Well tabletop RPG fans recently got a pleasant surprise. The virtual tabletop (VTT) Roll20 announced their acquisition of Demiplane. Demiplane is a TTRPG tool that is often referred to as the “D&D Beyond for every other game system.”
I’m currently working on a review of Demiplane (keep an eye out for it in the next few months), but a quick primer is that it currently serves three purposes: Character sheets/management, digital library/reader, and video/voice/text chat for you to run your games in. Sounds pretty helpful, right?
What does this acquisition mean for gamers? Honestly, at the moment we don’t know. The official press release talk about using “Roll20’s resources and reach with Demiplane’s technology” but no specifics or details were revealed outside of integrating Demiplane directly into Roll20.
The release does say that the platforms will remain separate. My guess is that you’ll be able to link accounts for the two platforms and therefore access characters/materials from Demiplane on Roll20.
I’m sure you’ll also be able to use your Demiplane character sheet to do a roll and it will show up in the Roll20 chat at some point as well.
It is also mentioned in the Q&A of the release that Roll20 is working with publishers so that if you own content on one platform, you’ll get a free unlock on the other.
Currently, the following publishers have agreed: Paizo, Darrington Press, Kobold Press, and Renegade Game Studio. There is no mention of when this will take effect, so be a little patient.
Ankit Lal, CEO of Roll20, said:
Demiplane’s streamlined yet powerful character builder and easily searchable compendium are deeply complementary to Roll20’s growing ecosystem. For users, we’re excited to get Demiplane’s technology into more hands by bringing it to a new audience and adding support for new systems.
As a one-stop distribution channel, Roll20 supports creators and publishers with an increasing range of digitally-native game formats. Whatever the playing preference – PDFs, print-on-demand, VTT conversions, or digital sourcebooks on Demiplane – Roll20 has it covered.
Demiplane Co-founder and CEO Peter Romenesko added:
Since first starting Demiplane, our goal has been to introduce great tabletop games to new and existing players and game masters around the world. We’ve been able to do that for nearly a dozen game systems in over thirty countries thanks to our great team and publishing partners.
This partnership with Roll20 and DriveThruRPG supercharges several key strategic areas of focus for us. We’re looking forward to pushing into new territory together and are excited to embark on this next chapter for Demiplane.
My initial impression is that this has real promise. My limited Demiplane experience so far (once again, look forward to a full review in a few months) has definitely shown areas where Roll20 is really nice to use instead but there are some areas much stronger on Demiplane.
Demiplane’s biggest strength in my opinion is the character sheet creator. In my opinion, Roll20’s character sheet tool has always been pretty bad to use and I’ve always attributed it to the fact that Roll20 has just about every TTRPG available and Roll20’s focus is more on being a VTT.
Demiplane’s character sheets are much nicer because they haven’t had the same scope and that appears to be more of its primary purpose. Meanwhile, Demiplane’s biggest weakness is really the fact that it currently only has 9 Nexuses (11 if you count the open beta Daggerheart and the coming soon Starfinder 2E) while Roll20 has so many more systems.
My biggest hope is that the Roll20 resources will allow Demiplane Nexuses to be completed quicker and that more will be added quickly. I would personally love one for Power Rangers RPG and Call of Cthulhu. What are your thoughts on this acquisition though and what do you hope to see as a result of it?
Roll20 has also sent out a survey where you can share features you are most interested in on scales and an additional comment section. This mentions a single login, shared library, adding Demiplane tools to Roll20, a combined group finder, early access for new TTRPGs, and then a place for other ideas.
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