I feel like I’m signing up to a promise with D&D Project Sigil. It’s like a movie set; it looks great head on, but go around the back and you’ll be met with MDF and dreams propping the whole thing up.
If you’re just joining us, the new Dungeons & Dragons virtual tabletop (which recreates locations, monsters, and items in sumptuous 3D on your PC or laptop) is live and totally free to download. Honestly, this news shocked me. The all-singing home of digital D&D has been teased for almost three years, and there’s been no indication that we were close to launch. Yet here we are with multiple themes, a miniature creator, and permission to make whatever the hell we damn well please. Project Sigil is a go.
Well, sort of. Although this boat’s been pushed out into the river to see if it floats, Project Sigil isn’t cooked yet. In more ways than one, actually; aside from being a ‘soft’ launch playtest with fewer options than the final product will provide, it doesn’t feel… ready? That’s probably harsh. After all, it looks beautiful and I have been impressed with the functionality in what may as well be an alpha version of the software. But after giving it a go myself, some niggles are raining on my parade. It’s so, so close to being amazing – but falls at the first hurdle.
Derailed?
I say this as someone who has been eagerly awaiting Project Sigil from the moment it was unveiled. I’m a (happy) forever-Dungeon Master when it comes to the best tabletop RPGs; I adore creating worlds, scenarios, and characters for my players to muck about with. In fact, I’m a chronic over-prepper. Rather than breaking out some graph paper and calling it a day, I’ll craft props, bespoke maps, or tabletop terrain for fully-painted miniatures. With that in mind, I’m always on the hunt for ways to make my sessions more immersive – and when it was unveiled, Project Sigil ticked those boxes with permanent ink. According to the ads, it’d act like Baldur’s Gate 3 for your home campaigns with fully-realized environments and miniatures. It’d also allow Dungeon Masters to read sourcebook info, break out spell effects, and refer to stat-blocks in-game rather than having a million tabs open on their browser. Frankly? It’d make other virtual tabletops look half-assed.
That’s why I was buzzing to boot up Project Sigil after all this time. I could finally get my grubby mitts on its editor and forge maps for the best D&D books. The trouble is, that ambition doesn’t necessarily survive impact. Combat and player interactions seem pretty solid from what I can tell, but Sigil’s creative side has some kinks to work out. There’s not an option to lay down ground types quickly, for example; you have to place textures like grass or dirt in individual blobs that don’t sit nicely next to one another unless you get them lined up just right. This feels like a basic function that I’m amazed isn’t in a program all about making environments. While you can set a premade backdrop for one of the current themes (graveyard, forest, etc), it doesn’t explain why you can’t create your own as easily. Particularly because you can drag and drop floor tiles for wooden boards or stone across large areas.
Tantalizing tease
There are a couple of weird usability faux-pas, too. Why can’t I scroll through text using the scroll wheel? Why does the Adventure Journal tab start editing if I accidentally click it? Why isn’t there a ctrl + Z function to undo a mistake? They’re the kind of questions I’m surprised to be asking. This feels like a very early alpha test, a behind-closed-doors first look – but D&D is acting like this is the real deal.
Because that’s the thing; it clearly isn’t finished, and this is just the first. A lot of functionality doesn’t seem to be working yet, the available themes are limited, and we don’t have premade modules to hand at the time of writing. I know this will all change eventually, and I’m sure things will be very different a year from now. But I would have preferred a bit more to play with at ‘launch’ rather than this tantalizing tease. There’s only so much you can do when most of the game’s monsters, not to mention biomes, aren’t included as miniatures yet. Playing in Icewind Dale? Sorry, there’s no snow here. Running through Curse of Strahd? Nope, vampires aren’t included either.
With that in mind, perhaps I’ll stick with Dungeon Alchemy for the time being – it’s like the Sims for Dungeon Masters, which is what I wanted Project Sigil to be. Maybe it’ll get there eventually? Until then, it better roll a Constitution saving throw.
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