startplaying.gamesReviews of startplaying.games

Start Playing Games Changed My Life. I never once in my wildest dreams considered a path in life where I got to play games for a living yet here I am. It was a slow burn at first, when I got into Dungeons and Dragons, a home game, then one online campaign, then another, then I got to run some games at a local shop. And the games were fantastic, but things were tough for the family. My wife and I decided in 2020 that I would stay home with the kids in the foreseeable future, so that only left a few evening hours open to try and find a way to contribute. But once I discovered Start Playing Games in 2025 I realized I was able to earn some great money at night after I got my kids to bed. I launched 3 weekly campaigns in my first few months on SPG and that along with the couple nights a week running at the shop allowed my family to thrive and not just barely survive. This year I took my family on our very first vacation and fixed up our cars, was able to get the roof fixed and I don't have to worry about the grocery bill outrunning my wife's salary now that I am able to make a few thousand a month running games. StartPlaying Games is a Platform where the Dungeonmasters that excel at their craft can be wonderfully rewarded for the Performances they are able to put on for their players and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to start playing Dungeons and Dragons.

I've been using StartPlaying for quite a while now, both as a player and as a GM, and it's easily become my favorite way to find and run tabletop games. As a player, the platform makes it incredibly easy to discover games that fit exactly what you're looking for. Whether you want a long-term campaign, a one-shot, a specific system, or a particular playstyle, everything is organized well and joining a game is straightforward. I've met some fantastic GMs through the site and had some genuinely memorable adventures that I don't think would have happened otherwise. As a GM, StartPlaying takes a lot of the headache out of organizing games. Scheduling, recruiting players, handling payments, and managing listings are all simple and reliable. It lets me focus on what I actually want to do: run great games. The best part, though, has been the community. I've met amazing players, made friends, shared countless laughs, and watched groups of complete strangers become regular tables that genuinely look forward to seeing each other every week. Some of my favorite RPG memories over the past few years started because of a game I found on StartPlaying. If you're looking for quality games, great people, and a platform that makes tabletop gaming easy, I can't recommend it highly enough!

I have been incredibly impressed with StartPlaying ever since I started using the site over 3 years ago. There are all sorts of services that link providers to end-users, but I've never seen one that does as good a job of keeping both sides happy. The support team is respectful, professional and thorough. Their policies have protected me both as a player and then as a GM, and turnaround time on communications is fantastic! I have been playing and running tabletop roleplaying games since the early nineties, and the hobby has changed a lot since then. One thing that hasn't changed is that it can be difficult to tell what sort of person your game master will be before you show up to the table. StartPlaying takes away as much of that uncertainty as possible by vetting their game masters ahead of time, and encouraging authenticity on the platform. Players can search for a gm based on a number of different factors, and reviewers can choose tags that they feel best describe the game master's style, providing even more info than a standard review. Reviews even show the number of times a player has paid for a session with that gm, which says a lot about how enjoyable the gm will be to play with. As a gm, I have at times been nervous to welcome strangers to my table. You never know who might show up, and as a freelancer, especially in the beginning there's always the fear that a bad actor or misunderstanding will tank your business through bad reviews. SPG solves this by making sure that reviews are truthful. Any GM has the chance to dispute a review, but they must have proof that the reviewer is being untruthful to get a review taken down. The support staff is careful to look over all evidence on both sides, and the best evidence I have to offer of their impartiality is that I see both gms and players alike complain that support didn't side with their claim. The one complaint I do hear often is from new gms who don't know why the company doesn't offer us more data about customer behavior, or give us algorithmic information to try to beat. That's because there is no algorithm--games are posted in time order, not manipulated or fed to players in any special way. Data is kept from the gms so that we can't use it to spam players. But every time they make a change to the site, they explain what is changing and why, so we know what's coming ahead of time. As I said before, I've never seen a middleman company that is truly working for the best for both sides like SPG does. They work hard to build trust with both players and gms, and I'm happy to be in my third year of working with them.

Great place to find games to play! Friendly staff who are very helpful

I've had an absolutely wonderful experience both with our DM and with the other players from outside my immediate group that we've met along the way. We've truly had some memorable adventures. The sky's the limit if you're an enigmatic, independently wealthy orphan. I'm looking forward to more.

Ive only played 5e on here which is great expressly when you got a certain time zone you need and can only play at a certain time. However i think it would shine with less popular systems since people can search based on that. Either way ive played campaigns and ones shots with the system and ive meet so many awesome people. Ive only had maybe two bad or meh experiences out of like 20 or more great ones.

I genuinely love not just the business and system, but the people and the community more so than anything. I greatly enjoy and love teaching other professional GMs skills, and the community first approaches that Devon, Sarah and the rest of staff dedicate to listening to us and helping make the world a better more connected place. Thank you!

I used the site for over three years and it was easy to use and introduced me to a wonderful community and experience. I would definitely use it again when I'm able to commit to another long running campaign.