SamTheCleric
2008-06-24, 08:50 PM
Direct Link: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4news/20080624a
Today marks the first public glimpse of the D&D Compendium — an online searchable database for all official 4th Edition D&D content. Once D&D Insider gets rolling, subscribers will get full access to the D&D Compendium. In the meantime, *everyone* is going to be able to get a glimpse of this online application.
In this article we’ll talk about...
* The purpose of the D&D Compendium.
* The current status of the D&D Compendium.
* Upcoming additions and modifications to the D&D Compendium.
Purpose of the D&D Compendium
The Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game provides an ever-expanding array of character options for players. Each new game supplement, whether book or Dragon magazine, adds to the number of races, classes, paragon paths, epic destinies, feats, powers, and magic items available to choose from.
As the number of choices grows, it becomes increasingly difficult in this data-rich world to explore and keep track of all your options.
The D&D Compendium is the answer.
The D&D Compendium was created as an online tool to make browsing the various options quick, easy, and fun. Every race, class, skill, feat, power, paragon path, epic destiny, and magic item that appears in an official 4th Edition D&D product can be found in this online database.
While a few players may possess a photographic memory, and others are willing to pore over all the printed source material numerous times, we wanted to provide a tool for the rest of you designed to help players search the various options, sort them, and present them in a format similar to what is in our printed books.
Current Status of the D&D Compendium
The D&D Compendium currently allows a user to search keywords in the text of all the objects in the D&D rules database. These objects are organized in the following categories:
* Items
* Powers
* Feats
* Skills
* Classes
* Races
When an object’s text contains the searched keyword, that object will appear in a results list. Each category above will have its own results list, so if you type in the words “Power Attack”, you would get results in any category that had objects that mentioned the word “power” and word “attack” in its text.
Using multiple words in the search box means the object has to contain *all* of the words listed in the search in order to return in the result.
Currently, the text for all objects in the database are available to view. This free access will last until D&D Insider fully kicks off, at which point the D&D Compendium and all of its data will be accessible to D&D Insider subscribers only.
We will be adding data from Dragon and Dungeon to the Compendium after the monthly compilations are released.
Upcoming Additions and Modifications
As excited as we are to preview the D&D Compendium, we’re ecstatic about some of its upcoming features:
Browse All: The function we plan on introducing the soonest is the ability to “Browse All” within a category (races, classes, feats, powers, etc.). Using the “Browse All” functionality returns all the items in a given category, without the need for any keyword entered in the text search. “Browse All” represents a middle step to help bridge the time before all the filters for every category are in place.
Filters: Each category (races, classes, feats, powers, etc.) will have its own set of filters that allows you to fine-tune your searches. Want to know all the feats that your 11th-level dragonborn warlord is eligible for that has a Strength 15 prerequisite? The D&D Compendium will tell you. We’ll be unveiling these filters one category at a time, and we’re prepared to continue tweaking the capabilities and structures of the filters as subscribers tell us what’s working and what isn’t.
Future articles will provide more detail about how the filters are shaping up, and which category we’ll be adding filters to first.
The D&D Compendium is something new for the D&D RPG. It represents an exciting step forward for playing and enjoying the D&D game. We’d love to get your feedback and commentary in the forums and in email as the D&D Compendium develops.
Thanks,
Ken Troop
D&D Insider Executive Producer
Today marks the first public glimpse of the D&D Compendium — an online searchable database for all official 4th Edition D&D content. Once D&D Insider gets rolling, subscribers will get full access to the D&D Compendium. In the meantime, *everyone* is going to be able to get a glimpse of this online application.
In this article we’ll talk about...
* The purpose of the D&D Compendium.
* The current status of the D&D Compendium.
* Upcoming additions and modifications to the D&D Compendium.
Purpose of the D&D Compendium
The Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game provides an ever-expanding array of character options for players. Each new game supplement, whether book or Dragon magazine, adds to the number of races, classes, paragon paths, epic destinies, feats, powers, and magic items available to choose from.
As the number of choices grows, it becomes increasingly difficult in this data-rich world to explore and keep track of all your options.
The D&D Compendium is the answer.
The D&D Compendium was created as an online tool to make browsing the various options quick, easy, and fun. Every race, class, skill, feat, power, paragon path, epic destiny, and magic item that appears in an official 4th Edition D&D product can be found in this online database.
While a few players may possess a photographic memory, and others are willing to pore over all the printed source material numerous times, we wanted to provide a tool for the rest of you designed to help players search the various options, sort them, and present them in a format similar to what is in our printed books.
Current Status of the D&D Compendium
The D&D Compendium currently allows a user to search keywords in the text of all the objects in the D&D rules database. These objects are organized in the following categories:
* Items
* Powers
* Feats
* Skills
* Classes
* Races
When an object’s text contains the searched keyword, that object will appear in a results list. Each category above will have its own results list, so if you type in the words “Power Attack”, you would get results in any category that had objects that mentioned the word “power” and word “attack” in its text.
Using multiple words in the search box means the object has to contain *all* of the words listed in the search in order to return in the result.
Currently, the text for all objects in the database are available to view. This free access will last until D&D Insider fully kicks off, at which point the D&D Compendium and all of its data will be accessible to D&D Insider subscribers only.
We will be adding data from Dragon and Dungeon to the Compendium after the monthly compilations are released.
Upcoming Additions and Modifications
As excited as we are to preview the D&D Compendium, we’re ecstatic about some of its upcoming features:
Browse All: The function we plan on introducing the soonest is the ability to “Browse All” within a category (races, classes, feats, powers, etc.). Using the “Browse All” functionality returns all the items in a given category, without the need for any keyword entered in the text search. “Browse All” represents a middle step to help bridge the time before all the filters for every category are in place.
Filters: Each category (races, classes, feats, powers, etc.) will have its own set of filters that allows you to fine-tune your searches. Want to know all the feats that your 11th-level dragonborn warlord is eligible for that has a Strength 15 prerequisite? The D&D Compendium will tell you. We’ll be unveiling these filters one category at a time, and we’re prepared to continue tweaking the capabilities and structures of the filters as subscribers tell us what’s working and what isn’t.
Future articles will provide more detail about how the filters are shaping up, and which category we’ll be adding filters to first.
The D&D Compendium is something new for the D&D RPG. It represents an exciting step forward for playing and enjoying the D&D game. We’d love to get your feedback and commentary in the forums and in email as the D&D Compendium develops.
Thanks,
Ken Troop
D&D Insider Executive Producer