WotC WotC partners with Start Playing to connect players and DMs and form tables.

[Juxtapozbliss]

I think, in all seriousness, it's easier for 10 year old to DM than it is for adults.

Most adults are discouraged from retaining/cultivating the tools to "play" in the way that is second nature to a ten-year-old. if you started at 10 and just kept going, it's way easier than starting at 30 or 40 for most adults.

This is so true. My daughter is a co-Dungeonmaster at her middle school’s D&D club. She’s 13. Every time she tells me about what she did at her session—she’s just making crap up! And it’s pretty awesome. She usually makes up some random magical item or random monster and some random ability role that’s not even in the game, it’s all homebrew stuff, but it feels like D&D. It’s in the basic framework of it, but when she doesn’t know a rule, she just invents something for people to roll.

 

[Reynard]

It is accurate that 5e makes DMing a challenge. Plenty of DMs note this about 5e. Hopefully, 2024 will address this issue.

This seems weird to me considering how many people go on about how they absolutely refuse to run Pathfinder or 3.x D&D, especially at higher levels, and how 5E is a breath of fresh air and much easier to GM.

Again -- I am not saying that GMing is not more work than playing, and I am not saying everyone is going to want to GM. I am only saying that it is not that difficult to do, and certainly one member of a group (of kids or adults) that want to play D&D can mange it. Unless the internet tells them how hard it is and they are afraid to try.

Also, I think there is a big of self inflating the ego by current GMs in this. If GMing is hard, and I GM, then I am good and smart.

 

[Reynard]

This is so true. My daughter is a co-Dungeonmaster at her middle school’s D&D club. She’s 13. Every time she tells me about what she did at her session—she’s just making crap up! And it’s pretty awesome. She usually makes up some random magical item or random monster and some random ability role that’s not even in the game, it’s all homebrew stuff, but it feels like D&D. It’s in the basic framework of it, but when she doesn’t know a rule, she just invents something for people to roll.

So do this yourself.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It would have 100% happened if the community hadn't prevented it.

Actually, not true. It happened because they were told by smarter lawyers that if it did go to court, not only was there a good chance they would lose, there was a good chance that it would turn out that the entirety of the D&D ruleset was public domain. Because some judges believe IP law does not apply to game rules. "Oh we listened to the community" just provided a convenient excuse for the climbdown.

But the thing is, it is absolutely true that D&D is under-monetarised. They own an immensely popular brand, and they are struggling to turn a profit, for a very simple reason: you don't have to pay to play. Number of people playing D&D has no relation to the revenue generated. Once one person has the rules, that's it. they can play as much as they like without having to give over any more money to WotC. They try to break even by selling supplements and adventures, but the bottom line is no one needs any of that stuff to play D&D. So it turned out the only thing they made a profit on last year was on licencing a video game.

Despite it's current popularity, D&D is in a very precarious position. It's become impossible to turn a profit on it's original concept: face to face tabletop gaming. The production and transport costs have risen too much to sell at prices the market is prepared to pay. But it is kept on life support because without it the IP would lose popularity. But it's only in the licencing can D&D be profitable.

I think it's very probable that D&D will be bought out in the near future just for the value of the IP, and tabletop game production wound up.

 

[Dire Bare]

This is so true. My daughter is a co-Dungeonmaster at her middle school’s D&D club. She’s 13. Every time she tells me about what she did at her session—she’s just making crap up! And it’s pretty awesome. She usually makes up some random magical item or random monster and some random ability role that’s not even in the game, it’s all homebrew stuff, but it feels like D&D. It’s in the basic framework of it, but when she doesn’t know a rule, she just invents something for people to roll.

I run my middle school's D&D club . . . and I watch the kid DM's do this all the time.

When I step in to guest DM when the kid DM is absent . . . I have a much harder time, and the kids are less engaged with me. I need to learn from my students!!

 

[Meech17]

One of the top DMs who is making $75k reportedly, charges $40+ per person per session, and they are running like 10 to a dozen games a week, wearing filled. There may be others who make even more money, but don’t blog about it.

Also, from what the startplaying.games moderators have said several times in the startplaying.games discord channel, Game Masters who charge less than $20 per session aren’t on average getting more sign ups. It’s much more about the particular game, the particular time the game is running, and the GM’s experience. Scheduling is a big factor. Even if you know a couple people who are interested in playing, and even if one of them is willing to be a game master, which is not necessarily true, you might have a hard time finding a time when everyone is available consistently. People’s work schedules and commitments are all over the place so people are willing to pay for a game that they know is consistently available at a time when they are free.

Yeah, this is the one part that has always just made sense to me. I can see how the consistency behind a paid game would make it worth it. Trying to schedule is possibly the hardest part of being a DM. Once you have skin in the game however, you are much more likely to actually show up, on time, and be serious about playing.

I used to work at a law firm selling trusts, and we started taking deposits with strict refund conditions from clients who wanted a consultation. If they came and had the consultation, and decided not to work with us, they'd get their deposit back, but if they canceled on short notice, or skipped their consultation we would keep it.

We never actually had to withhold any deposits from people, because the only ones who would place one were the serious clients. Our overall number of consultations went down, but our percentage of consultations that went on to purchase our services went up.

 

[Juxtapozbliss]

Yes, almost all of my players are over 30- most are probably 40 and older!
And I'm a millennial.

I haven’t asked so I’m guessing, but for the campaign I run on SPG, I believe the players are four in the late 20s and one is late 40s.

 

[Yaarel]

This seems weird to me considering how many people go on about how they absolutely refuse to run Pathfinder or 3.x D&D, especially at higher levels, and how 5E is a breath of fresh air and much easier to GM.

That might also be true. I dont hear DMs longing for how easy 3e was to DM.

4e has a good reputation for being DM-friendly.

5e has a good reputation for being player-friendly.

 

[Juxtapozbliss]

I'm not sure what WotC gets out of the deal. No one new is going to learn about D&D or Beyond because of this agreement.

Actually, I think they will. SPG runs a lot of digital ads. They try to scoop up search results if people search for “how to find a D&D game” for example they would run paid Google ads that drive to startplaying.games that show up in those results. I think this event of this adventure from WotC will trigger them to run a whole slew of those types of ads that might catch a bunch of people who were looking to start playing for the first time. In fact, while money might not have been directly exchanged between startplaying.games and wizards of the coast, they might have a deal by which SPG agrees to run X dollars of digital ads in exchange for giving them the adventure as an exclusive first release.

 

[Juxtapozbliss]

So do this yourself.

Ehh…I do make up a crapton of stuff but it’s all in advance of game day. Including designing elaborate maps for my players to explore. I know they love the maps. It’s a difference in expectations too between my group and her middle-school classmates.