I have to admit, I was leery to jump in fully with DnDBeyond after I had purchased most of the Wizards of the Coast books in Fantasy Grounds. I mean I had the physical books and a digital copy in Fantasy Grounds, did I really need another digital copy?

I installed the DnDBeyond application on my Iphone and used it for quick reference and it was serviceable – it saved me from having to drag copies of books around when I was playing in person.

Then I was lucky enough to be playing in an in-person game, a halfling ranger if you must know, where the Dungeon Master used DnDBeyond Maps extensively. It was a game-changer – the ability to share an interactive experience in-person on a tablet where players can move their tokens on one tablet and the Dungeon Master can direct the opponents on another tablet.

Although I missed the minis, I didn’t miss the waste of paper and trying to figure out how to reveal pieces of the map. Even better, the Maps application allowed me to easily upload any image to be used as a map. I was running a Middle Earth campaign using the MERP books and it was easy to upload the maps in the books and use them in my campaign. This wasn’t easily available in any other platform.

And it has only got better with DnDBeyond constantly improving Maps by adding functionality like initiative tracking. I am sure it will get better and better as Maps continues to evolve.

I don’t think I will ever play in-person without using Maps now that I have my two tablets and I am aware of what is possible Maps. It is an indispensable tool that allows for the energy of an in-person game with the elegance of digital maps and fog of war available in an online game. (Plus I don’t have to remember and track initiative)

If you haven’t played with the Maps and Encounter Builder functionality in DnDBeyond, I encourage you to try it as soon as you can – it is a game-changer.