It’s been almost a year since I first asked this question of my gaming group, and Malcolm Sheppard’s new post just reminded me that I should be asking all of you:
Where is the D&D App for the iPhone and iPod Touch?
I get why Wizards yanked PDF support. I do. I don’t agree, necessarily, but that’s not the point. I see the value in DDI, and even have a subscription, still, to that. And I don’t have a device that uses iPhone apps. Yet, still, I can’t figure out why a program doesn’t exist that puts D&D powers onto an iPod screen, one power at a time. Why isn’t there character management software that turns the iPhone into a character sheet, tracking hit points and randomly generating damage for powers that I activate with the touch of a button?
The digital game table is still a ways off, but we can tackle this, for sure, can’t we? Shouldn’t there be an app for that?
I’d say demand is really what’s holding this one back. Part of our hobby is that we’re notoriously old school about it. Though we are slowly moving to online play, and digital management of our games it hasn’t quite moved to the mobile environment yet. Though I would admit I would pay for something that I could use on my phone if only so I didn’t have to bring my laptop to the table or rush off to my computer.
It is here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/i4e/id332180778?mt=8
Matt Colville blogged about it the week it came out, I think, which is why I’ve heard of it. I haven’t gotten it myself, but then again, I’m DMing instead of playing. One of my players tried it out. He was reasonably pleased.
I still haven’t seen i4e in action, but it looks pretty good. (I’m seeing mostly three-star reviews.) Where is Wizards’ own app, though. They should be trying to get $5 out of every player with a notebook or a phone, shouldn’t they? And each one should update off the DDI update system.
Of course, it’s easy for me to say this. Much harder to do it. Still: do it!
Jeff, here’s an app for DM’ing. You might find it useful, if you have a desire to run such an app on your iphone. The reviews look pretty good.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dms-tracker/id324156899?mt=8
The big problem that Wizards may have (and I’m just guessing) is that they don’t have an API for the digital content in DDI. If they do, then creating an iPhone app should be fairly simple, and it would be killer. Of course, you’d need an active DDI subscription to get the content.
If Wizards had an open API for the content, with access secured with user-level authentication, that would be even better. Then they could let others create the apps and just rake in the subscription dollars.
@Will — Ah, the official version, gotcha.
@Brad — Thanks for that link. Pretty sure I’ll be checking that out. Do you have it? Is data entry a chore?
Hello, I’m the programmer behind i4e. I think it will do most of what you’re looking for outside of randomly generating values. I’m considering this for a future release but I’ve never been very happy with random number generators and tend to take bad streaks of rolling better from dice than from a computer application.
If you’d like a free copy of i4e to review for your site please send me an email to mike@cordax.net.
I’ve been steadily adding features to i4e since it was released at the end of September, I’ve been working on it since June.
It will track hp, powers, feats, skills. You can import from a .dnd4e file from the official character builder. And of course it supports multiple characters.
I’m currently working on a UI refresh that adds in a few missing pieces and I’m hoping to have it in the app store by the end of December. I’m always looking for feedback and ideas for what to do with it next.
Mike
Great to hear from you, Mike.
Your comment about gamer satisfaction—of lack thereof—with computer-generated random numbers is timely. I did an interview with Scott Nesin for The Bones. He built a machine to physically roll six-siders for use in his play by-email games because his players complained, endlessly, about how the computer-generated random numbers were not random enough. It’s an awe-inspiring device.
I’m looking forward to trying out i4e for myself; expect an e-mail!
Thanks for writing, Mike. I hear you, regarding trusting computer dice rollers — I don’t know if we’re being rational, but I know what you’re talking about.
I hope the app does well for you. I’m glad somebody has gone into the breach on this, and I look forward to hearing about Jeff’s experience with it. I’m especially delighted that it reads Character Builder files!
In the limited testing I’ve done over a fairly large sample size random number generators do a great job. I think the real issue is that users aren’t willing to accept a string of bad rolls from a program like they will from a die.
Once I get the remainder of character sheet things represented in i4e so that the paper is no longer necessary I plan on spending some time looking into ways to make a good random number generator for the app. I’ve got a few other app ideas that I’m excited about if I can get i4e to the point where I’m completely happy with it.
Bring on the feedback though, I recently started forums over at my main site http://cordax.net/forum to help users and collect ideas. Unfortunately with the way the app store is setup from iTunes you don’t get access to your users like you would a standalone product.
I got you, Mike. It’s not that there’s something wrong with the random generators, it’s that there are trust issues there when you don’t actually see dice roll. Weird but true.
Anyone GMing D&D needs to evaluate this program.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2955834/DnD4e%20Combat%20Manager/DnD4e%20Combat%20Manager%20v1.6.0.zip
I have for years been highly skeptical of laptops at the gaming table because I have never found them to be anything but a distraction. Not in terms of “I’m updating Facebook” but that GMs and players end up focusing on the laptop and trying to manage information on it rather than focusing on the game.
This is the first application that, I feel, does the opposite. It frees me up to get closer to the game.
You can copy entries from the WotC Monster Builder as Rich Text and paste them into your Combat Manager library (from which point they’re always in there) and then build and run encounters like crazy. It’s easy, and it’s smart. It does a LOT.
It’s not technically an app, but iplay4e at Google Apps (find it at iplay4e.com) is a free, web-based interface where you can upload Character Builder files and essentially have an electronic character sheet. The default interface is optimised for mobile browsers, and works especially well on the iPhone; it also works in a browser window, and there’s a fullscreen mode too. Either version can show you power cards – with numbers calculated – if you have a DDI subscription. I finally tried it a couple of weeks ago during a game, and it’s great! It does dice rolling, though I admit I prefer real dice too.
As for random numbers, check out random.org – it’s about as random as computers ever get.