The d20Pro Renaissance

Repost of d20Pro Blog Entry

The d20Pro Renaissance
Hail and well met gamers new and old, novice or veteran!

GM Thraxxis here, back from the Void to reckon with recent hermitude and to announce a multitude of enhancements to the d20Pro software that you, the d20Pro Community, have been patiently demanding for the last couple years.

And if that weren’t sufficient cause for excitement, d20Pro is joining forces with Mesa Mundi to offer a multitude of ways to optimize your tabletop RPG experience, both analog and digital.

Please read on for a retrospective on 2013 followed by a projection into d20Pro’s future!

Where I’ve Been
A great deal has changed since this journey first began with the release of d20Pro v1.0 wayyy back in 2004. Back then I was several years removed from college working at a software start-up in South Florida. I was running a 3rd edition game for my friends at the office and started building software tools to augment my games. These tools gave way to d20Pro and ever since I’ve been spending whatever nights, weekends, and vacations I could spare to lead the d20Pro Team, continually enhance the software, and tour the great gaming conventions to show firsthand how d20Pro can make the role-playing games you already play even more fun.

Family
Before my marriage to the lovely Tara in 2008, I was a mostly single guy who spent almost all his spare time gaming, coding, and traveling with d20Pro. Life has a way of changing as time goes on. And having a partner has been wonderful, though admittedly I don’t roll as many d20s as I used to.

Then in 2012 our amazing little creature was born. Davi is a lot of work but also a delight. In between working full time and raising a family, this hasn’t left a lot of time to devote towards my favorite hobby. Admittedly there have been times in the last 18 months where I doubted I could continue and that d20Pro’s best days were in the past.

Then a few weeks after attending/working GenCon in a newborn-induced-sleep-deprivation-zombie-state, I awoke in the middle of the night from a vivid dream where I was building the ultimate virtual tabletop platform. Turns out that something deep inside of me, a true passion for gaming, would not be denied. “I will find a way,” I kept telling myself and believing that with enough hard work and imagination I’d find a way to pursue my RPG dreams.

Frog God Games
Then along came a Frog. Many of Them. And it was good thing for d20Pro.

I guess it all started when I met Bill Webb AKA Papa Frog at PaizoCon several years ago. I was in the dealer hall and his young son started to play with d20Pro on the large touchscreen at our booth. I think he was impressed because a short time later a d20Pro conversion of Frog God Game’s epic megadungeon Rappan Athak was featured as a stretch goal on their first Kickstarter.

Rappan Athuk quickly became a best-seller on the d20Pro Marketplace. It contains a truly staggering number of maps. All of the Rappan Athuk maps are pre-loaded with encounters and Fog of War — a huge time saver to GMs.

Deciding to build off this momentum, and dramatically increase the amount of ready-to-play content on the Marketplace, I approached The Frogs about running a Kickstarter aimed at converting some of their popular products. Thanks to the support of the d20Pro Community, this campaign was a big success and these killer products are now available for gamers worldwide to enjoy. Please visit the d20Pro Marketplace to read more about them.


* Stoneheart Valley parts 2 and 3 coming soon.

Where We’re Going
So that should recap where I’ve been of late. Now on to the exciting future!

Major New Features
Development on d20Pro will soon be back, with a vengeance! Stay tuned for more detail on the myriad improvements. Here are a few highlights:

Unlimited Rules System – build any game system, house rule, or special tool. Up until now, d20Pro was focused mainly on d20 games similar to 3.5 D&D. Rules plugins will allow for arbitrary game rules, character sheets, and tools to adjudicate complex game mechanics. In addition to the standard square grid, free movement and other grid types, like hex, will also be supported. Rules options for your game will now have no limits!

Shadowcasting Fog of War – dynamic lighting with true line of sight. Torches and darkvision will eat away at the darkness as Players explore. Adversaries will suddenly appear once the Players establish line of sight. Here is the first teaser demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWPv1U9zh7A

Multi Touch & Multi Player – use many fingers to control your minis and manipulate the virtual world. Menus and Windows may be rotated for multiple players arranged around a horizontal screen.

Joining Forces
I’ve met many hardcore gamers in my travels, and look forward to seeing you all again in the future. To date though, no one has seen eye-to-eye with me like the ever estimable Tobias Drewry. He and I met at GenCon back in 2011. I was there at the d20Pro/Lone Wolf Development booth and caught word there was another vendor, Mesa Mundi, with incredibly awesome touchscreen hardware elsewhere in the exhibitor space.

Upon hearing this intel, I immediately got someone to cover my booth duties and went out in search of this awesomeness. Sure enough I found Tobias showing off an unnamed competitor’s VTT on his custom touchscreen at the Geek Chic booth. I walked up and introduced myself and found him to be just as gracious as he was knowledgeable. So I handed him a free copy of d20Pro and asked him to be in touch if he liked what he saw.

Well he must have because we’ve been scheming nonstop for the last 3 years on how to make the best virtual tabletop imaginable. And after a lot of planning, 2014 will be the year the d20Pro community will fully reap the benefits. Expect to hear a lot soon more from Tobias and what he brings to the table, especially when that table is a 40″+ multitouch gaming surface!

Moving Forward
With my new life as a husband and father, it took me a bit, but I am finally at peace with the reality that d20Pro won’t grow as long as I’m working a normal day job. I’m mentally ready to quit my long time corporate job; however, I need to maintain some income to give d20Pro time to break on through (to the other side). Fortunately we all live in a day and age where crowd funding is a reality.

Now with that lead-in, allow me to formally announce the upcoming d20Pro Unlimited Kickstarter. Our current schedule has the campaign going live in March and full details will be available then. A great deal of planning has already gone in to the Kickstarter though final decisions are still being sorted out, especially as we get feedback from the d20Pro Community.

Please stay tuned for more info on d20Pro and the associated Kickstarter campaign. I look forward to making d20Pro fulfill its potential. The last 8 years of part time been fun and all, but as soon as I am developing software full time the Cosmos is the limit!

GenCon 2014
All of this energy is focused on getting d20Pro Unlimited ready to rock and roll for GenCon this year. Those present at Indy will be among the first to get their hands on the new version. The upcoming Kickstarter campaign is the key catalyst right now. Even if things only go OK, d20Pro gamers have good improvements to look forward to. And if the campaign goes as well as I believe it can, you may not even recognize d20Pro by the time GenCon rolls around – it will be that dramatically improved.

If you will be at GenCon this year, please drop by the booth and say hello. d20Pro will again be featured at the Mesa Mundi + Lone Wolf Development booth.

2015 and Beyond
With the delivery of the Unlimited Rules System, d20Pro Unlimited will finally fully support any RPG system. Furthermore, Plugins may be offered on the Marketplace so professional and hobby developers will be able to create Plugins for their favorite games or create custom house rules to their hearts content!

In the years to come we will push the current Java based platform to its absolute limits, all the while keeping our eyes on the mobile market and eventually migrating d20Pro to them as well.

It’s a great time to be a d20Pro gamer and the future is full of promise. Thanks for taking the time to read this update. I apologize for being away for what seemed like an eternity. Now that Lord Thraxxis has returned I vow to get up and strive each day to deliver the best virtual tabletop software imaginable and always live up to the d20Pro creed:
For gamers, by gamers.


Best regards and good gaming, GM Thraxxis