Has anyone spent NO MONEY on D&D?

[two]

C'mon everyone. Confess.

I can't be the only one.

I've been in two long-running campaigns. GM'd for two more. Had a number of small one-off adventures.

And I never bought a single WOTC book.

Never bought a D&D book from a 3rd party.

Never bought a miniature.

Never bought dice (used ones from previous editions).

Never bought... well, you get the idea.

I make heavy use of the online SRD and related sites; I don't use pirated material, I simply have found I could play a fun game of D&D 3.0/3.5 without buying anything. Nothing. Nada. If I need more than what is in the SRD, I make it up. It is fast-n-free.

That is my guilty secret... although, I suppose, there is nothing wrong with it. They made it available free; I took them up on it. Fair deal.

Anyone else?

 

[EricNoah]

There's nothing wrong with that -- good for you! You're right -- WotC takes a risk by giving some of their stuff away for free. There is always going to be a segment of gamers that doesn't/won't/can't pay for gaming materials (at all, or beyond the core). What I hope is that this segment isn't the same segment that sits around whining about the state of the hobby, the direction the game is going, etc. because frankly, they didn't vote (with their wallets).

 

[National Acrobat]

C'mon everyone. Confess.

I can't be the only one.

I've been in two long-running campaigns. GM'd for two more. Had a number of small one-off adventures.

And I never bought a single WOTC book.

Never bought a D&D book from a 3rd party.

Never bought a miniature.

Never bought dice (used ones from previous editions).

Never bought... well, you get the idea.

I make heavy use of the online SRD and related sites; I don't use pirated material, I simply have found I could play a fun game of D&D 3.0/3.5 without buying anything. Nothing. Nada. If I need more than what is in the SRD, I make it up. It is fast-n-free.

That is my guilty secret... although, I suppose, there is nothing wrong with it. They made it available free; I took them up on it. Fair deal.

Anyone else?

Only in regards to 3.5

If I am gming, it's either 1E or 3.0

If I am a player and someone is running 3.5, then I use the SRD, since it's free. I haven't bought anything related to 3.5 at all, because I don't run it and don't play it enough to warrant, in my opinion, purchasing anything. The same will hold true for 4E if there is an SRD.

 

[two]

There's nothing wrong with that -- good for you! You're right -- WotC takes a risk by giving some of their stuff away for free. There is always going to be a segment of gamers that doesn't/won't/can't pay for gaming materials (at all, or beyond the core). What I hope is that this segment isn't the same segment that sits around whining about the state of the hobby, the direction the game is going, etc. because frankly, they didn't vote (with their wallets).

Good point. Obviously, all this version 4 stuff leaves me... nowhere. I really don't care.

I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing all these years. Free and fun.

How can you beat that?

 

[jaerdaph]

I never bought the 3.5 PHB or DMG or MM, but I did buy Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. Does Unearthed Arcana count as 3.5 or 3.0?

Edit: In all fairness, I lost interest in fantasy gaming and D&D, but I love the d20 System for other RPG genres. I have certainly spent more on d20 Modern products from WotC and others than I have anything else.

 

[Cadfan]

I DMed for several years purely from the SRD. Some of my players owned handbooks, but I didn't.

Eventually I bought Tome of Magic, Tome of Battle, and Heroes of Battle. I didn't need them to play by any means, but they were fun. This is the only money I have personally given to WOTC. But of course, some of my players bought handbooks so they could participate in games I ran, so indirectly WOTC benefited from me.

 

[Masquerade]

I have had several players who have borrowed my books (combined with the SRD). Not everyone is in a financial state which allows them to buy expensive rulebooks, so I try to accommodate my friends when they need it. I'm fortunate enough to own the books I need and have probably given WotC a few more dollars than the average gamer as a result.