13 ms·

Launch HN: StartPlaying.Games (YC W20) – Tabletop RPGs run by pro game masters

310 points by kntucker 6y ago

kntucker 6y ago
Hi all! We're Nate, Devon, and Jared, the founders of StartPlaying.Games. StartPlaying.Games is a platform that helps players find tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) and professional Game Masters. I (Devon) have been a professional Game Master for over five years, running games for players all across the country. I even started hiring other professional GMs because I had more groups than I could run! The biggest issue I've been seeing with people getting into the hobby or trying new game systems is finding someone to run the game for them. A lot of solutions involve digging through discord servers and forums, which aren't very friendly to new players and require a lot of time and effort. I knew there had to be a better solution to this, and started creating some Pro GM groups to network with others. A few days after the pandemic hit San Francisco in March 2020, I got a call from Nate, who wanted to pick my brain about being a professional Game Master. He was working on a similar idea, but with a tech-focused twist: an Airbnb-type marketplace to find Game masters and other virtual game masters. That first night, we spent hours on the phone chatting about what the platform could be, and for hours each evening for the next several weeks as we began to build StartPlaying.Games. Over the next few months, we spoke with over a hundred Game Masters and Players while building out StartPlaying.Games. We launched our platform 3 months ago, and since then we have had over 2000 bookings and around 300 GMs join our platform. And with 40 million+ D&D fans around the world, we know there is a market for our platform. We offer users the ability to join solo, book for yourself, and a group, as well as hand-picked options for custom and corporate requests. We make money by taking a percentage of game bookings. On StartPlaying.Games, Game Masters get more time to focus on planning and running games instead of building a website and business platform. We’re now chatting with game publishers to help them find players for their game systems, and working with convention organizers to help them run virtual conventions. We are also chatting with charities on how to get more involved in helping them run game-driven fundraisers. We would love to hear your ideas and any feedback you have!
- e12e 6y ago
  Congratulations on launching! One thing - allow me to select a time zone and see game schedules in my local timezone... I'm currently playing in a group that's transferred from in-person to videochat - as we're several players that have moved to different cities (same timezone) and a GM who's emigrated to Canada (we're on GMT+1/2 depending on DST). It can work - but please make it easier to figure out - avoiding the need to calculate offset :) I used to work nights a few years back, and I'm sure I'd love to be able to join games after work (before the weekend) - say 8 am local time... Other than that, maybe a bit more information for potential GMs?
  - devonchulick 6y ago
    Hi e12e! We actually show all games in your local timezone based off your browser. Do you think you'd still want to be able to change your timezone knowing that? Also, what are some details you'd want to see about potential GM's, we're always looking to flesh out more details for our users.
    - e12e 6y ago
      Oh, I guess the join this campaign field is free-form then: https://startplaying.games/join-campaign/star-wars-echoes-in-the-force-ffg-1602570689833x692181185939374100 https://startplaying.games/join-campaign/star-wars-echoes-in... I see the other times appear to be local (although a timezone would be comforting to make it more obvious). And personally, I'd love a 24h display option. Re: GM - I was thinking along the lines of expectations etc - as this is (potentially) something players will be paying for. I'm sure I'm not the only veteran player/GM who's never really considered charging money for GMing (well, directly I did "teach" rpg as an elective subject for half a year).
      - devonchulick 6y ago
        Ah yes, we def want to change that to be dynamic for campaigns! We will need to def need to make timezones more apparent. Thanks for these suggestions!
madamelic 6y ago
Super neat idea! As a DM + general TTRPG lover, I think the real magic is playing with friends so the game can be exactly what the group wants, then each session and campaign can build on each other. Our group has running jokes that span campaigns and worlds, because we have that shared language from being a group. With that said, I still think this is a fantastic idea for everyone from all fronts to be able to play the games you like and get exactly what you want out of a game. I will have to take a look because I have been curious about how to get deeper into this area, possibly for pay. One thought was to start a game shop in my town but I have heard super low margins and just not a great idea.
- devonchulick 6y ago
  I totally agree about how powerful games can be for groups of friends! The shared language of games and the "meta" is such a fundamental part of TTRPGs.
- kntucker 6y ago
  Yeah that's what I love about this game. Each game builds on each other and you end up with something super meaty. Where many games feel like snack food for me tabletop RPGs feel like a full meal :)
- mertag 6y ago
  I'm one of the DMs on this site and I have to say, nothing pulls a group together like a life or death experience. Bonds form quick and true friendships have been made. What's nice about using a Virtual Table Top is that each player has their own FOV to the game.
Shoop 6y ago
Really cool idea! I could definitely see myself using this service when I graduate and have more time. Out of curiosity, what is player retention like in campaigns? Have you guys considered adding any incentives to keep players coming to the sessions? When I last played DnD, we would always have a ton of fun during the sessions, but it was difficult to keep everyone coming back regularly.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- devonchulick 6y ago
  We have been pretty surprised about how high our player retention is. It's different for every DM but on the site overall it's pretty high. I think part of it is due to how much people really do want to play, and that they have paid for the session. I really do like the incentives idea though. That is something I want to explore more of now. Like a loyalty program for playing in a campaign.
- mertag 6y ago
  Running paid games brings in a different type of player. As a DM, nothing has been more satisfying. Player retention has been great and I've never had more involved players. Do you have any ideas about incentives I could offer as a DM?
oriesdan 6y ago
This is awesome! GM/DM are a rare resource, and as a forever-DM, I would love using such services to be actually able to play. One thing I think would be a cool addition : play by post games. I'm not a native speaker and I'm always more comfortable in written games rather than spoken ones, mainly because of the highly specialized vocabulary that I don't recognize immediately when spoken. Of course, this could be roleplayed (playing an outlander character), but I bet it would quickly grow old :) I suppose any non-native speaker would feel that way too - and then, there's the timezone problem. One thing I know from roll20 : localized games are not the answer. There is just not many enough players outside US to properly fit each timezone with enough diversity. That's also why PbP has been what worked best for me. Anyway, I'm glad to see this happen, best of luck!
- devonchulick 6y ago
  It's so funny, we see a lot of forever DMs using our service for this exact reason! OHHH, play by post could be so fun! Thanks for that suggestion. I'm sure we have some GM's who would enjoy that.
- mdre 6y ago
  Your sentiment reminded me of a very niche game that I got once, but couldn't get people to actually play. You're supposed to just go about your day, observe the life around you and sorta daydream / imagine stuff on top of that and then write physical letters about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Profundis_(role-playing_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Profundis_(role-playing_gam...
offtop5 6y ago
Amazing idea. Not sure how well this can work without a game client though. I'd love a hybrid where you play a video game of sorts , but a DM is actually running it .
- JerryHanel 6y ago
  As one of the GMs on their site, I can say it works very well. I use a combination of already-existing technologies to host my sessions. Every GM has a slightly different approach, but as with all things D&D, that's really true in many areas. For the way I have it set up, it is fast and simple for the end-user to set up an account and be playing by that evening or that weekend.
  - walshemj 6y ago
    To follow up for the various games I play in roll d20 is the goto - some people have problems with sound on roll d20 or want to stream so we use hangouts. You can also use discord but the sound is laggy and doesn't work with better gear as well a it should Players really need a decent headset not a $9.99 special offer. You can play on ipads etc but you ideally need a real PC/MAC with a big screen or screens.
  - offtop5 6y ago
    Maybe I'll join one day , seems like a great way to fight cabin fever
cultofmetatron 6y ago
Totally missed the opportunity to call this "AirDnd"
- devonchulick 6y ago
  AirBnB owns that domain : / We did talk about this too!
  - ketzo 6y ago
    I wonder if they also own AirAnA, AirCnC, AirEnE...
  - swyx 6y ago
    well they are a natural acquirer for you then :)
- basicallydan 6y ago
  Hah, came here to make this comment!
j0ncc 6y ago
I tried this service and ran 2 campaigns with different groups of friends. It was amazing. DND was something I wanted to try for a long time but the barrier to entry was (at least, perceived to be) really high. Great to see this finally launching. I'll be recommending this service to anyone who's interested in dipping their toe into DND. I also love that you're making being a "Professional Dungeon Master" a plausible future career choice. :)
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Thanks so much J0ncc! We're really excited about how things have been shaping up!
- snuxoll 6y ago
  > I also love that you're making being a "Professional Dungeon Master" a plausible future career choice. :) Professional DM'ing will never be good for anything other than making some money on the side unless you're charging players an unreasonable amount of money. Yes, there is an imbalance of potential players versus DM's, but at the end of the day the only thing preventing anybody from being a DM is getting over false assumptions that "it's not as fun as playing a character" or "I'm not Matthew Mercer and thus I'm going to be a bad DM". If my introverted and self-critical ass can DM and have players enjoy the experience, so can whoever is reading this. I DM a weekly 2-hour session, beyond the actual time spent in the session I spend ~45 minutes prepping every week (and I'm running published modules right now, not homebrewing, so that's just time spent reading ahead, writing session notes, etc.). Paid DM's generally charge $25 per player for a four hour session, and their prep time is included in that - given that even running the same module for multiple groups still requires prep time and longer sessions moreso, you're only making $15-25/hr before banks, taxes, etc. take a cut. Not only that, but being paid means you have fairly high expectations placed on your skills that nobody would have for the friendly DM running a game for fun. I don't have anything against paid DM's, but unless you are literally providing an insanely polished experience that has potential players willing to drop $50 each for a session you're not going to be making a living off it that justifies the time spent beyond some extra pocket change.
  - 6y ago
andrew_c_v 6y ago
built with Bubble, i see ;)
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Yes! Was the easiest and fastest way to get to market with such a small team, and large product list!
  - andrew_c_v 6y ago
    Bubble rocks!
    - alex_reg 6y ago
      For the curious: https://bubble.io/ https://bubble.io/ (wasn't trivial to find)
  - swyx 6y ago
    this is a cool story. is anyone on your team technical? is this a "no code" startup?
ArtDev 6y ago
This is a really cool idea :)
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Thank you so much!
andreareina 6y ago
Looks really interesting, congratulations on the launch! It's been mentioned before, but the lack of any indication of timezone was kind of offputting.
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Yeah, the feedback here makes me realize we need to make it much more apparent on timezones. Thank you!
  - walshemj 6y ago
    And please quote times in UTC and not just US/Canadian Time Zones
    - andreareina 6y ago
      It quotes local time (according to the browser). If it's going to quote only one (i.e. not give the option to change timezones) I'd say local is probably the better option instead of making most people do the tz conversion in their heads.
Grimm1 6y ago
This sounds great, my friends and I used to have a regular game night but busy schedules and a few people moving means now it's something we just kind of talk about doing on Roll20 or something. I already posted to our group to see if I can get them in a session!
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Amazing! Yeah, our search has two options, one for groups and one for individuals, so you can find a game for either. So glad to see groups of friends getting back together and adventuring again.
soneca 6y ago
This is a great idea and just what I wanted! I have a question about which system is better for a story-driven game for beginners. Some context: I like RPG, but I have played exactly 4 times in the last 20 years. Last time I played it was D&D and my experience was it was more of a tactical game focused on combats than characters and story. It was about the squared map, knowing all the rules of your weapons and spells and trying to beat the GM in this game. All the rest seemed like cutscenes to the combat mini-games. I didn’t enjoy this that much, especially since I do not know all the rules, limitations and possibilities of my weapons/spells. I would prefer to develop a story together. A system where you don’t need a exact map with squares/hexagons to make decisions, for example. Where story and character decisions on what to do matter more than tactical decisions in combats. Also, despite living story-driven games, I am not much into “acting” (doing voices, emotions and reactions like my character). Not sure if I have too many restrictions to find a good system or group here. So, which system should I look for that it’s welcoming to beginners and story-driven?
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Oh yeah! I would check out systems like Monster of the Week https://startplaying.games/join-game/intro-to-monster-of-the-week-1601065938390x155584368069574660 https://startplaying.games/join-game/intro-to-monster-of-the... https://startplaying.games/join-game/thieves-in-the-night-1602741866455x856754324676280300 https://startplaying.games/join-game/thieves-in-the-night-16... Or Cypher System https://startplaying.games/join-game/black-rain-ripples-[cypher-system]-1600904564442x354292666938810900 https://startplaying.games/join-game/black-rain-ripples-[cyp... Both are pretty fun systems!
  - ketzo 6y ago
    Big +1 to both of those. The Cypher System is probably closer to D&D, but the combat / rules / stats are a lot more streamlined, so in my experience it's easier to jump between narrative and action. Monster of the Week is a bigger (and welcome!) departure from the traditional TTRPG formula, and is probably closer to what GP was looking for -- it's a very light "game" system on top of the players building a story together with the DM.
EQVEYWDCHQ 6y ago
This is cool! Have you guys considered going into modern board games too? Some of the rules can be quite complex (1-2 hours explaining rules, getting through the first couple of rounds), and there's quite high demand for people figuring them out on say, TTS. Think Splotter games, Brass, etc.
- devonchulick 6y ago
  We are! Trying to figure out the best way for Virtual Play with them, with things like Virtual Tabletop Simulator and Vorpal Board.
  - EQVEYWDCHQ 6y ago
    Nice! If you need teachers, I'd be happy to help you demo it. Not sure how well Vorpal Board would work but TTS would definitely be doable.
Waterluvian 6y ago
Some feedback for what it's worth: The reason I won't take a stab at this, as badly as I want to get into D&D, is that I have an unreliable schedule and can be pulled away at any moment (I have young kids). I won't even try because the possibility of letting others down is paralyzing. I'm not sure if this is even something you can fix, but, there it is. And maybe there are ways to handle this gracefully without me letting the rest of the party down. In that case, maybe this is a communication/education problem.
- umvi 6y ago
  https://youtu.be/RaPmkw09q_s https://youtu.be/RaPmkw09q_s
- 1123581321 6y ago
  I assume you’re a single parent, which is why you can’t make an agreement with your partner for some periodic uninterrupted time. Have you looked at how often you are actually interrupted for a meaningful amount of time during the time the children are, or should be, asleep? Try to get a sense of the actual likelihood and severity of the disruption, because these games can handle a player stepping away periodically for a few minutes.
  - Waterluvian 6y ago
    Not a single parent but I think everyone’s parent experience is different. Mine is that even with two of us we always feel short staffed. I like your thought about data collection. I think the problem is more psychological. I cannot get deep into things if there’s a chance I’ll be interrupted. I’ve tried for years. The only video games I can enjoy are ones like Zelda Switch where small chunks are meaningfully fulfilling and I can pause at any point. I was in a curling league last year and felt guilty and distracted every single time knowing my wife was on her own while I got to play. Indeed this is very much a social and psychological problem with me and my family unit’s “free time” structure. But I look for external helping hands where I can, such as a “we have made this friendly to people who have to drop out”. I used to love DOTA like games. God... when my first was born I was perpetually getting banned because I kept dropping out of games, screwing over 9 other people. :)
samstave 6y ago
HOW FN APROPOS! I literally just bought two new dice sets yesterday - and my brother berated me saying "When was the last time you played DnD?" -- And I thought - well, Ill need to find a way to play again... and just put that out into the Universe... Now I see this... So - you have a new user in me. Ill look into your site and find out how to participate!!! Thank you
- devonchulick 6y ago
  AMAZING! Very excited to have you joining an adventure!
- dataminded 6y ago
  Online is really vibrant right now. I'm playing at least 3 games a week when pre-covid I was lucky if I could find 1 game a quarter. With paid DMs everything is so much easier.
ngokevin 6y ago
Sweet, I'll have to try this. Been looking for more experiential stuff, and coop video games are getting more scarce.
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Amazing! TTRPGs are the ultimate co-op game!
Impossible 6y ago
This is really cool and probably should have been made a while back, and I'd absolutely use it if I didn't luck into a game earlier this year. I might still use it to play something else. One thing is, it seems very targeted at TTRPG curious folks that have never played before, like people who have watched Critical Role or heard of D&D and are fantasy fans but have no idea what the actual play experience is. This makes sense, it's a fast way to grow your user base. But I'd be more likely to use the product if I could search by system and request specific games. I would use it to play more niche games that fewer people are running as one shots. Based on your company description it seems like you're moving in that direction.
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Me and my co-founder wanted something like this for a while and timing just seemed right to start building it! We do have the ability to search games being played currently of different systems and search GMs who run certain systems too. We notice a huge amount of our customers are folks who have seen Critical Role and want to get into the hobby. I think it will hopefully get a lot of other systems a chance for people to explore other systems too.
trynewideas 6y ago
My kneejerk reaction to the headline was that this might be a service to connect existing groups to vetted, high-quality GMs, like a premium service aimed at the sorts of folks who'd otherwise spend a ton of money on TTRPG tables and miniatures. But this is more like a rideshare model, where you're looking at who's available for a given timeslot/location, then jumping into a game that's determined by the GM. With online games, you're also likely playing with strangers. This makes the whole thing feel more like a permanent convention/event setup — you pay for a seat at a table and agree to work with whatever's handed to you. Which is great, but it also has to compete with similar free game matchmaking as well as those types of (now also virtual) events. I'm also confused about the age tier filters — the "No Use By Minors" section of the ToS is very clear about users under 18 being prohibited from using the service, but there are game filters for games that can include players ages 9-17. That seems impossible without breaking the ToS. The Code of Conduct is welcome, but it's stowed away in the bottom of the ToS. For a social product like this, it would benefit from being much more prominent and discoverable. It's also unclear how to report issues with or violations of the CoC; there's a contact email and URL in the ToS, but they point to a different domain of startplayinggames.com, and the Contact form URL in the ToS just plain doesn't work. More importantly, the CoC doesn't appear to give the GM the ability to define additional conduct rules or expectations that don't necessarily delve into content sensitivities — can players be late, show up unprepared, play intoxicated? Can a GM remove a player who is following the CoC but otherwise being disruptive? I see some who state they will in their profiles — if they do, does the player get refunded, and from where does that refund come? What potential consequences are there for players or GMs who remove a player from a game? What's the revenue split look like? I tried the "Become a GM" link from one of the GM profile pages, but it pulled up a blank profile, presumably because the footer links are all relative? https://startplaying.games/game-master/become-gm https://startplaying.games/game-master/become-gm
- masukomi 6y ago
  100% this
- devonchulick 6y ago
  I agree so much with this! Most people who move into the pro gm world have a ton of experience and resources, but the reviews are one of the best ways to have people vetted. We only show GM's who have 5+ reviews on our search, but any GM can list a game if it meets our review standards. I like that take on it being a permanent convention set up. The drop in games are definitely filling that niche. A bunch of our games aren't in search because GMs use our tools for charging their customers and scheduling sessions, but for private groups. I'll be honest, we're working to make the ToS more clear as we've learned about other use cases. We mean to say, Minors need a parents consent (credit card to book). As we have grown, we're working to create a better and more apparent code of conduct. You also found an interesting bug! If you haven't signed up for an account but click become a GM, it won't work since our database looks for an account to them upgrade with new permissions. Thanks for pointing that out!
dyeje 6y ago
Congrats on launching! I've been (extremely) slowly working on a similar idea for the past few years. I gave up on the pro GM part because demand seemed so low. Best of luck.
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Thank you! Really excited to get more people playing. Demand kind of moved up due to a lot of folks never having the chance to play, and this helped them break into the hobby.
darkhorse13 6y ago
I really like the idea and wish you well. One tiny advice, all the buttons on your website have anti-aliasing on the text. Anti-aliasing works great on large text, or small text, if it is white in color on dark backgrounds. In your case, the smaller buttons have readability issues, especially the "Signup/Login" button on the top right.
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Oh that is awesome feedback! Thanks Darkhorse13!
dx87 6y ago
Just checked out the site, and one thing I'd recommend is allowing GMs to give more detailed info on the price per session. In the "Upcoming Games" section, one of the games is listed at $30 per session, which seemed incredibly steep compared to the other featured games that were all ~$10 per session. I clicked on the expensive game to see why it was so expensive, and it turns out that's just the rate for a single person, but it goes down to $10 for sessions with 3 or more people. This seems like a cool idea, and I wouldn't want DMs to miss out on players because they saw a high price on the front page and went with a cheaper option.
- devonchulick 6y ago
  That price is in fact per player per session. I'm making a note make that clear!
  - dx87 6y ago
    That's only for one player though, if you click through then it says: Schedule: Price is $30 per player per session for one player, $15 per player with 2 players, and $10 per player with 3 or more players. Ask me about my availability! I don't know if there's a way to display the variable pricing, because at first glance it looks like it would be $150 for a group of 5, but if you click on the page, you find out that it would only be $50 for 5.
    - mertag 6y ago
      As a DM, I can put up different listings. Each listing has it's own price. My general pricing is $120 per session. $20 for groups of 6 or $30 for groups of 4.
kdamken 6y ago
This looks cool, but the pricing is absolutely insane. I saw $10-30 per session. Dming is a lot of work, sure, but that is a steep price. I don’t know many people who would pay $120 a month to play DND.
- d_burfoot 6y ago
  ... I was going to comment the exact opposite. If a session is 5 players and $20/session, and lasts 4 hours, then the GM is making $25/hr and that doesn't even include prep time!
- rcurry 6y ago
  I guess time will tell, but those sessions are like 3-4 hours, so is $3 an hour really too much to pay for a live DM hosting the game?
- oriesdan 6y ago
  Keep in mind that we're speaking of building games totally hand crafted for the players and the characters they built, if done properly. Even if using a module, not two games are the same, because GMs build around characters, and players may get the story off-rails. It doesn't seem expensive to me, we're in luxury territory.
- walshemj 6y ago
  It's not that much when you consider that the the IRL group we where paying £2 to £4 dues and a couple of drinks and food so I was spending £15+ a night last year. Ands that counting the cost of buying books figures etc for the DM
  - saddestcatever 6y ago
    There's a fascinating change in willingness to pay between between digital and physical products! I used to DM a weekly game. Every Thursday night our group would get delivery, at $10-12/pp, plus beers, etc. Once we moved to a remote session, I adopted Roll20, and was trying to decide if the $5/m was worth the extra file storage :P
swyx 6y ago
this looks incredible. i've heard so much about DnD but never had the opportunity to get into it because you have to find a GM and find time and all that jazz thats hard to do as a 30-something. thank you for making the entry level free!
kylekelly 6y ago
Feature request: For public games, it would be nice if there was a way (similar to kickstarter) to have a minimum number of people attached to the game before it starts/gets-funded, otherwise it doesn't happen. I would be very interested in trying this out, but do not want to end up paying for a 1 on 1 session if no one else joins.
- mertag 6y ago
  As a DM, I control this. I keep open communication with the players about start dates and player counts. It's easy enough for me to cancel a session before anyone gets charged.
rcurry 6y ago
I just want to congratulate the folks behind this for coming up with a great idea and executing it. Makes me wish I had time to play D&D again. Total brilliance, good luck with this!
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Thank you so much! We're just getting started and there is so much more to come!
jalk 6y ago
I have been dreaming about this :) Minor comment: Would it be possible for you to show the timezone next to the schedules - I assume that you show in my browser configured TZ (or pro gm's are serious night owls - I'm in CEST atm), but its pretty shitty to be an hour late/early due to assumptions, especially this time of year when DST ends (and not necessarily on the same date)
pier25 6y ago
Oh wow, just the other day I wished I could find people to play in a WoD campaign and thought there is a need for a tool like this.
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Great timing!
- mertag 6y ago
  If you cant find anyone else running it, and have enough people, LMK. That looks like a system I'm willing to learn.
  - pier25 6y ago
    I don't know anyone tbh. I played a lot of VtM and other WoD games a long time ago and after watching a couple of episodes of LA by Night I've been longing to play again.
RabidRoxas 6y ago
I run 3 games on here and play in 1. Amazing service, definitely give it a look if your interested in getting an amazing tabletop gaming experience.
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Stoked to have you on the platform.
estraschnov 6y ago
Congrats on your launch, always great to see Bubble apps topping HN!
satuparikh 6y ago
This is an awesome service. I initially planned to do one or two one-shot games and this has become a regular pastime with half a dozen games played over a couple of months. Some GM’s are better at keeping players engaged and I have found you get what you pay for. There is a walkthrough game for kids on Saturday mornings that is on my list to try. I would like to see player profiles somehow captured by the platform as the back and forth between the different gameboard programs is a bit clunky. Letting GMs set up multi-game campaigns on a subscription basis may also be interesting. Overall a big fan and now a loyal user!
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Thank you so much! We're excited to build out a better player profile too! Really excited to make it a good resource for finding the right party members too!
mikemahlkow 6y ago
This is one of the things I did not know I wanted but am extremely happy about!!
- devonchulick 6y ago
  So glad to hear that!
WaitWaitWha 6y ago
Interesting concept. I looked through and one thing jumped out immediately. There is no option to sort for either game or GM. Is there a reason this does not exist? Time - the time filter should be UTC or specify the time zone.
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Yeah! We naturally sort on upcoming session, with all times being in your browsers local timezone, but we need to make that more apparent. We're thinking about better sort options, but also trying to balance the amount of space that search takes up!
gregorymfoster 6y ago
I've played a few sessions on this platform, including a session across the country with my sister for her birthday. Big fan - if you find a solid DM, this can make quarantine a lot more fun.
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Reading this makes me so happy!
bricemo 6y ago
I think this is excellent. As a start up it seems like you need to land product market fit for core DnD users willing to pay for a GM first. But after that there is an interesting strategy of seeing if you can expand the DnD market in general to more casual or newbie players. I think this is a huge opportunity. I am in my first paid campaign now, and as a first time player my sense was that probably 80% of it was really complicated and could be stripped away for simplicity. Things like: speed, rolling for character creation, initiative, casting times, etc. These are sacrosanct to DnD players but there is a much larger gamer/board game crowd that doesn’t care. They want to get to the exciting story moments where you roll a D20 and win or lose, that’s it, in about 10 minutes. First there was Dwarf Fortress and then there was Minecraft. I think there is an opportunity for the Minecraft of DnD, appealing to 10x as many people.
Aeolun 6y ago
I find it incredibly hard to imagine why anyone would pay for this. Is it really so hard to find one person in a group of players that wants to GM? Is it really that hard to find a group of players in the first place? Meetup has always been perfectly adequate to find a group, and I have to do that only once for every place I live.
- solumos 6y ago
  It's certainly hard to find one person in a group of players who can be a _good_ GM. Regardless, I think the key difference here isn't just connecting D&D players, it's more that the GMs are professionals. It's the difference between a professional "murder mystery" dinner, and one that a friend organizes. Sure, the format is largely similar, but the experience is wildly different.
  - Aeolun 6y ago
    If everyone can sign up to the site and sell their campaigns than the only thing different from Roll20 is that you pay for it? I would find it hard to call the GMs professionals.
timwaagh 6y ago
will tell my friend about it as hes an amateur dm. maybe he could go pro.
lethologica 6y ago
Ha, I had this idea a while ago and even bought a great domain but never got around to building it. Glad it exists though!
- cable2600 6y ago
  Ditto, my D&D and Traveller groups broke up because we all moved away for jobs or college or military or got married, etc. There was a program called GRiP that did some of that but was hard to configure. https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/GRiP https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/GRiP the company that did it went out of business. So have a good business plan and marketing.
- devonchulick 6y ago
  I gotta ask, what is the domain name?
bradknowles 6y ago
Needs FFG SWRPG as an option. Saga edition and D6 are both totally different games. Can this integrate with other tools in the community, like RPGSessions.com? What about mysheets.com? Or myRPGTools.com? What about OggDude’s character builder? What about the various dice rolling programs? Can you also handle FFG Genesys, which is very similar to FFG SWRPG? What about virtual tabletop games? Do you handle audio chat, background music, and video as well? What about shared maps, like roll20? I’m already in a number of different Discord servers for various different SWRPG campaigns, and while the games themselves don’t cost me any money, Discord certainly does. And if I want the Discord server to perform reasonably well, then I have to get yet another Nitro subscription, and that kinda gets old after the first half dozen or more Discord servers. And scheduling is a hard problem that I have yet to see anyone handle right. Speaking only for myself, I’m not looking for a 24x7x365 convention. I want to play with the same group of people every week (more or less). It could be a really large group, so maybe only a small subset of us can get together for any one game. But still the same group of people, albeit perhaps with a few different options for GMs. Give me a reason to use your community system instead of the various Discord servers I’m on, please. Not only will I be happy to give you money to do so, I’m willing to give you extra money if you can make that experience even better for me.
variable11 6y ago
Awesome idea, but I am not in the US and it's hard to tell what time or time zone your games are in.
mindvirus 6y ago
This is really great - I've fallen out of playing table top RPGs lately (kids, time), but especially being able to play early morning or late night is great. Pricing seems great - makes me think of it as an alternative to movies. One place you might find some inspiration is italki.com - it's for language learning, but a very similar idea of pairing people with teachers. They have really nice search and scheduling functionality.
gpribeiro 6y ago
Hey, great idea! I have always wanted to start playing, but I don't know anyone interested in DnD. Having some GMs willing to introduce new players to the game is fantastic! There are some comments here suggesting that the service might not make much sense since it should be easy to find someone willing to be a GM in a group of friends. I just wanted to say that that is not always the case :)
squid_demon 6y ago
I was daydreaming about this with my son. This is awesome!
easton_s 6y ago
Cool. Pricing looks looks great. Low enough to justify a few hours of fun. High enough to only get people who really want to be there. Hopefully its enough to keep DMs engaged. Looks like me and my boys are going to dive into a star wars story.
jkinudsjknds 6y ago
How do you plan to handle players that others don't like? That's a fairly common problem for TTRPGs. You'll see a question every other day on rpg stack exchange about a troublesome player. Off the top of my head * Players who don't play fairly * Players who are rude * Players who break game norms, like always wanting to detract from what the group wants to do ("It's what my character would do in this situation") * Players who role play too hard in boring ways (e.g. overly philosophical debaters) * Players who are overtly sexual * Players who make off color jokes * Players who aren't engaged enough * Players who are selfish or antagonistic * Players who others cannot understand due to language / accents * Players who are racist/sexist/make unwanted advances irl
quickthrower2 6y ago
Site has some sort of performance issue. Could be hugga death. Just to let you know, as you might lose people who ar just impatient. I got the impression too much JS running? Maybe prerendering and cdn required?

310 points by kntucker 6y ago

Hi all! We're Nate, Devon, and Jared, the founders of StartPlaying.Games. StartPlaying.Games is a platform that helps players find tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) and professional Game Masters. I (Devon) have been a professional Game Master for over five years, running games for players all across the country. I even started hiring other professional GMs because I had more groups than I could run! The biggest issue I've been seeing with people getting into the hobby or trying new game systems is finding someone to run the game for them. A lot of solutions involve digging through discord servers and forums, which aren't very friendly to new players and require a lot of time and effort. I knew there had to be a better solution to this, and started creating some Pro GM groups to network with others. A few days after the pandemic hit San Francisco in March 2020, I got a call from Nate, who wanted to pick my brain about being a professional Game Master. He was working on a similar idea, but with a tech-focused twist: an Airbnb-type marketplace to find Game masters and other virtual game masters. That first night, we spent hours on the phone chatting about what the platform could be, and for hours each evening for the next several weeks as we began to build StartPlaying.Games. Over the next few months, we spoke with over a hundred Game Masters and Players while building out StartPlaying.Games. We launched our platform 3 months ago, and since then we have had over 2000 bookings and around 300 GMs join our platform. And with 40 million+ D&D fans around the world, we know there is a market for our platform. We offer users the ability to join solo, book for yourself, and a group, as well as hand-picked options for custom and corporate requests. We make money by taking a percentage of game bookings. On StartPlaying.Games, Game Masters get more time to focus on planning and running games instead of building a website and business platform. We’re now chatting with game publishers to help them find players for their game systems, and working with convention organizers to help them run virtual conventions. We are also chatting with charities on how to get more involved in helping them run game-driven fundraisers. We would love to hear your ideas and any feedback you have!

e12e 6y ago
Congratulations on launching! One thing - allow me to select a time zone and see game schedules in my local timezone... I'm currently playing in a group that's transferred from in-person to videochat - as we're several players that have moved to different cities (same timezone) and a GM who's emigrated to Canada (we're on GMT+1/2 depending on DST). It can work - but please make it easier to figure out - avoiding the need to calculate offset :) I used to work nights a few years back, and I'm sure I'd love to be able to join games after work (before the weekend) - say 8 am local time... Other than that, maybe a bit more information for potential GMs?
- devonchulick 6y ago
  Hi e12e! We actually show all games in your local timezone based off your browser. Do you think you'd still want to be able to change your timezone knowing that? Also, what are some details you'd want to see about potential GM's, we're always looking to flesh out more details for our users.
  - e12e 6y ago
    Oh, I guess the join this campaign field is free-form then: https://startplaying.games/join-campaign/star-wars-echoes-in-the-force-ffg-1602570689833x692181185939374100 https://startplaying.games/join-campaign/star-wars-echoes-in... I see the other times appear to be local (although a timezone would be comforting to make it more obvious). And personally, I'd love a 24h display option. Re: GM - I was thinking along the lines of expectations etc - as this is (potentially) something players will be paying for. I'm sure I'm not the only veteran player/GM who's never really considered charging money for GMing (well, directly I did "teach" rpg as an elective subject for half a year).
    - devonchulick 6y ago
      Ah yes, we def want to change that to be dynamic for campaigns! We will need to def need to make timezones more apparent. Thanks for these suggestions!

madamelic 6y ago

Super neat idea! As a DM + general TTRPG lover, I think the real magic is playing with friends so the game can be exactly what the group wants, then each session and campaign can build on each other. Our group has running jokes that span campaigns and worlds, because we have that shared language from being a group. With that said, I still think this is a fantastic idea for everyone from all fronts to be able to play the games you like and get exactly what you want out of a game. I will have to take a look because I have been curious about how to get deeper into this area, possibly for pay. One thought was to start a game shop in my town but I have heard super low margins and just not a great idea.

devonchulick 6y ago
I totally agree about how powerful games can be for groups of friends! The shared language of games and the "meta" is such a fundamental part of TTRPGs.
kntucker 6y ago
Yeah that's what I love about this game. Each game builds on each other and you end up with something super meaty. Where many games feel like snack food for me tabletop RPGs feel like a full meal :)
mertag 6y ago
I'm one of the DMs on this site and I have to say, nothing pulls a group together like a life or death experience. Bonds form quick and true friendships have been made. What's nice about using a Virtual Table Top is that each player has their own FOV to the game.

Shoop 6y ago

Really cool idea! I could definitely see myself using this service when I graduate and have more time. Out of curiosity, what is player retention like in campaigns? Have you guys considered adding any incentives to keep players coming to the sessions? When I last played DnD, we would always have a ton of fun during the sessions, but it was difficult to keep everyone coming back regularly.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
devonchulick 6y ago
We have been pretty surprised about how high our player retention is. It's different for every DM but on the site overall it's pretty high. I think part of it is due to how much people really do want to play, and that they have paid for the session. I really do like the incentives idea though. That is something I want to explore more of now. Like a loyalty program for playing in a campaign.
mertag 6y ago
Running paid games brings in a different type of player. As a DM, nothing has been more satisfying. Player retention has been great and I've never had more involved players. Do you have any ideas about incentives I could offer as a DM?

oriesdan 6y ago

This is awesome! GM/DM are a rare resource, and as a forever-DM, I would love using such services to be actually able to play. One thing I think would be a cool addition : play by post games. I'm not a native speaker and I'm always more comfortable in written games rather than spoken ones, mainly because of the highly specialized vocabulary that I don't recognize immediately when spoken. Of course, this could be roleplayed (playing an outlander character), but I bet it would quickly grow old :) I suppose any non-native speaker would feel that way too - and then, there's the timezone problem. One thing I know from roll20 : localized games are not the answer. There is just not many enough players outside US to properly fit each timezone with enough diversity. That's also why PbP has been what worked best for me. Anyway, I'm glad to see this happen, best of luck!

devonchulick 6y ago
It's so funny, we see a lot of forever DMs using our service for this exact reason! OHHH, play by post could be so fun! Thanks for that suggestion. I'm sure we have some GM's who would enjoy that.
mdre 6y ago
Your sentiment reminded me of a very niche game that I got once, but couldn't get people to actually play. You're supposed to just go about your day, observe the life around you and sorta daydream / imagine stuff on top of that and then write physical letters about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Profundis_(role-playing_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Profundis_(role-playing_gam...

offtop5 6y ago

Amazing idea. Not sure how well this can work without a game client though. I'd love a hybrid where you play a video game of sorts , but a DM is actually running it .

JerryHanel 6y ago
As one of the GMs on their site, I can say it works very well. I use a combination of already-existing technologies to host my sessions. Every GM has a slightly different approach, but as with all things D&D, that's really true in many areas. For the way I have it set up, it is fast and simple for the end-user to set up an account and be playing by that evening or that weekend.
- walshemj 6y ago
  To follow up for the various games I play in roll d20 is the goto - some people have problems with sound on roll d20 or want to stream so we use hangouts. You can also use discord but the sound is laggy and doesn't work with better gear as well a it should Players really need a decent headset not a $9.99 special offer. You can play on ipads etc but you ideally need a real PC/MAC with a big screen or screens.
- offtop5 6y ago
  Maybe I'll join one day , seems like a great way to fight cabin fever

cultofmetatron 6y ago

Totally missed the opportunity to call this "AirDnd"

devonchulick 6y ago
AirBnB owns that domain : / We did talk about this too!
- ketzo 6y ago
  I wonder if they also own AirAnA, AirCnC, AirEnE...
- swyx 6y ago
  well they are a natural acquirer for you then :)
basicallydan 6y ago
Hah, came here to make this comment!

j0ncc 6y ago

I tried this service and ran 2 campaigns with different groups of friends. It was amazing. DND was something I wanted to try for a long time but the barrier to entry was (at least, perceived to be) really high. Great to see this finally launching. I'll be recommending this service to anyone who's interested in dipping their toe into DND. I also love that you're making being a "Professional Dungeon Master" a plausible future career choice. :)

devonchulick 6y ago
Thanks so much J0ncc! We're really excited about how things have been shaping up!
snuxoll 6y ago
> I also love that you're making being a "Professional Dungeon Master" a plausible future career choice. :) Professional DM'ing will never be good for anything other than making some money on the side unless you're charging players an unreasonable amount of money. Yes, there is an imbalance of potential players versus DM's, but at the end of the day the only thing preventing anybody from being a DM is getting over false assumptions that "it's not as fun as playing a character" or "I'm not Matthew Mercer and thus I'm going to be a bad DM". If my introverted and self-critical ass can DM and have players enjoy the experience, so can whoever is reading this. I DM a weekly 2-hour session, beyond the actual time spent in the session I spend ~45 minutes prepping every week (and I'm running published modules right now, not homebrewing, so that's just time spent reading ahead, writing session notes, etc.). Paid DM's generally charge $25 per player for a four hour session, and their prep time is included in that - given that even running the same module for multiple groups still requires prep time and longer sessions moreso, you're only making $15-25/hr before banks, taxes, etc. take a cut. Not only that, but being paid means you have fairly high expectations placed on your skills that nobody would have for the friendly DM running a game for fun. I don't have anything against paid DM's, but unless you are literally providing an insanely polished experience that has potential players willing to drop $50 each for a session you're not going to be making a living off it that justifies the time spent beyond some extra pocket change.
- 6y ago

andrew_c_v 6y ago

built with Bubble, i see ;)

devonchulick 6y ago
Yes! Was the easiest and fastest way to get to market with such a small team, and large product list!
- andrew_c_v 6y ago
  Bubble rocks!
  - alex_reg 6y ago
    For the curious: https://bubble.io/ https://bubble.io/ (wasn't trivial to find)
- swyx 6y ago
  this is a cool story. is anyone on your team technical? is this a "no code" startup?

ArtDev 6y ago

This is a really cool idea :)

devonchulick 6y ago
Thank you so much!

andreareina 6y ago

Looks really interesting, congratulations on the launch! It's been mentioned before, but the lack of any indication of timezone was kind of offputting.

devonchulick 6y ago
Yeah, the feedback here makes me realize we need to make it much more apparent on timezones. Thank you!
- walshemj 6y ago
  And please quote times in UTC and not just US/Canadian Time Zones
  - andreareina 6y ago
    It quotes local time (according to the browser). If it's going to quote only one (i.e. not give the option to change timezones) I'd say local is probably the better option instead of making most people do the tz conversion in their heads.

Grimm1 6y ago

This sounds great, my friends and I used to have a regular game night but busy schedules and a few people moving means now it's something we just kind of talk about doing on Roll20 or something. I already posted to our group to see if I can get them in a session!

devonchulick 6y ago
Amazing! Yeah, our search has two options, one for groups and one for individuals, so you can find a game for either. So glad to see groups of friends getting back together and adventuring again.

soneca 6y ago

This is a great idea and just what I wanted! I have a question about which system is better for a story-driven game for beginners. Some context: I like RPG, but I have played exactly 4 times in the last 20 years. Last time I played it was D&D and my experience was it was more of a tactical game focused on combats than characters and story. It was about the squared map, knowing all the rules of your weapons and spells and trying to beat the GM in this game. All the rest seemed like cutscenes to the combat mini-games. I didn’t enjoy this that much, especially since I do not know all the rules, limitations and possibilities of my weapons/spells. I would prefer to develop a story together. A system where you don’t need a exact map with squares/hexagons to make decisions, for example. Where story and character decisions on what to do matter more than tactical decisions in combats. Also, despite living story-driven games, I am not much into “acting” (doing voices, emotions and reactions like my character). Not sure if I have too many restrictions to find a good system or group here. So, which system should I look for that it’s welcoming to beginners and story-driven?

devonchulick 6y ago
Oh yeah! I would check out systems like Monster of the Week https://startplaying.games/join-game/intro-to-monster-of-the-week-1601065938390x155584368069574660 https://startplaying.games/join-game/intro-to-monster-of-the... https://startplaying.games/join-game/thieves-in-the-night-1602741866455x856754324676280300 https://startplaying.games/join-game/thieves-in-the-night-16... Or Cypher System https://startplaying.games/join-game/black-rain-ripples-[cypher-system]-1600904564442x354292666938810900 https://startplaying.games/join-game/black-rain-ripples-[cyp... Both are pretty fun systems!
- ketzo 6y ago
  Big +1 to both of those. The Cypher System is probably closer to D&D, but the combat / rules / stats are a lot more streamlined, so in my experience it's easier to jump between narrative and action. Monster of the Week is a bigger (and welcome!) departure from the traditional TTRPG formula, and is probably closer to what GP was looking for -- it's a very light "game" system on top of the players building a story together with the DM.

EQVEYWDCHQ 6y ago

This is cool! Have you guys considered going into modern board games too? Some of the rules can be quite complex (1-2 hours explaining rules, getting through the first couple of rounds), and there's quite high demand for people figuring them out on say, TTS. Think Splotter games, Brass, etc.

devonchulick 6y ago
We are! Trying to figure out the best way for Virtual Play with them, with things like Virtual Tabletop Simulator and Vorpal Board.
- EQVEYWDCHQ 6y ago
  Nice! If you need teachers, I'd be happy to help you demo it. Not sure how well Vorpal Board would work but TTS would definitely be doable.

Waterluvian 6y ago

Some feedback for what it's worth: The reason I won't take a stab at this, as badly as I want to get into D&D, is that I have an unreliable schedule and can be pulled away at any moment (I have young kids). I won't even try because the possibility of letting others down is paralyzing. I'm not sure if this is even something you can fix, but, there it is. And maybe there are ways to handle this gracefully without me letting the rest of the party down. In that case, maybe this is a communication/education problem.

umvi 6y ago
https://youtu.be/RaPmkw09q_s https://youtu.be/RaPmkw09q_s
1123581321 6y ago
I assume you’re a single parent, which is why you can’t make an agreement with your partner for some periodic uninterrupted time. Have you looked at how often you are actually interrupted for a meaningful amount of time during the time the children are, or should be, asleep? Try to get a sense of the actual likelihood and severity of the disruption, because these games can handle a player stepping away periodically for a few minutes.
- Waterluvian 6y ago
  Not a single parent but I think everyone’s parent experience is different. Mine is that even with two of us we always feel short staffed. I like your thought about data collection. I think the problem is more psychological. I cannot get deep into things if there’s a chance I’ll be interrupted. I’ve tried for years. The only video games I can enjoy are ones like Zelda Switch where small chunks are meaningfully fulfilling and I can pause at any point. I was in a curling league last year and felt guilty and distracted every single time knowing my wife was on her own while I got to play. Indeed this is very much a social and psychological problem with me and my family unit’s “free time” structure. But I look for external helping hands where I can, such as a “we have made this friendly to people who have to drop out”. I used to love DOTA like games. God... when my first was born I was perpetually getting banned because I kept dropping out of games, screwing over 9 other people. :)

samstave 6y ago

HOW FN APROPOS! I literally just bought two new dice sets yesterday - and my brother berated me saying "When was the last time you played DnD?" -- And I thought - well, Ill need to find a way to play again... and just put that out into the Universe... Now I see this... So - you have a new user in me. Ill look into your site and find out how to participate!!! Thank you

devonchulick 6y ago
AMAZING! Very excited to have you joining an adventure!
dataminded 6y ago
Online is really vibrant right now. I'm playing at least 3 games a week when pre-covid I was lucky if I could find 1 game a quarter. With paid DMs everything is so much easier.

ngokevin 6y ago

Sweet, I'll have to try this. Been looking for more experiential stuff, and coop video games are getting more scarce.

devonchulick 6y ago
Amazing! TTRPGs are the ultimate co-op game!

Impossible 6y ago

This is really cool and probably should have been made a while back, and I'd absolutely use it if I didn't luck into a game earlier this year. I might still use it to play something else. One thing is, it seems very targeted at TTRPG curious folks that have never played before, like people who have watched Critical Role or heard of D&D and are fantasy fans but have no idea what the actual play experience is. This makes sense, it's a fast way to grow your user base. But I'd be more likely to use the product if I could search by system and request specific games. I would use it to play more niche games that fewer people are running as one shots. Based on your company description it seems like you're moving in that direction.

devonchulick 6y ago
Me and my co-founder wanted something like this for a while and timing just seemed right to start building it! We do have the ability to search games being played currently of different systems and search GMs who run certain systems too. We notice a huge amount of our customers are folks who have seen Critical Role and want to get into the hobby. I think it will hopefully get a lot of other systems a chance for people to explore other systems too.

trynewideas 6y ago

My kneejerk reaction to the headline was that this might be a service to connect existing groups to vetted, high-quality GMs, like a premium service aimed at the sorts of folks who'd otherwise spend a ton of money on TTRPG tables and miniatures. But this is more like a rideshare model, where you're looking at who's available for a given timeslot/location, then jumping into a game that's determined by the GM. With online games, you're also likely playing with strangers. This makes the whole thing feel more like a permanent convention/event setup — you pay for a seat at a table and agree to work with whatever's handed to you. Which is great, but it also has to compete with similar free game matchmaking as well as those types of (now also virtual) events. I'm also confused about the age tier filters — the "No Use By Minors" section of the ToS is very clear about users under 18 being prohibited from using the service, but there are game filters for games that can include players ages 9-17. That seems impossible without breaking the ToS. The Code of Conduct is welcome, but it's stowed away in the bottom of the ToS. For a social product like this, it would benefit from being much more prominent and discoverable. It's also unclear how to report issues with or violations of the CoC; there's a contact email and URL in the ToS, but they point to a different domain of startplayinggames.com, and the Contact form URL in the ToS just plain doesn't work. More importantly, the CoC doesn't appear to give the GM the ability to define additional conduct rules or expectations that don't necessarily delve into content sensitivities — can players be late, show up unprepared, play intoxicated? Can a GM remove a player who is following the CoC but otherwise being disruptive? I see some who state they will in their profiles — if they do, does the player get refunded, and from where does that refund come? What potential consequences are there for players or GMs who remove a player from a game? What's the revenue split look like? I tried the "Become a GM" link from one of the GM profile pages, but it pulled up a blank profile, presumably because the footer links are all relative? https://startplaying.games/game-master/become-gm https://startplaying.games/game-master/become-gm

masukomi 6y ago
100% this
devonchulick 6y ago
I agree so much with this! Most people who move into the pro gm world have a ton of experience and resources, but the reviews are one of the best ways to have people vetted. We only show GM's who have 5+ reviews on our search, but any GM can list a game if it meets our review standards. I like that take on it being a permanent convention set up. The drop in games are definitely filling that niche. A bunch of our games aren't in search because GMs use our tools for charging their customers and scheduling sessions, but for private groups. I'll be honest, we're working to make the ToS more clear as we've learned about other use cases. We mean to say, Minors need a parents consent (credit card to book). As we have grown, we're working to create a better and more apparent code of conduct. You also found an interesting bug! If you haven't signed up for an account but click become a GM, it won't work since our database looks for an account to them upgrade with new permissions. Thanks for pointing that out!

dyeje 6y ago

Congrats on launching! I've been (extremely) slowly working on a similar idea for the past few years. I gave up on the pro GM part because demand seemed so low. Best of luck.

devonchulick 6y ago
Thank you! Really excited to get more people playing. Demand kind of moved up due to a lot of folks never having the chance to play, and this helped them break into the hobby.

darkhorse13 6y ago

I really like the idea and wish you well. One tiny advice, all the buttons on your website have anti-aliasing on the text. Anti-aliasing works great on large text, or small text, if it is white in color on dark backgrounds. In your case, the smaller buttons have readability issues, especially the "Signup/Login" button on the top right.

devonchulick 6y ago
Oh that is awesome feedback! Thanks Darkhorse13!

dx87 6y ago

Just checked out the site, and one thing I'd recommend is allowing GMs to give more detailed info on the price per session. In the "Upcoming Games" section, one of the games is listed at $30 per session, which seemed incredibly steep compared to the other featured games that were all ~$10 per session. I clicked on the expensive game to see why it was so expensive, and it turns out that's just the rate for a single person, but it goes down to $10 for sessions with 3 or more people. This seems like a cool idea, and I wouldn't want DMs to miss out on players because they saw a high price on the front page and went with a cheaper option.

devonchulick 6y ago
That price is in fact per player per session. I'm making a note make that clear!
- dx87 6y ago
  That's only for one player though, if you click through then it says: Schedule: Price is $30 per player per session for one player, $15 per player with 2 players, and $10 per player with 3 or more players. Ask me about my availability! I don't know if there's a way to display the variable pricing, because at first glance it looks like it would be $150 for a group of 5, but if you click on the page, you find out that it would only be $50 for 5.
  - mertag 6y ago
    As a DM, I can put up different listings. Each listing has it's own price. My general pricing is $120 per session. $20 for groups of 6 or $30 for groups of 4.

kdamken 6y ago

This looks cool, but the pricing is absolutely insane. I saw $10-30 per session. Dming is a lot of work, sure, but that is a steep price. I don’t know many people who would pay $120 a month to play DND.

d_burfoot 6y ago
... I was going to comment the exact opposite. If a session is 5 players and $20/session, and lasts 4 hours, then the GM is making $25/hr and that doesn't even include prep time!
rcurry 6y ago
I guess time will tell, but those sessions are like 3-4 hours, so is $3 an hour really too much to pay for a live DM hosting the game?
oriesdan 6y ago
Keep in mind that we're speaking of building games totally hand crafted for the players and the characters they built, if done properly. Even if using a module, not two games are the same, because GMs build around characters, and players may get the story off-rails. It doesn't seem expensive to me, we're in luxury territory.
walshemj 6y ago
It's not that much when you consider that the the IRL group we where paying £2 to £4 dues and a couple of drinks and food so I was spending £15+ a night last year. Ands that counting the cost of buying books figures etc for the DM
- saddestcatever 6y ago
  There's a fascinating change in willingness to pay between between digital and physical products! I used to DM a weekly game. Every Thursday night our group would get delivery, at $10-12/pp, plus beers, etc. Once we moved to a remote session, I adopted Roll20, and was trying to decide if the $5/m was worth the extra file storage :P

swyx 6y ago

this looks incredible. i've heard so much about DnD but never had the opportunity to get into it because you have to find a GM and find time and all that jazz thats hard to do as a 30-something. thank you for making the entry level free!

kylekelly 6y ago

Feature request: For public games, it would be nice if there was a way (similar to kickstarter) to have a minimum number of people attached to the game before it starts/gets-funded, otherwise it doesn't happen. I would be very interested in trying this out, but do not want to end up paying for a 1 on 1 session if no one else joins.

mertag 6y ago
As a DM, I control this. I keep open communication with the players about start dates and player counts. It's easy enough for me to cancel a session before anyone gets charged.

rcurry 6y ago

I just want to congratulate the folks behind this for coming up with a great idea and executing it. Makes me wish I had time to play D&D again. Total brilliance, good luck with this!

devonchulick 6y ago
Thank you so much! We're just getting started and there is so much more to come!

jalk 6y ago

I have been dreaming about this :) Minor comment: Would it be possible for you to show the timezone next to the schedules - I assume that you show in my browser configured TZ (or pro gm's are serious night owls - I'm in CEST atm), but its pretty shitty to be an hour late/early due to assumptions, especially this time of year when DST ends (and not necessarily on the same date)

pier25 6y ago

Oh wow, just the other day I wished I could find people to play in a WoD campaign and thought there is a need for a tool like this.

devonchulick 6y ago
Great timing!
mertag 6y ago
If you cant find anyone else running it, and have enough people, LMK. That looks like a system I'm willing to learn.
- pier25 6y ago
  I don't know anyone tbh. I played a lot of VtM and other WoD games a long time ago and after watching a couple of episodes of LA by Night I've been longing to play again.

RabidRoxas 6y ago

I run 3 games on here and play in 1. Amazing service, definitely give it a look if your interested in getting an amazing tabletop gaming experience.

devonchulick 6y ago
Stoked to have you on the platform.

estraschnov 6y ago

Congrats on your launch, always great to see Bubble apps topping HN!

satuparikh 6y ago

This is an awesome service. I initially planned to do one or two one-shot games and this has become a regular pastime with half a dozen games played over a couple of months. Some GM’s are better at keeping players engaged and I have found you get what you pay for. There is a walkthrough game for kids on Saturday mornings that is on my list to try. I would like to see player profiles somehow captured by the platform as the back and forth between the different gameboard programs is a bit clunky. Letting GMs set up multi-game campaigns on a subscription basis may also be interesting. Overall a big fan and now a loyal user!

devonchulick 6y ago
Thank you so much! We're excited to build out a better player profile too! Really excited to make it a good resource for finding the right party members too!

mikemahlkow 6y ago

This is one of the things I did not know I wanted but am extremely happy about!!

devonchulick 6y ago
So glad to hear that!

WaitWaitWha 6y ago

Interesting concept. I looked through and one thing jumped out immediately. There is no option to sort for either game or GM. Is there a reason this does not exist? Time - the time filter should be UTC or specify the time zone.

devonchulick 6y ago
Yeah! We naturally sort on upcoming session, with all times being in your browsers local timezone, but we need to make that more apparent. We're thinking about better sort options, but also trying to balance the amount of space that search takes up!

gregorymfoster 6y ago

I've played a few sessions on this platform, including a session across the country with my sister for her birthday. Big fan - if you find a solid DM, this can make quarantine a lot more fun.

devonchulick 6y ago
Reading this makes me so happy!

bricemo 6y ago

I think this is excellent. As a start up it seems like you need to land product market fit for core DnD users willing to pay for a GM first. But after that there is an interesting strategy of seeing if you can expand the DnD market in general to more casual or newbie players. I think this is a huge opportunity. I am in my first paid campaign now, and as a first time player my sense was that probably 80% of it was really complicated and could be stripped away for simplicity. Things like: speed, rolling for character creation, initiative, casting times, etc. These are sacrosanct to DnD players but there is a much larger gamer/board game crowd that doesn’t care. They want to get to the exciting story moments where you roll a D20 and win or lose, that’s it, in about 10 minutes. First there was Dwarf Fortress and then there was Minecraft. I think there is an opportunity for the Minecraft of DnD, appealing to 10x as many people.

Aeolun 6y ago

I find it incredibly hard to imagine why anyone would pay for this. Is it really so hard to find one person in a group of players that wants to GM? Is it really that hard to find a group of players in the first place? Meetup has always been perfectly adequate to find a group, and I have to do that only once for every place I live.

solumos 6y ago
It's certainly hard to find one person in a group of players who can be a _good_ GM. Regardless, I think the key difference here isn't just connecting D&D players, it's more that the GMs are professionals. It's the difference between a professional "murder mystery" dinner, and one that a friend organizes. Sure, the format is largely similar, but the experience is wildly different.
- Aeolun 6y ago
  If everyone can sign up to the site and sell their campaigns than the only thing different from Roll20 is that you pay for it? I would find it hard to call the GMs professionals.

timwaagh 6y ago

will tell my friend about it as hes an amateur dm. maybe he could go pro.

lethologica 6y ago

Ha, I had this idea a while ago and even bought a great domain but never got around to building it. Glad it exists though!

cable2600 6y ago
Ditto, my D&D and Traveller groups broke up because we all moved away for jobs or college or military or got married, etc. There was a program called GRiP that did some of that but was hard to configure. https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/GRiP https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/GRiP the company that did it went out of business. So have a good business plan and marketing.
devonchulick 6y ago
I gotta ask, what is the domain name?

bradknowles 6y ago

Needs FFG SWRPG as an option. Saga edition and D6 are both totally different games. Can this integrate with other tools in the community, like RPGSessions.com? What about mysheets.com? Or myRPGTools.com? What about OggDude’s character builder? What about the various dice rolling programs? Can you also handle FFG Genesys, which is very similar to FFG SWRPG? What about virtual tabletop games? Do you handle audio chat, background music, and video as well? What about shared maps, like roll20? I’m already in a number of different Discord servers for various different SWRPG campaigns, and while the games themselves don’t cost me any money, Discord certainly does. And if I want the Discord server to perform reasonably well, then I have to get yet another Nitro subscription, and that kinda gets old after the first half dozen or more Discord servers. And scheduling is a hard problem that I have yet to see anyone handle right. Speaking only for myself, I’m not looking for a 24x7x365 convention. I want to play with the same group of people every week (more or less). It could be a really large group, so maybe only a small subset of us can get together for any one game. But still the same group of people, albeit perhaps with a few different options for GMs. Give me a reason to use your community system instead of the various Discord servers I’m on, please. Not only will I be happy to give you money to do so, I’m willing to give you extra money if you can make that experience even better for me.

variable11 6y ago

Awesome idea, but I am not in the US and it's hard to tell what time or time zone your games are in.

mindvirus 6y ago

This is really great - I've fallen out of playing table top RPGs lately (kids, time), but especially being able to play early morning or late night is great. Pricing seems great - makes me think of it as an alternative to movies. One place you might find some inspiration is italki.com - it's for language learning, but a very similar idea of pairing people with teachers. They have really nice search and scheduling functionality.

gpribeiro 6y ago

Hey, great idea! I have always wanted to start playing, but I don't know anyone interested in DnD. Having some GMs willing to introduce new players to the game is fantastic! There are some comments here suggesting that the service might not make much sense since it should be easy to find someone willing to be a GM in a group of friends. I just wanted to say that that is not always the case :)

squid_demon 6y ago

I was daydreaming about this with my son. This is awesome!

easton_s 6y ago

Cool. Pricing looks looks great. Low enough to justify a few hours of fun. High enough to only get people who really want to be there. Hopefully its enough to keep DMs engaged. Looks like me and my boys are going to dive into a star wars story.

jkinudsjknds 6y ago

How do you plan to handle players that others don't like? That's a fairly common problem for TTRPGs. You'll see a question every other day on rpg stack exchange about a troublesome player. Off the top of my head * Players who don't play fairly * Players who are rude * Players who break game norms, like always wanting to detract from what the group wants to do ("It's what my character would do in this situation") * Players who role play too hard in boring ways (e.g. overly philosophical debaters) * Players who are overtly sexual * Players who make off color jokes * Players who aren't engaged enough * Players who are selfish or antagonistic * Players who others cannot understand due to language / accents * Players who are racist/sexist/make unwanted advances irl

quickthrower2 6y ago

Site has some sort of performance issue. Could be hugga death. Just to let you know, as you might lose people who ar just impatient. I got the impression too much JS running? Maybe prerendering and cdn required?