I have thought about this as a bit of a gate to make sure your players are serious. Sounds like your groups are already full of committed players, but have you seen any changes like this since you started charging the sub?
As you say, we are a fairly committed group so not particularly.
I think it's made things a little more democratic. This is particular to D&D Beyond, but the group fund paid for the new core rulebooks, which meant everyone got access at the same time.
My gut says yes, but I think my reception as a player to the idea would be based on their experience as a DM and level of effort that was being put into the campaign. I don't like to put stipulations because I go into this type of stuff with an open mind. But me running short campaigns or oneshots would likely never result in me taking subs of any kind. I would only personally accept subs if it was a long campaign that I was familiar running and could provide an experience for players that felt close to the upper tier of campaign experience.
>Is there a better way to cover your costs?
I think there is some value in players having agency in the world created and it will be different for every ttrpg. For DnD, maybe a player wants a Beholder on the table and brings their own mini for it; maybe its helping build the locations involved in the story to some extent. Maybe in Mothership or Lancer, a player has a map pack they bought out of curiosity thats relevant and they could bring those materials; maybe the players build their starship together on first table session.
I think material crowdsourcing has a lot of opportunity for creative solutions. Collaborating as a group, on the costs as well as other details of worldbuilding, can bring players together closer than an entire mystery campaign can. I believe that strongly.
>How does your group keep your finances fair?
The DM of the game is someone who has a vested interest in playing and running that game. The costs of getting things rolling falls to them. For DnD, its one friend. For Mothership/Lancer, its me. For a YuGiOh DnD, its another. Etc etc.
I think there’s a difference between spreading the costs around the group like you are doing and charging to play D&D.
As a DM I could easily say to my players, “Pitch in for the expenses I incur running games.” The idea of saying, “Pay me for the time I commit to this regular game,” would cause me so much anxiety I don’t think I could do it. Even though I had some players suggest it.
I have thought about this as a bit of a gate to make sure your players are serious. Sounds like your groups are already full of committed players, but have you seen any changes like this since you started charging the sub?
As you say, we are a fairly committed group so not particularly.
I think it's made things a little more democratic. This is particular to D&D Beyond, but the group fund paid for the new core rulebooks, which meant everyone got access at the same time.
>Is it okay to collect subs for a home game?
My gut says yes, but I think my reception as a player to the idea would be based on their experience as a DM and level of effort that was being put into the campaign. I don't like to put stipulations because I go into this type of stuff with an open mind. But me running short campaigns or oneshots would likely never result in me taking subs of any kind. I would only personally accept subs if it was a long campaign that I was familiar running and could provide an experience for players that felt close to the upper tier of campaign experience.
>Is there a better way to cover your costs?
I think there is some value in players having agency in the world created and it will be different for every ttrpg. For DnD, maybe a player wants a Beholder on the table and brings their own mini for it; maybe its helping build the locations involved in the story to some extent. Maybe in Mothership or Lancer, a player has a map pack they bought out of curiosity thats relevant and they could bring those materials; maybe the players build their starship together on first table session.
I think material crowdsourcing has a lot of opportunity for creative solutions. Collaborating as a group, on the costs as well as other details of worldbuilding, can bring players together closer than an entire mystery campaign can. I believe that strongly.
>How does your group keep your finances fair?
The DM of the game is someone who has a vested interest in playing and running that game. The costs of getting things rolling falls to them. For DnD, its one friend. For Mothership/Lancer, its me. For a YuGiOh DnD, its another. Etc etc.
I don’t it’s wrong to offer paid subscriptions or donations.
Some of your articles here are worth a nod that way as well.
I think there’s a difference between spreading the costs around the group like you are doing and charging to play D&D.
As a DM I could easily say to my players, “Pitch in for the expenses I incur running games.” The idea of saying, “Pay me for the time I commit to this regular game,” would cause me so much anxiety I don’t think I could do it. Even though I had some players suggest it.