I Tried out Pay To Play D&D on Startplaying.Games

So I took the dive into paying to play D&D using StartPlaying.Games. Today let's talk about the experience start to finish, where I stand on it, and what I think could be improved.

If interested, this is the DM I used for my first game. His $5 dollar one shot was a lot of fun, but be sure to explore all the games they have to offer!

[progressiveDND]

Just a quick note: I am not a paid DM, I am not affiliated with StartPlaying.games or any pay to play platform or DM. I just had a good time, and wanted to share the experience. 🤓 If you would like to give StartPlaying a shot and want to give a little back, just use my referral link and we both win!

[rmartikke]

As a DM on start playing I wanted to thank you for giving our service an honest shot.

[urzoth]

I play weekly with the DM (Frank) that was showcased in this video. He is an outstanding DM. He always preps for the games and maximize all the functions in roll20. Definitely recommend him.

[chancerusso]

I started running games there about a year and a half ago or so, and I have now run 173 paid games charging $20 per person. This is what I have found...I have completed 5 campaigns from start to finish and currently 65% through my 6th campaign and 10-15% of my 7th campaign. Previous to being on SPG I only ran tables at Conventions and VDDW for D&D. I never finished a campaign when it was free as a 25-30 session campaign would always derail for a plethora of reasons around Session 10-15. I use the money I generate to PATREON people and pay for my "in-house" artist who is saving money for a down payment for a house in Argentina. I currently support 10 creators monthly and I feel really good about spreading the wealth. I use the experiences I have at the table to hone my craft. I learn something with each and every session. I hope to one day have special event weekends bringing people to Colombia (where I currently live) to mix culture with great fun at the table. Great insight and thanks for supporting the GMs/DMs in this way.

[asquirrelplays]

"the entire group was high energy and showed up on time". That's absolutely worth $5 lol
Semi related, there's a feller I know that somewhat recently went full time as a paid GM. It's crazy to me, and I'm not sure you could pay me enough to play with and manage randos, but hey, more power to him.

[googanmcboogie]

I would imagine a paywall alone would whittle out many potential "that players"

[gamasquad]

My current Friday game is on spg and it has been an amazing experience so far, we completed an 18 month long campaign about two months ago. Before that I played a series of one shots loosely in the same world but all amazingly fun and getting to play with all sorts of people opened my eyes to the potential of just playing with strangers. I am fully in support of pay to play DND and any trrpg(which spg offers) to be able to control when and where you play whatever game it is. Great video, have a sub ❤.

[DM-Timothy]

Great review of SPG. As a full time SPG DM, it’s great to hear you had a good experience! The service has literally been life changing for me, and your thought process felt very much like my own when I first encountered the platform. Nice work! Thank you!

[HeatherVerhagen]

Thanks for your opinion. I'm a writer who is currently GMing at conventions. I've really loved talking up new games and networking with people over the past year The feedback I'm getting from my players seems to indicate that I should actually be writing for published games. It's starting to feel weird to run free games because of all the time and effort I'm putting into my prep work, so maybe Start Playing and websites like the DMG would make a logical next step for me? We shall see.

[brianbays]

The advice to run an npc from an upcoming game you're running in a one shot to get a feel for the character is FANTASTIC advice I never would have thought of. Thank you.

[FlintFireforge]

As someone who occasionally runs games on Start Playing, I'm glad you had a good experience.

[Murphy]

I’m an old school who hadn’t played since 3.5. I have a daughter who DM’s at conventions but I don’t get to play with her often because she lives too far away. So I saw an ad for start playing and was so excited. I’m in a couple campaigns on there and I also found another player who is DMing a game not on there so now I have three campaigns with some great DM’s and at 10~15 dollars for the two it’s well worth it!

[mlundequist]

I still prefer gaming with people around a table, watching body language and facial expressions, enjoying a drink and snacks, and then online play.

[saken]

BTW I just want to say that the idea of running potential important NPCs through one-shots is BRILLIANT.

[ordatexisna]

Very nice video. Informative and not just a click bait title as I often see with channels related to D&D that pop up for me for some reason. As a DM who has been considering doing an occasional one shot on startplaying it is good to see what people honestly think about pricing, how it works out, the group dynamic of a rando group, and how it all went. Big thumbs up for the video.

[Firefly-mbpl]

I was a player in a year long, weekly campaign on the site.
Level 3 all the way to 9.
We played curse of Strahd and unless more than 3 people canceled we did play every. single. week.
It was $10 per player and well worth it to see it all the way to the end.

As one of the rare long term players from the site I can’t recommend it enough.
Feel free to ask me anything about my experience, I’ll try to answer to the best of my knowledge.

[StoryWeaverSteve]

I'm glad you had a good experience. I'm running a game now that has gone from lvl 1 to 18, planning on going all the way to 20.

[sweetderpg]

Another cool thing about SPG is the access to other types of TTRPGs. Want to try a new game? You can find a huge variety of one shots or campaigns, with folks who are eager to teach people a new game.

[saken]

Having to pay a small amount means that now players have skin in the game. It will definitely make them more motivated to show up and less likely to flake out.

[indeswma]

Great video, Ive been considering DMing professionally and would try a few pay to play games first. Its good to hear your take on it, especially the fact that other players also paid and are more likely to be engaged.

Thanks for sharing!