I’m a part of a local Dungeons & Dragons Facebook group that’s based in Minnesota. I joined the group several years ago as a way to play and discuss TTRPGs. I saw a post shared in the group a few days ago highlighting an event that Badwolf Adventure Studios was hosting. For $30, Badwolf was going to lead a one-shot at White Bear Meadery, a local mead hall in the Twin Cities. Someone commented in the post that anyone who pays for Dungeons & Dragons is “desperate”. Normally when I read a comment like this, I ignore it. However, I felt a little sassy and decided to respond. In my response, I commented on the reasons why I chose to pay for sessions and why this worked for me. I did add in my response that it seemed rude to call those who do pay “desperate”. He responded back to me and said that I was being “exploited” and “manipulated”. I realized that I wasn’t going to have a respectful conversation with this person, so I chose to ignore him and not engage further.

The post ended up getting more popular than I thought it would. A few hours later, I saw numerous comments from people defending me and saying that the way he communicated his opinion wasn’t appropriate. The admins were quickly made aware of the situation and have since deleted the comments (including mine) which I think was the right thing to do. This interaction solidified why I wanted to write this. I wanted to talk about my experience with pay-to-play in the TTRPG space and why I think this has worked for me.

There are a few things that I want to say before I get into this. The first is that I am not here to convince anyone to pay for their sessions. I’m simply talking about my experience in this area. As a side note, I am not being sponsored by Badwolf and all of my opinions are my own. The last thing that I wanted to say was that I don’t believe that TTRPGs should be hidden behind a paywall. I would hate to see a hobby that I love be attached to additional costs.

I wanted to briefly share how I started playing TTRPGs and how that led me to the pay-to-play format. I started roleplaying in 2017 when I joined a one-shot at a local game store where a group was running Call of Cthulhu. I had so much fun! I knew right away that I wanted to find more opportunities to play as I loved the creativity of coming up with a character and seeing my character explore the world that the game is built around. After listening to NADDPOD (Not Another DnD Podcast) Critical Role and discovering Vampire: The Masquerade at Gen Con in 2019, I was enamored by TTRPGs.

The pandemic threw a wrench in playing TTRPGs in person. After getting my Covid vaccine, I was ready to try again to find a long-term group. Most players can find a group by getting a group of friends together to play. Most of my friends don’t play TTRPGs, so for me, that wasn’t going to work. Throughout 2021, I attended several meetups at game stores to find something that would stick. Most of these groups dissipated after the first session due to a lack of interest and schedules not aligning. I felt disappointed at not being able to find a group, yet determined to keep going. I can’t exactly remember how I discovered Badwolf, but the rest is history.

This leads me to why I feel that pay-to-play” is worth it. Each session that I play in is high quality. The DM has crafted a world that I feel fortunate enough to play. There’s a whole political system, map, and factions that make the experience immersive. The DMs that I have played with at Badwolf are experienced and are great at keeping track of all of our characters, abilities, and all the NPCs which is a lot to juggle. I tend to ask a lot of questions as I am still exploring what Vesper, my Variant Human Sorcerer, is capable of. I have never felt ashamed to ask questions and I feel that with each session I play in, I’m becoming more experienced with 5e. When I play in paid sessions, I get an incredible TTRPG experience that I don’t think I would find organically.

Another reason that I choose pay-to-play is the commitment from the players since there is a cost associated. With each player choosing to pay money per session, everyone shows up. If for whatever reason players aren’t able to attend, Badwolf has run one shots for our group for those who can play. One shots are great because it’s a break from our main campaign and it gives me a chance to try out a new class I haven’t played yet. I find this concept to be similar to how I treat my gym membership. I’m more inclined to work out each week because I’m paying to be there. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually look forward to Mondays now.

There’s one more critique I saw on a separate post regarding pay-to-play that I wanted to address. One person commented and stated that those who pay-to-play are “buying their friends”. That couldn’t be further from the truth. In the first Badwolf campaign that I was in, our group didn’t socialize much outside of our session. In the Monday session, I’m in now, our group is active on Discord; sharing memes, reviewing the session, and talking about our lives. It’s a completely different dynamic from the previous campaign that I was in. No one is forcing anyone to talk to each other, it’s simply an added bonus of pay-to-play since we are all having a great experience together.

In my specific situation, pay-to-play works great for me. It’s a guarantee that I will play each week and I like that it gives me something fun to look forward to on Mondays. If the concept of pay-to-play is absurd to you, that’s fine! Everyone is entitled to their opinion and it’s okay to voice that opinion and offer criticism. With that said, once that opinion turns into name-calling, that’s where I draw the line. I am excited for what’s to come in our campaign and for those who are looking for a group, I wish you luck and I hope you find your group!