WotC Releases Sigil

[LordEntrails]

Sigil, Wizards of the Coast's VTT, Officially Launches | EN World D&D & Tabletop RPG News & Reviews

Take Aways from the article

• Windows Only
• Requires DDB account, free or paid, capabilities tied to DDB subscription tiers
• Uses Unreal Engine 5
• "It doesn't look like a bad VTT, although it's more appropriate for big set piece battles rather than standard "goblins attack the caravan" type encounters."

[Morenu]

Gonna assume 5E only?

[Muagen]

I think that's a safe bet. :P

[Nyarly Dude]

Poked at it briefly when it was in a closed beta. Wasn't too impressed in terms of actual mechanical support and there was a lack of documentation suggesting how to automate anything complex. For those that aren't already using DDB (it had the ability to link to DDB records, which ofc. are only D&D 5E) it seemed to be just a map builder + rolling tool with very very basic automation (like, it's aware how attack rolls work and it'll automatically roll and apply damage).

[Pharoid]

I tried to test it out but their server is down for maintenance. Will report back later.

Loaded it later in the day. First 3d VTT I've tried and only played around for a few mins. Could not find fog-of-war. maybe thats only 2d? Seems Nyarly Dude is right. in 3d mode its pretty simple attack and damage and conditions. Maybe the 2D maps mode (still in beta but is there) has more automation.

Looks great though. Because I dabble in 3D, all I see is lots of work. :-) Will it get to the point that when they release a new module, it'll have custom 3d assets and encounters? I kinda doubt that. And if they did, it would cost more to make up for the additional work (or they'd add a tier to the subscription)

I see the subscription cost going up sooner rather than later.

Now... If they made it in VR... I'd be way more interested. Demeo: Battlemarked is DnD in VR already (no GM) and I'm buying that day one. :-)

I do hope Wizards gives this VTT a chance (a few years at least) to mature. Somehow, I see them phoning it in eventually when they don't see the $$$.

Just my first impressions with very short time playing with it. :-)

[*Neuro*]

it will be a microtransaction fest. why then an “unpainted” Black Dragon? to have it painted you have to pay?

seems pretty limited, no fog of war, and very heavy for hardware.

we will see in one year.

not trusting corporate Hasbro though.

P.S. forgot mandatory master tier subscription

[SilentRuin]

I tried it in NDA phase - but you had to have a high tier D&D account to DM for testing - and automation was almost non existent for all the stuff I use in FGU currently. Essentially its a 3D map/minis that you manage pretty much all of the 5E Complexities yourself. I prefer automation of those complexities so will stick with FGU.

For sure people who play in person dice only - will see it as an improvement over that. Pretty much adding computers to the map but the sheet/die rolls/etc. are left to you to figure out perform just as in an in person game as far as I could tell.

[Cyrian]

I loaded it up last night just to see the interface, then again today to try a design and it took me about eight minutes from start (meaning I didn't even know where the menus were) to finishing a room from an FG campaign in the attached pic. The builder is super easy to work with and modify after pieces are placed if you need to move them. It took another seven or eight minutes of futzing around trying to understand why the ogre minis are the size of humanoids before realizing there is a bug with some of the larger minis. As to the fourth bullet in Lord Entrail's post, I could have just as easily made this an outdoor goblin caravan scene, so definitely more than just for major set pieces.

The bright points of combat are things like AOE spells showing the area and auto-selecting all targets within it (such as burning hands) and auto-rolling all saves and damage. There are definitely downsides currently like a lot of spells not having the automations finished yet but apparently it's still in development (much back and forth on forums about whether it's still in beta or not, though the DNDB site just shows it as "New" as opposed to Maps which has a "Beta" tag).

Unpainted minis almost surely mean future sellable packs of pre-made decorated minis, but hey, have you seen the FG Store's art packs, dice packs, etc.? Players already being able to custom-make their own player minis is very cool.

[Booker Grimm]

I've downloaded it and tried it out. Was able to create a map of our final BBEG fight in a few minutes that looked great. Great lighting and good graphics make scenes come alive. There is a fog of war feature too, for someone who was asking above. And it's easily added by clicking and dragging. Nice to see the spell effects and some automated features. It does need the ability to be able to connect to your own game for using another monitor in face to face games, but this has been requested.

Overall was very impressed.

[Valacar]

I mentioned it in the Enworld thread about Carl’s old tabletopconnect from 2015 looked like it…just saying hi Carl!