startplaying.gamesReviews of startplaying.games

They are by far the best and fairest to work with! As a pro GM, they linked me up with great players, and it's been a blast these four years. Many of my players have been with them from the beginning, just to show you how good the system is at helping players find the right GM. Whether a player or GM, this is the best way to start playing some games!

Love StartPlaying Games! I’ve played games with Game Masters I’ve found on the site and like that I can find GM profiles as well as verified reviews from players to help me find GMs which match my preferred style of play. I’ve primarily been a Game Master/Dungeon Master, running over 1,300 game sessions via the platform. As a GM, it makes it easier for me to run my games as they manage the payment process and I can focus on running the games. I pay them for this service through fees on every game payment. The people behind the company strike me as honest, hardworking people who I’ve gotten to know over the years. They are always improving the website, seeking feedback from players and GMs, building relationships with companies in the TTRPG (Tabletop Role-Playing Game) industry and give back to the community through donation-matching charity events. I believe it’s a trustworthy site, and if you’re looking for a Dungeons & Dragons, or just about any game, you should be able to find one at StartPlaying.

For the amount of cost the site takes from players just being a message board, the site charges too much. It doesn't help there's literally no vetting process if a GM is actually a voice actor, writer or whatever they claim to be. I have been lucky all of the GMs through the site were not terrible. Just most of the time they were not what they claimed to be. Avoid until they start playing with the truckloads of dollars they have in making the service better for players. I don't think they ever will.

I run games as a GM using the StartPlaying platform. It does have a slight fee to use but what it offers in the form of advertising and promoting my games helps me no end and is certainly worth the small percentage they charge for their services.. The other places to advertise either cost or can be quite toxic to paid GMing so this offers a safe space to run games. They handle payments stopping any problems with players not paying and therefore helping me from having to consonantly chase them up. All round a friendly and very capable company. Recommended.

Literally changed my life! Ok, it is corny but true. My main passion has been ttrpg and StartPlaying gave me the opportunity to run games as my full-time job by connecting me with wonderful players. Teenage me would never have thought I would be working with games as I dreamed once. Other than that the site is quite solid. I've used it plenty as a player too. It helped me find less popular game systems to play and at the weird times when Im free. As a GM it takes care of charging my players, getting people to see the games Im offering and put all of them in a calendar with reminders. All the things I dont want to do, so I can focus on running my games. What's not to love?

I had positive experiences with Start-Playing overall, despite the hefty charges they put on GMs, until I had a 'hostile' review; a player did not communicate any issues within the games for me to resolve, or ask for a refund - they just left a negative review. I wanted to refund the player's two sessions in the campaign as long as the misleading review (as I can't do anything to change my GM skills/style if I don't get feedback in the session) was taken off - and Start-Playing, despite given extensive evidence on my part why this review was not fair, refused to take off the review. This is why I signed to their website and agree to the heavy costs; for issues such as this, I expect the website to support both GMs as well as players to leave amicably from campaigns if there is a disagreement. I can't bring back the time the player invested for the player, but I will pay them back for their sessions (and Start-Playing for any costs involved for them) if the review is taken off. I feel like this is the best thing I can do to resolve the situation for everyone, and I am unable to do so. I truly believe this is not fair. Also, on their website, there is no way to comment on reviews from players to give a response so potential customers can assess the reviews - as such, I have to give the website a 1 star review until the hostile review is removed, or Start-Playing allow GMs to comment to negative reviews on their own page like Trustpilot.

great idea. terrible UI. as a GM, i don't want to to have to go and manually schedule every game EVERY TIME we play. the game is active. it is scheduled as weekly. i have enough shit to worry about. do better. also, dogshit on a mobile device. do better. my players are more than happy to pay me outside of our service.

StartPlaying.Games addressed a need back in 2020: players and game masters alike were seeking an easier way to defeat the universal "scheduling conflict" that plagues us all. The co-founders are great people and have hired even more great people to build out the site in a way that makes the user experience simple and straightforward. As a player, I appreciate having the world (literally) at my fingertips when searching for a session or campaign that fits my interests and availability and the game masters I have played with have been exceptional hosts with epic stories to share. As a game master, I have been able to support my family with my earnings from the site and StartPlaying saved me SO MUCH time recruiting and advertising for my games. The players who have joined my tables have been amazing people from all over the world who enjoy collaborative story telling and creating epic memories with their teammates. The company's support crew (a.k.a. the support goblins) is incredibly helpful and serves the community of players and game masters with compassion and fairness and I have not yet had a negative experience resolving a site or payment issue.