Is TTRPGing an "Expensive Hobby"

[overgeeked]

Yep.

You CAN spend a lot of money on the TTRPG hobby, but you can also do it practically for free.

As hobbies and entertainment go, it's more expensive than borrowing books from the library or walking in parks, but it's cheaper than virtually anything else. Even if you buy your books full retail, $150 for three books (and most players just need one, if they even care to have a physical copy) becomes a vanishingly small $ per hour value if you actually play regularly. Far less than going to the movies, say, never mind stuff like golf or skiing or any other kind of sport with physical equipment or apparel.






Back in the 90s and into the early 2000s a few of Games Workshop's own stores experimented with a policy of requiring painted armies to play in their stores. The idea, I think, was to showcase the aesthetics of the hobby and to motivate players who frequented those stores. Some tournaments also require stuff to be painted. But in my experience that's almost never expected for casual games.

There IS a culture in traditional (historical) miniatures wargaming, where many clubs and players make it a point of pride never to field unpainted models. For them the visual is so important that they'd feel ashamed to diminish the spectacle of the game by playing with unpainted stuff. I've known some fantasy miniatures wargamers who personally take the same attitude.

I've always been really into the tactics and made competitive tournaments and leagues a major hobby for years. And when I first started playing I got some un- and partially-painted armies off eBay and another secondhand site, but I rapidly felt ashamed to be fielding unpainted stuff against some of the beautiful armies I faced. The players were totally gracious, but I quickly developed the desire to contribute better to the visual spectacle of the game. First learning and developing effective speed-painting techniques, and gradually getting to enjoy the painting side of the hobby for itself and take pride in a lot of stuff I painted.

When I was playing 40k, I played orcs. One of the rules for orcs was red vehicles go faster. So painting was encouraged mechanically as well. I played with 2-3 people regularly and one of them was straight-up offended that my army wasn’t fully painted. Eventually I came close to finishing the paint job, but I left one truck as base-coat black only, I didn’t even glue on wheels. He complained, so I made little blocks to sit the thing on and just kept it that way, using it every time we played. He was not amused.

 

[aramis erak]

You can get the D&D Starter Set for between £15-£20, it has dice, rules and an adventurer to start.

If you don't fancy D&D, then you have plenty of options

• Call of Cthulhu's Starter Set - £25
• Pendragon Starter Set - £25
• Runequest Starter Set - £25
• Aliens RPG Starter Set - £35
• Tales from the Loop Starter Set - £30
• Cyberpunk Jump Start ser - erm yeah don't buy it, it is out of print and over priced.

Anyway you get the idea, there are plenty of other starter sets, each one of those has dice, characters, rules and adventurers to get you started and cost no more than a group of four going to the movies or bowling. That's before you look at the countless other RPGs that are considerably cheaper than D&D to get into.

I don't know about UK theaters, but a trip to the movies in the US is $15 to $20 per adult person for admission, plus snacks. Large popcorn and large soda runs about $15...

 

[R_J_K75]

When I was playing 40k, I played orcs. One of the rules for orcs was red vehicles go faster. So painting was encouraged mechanically as well. I played with 2-3 people regularly and one of them was straight-up offended that my army wasn’t fully painted. Eventually I came close to finishing the paint job, but I left one as base coat black only, I didn’t even glue on wheels. He complained, so I made little blocks to sit the thing on and just kept it that way, using it every time we played. He was not amused.

This is hilarious, talking about taking a game way too seriously. He must be a real hit at parties..."I'm not putting that lamp shade on my head, it's not painted"!!

 

[Malmuria]

Different than the hobby being expensive or not, I'd say a segment of the hobby is highly consumerist, in that they seem to buy things just for the sake of buying them whether or not they will actually use them. Kickstarter exacerbates this tendency with its extravagant stretch goals and sense of FOMO. I've done this too, though have more recently really tried to consider whether I'll get use out of a product before picking it up.

 

[billd91]

This is hilarious, talking about taking a game way too seriously. He must be a real hit at parties..."I'm not putting that lamp shade on my head, it's not painted"!!

For a lot of miniature-based wargame players, it's a serious point of etiquette to show up at a table with a fully painted and finished army. It may not be as formal as wearing white at Wimbledon, but it can be a big deal. Part of the appeal of the game for the players (and spectators) is a visually arresting/appropriate army and if you're not going to bring one, you might as well be bringing paper counters.

 

[FrogReaver]

I don't know about UK theaters, but a trip to the movies in the US is $15 to $20 per adult person for admission, plus snacks. Large popcorn and large soda runs about $15...

The people having issue with 50 dollars for the PHB don’t go to theatres but maybe once or twice a year if that and when they do they don’t do concessions. They either sneak in their own stuff or do without.

 

[eyeheartawk]

For a lot of miniature-based wargame players, it's a serious point of etiquette to show up at a table with a fully painted and finished army. It may not be as formal as wearing white at Wimbledon, but it can be a big deal. Part of the appeal of the game for the players (and spectators) is a visually arresting/appropriate army and if you're not going to bring one, you might as well be bringing paper counters.

There's a "miniature game" called Beer and Pretzels where all units are represented by literal pretzels and cans of beer. Let's normalize that.

 

[R_J_K75]

For a lot of miniature-based wargame players, it's a serious point of etiquette to show up at a table with a fully painted and finished army. It may not be as formal as wearing white at Wimbledon, but it can be a big deal. Part of the appeal of the game for the players (and spectators) is a visually arresting/appropriate army and if you're not going to bring one, you might as well be bringing paper counters.

To each their own but this certainly sounded more like a casual game rather than one where it was understood that it was a requirement to paint their armies. But, I may be wrong.

 

[R_J_K75]

There's a "miniature game" called Beer and Pretzels where all units are represented by literal pretzels and cans of beer. Let's normalize that.

Im in

 

[eyeheartawk]

Im in

Enjoy