Popular Virtual Tabletop Roll20 Acquires Demiplane
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In major news that will impact on both Dungeons & Dragons and tabletop roleplaying games as a whole, it was recently announced that Roll20, the world’s largest virtual tabletop top, is purchasing Demiplane, one of the world’s most popular platforms for RPG character creation and management.
The move brings together two major online RPG brands, offering a more robust set of tools for players. At the same time, a more robust Roll20 also threatens Wizards of the Coast’s plans for their own upcoming VTT as well as their market dominance with their D&D Beyond platform.
So what does this mean for players of D&D and other popular TTRPGs? Below, we break out all the details.
Why Did Roll20 Purchase Demiplane?
Since the pandemic, Roll20 has become the largest VTT in the world, with their user base doubling to over 15 million users since 2020. The online platform now supports games D&D 5e, a well as other popular TTRPGs such as Pathfinder, Vampire: the Masquerade, Call of Cthulhu and Cyberpunk. And while the tool features numerous immersive elements, including dynamic lightning, detailed mapping options and custom effects, one of the major criticisms has been around the platform’s integration with character building.
This is particularly noteworthy when it comes to D&D 5e, which remains the largest and most popular game on Roll20. Many users still prefer to use the D&D Beyond character options, so much so that a third-party Chrome extension called Beyond 20 was even developed to allow D&D Beyond character sheets to function within Roll20.
At the same time, in recent years Demiplane has grown in popularity due its range of sophisticated digital character management tools for a wide range of TTRPGs, including D&D 5e (which is referred as simply “5e” on Demiplane under the Open Game License).
It therefore makes sense for Roll20 to purchase Demiplane to fill a well-known gap in their existing toolset and acquire their user base. In an official press release after the acquisition was announced, Roll20 also noted that the partnership will support new game systems and Kickstarter campaigns, offering a full range of options that includes PDFs, VTT modules and new digital character sheets. In the meantime, users of both platforms will still be able to access any purchased content.
Why Does This Matter to DnD 5e Players?
The acquisition of Demiplane by Roll20 represents a major shift in the TTRPG industry and the potential to disrupt D&D Beyond’s dominance when it comes to D&D 5e. That kind of competition is healthy for the industry as a whole in addition to offering even more ways for D&D players to engage with the game.
Notably, the purchase of Demiplane also comes just as Roll20 is planning for the release of Wizards of the Coast’s 2024 D&D Core Rule Books. It remains to be seen, however, just what the long term impact of the acquisition will be.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on this story in the days ahead and will update this page with new information as it’s made available.
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Cameron Nichols is a Senior Editor who lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and has been playing D&D since the early 90s, when he was introduced by his older brother and cut his teeth on AD&D 2nd Edition. Since then he’s played virtually every RPG he could get his nerdy little mitts on (including a weird Goth phase in the early 2000s when he rocked Vampire: The Masquerade pretty hard). His favorite D&D campaign setting is the Forgotten Realms and his favorite character to play was a Half-Orc Barbarian named Grug (who was unfortunately devoured by a gelatinous cube).
