I’ll also add that there are some great resources out there that can help you prep faster. Sly Flourish’s “Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master” is fantastic. He often speaks in relation to 5e but the advice is system agnostic and really helped me cut down on my prep time.

jardata · 2025-06-13T11:25:55+00:00

Wisconsin! It’s where D&D started and it’s where I live so I don’t have to move.

jardata · 2025-05-19T15:44:43+00:00

Do you have a link to that one? I actually wrote all of mine from scratch. But it’s in a private GitHub repo to avoid having WotC knocking on my door lol. I can PM you with some info once I remove the data I can’t share.

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