Digital TTRPG Giant Roll20 acquires Demiplane

Well, fans of tabletop role-playing games recently received a pleasant surprise. Virtual Tabletop (VTT) Roll20 has announced the acquisition of Demiplane. Demiplane is a TTRPG tool that is often referred to as “D&D Beyond for every other game system”.

I’m currently working on a review of Demiplane (keep an eye out for it in the coming months), but a quick primer is that it currently serves three purposes: character boards/management, digital library/player, and video/voice. /text chat to run your games. Sounds pretty useful, right?

What does this acquisition mean for players? We honestly don’t know at the moment. The official press release talks about using Roll20’s “resources and the breadth of Demiplane’s technology” but no specifics or details beyond integrating Demiplane directly into Roll20 have been revealed.

The statement states that the platforms will remain separate. My guess is that you will be able to link accounts for the two platforms and therefore access Demiplane characters/materials on Roll20.

I’m sure you’ll also be able to use your Demiplane character sheet to perform a roll and it will even appear in the Roll20 chat at some point.

It’s also mentioned in the release’s Q&A that Roll20 is working with publishers so that if you own content on one platform, you’ll get a free unlock on the other.

The following publishers are currently signed up: Paizo, Darrington Press, Kobold Press and Renegade Game Studio. It is not specified when it will come into effect, so be patient.

Ankit LalCEO of Roll20, said:

Demiplane’s streamlined yet powerful character generator and easily searchable compendium are deeply complementary to Roll20’s growing ecosystem. On the user side, we’re excited to get Demiplane’s technology into more hands by bringing it to new audiences and adding support for new systems.

As a one-stop distribution channel, Roll20 supports creators and publishers with a growing range of digitally native game formats. Whatever your gaming preference (PDF, print on demand, VTT conversions or digital books on Demiplane), Roll20 can accommodate it.

Co-founder and CEO of Demiplane Pietro Romenesko added:

Since Demiplane first started, our goal has been to introduce great board games to new and existing players and gaming experts around the world. We’ve been able to do this for nearly a dozen game systems in over thirty countries thanks to our amazing team and publishing partners.

This partnership with Roll20 and DriveThruRPG enhances several key strategic areas for us to focus on. We look forward to pushing ourselves into new territory together and are excited to embark on this next chapter of Demiplane.

My initial impression is that this is really promising. My limited experience with the Demiplane so far (again, look forward to a full review in a few months) has definitely shown areas where the Roll20 is really enjoyable to use instead, but there are some much stronger areas on the Demiplane.

In my opinion, Demiplane’s biggest strength is the character sheet creator. In my opinion, Roll20’s character sheet tool has always been pretty bad to use and I’ve always attributed this to the fact that Roll20 has almost every TTRPG available and Roll20’s focus is more on being a VTT.

Demiplane’s character sheets are much nicer because they don’t serve the same purpose and that seems to be more of its main purpose. Meanwhile, Demiplane’s biggest weakness is precisely the fact that it currently only has 9 Nexus (11 if you count the open beta Dagger heart and the next arrival Starfinder 2E) while Roll20 has many other systems.

My greatest hope is that the Roll20 resources will allow the Nexus Demiplanes to be completed more quickly and that more will be added quickly. Personally I would love to have one Power Rangers RPG AND The Call of Cthulhu. What do you think of this acquisition and what do you hope to see as a result?

Roll20 also sent out a survey where you can share the features you’re most interested in about scales and an additional comments section. This mentions single sign-on, a shared library, the addition of Demiplane tools to Roll20, a combined group search, early access for new TTRPGs, and thus room for other ideas.