Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
D&D Beyond, Roll20, Fantasy Grounds and I think Foundry all let groups share some or all materials, if you use any of those. I assume Demiplane does too, or will soon.
Collectivism in Gaming
- Thread starter Professor Murder
- Start date
Clint_L
Legend
Live and let live, I say. I love collecting DnD stuff, so I have all the miniatures, terrain etc we could ever need. And people always bring their own stuff but if I am hosting I put a few things out anyway. I like entertaining.
If I’m the guest I just ask first so I don’t do a faux pas. I always BYOB and a snack for everyone unless requested otherwise.
I also have a Master tier subscription for DnDBeyond, so that covers everyone.
Retros_x
Adventurer
For present games I state DM privilege to not have to care about snacks & drinks and my players need to organize them. Everything else I happily provide. DnD (or TTRPG in general) is a beloved hobby of mine where I would spent my disposable income for even if I can't use the material immedietaly. I buy adventures that I never run etc.. So it would feel me to ask for money for books and materials, if I would bought them anyway.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Straight up “to each according to their need”.
New person in the group? “Whose got boring dice they don’t mind donating to the noob?”
My buddy buys more of the physical books and I own almost everything on DDB. Back when there was a bigger gap in income in the group, I was not expected to spend my limited spare cash on game books.
Collectivism isn’t “everyone pays the same”, it’s everyone paying what they can afford, and not crying about you spending more when you have more disposable income.
New person in the group? “Whose got boring dice they don’t mind donating to the noob?”
My buddy buys more of the physical books and I own almost everything on DDB. Back when there was a bigger gap in income in the group, I was not expected to spend my limited spare cash on game books.
Collectivism isn’t “everyone pays the same”, it’s everyone paying what they can afford, and not crying about you spending more when you have more disposable income.
Timespike
A5E Designer and third-party publisher
We use Roll20, but mostly just for the centralized die roller and shared map. And we're currently playing Level Up, so that's either on the tools site (free) or it's third-party. (And since I'm the largest third-party publisher of Level Up material at this point, I just comped them all of the stuff I've put out.
)
Professor Murder
Hero
Some great insight here. Thanks to everyone so far.
Like a few people who have commented, TTRPG makes up the lionshare of my hobby spending, so I am able to buy things every few months or so without much pain to my budget. I have another member of my table who has collected a good number of prepainted minis and is happy to bring them and also maintains a robust DnDBeyond library we all can use.
But I am curious for how often budget might stop a fledgeling GM from stepping up or any GM from bringing a new game to the table. I do think that gaming culture should embrace spreading out the expense of trying out new games to not just GMs for this reason. If a prospective GM says, "We all seem to really have liked Cyberpunk 2077. How about we all chip in and buy it." I think more tables should be receptive to such proposals.
Like a few people who have commented, TTRPG makes up the lionshare of my hobby spending, so I am able to buy things every few months or so without much pain to my budget. I have another member of my table who has collected a good number of prepainted minis and is happy to bring them and also maintains a robust DnDBeyond library we all can use.
But I am curious for how often budget might stop a fledgeling GM from stepping up or any GM from bringing a new game to the table. I do think that gaming culture should embrace spreading out the expense of trying out new games to not just GMs for this reason. If a prospective GM says, "We all seem to really have liked Cyberpunk 2077. How about we all chip in and buy it." I think more tables should be receptive to such proposals.
Clint_L
Legend
I've always enjoyed hosting and I should note that, like some others in this thread, at this stage of my life we're pretty comfortable. Putting out snacks, buying miniatures for the table and stuff like that gives me pleasure, so I do it. It's a gift. Nothing is expecting in return. If someone else wants to bring their own contribution (most do), then that's also great. Keeping score and worrying about who contributed what would bum me out. That's what I mean by live and let live (which is literally tattooed (in Swedish) down my left forearm - it's the family motto).
I host and I cook dinner when I'm up to it. When I'm not up to it, some of my players buy me dinner.
Generally, whoever wants to run a game buys it and shares it with the players. Everyone has their own dice, but I've got a gigantic sack of loaners, and a functionally bottomless supply of notebook paper and mechanical pencils.
I would be very uncomfortable if I sat down to a gaming table where anyone was eating but anyone else wasn't. To the point I'd make it right out of my own pocket, if possible, and quite possibly leave if not.
Generally, whoever wants to run a game buys it and shares it with the players. Everyone has their own dice, but I've got a gigantic sack of loaners, and a functionally bottomless supply of notebook paper and mechanical pencils.
I would be very uncomfortable if I sat down to a gaming table where anyone was eating but anyone else wasn't. To the point I'd make it right out of my own pocket, if possible, and quite possibly leave if not.
FormerlyHemlock
Hero
Not really--we don't calculate costs and divide them up per-person, if that's what you mean. But then, for my primary friend group we don't do that when we go out to eat either, because nobody cares that much about money. Somebody (whoever is fastest) just asks the waiter for the check and pays it, and everyone else says "thanks [name]!", and that's it. It's not more significant than who drives or who holds the door.
Since I am the primary GM I usually (maybe always?) buy the RPG-related stuff because I care the most about it. It's possible others have bought players' handbooks or whatever without me noticing though.
For incidental GMing on the side I also use stuff I bought for myself.
Last edited:
Voadam
Legend
For more than a decade my face to face group has met at seven in the evening. I normally have dinner before seven so I arrive shortly after having eaten a full meal. Others normally have dinner after seven and have ordered or brought food to eat dinner at the game.
I can't imagine my not eating when they did made anyone in my group uncomfortable.
