You don't need to be signed up per month to download maps. Once they are downloaded, they stay available. You can support the artist that created them for long as you feel you are able, but the initial pledge (remembering to unsubscribe when you are finished) is enough to download whatever maps you need. Some mazelike levels area bit hard to read with the narrow walls, so it can be hard at times to figure out why you can't see what other people see only to find out there is a thin wall between the players... but for the most part amazing.
Cool introduction to Beneos! I also recommend Syrinscape. Syrinscape has completly mapped CoS sound wise. Also very nice is the Boss Loot module for cool fully automated items.
Thanks for highlighting it. What a treasure! It pushes me to look at Decent as my next adventure set, purely because Beneos has it ready. Will have to see how my players get on with it, obviously.
I used Beneos maps a while back- still use em a little every so often but the dark fantasy of Strad is not my favorite D&D setting/module. I was really hoping Beneos was going to take on something like Dragon Heist because that would mean creating Waterdeep O_O but thats a huge undertaking and - they are only so many people working on this XD. I realized my expectations and hopes were way too high. I am still hoping someone will tackle creating the city of splendor in full details. I hope we get more tools to quickly create things like this and more creators building them and making them available. As for the "Video gamification" and "not feeling like a TTRPG" I get it- but I hard disagree. You lose a lot when you dont have people sitting around a table, and I think by making the visual aspect more interactive and visual it helps to make up for that lose. It's not the same thing, but it's something else we can add to improve this different experience. We should take advantage of the tools we are using. If you are playing a TTRPG on a Virtual table top- you shouldnt just be using graph paper and numbered tokens. You need some awesome art tokens, Czepeku maps, cool lighting, and automations to make things run smoother and faster. Automation has made it possible for me to throw 20-30 creatures at my party and have them just mow them down with spells and wade into battle and have combat only last 20-30 minutes. In a TTRPG IRL - that would take hours and be a nightmare.
I mean, if they were to produce detailed Waterdeep, Baulder's Gate, Neverwinter and Phandalin maps with shops, journals and everything, I'd be absolutely stoked! I'd love to do that myself, but I don't have the art skills, or time to do it justice. The balance between automation, video gamification (great phrase!) and traditional TTRPG is a tricky one, I agree. Definitely we should use the tools we have, but not forget the actual RP elements. I get distracted by the shiny all the time. It's why I want to keep CoS less-automated, so it still feels like a traditional TTRPG mechanically, but with pretty pictures. And of course, every group is different. My CoS game is going to have some old-school players, and very new players (young and old) - they may enjoy different things. Gotta try and keep all the kiddies happy :D
Late to this vid but your point Re:Patreon I've not see a single patreon creator suggest people stay signed up post getting the benefit they wanted, in fact i routinely see the exact opposite stated. Creators understand majority just want the shiny toy, only those with incredibly large amounts of disposable income can afford multiple monthly patreons above basic tiers and creators know and respect this.
True, but I'd rather not encourage that, even if it's expected. These people work their butts off to make our games better, so if we can afford to keep them afloat, I think we should. But it's a big IF.
I'm excited by this, but need to evaluate just what depth will actually work for my players. I suspect some of the videos will not be used, and I'll be choosing either Scene or BattleMap for each location, but not both. Conscious of flow. But you're right, getting the balance is important regarding automation, cut-scenes, etc.
