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.
Launch HN: StartPlaying.Games (YC W20) – Tabletop RPGs run by pro game masters
81–90 of 145 posts
Re: Launch HN: StartPlaying.Games (YC W20) – Tabletop RPGs run by pro game masters
#82Hi 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 is…
I see session of $10 to $30, which seems really low to me.
Your audience are basically guys making plenty of money and not afraid to spend it. I know a few guys who spends tons of money on Games Workshop kinds of things, buying even more than they have time for.
So I was wondering why are your prices so low? I would think the lowest price would start at $50 or something.
Like everything, price is set by supply and demand. I'm pretty sure the demand is there. So are there so many great GM's that flood the supply?
Re: Launch HN: StartPlaying.Games (YC W20) – Tabletop RPGs run by pro game masters
#83This 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…
Sorry you had that experience. Honestly though it sounds more like a bad DM, or a mismatch in what kind of game everyone wanted to play, than anything inherent to DnD.
Story in an RPG comes out of the choices the players make in response to the world. DnD enables that just as much as any other system. And nothing about putting yourself in your character’s shoes and making choices requires taking an improv class or talking in funny voices, so don’t worry about that.
But a bad DM who treats every non-combat encounter like a video game cutscene can be a bad DM in any system.
That said, like another poster mentioned, 4th edition did tilt heavily towards being a skirmish wargame dressed as an rpg. 5e is much better in that regard.
But if you want to get away from swords and sorcery fantasy and if Lovecraftian horror does anything for you, check out Call of Cthulhu. The rules are straightforward, creating characters is easy, and it usually focuses on unraveling a mystery rather than completing a Conan the Barbarian style quest. Combat is de-emphasized, because characters that keep getting into fights with unspeakable eldritch horrors tend to have short life expectancies.
Re: Launch HN: StartPlaying.Games (YC W20) – Tabletop RPGs run by pro game masters
#84I 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.
Re: Launch HN: StartPlaying.Games (YC W20) – Tabletop RPGs run by pro game masters
#85Congrats on your launch, always great to see Bubble apps topping HN!
Re: Launch HN: StartPlaying.Games (YC W20) – Tabletop RPGs run by pro game masters
#86Hi 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 is…
I see session of $10 to $30, which seems really low to me. Your audience are basically guys making plenty of money and not afraid to spend it. I know a few guys who spends tons of money on Games Workshop kinds of things, buying even more than they have time for. So I was wondering why are your prices so low? I would think the lowest price would start at $50 or something. Like everything, price is set by supply and de…
We let GM's set their own prices. So we expect a lot of prices to fluctuate as demand continues to drive them up, or lower as more GMs join the platform.
Re: Launch HN: StartPlaying.Games (YC W20) – Tabletop RPGs run by pro game masters
#87This 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…
Well to get to more story aspects - you really need to be at least conversant with the mechanical aspects and also the actual fluff so you don't keep breaking Suspension of disbelief for the players.
Re: Launch HN: StartPlaying.Games (YC W20) – Tabletop RPGs run by pro game masters
#88I 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…
> 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 fa…
I agree overall with your economic analysis, just one thing to point out:
You might be able to get _some_ economies of scale if you homebrew your own adventure and reuse it with multiple groups.
In terms of other ways to scale your per session income is to allow people to just watch the sessions you're DMing(a la Crit Role), but at this point you're a content producer (not to mention the players might not like being watched by others).
Re: Launch HN: StartPlaying.Games (YC W20) – Tabletop RPGs run by pro game masters
#89Oh 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.
Great timing!
Re: Launch HN: StartPlaying.Games (YC W20) – Tabletop RPGs run by pro game masters
#90I 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.
Stoked to have you on the platform.