Pro-GM Finder Site StartPlaying Raises $6.5M Funding

StartPlaying, which bills itself as "the largest site for connecting players with professional and hobbyist Game Masters to play any game system on any virtual tabletop" has reportedly raised $6.5M in funding from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. This new funding is intended to scale up the business, including marketing and doubling its team size.

"Beyond growing a user base, this is about community. Whether it's helping Game Masters and players find each other or collaborating with industry partners, we're proud to have the opportunity to bring people together through the power of games. The tabletop role-playing community is at its best when it's inclusive. We want StartPlaying to continue breaking down barriers for new players.

-Devon Chulick, StartPlaying"​

​

StartPlaying launched in September 2020 and has over 1,000 professional GMs on its books, having hosted over 100,000 games.

 

[MNblockhead]

Maybe its nothing, but I can already imagine all the "my GM isnt running the game like WOTC official books say they should" threads.

I think professional live streamers pose a bigger threat. And it isn't about following RAW. It is the expectation some have of the game experience and may be disappointed that their DM isn't a professional voice actor and writer. Of course it can go the other way with DMs disappointed that their players are not as invested in their world or don't have the right chemistry.

Personally, I've read a lot more about people's fears of this happening than seeing it in actually occur.

I think most people can enjoy a pick-up game of basketball in their local park without expecting NBA levels of play. I don't see why playing TTRPGs would be any different.

 

[Jer]

Aside from that: what is going on with Millenials* and GenZ* [EDIT] players entering the hobby now that they don't want to GM?

It's always been the case that there are more people who want to play than GM, so I don't think what you're seeing is limited to new players. Back when I started playing in the 80s there were basically 2 of us in my regular group of friends who were even willing to do it, and the other guy hated doing it but would do it as an obligation to give me a break.

EDIT - I do think that the folks who stick with the hobby long term seem to be weighted heavier towards folks who are willing to if not enjoy GMing. Most of the folks I played with in High School, for example, no longer play RPGs.

 

[MNblockhead]

It's the difference between going to a restaurant and having a dinner party. The expectations are different and RPGs are, to me, an intimate enough experience that I don't think it translates quite as easily as dinner does.

Sure it does. There is a gradient in food-sharing experiences: fine dining, nice family restaurant, greasy-spoon diner, hole-in-the-wall pizza joint, dinner party, wedding banquet, backyard BBQ, family dinner, snacks at a rest stop on a long road tip.

Similarly there are many ways to enjoy TTRPGs. Different levels of presentation, different levels of engagement, different levels of intimacy. Some people hate greasy spoon diners, some love them (raises hand). But it would be unreasonable to expect your experience at a greasy spoon diner to match that of a fine restaurant or a romantic dinner at home.

 

[MNblockhead]

I thought it was the technical meaning, and that the usage that suggests a standard of excellence is the common one.

Hmm. For me I've always understood "professional" to mean getting paid. Just because you are paid doesn't mean you are excellent. Just good enough for someone to pay you for it. Not being paid doesn't mean you are not excellent. E.g., Olympic athletes.

 

[MNblockhead]

Can you officially complain if a paid GM kills your beloved PC!!

This is something that GM should disclose in the game pitch or at least talk to players about.

If your PC gets killed half way through a session do you get a refund on the rest of the the time?

I would guess that most professional GMs would find a way to bring the player back in with another character. Again, something to be discussed. If I died before early in a longer sessions, I wouldn't mind hanging out and listening to the game if there wasn't a way to handwave a new PC in without detracting from the other players' experience. But, again, this is something that the paying players and DM need to be in agreement about.

I once watched Frank Metzner TPK a party inside of 45 minutes of the start of a convention game. He just packed up his screen and books and told them "Better luck next time!"

#dungeonmastergoals

Kinda funny, but I feel that doing that makes him a bit of a jerk in that instance. People pay and take up a slot of time in a convention that for many people is a significant expense to travel to, get a hotel for, etc. Perhaps in a competition game it would make sense, but I would avoid avoid signing up for future games with him if that happened.

This can be tricky situation. This is one reason I love playing Paranoia at conventions. Lots of character death but the clones generally keep everyone playing for the session.

I think for one shots, most people would want to experience the adventure. If I were running the game for play, I would likely have TPKs result in players being captured. I might give the group the ability to restore dropped party members back to life.

If I were paying for an ongoing campaign, I would want death to be a possibility, even if that means I have to go without playing for most of a session.

Again, something for the DM and paying players to negotiate.

 

[MNblockhead]

Signed up for StartPlaying. Stream of conscious first impressions, types as I set up my account:

1. Self-identity tags are an eclectic mix. Some are gender identify, some are job related. Nothing really applied to me so I left it blank.

2. Favorite Game Platforms has a good selection and is pretty comprehensive. You can select multiple platforms but cannot type any in. I didn't miss the fact that I coundn't type in a platform as all the ones I would be willing to use were available to select. It is interesting that they would include "Theater of the Mind" as a "platform", does that mean voice only? If it means "voice only", you still need to have a teleconference platform. They don't have "telephone" as an option. So, videoconference with video turned off?

3. Game Systems - very long list to choose from. But didn't see an option for "willing to try anything". I think this field will be more useful to filter GMs than to look for players. Also, since it was one huge scrolling list, and everytime you select one, you have to start scrolling from the top again to check the next. I didn't have the patience to select a lot of game systems, I just chose four systems and moved on.

4. Games listed in my time zone in order of which starts the soonest. Nice. (Have not applied filters yet).

5. Not huge, but a decent selection for the time zone I'm interested in, which would be morning US, where I'm assuming most of the GMs using this service are located. I had more luck finding GMs in Europe on Role20.

6. Able to filter by one-shots, nice.

7. There is one game of 5e one-shots starting soon at a convenient time. Runs one-shots from Kobold's Press Prepared line of books. Cool. I like Kobold Press and have not read any of these adventures.

8. Hmm... Doesn't say how long the game lasts....or I can't find where it does. Rate is $10. Not sure if for the session or by hour.

9. Uses Foundry and DnD Beyond. Nice.

9. Well, why not? Signed up, gave credit card info. Says I'll be charged $11 when the session starts. So I guess for the session, with StartPlaying taking their cut.

10. After signing up, displays links to an orientation doc on Google Drive, a link to DnD Beyond where I can create or add a character to the game, and link to Discord. The orientation doc is two pages, basic good-conduct rules, a small number of homebrew rules, description of foundry and DnD Beyond, a note about x-cards and Monte Cook consent sheets. Nothing about the specific game. Looks like the group with discuss what they want to play? I'm a little confused on whether I need to create a character or if there will be pregens.

11. Got a chat from GM.

Will be gaming in an hour. Will post how it goes.

 

[MNblockhead]

Game went well. $10 for over 5 hours. GM used foundry and had it well configured for 5e. Everything went smoothly

Overall, I am happy with the StartPlaying platform for finding games. It may not have as many games as the Roll20 find-a-game feature, but it is probably the best platform to find VTT games that use systems other than Roll20.

 

[MichaelSomething]

I saw this earlier in the week but didn't post it cause I'm lazy. Makes a decent metaphor about how a professional is more inclined to do things that an ameutur.

Of course, people who oppose paid DMing are free to run open games for random people to combat it...

 

[MNblockhead]

I saw this earlier in the week but didn't post it cause I'm lazy. Makes a decent metaphor about how a professional is more inclined to do things that an ameutur.

Of course, people who oppose paid DMing are free to run open games for random people to combat it...

Yeah, for the most part I that's probably true. At least for me it is. For example, I run my campaign in Foundry. I spent a LOT of time testing and comparing different VTTs and I spent a LOT of time testing and configuring mods to get it to run my 5e game like I wanted. But it got to be a time suck and troubleshooting glitches and performance issues caused by competing community-created mods got to be a slog, so I pared things down to "good enough." If I were being paid to do it, I would likely have spent a lot more time to smooth things out or would have just chosen Roll20 and avoid running games other than 5e or other well-supported game systems on Roll20.

That said, the craziest, most impressive Foundry setups I've seen have been done by hobbyists with a passion.

I don't expect all professional DMs to have impressive VTT setups. Just like I don't expect a professional DM to be a voice actor. Unless they are highlighting these things in their profiles or advertisements. But there is a base level of competency I think people expect when paying. Know the rules. Have a solid internet connection. Understand how to operate your VTT and ensure that you've ironed out any major glitches. People are not going to want to pay to sit with frequent delays as the DM looks things up or troubleshoots technical issues. Within reason of course.

As for people opposing paid DMing, it was nice to note that there really hasn't been much of that in this thread. In previous ENWorld threads on the topic over the past few years there was a lot of strong opinons expressed against it. In some it seemed that the majority were against it. Surprising that doesn't seem to be the case now.

 

[DorkForge]

I guess it might be relevant to share my experience doing this kind of work:
I became a paid DM (I wouldn't call it professional personally unless it was my primary source of income, at the moment it just supplements my 5E writing income) in September 2020 after the Pandemic left me jobless and out of savings. I advertised my games on Roll20 and have had a steady paid campaign (homebrew) going since September 2020 that plays weekly.
In my opinion and experience what paying players want is consistency and a degree of professionalism and effort. The ongoing game is two married couples that use it like a date night, they wanted a game that fit their time slot, and had the flexibility for them to be late because of kid problems, or that wouldn't mind having to pop away to deal with something.

I use maps for probably 95% of my encounters and use music fairly often, I have a paid subscription to Roll20 so I can use FX and occasionally the dynamic lighting mechanic (it can be a bit much to set up at times, or just mess with performance).

Otherwise I've run the occasional arena style game with PCs vs monsters as a pick up paid game.
I'm signed up for Startplaying, but I haven't actually done anything with it yet, with my personal game, paid game, and the chance to maybe actually play coming up I'm already pushing 12+ hours a week.