Collectivism in Gaming

[aco175]

Maybe there was some cost problems in the past, like in the Army where a few people never brought any food/drink or never went out and bought even dice, but not now since I mainly play with family. We have our own stuff and maps/minis/etc from 3e days. Also my brother likes the make the cardboard cutout minis and stuff. When we play now, we each bring our drink and me or my father will bring a box of cookies since we play after supper for only a couple hours.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I have deeper pockets than most of the people I game with, so I usually buy extras of certain things so that even the most casual players only need show up.

So, I have a big bucket o’ dice as well as several copies of the key books for the games I love most. There’s thousands of minis to choose between. If I’m hosting, people are free to raid the fridge (limitations may apply), but several people bring stuff to share as well. Sometimes I even cook meals.

If I’m a guest, I’ll ask the host about bringing stuff- gaming supplies, drinks, food, ice, whatever.

 

[Celebrim]

I admit that the title is likely more provocative than I intend, but then again, perhaps not.

Does your table share the financial burdens of running a TTRPG?
These may include but are not limited to: Books, Minis, Printing costs, Dice, Tokens, Cards, Stationary, VTT fees, food/snacks

Yes, and no.

When I was in high school we pitched in money for pizza, and then people voluntarily brought snacks to share like 2-liter Dr. Peppers and bags of cheddar sun chips. Because the DM worked harder than everyone else and had spent the majority of the required to play money, DMs did not have to chip in for the pizza. All the costs of the game were born by the GM.

I've been through several groups since then but my current group (when we met, we are mostly remote since the pandemic in part because we no longer all work at the same location) took turns buying food for the group. The GM is not exempt. The cost of the game is largely born by the GM, but that said, several of my players are big into 3D printing and I've been gifted with several lovely handmade items over the years as aids to play.

I think that it's very hard to collectively own a book. That involves more infrastructure than private ownership because now you need some sort of public library. I can imagine us doing something like that with pdfs maybe, but in point of fact we haven't done that. The only digital things in our public library are things that we've made ourselves, and even that was mostly relevant back when we were playing 3e D&D under my house rules which were both extensive, expanding, and evolving over the years we played.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I don't expect my players to drop a dime for the game. There is no sense of quid pro quo. I am just happy to run the game for a few hours on Sundays - my players don't owe me anything.

My IRL group plays after hours at my game store, where the books are available to buy.

I have a couple of players who spend ~$100 a week on comics and games products;
one guy who buys all the ~$500 WizKids things (like the dragon-head plaques) but nothing else;
and players who have never bought anything at all from me (even borrowing dice).

Some guys bring beer or whisky to share, some don't.

It's all good. We all have different means and different desires. No big deal.

We just like to play.

 

[aramis erak]

I admit that the title is likely more provocative than I intend, but then again, perhaps not.

Does your table share the financial burdens of running a TTRPG?
These may include but are not limited to: Books, Minis, Printing costs, Dice, Tokens, Cards, Stationary, VTT fees, food/snacks

only snacks and sometimes dinner.

 

[Starfox]

No formal sharing. Sharing is not the norm here in our city's gaming community. One of my players tends to give me books he wants in our game. I tried making this a rule, that if you wanted to use a certain rule you had to buy the book (we play on Roll20), but this has not worked out, and I pay most of the costs.

 

[Bagpuss]

Does your table share the financial burdens of running a TTRPG?

No.

 

[Velderan]

Somewhat.

When we were playing in-person, we hosted and everyone brought snacks or drinks to share. If we were playing on a weekend, we'd cook something to share for the main dish and everyone would bring a side, dessert, or drink. As GM, someone would always ask what I wanted to drink and bring something.

As for game materials, everyone is on their own. I pay for all the stuff I want to use in games I ran in-person and when we switched to virtual those costs continued to stay with the GM. When we switched to PF2e, since it was my suggestion I laid out some options for people to get materials from most expensive to free (Buy a hardcover or Pocket CRB, pay $5 for the Humble Bundle that was running at the time to get a PDF, or use Archives of Nethys) so people could make a choice that best fit their financial situation. As GM, I've bought all the books I wanted to have and paid for a Foundry license/monthly Forge hosting because that's the way I wanted to run the game since technically I could have used Archives of Nethys/free tier Roll20.

 

[grankless]

Nope. My friends are all broke-r than me. I buy a PDF for 20 bucks, bought Foundry for 50 bucks, and we play all the live long day with free or shared resources.

You show up with some dumb excuse that you were too busy or don't have the money or something, and yes I will let you have no drinks or snacks.

You won't even let your friends you're hosting have a few chips or something? Jeez.

 

[bloodtide]

You won't even let your friends you're hosting have a few chips or something? Jeez.

I don't have endless money to give away endless food and drink. "A couple chips" to five people is the whole bag.

And why should I be expected to provide food and drink....why don't the players that "always beg" EVER do it? Maybe a player can show up with $50 of food and drink?