I am a professional Dungeon Master. This is not a hobby I dabble in—it is work. It is my job.
I hand-craft maps. Hundreds of them. I write storylines and long-term plot arcs. I design hooks, twists, factions, secrets, consequences, and character-driven outcomes. I maintain continuity across six simultaneous campaigns, each running three or more hours per session, some with seven players at the table. Each campaign contains hundreds of fully realized NPCs—people with families, occupations, motives, histories, alliances, and grudges. The world has deep, layered lore so it feels lived-in, not procedural.
My longest campaign ran for over four years. I canceled exactly one session the entire time.
Each campaign easily contains over 500 custom maps. I make maps for everything. Taverns. Alleys. Forest paths. Back rooms. Ships. Dungeons. Cities. Battlefields. I design homebrew races and full classes—deeply detailed, mechanically balanced, and narratively integrated into the world. I give those to my players for free.
I also have two kids. A wife. I am writing a book. And I still dedicate 9–10 hours a day per campaign to make sure every single session that night is fully prepared and immersive.
So yes—this is a lot of work. Because it is work.
Now here’s the part people don’t want to confront.
A lot of people in this community hate AI. A lot of people say, “Pay artists.” And I do. Whenever I can afford it, I commission real artists.
But why is it that art must always be paid for… while games—actual campaigns run by real human DMs—are expected to be free?
Why is it noble to demand compensation for visual assets… but somehow immoral for a DM to charge for sessions?
AI cannot write a living campaign. AI cannot adapt to player decisions in real time. AI cannot roleplay seven unique NPCs in one scene. AI cannot manage pacing, tension, character arcs, combat balance, table dynamics, or emotional storytelling. AI cannot run a session.
A human DM does all of that.
So if you demand that artists be paid for their labor—but you also demand that campaigns be free—you are not standing on moral ground. You are standing on hypocrisy.
If you complain about AI art while insisting that real DMs should give away thousands of hours of labor for nothing, then your position is incoherent. Either creative labor has value… or it doesn’t.
You do not get to argue both.
My final point is simple and irrefutable:
If you are the type of person who complains about AI art, you had better not be complaining that campaigns are pay-to-play.
Because if art deserves to be paid for, then so does the immersive, handcrafted, human-run experience that actually brings your world to life.
Examples of the kind of custom work I provide to my players:
To be honest this is a very good point, yes some people rely on art for their income but those people also charge outlandish prices for work that takes so much longer than it could be compared to ai, while i do agree that sometimes ai can be overused as a whole it helps more than hunting down an artist and getting them to perfectly design what you are after within a timely setting
First of all: If you don't get paid for it, it isn't a job, it's a hobby. Calling being a DM for free a job is like calling being a Reddit moderator a job. If you're actually getting paid to run games, that's a little different, and the amount of work makes a little more sense.
Second: You're putting in a lot of work. Not every DM needs to do that, and not every campaign or group needs it. D&D is designed to be able to run mostly/entirely Theater of the Mind.
Third: AI "art" has issues that go beyond "pay the artists". There's basically no public models that aren't trained on stolen work, and the Earth resources required to run it at the rate it's being run are staggering. For instance, if you support AI, you're partly to blame for the current high prices of RAM.
And to point out: While the use of models trained on stolen data is already morally shaky, if you're using it as a paid DM, you're actively stealing from every single artist it was trained on for profit.
So if you demand that artists be paid for their labor—but you also demand that campaigns be free—you are not standing on moral ground. You are standing on hypocrisy.
So if you demand that artists be paid for their labor—but you also demand that campaigns be free—you are not standing on moral ground. You are standing on hypocrisy.
Is...anyone doing that, though?
This was my first thought.
I think the OP would be getting more traction and probably agreement if the lived experience was up front: "This was the Xth time in Y weeks that players have asked me to DM for their group, but not offer compensation..." or something along those lines.
As stated above, if you are a professional DM, then you are getting paid. Who are these people that are not paying you, but also against AI art?
Believe it or not, this comes up constantly. I’ve had multiple conversations across StartPlaying.games, Reddit, and Facebook where players complain that there aren’t enough free campaigns. I’ve personally reached out to people looking for games, offered them tours of what I provide, and shown them the full scope of my work—only for some to take offense that I charge while also using AI for certain images.
Every few days, I hear the same arguments from 15 to 20 different people: disbelief that I charge $20 per session, followed in the same breath by criticism of an AI-generated banner for a free dice giveaway, along with the claim that I “should have paid an artist instead.”
What they don’t seem to factor in is that I don’t even keep the full $20—StartPlaying takes about $3 per seat, every session.
What makes it worse is that my wife gets the brunt of it. She handles our advertising, schedules the meet-and-greets, and personally welcomes everyone into the server—so she’s the one fielding most of these complaints and hostility.
The contradiction is hard to miss: being told not to charge for my time and labor, while also being told I should spend more money on commissioned art.
D&D is not meant to be a job. It is not designed to be a source of income. You can do that, and that’s great for you, but 99.9% of D&D players are playing D&D whenever their schedules line up so they can hang out with a group of friends for a few hours. I DM 1 campaign year round and do a handful of oneshots every year, and I do this for free because I play dnd with my friends to have fun, not to make a living. Not every campaign needs intricate art for every character and a new fresh exciting map for every encounter (may I suggest reusing maps maybe?). But you don’t need expensive commissioned art for every NPC and town in your world. Free D&D is the norm, because most DMs are not running six different games as their main source of income to provide for a family of four. You are far, far removed from a normal D&D player. If I can run through some of your points? Great. If you are running 6 sessions at a time, you cannot dedicate 9 hours a day to each of them. If you dedicate 9 hours total, that’s a different story, but that’s not what you said. It isn’t hypocritical to dislike AI art and like free D&D. D&D is already an expensive hobby with rulebooks and minis and everything else that everyone needs, charging a fee just isn’t rational for an already expensive hobby. Like I said before, you are not the average D&D player. The average D&D player gets 5 of their friends in someone’s basement to have fun, they are not running to six sessions a week for a paycheck. And most importantly, you’ve conveniently omitted the main reasons people don’t like AI. It consumes incomprehensible amounts of water and electricity, usually produced by fossil fuels, absolutely terrible for the environment. It takes works that real human people spent hours on, puts it in a blender with a dozen other stolen artworks and sells the product without paying the original artists for their work.
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I’m a decent DM and an above average rules lawyer I have several complete Pokedexes | I may be stupid, but at least I’m not smart! My favorite characters from dead threads; AMA: Aria, Rade, Kiano & Luz, Juniper, Ezra & Dr. Paine, Xi & his siblings, Misa Stay Paranoid!!! My Drummer given title is Swift as the Dragon, but The Diabolical One named me Virex the Whisperbrand, Architect of Echoes May the dice roll ever in your favor
This isn’t hyperbole, and it isn’t me venting. I’m not talking about a handful of bad interactions or one-off comments. I’m referring to people across D&D Beyond, Reddit, Facebook, Discord, and other LFG spaces who are actively looking for games—people I personally reach out to, offer tours to, and take the time to walk through everything I provide.
Between the two of us, my wife and I easily talk to 20–30 people a day between the two of us to help fill one-shots, ongoing campaigns, and special events. This is a consistent, repeatable experience, not an exaggerated story or a grievance post—it’s simply what comes with running paid campaigns in public-facing D&D communities.
But why is it that art must always be paid for… while games—actual campaigns run by real human DMs—are expected to be free?
The answer is simple and one you will always fight against. It is basic human psychology.
If the average Joe thinks he can do X. Then comes the thought why pay someone to do what I can do. On a sports side, why do so many kids want to earn a living playing X? Because they think they can do that sport. If people feel that they can do X, they are more likely to say I can do that and not pay. Look at all of the DIY projects.
Why do adults pay to see sporting events, because as an adult they realize that no they can't earn a living playing. Why do lawyers and accountants make money, because people realize they can not do that job.
As for DMing, people know that kids can do it, and their friend jane. They don't realize what they don't know. They don't understand the work you go through to give a great game.
Because people always think anyone can DM, paying for one is not needed. This has nothing to do with right/wrong or anything. Just human psychology.
D&D is not meant to be a job. It is not designed to be a source of income. You can do that, and that’s great for you, but 99.9% of D&D players are playing D&D whenever their schedules line up so they can hang out with a group of friends for a few hours. I DM 1 campaign year round and do a handful of oneshots every year, and I do this for free because I play dnd with my friends to have fun, not to make a living. Not every campaign needs intricate art for every character and a new fresh exciting map for every encounter (may I suggest reusing maps maybe?). But you don’t need expensive commissioned art for every NPC and town in your world. Free D&D is the norm, because most DMs are not running six different games as their main source of income to provide for a family of four. You are far, far removed from a normal D&D player. If I can run through some of your points? Great. If you are running 6 sessions at a time, you cannot dedicate 9 hours a day to each of them. If you dedicate 9 hours total, that’s a different story, but that’s not what you said. It isn’t hypocritical to dislike AI art and like free D&D. D&D is already an expensive hobby with rulebooks and minis and everything else that everyone needs, charging a fee just isn’t rational for an already expensive hobby. Like I said before, you are not the average D&D player. The average D&D player gets 5 of their friends in someone’s basement to have fun, they are not running to six sessions a week for a paycheck. And most importantly, you’ve conveniently omitted the main reasons people don’t like AI. It consumes incomprehensible amounts of water and electricity, usually produced by fossil fuels, absolutely terrible for the environment. It takes works that real human people spent hours on, puts it in a blender with a dozen other stolen artworks and sells the product without paying the original artists for their work.
First, “D&D isn’t meant to be a job” is not a factual argument—it’s a personal preference. Wizards of the Coast explicitly allows paid DMs. Platforms like StartPlaying, Roll20, and Foundry are built around professional games. Conventions and LGS programs run paid tables constantly. Paid D&D isn’t a fringe idea—it’s an established part of the hobby.
Second, free D&D already exists in my community—by choice. I host a 4+ year ongoing campaign every Sunday, completely free. I also run free one-shots, free community events, and free giveaways. So the idea that I’m “commercializing D&D at the expense of free play” is simply false.
Third, “most people play for free” is irrelevant. Most people cook for friends for free. That doesn’t invalidate professional chefs. Most people take photos for fun. That doesn’t invalidate photographers. Hobby norms don’t invalidate professional services.
Fourth, your scheduling argument is just wrong. I dedicate 9–10 hours per day total, spread across six campaigns—rotating prep, maps, NPCs, lore, and encounters. I never claimed 9 hours per campaign. That’s a misread, not a contradiction.
Fifth, “reuse maps” and “you don’t need art” are preferences, not rebuttals. My players want high-production games—and they pay for that experience. I provide hundreds of handcrafted maps, 200–300 NPCs per campaign, custom lore, homebrew races/classes, and tailored story arcs. That’s labor.
Sixth, D&D already being “expensive” doesn’t make paid DMs irrational. People already pay for rulebooks, minis, VTTs, modules, and subscriptions. Paying $20 for a curated, professionally-run weekly experience is not absurd—it’s a service fee.
Seventh, it is hypocritical to say “pay real artists” while also saying “you shouldn’t charge.” You’re demanding I spend more money while insisting I shouldn’t earn any.
Eighth, the AI arguments are selectively applied and overstated. If you use streaming, cloud services, social media, or VTTs, you’re already in the same environmental footprint category. Targeting AI alone is moral cherry-picking. And legally, AI training isn't copyright infringement under current law—you can dislike it ethically, but that doesn’t make it illegal.
Ninth, “average D&D player” is irrelevant. I’m not selling to basement tables. I’m selling to players who want high-production, reliable, professionally-run campaigns.
Disliking paid D&D or AI art doesn’t make either illegitimate. It just means you don’t want to pay for it.
I agree with what you said. But at this point, I think people should understand how much work it takes to run a real campaign—not one that gets canceled every other week or loses players every month, but a long-running, coherent campaign where both the players and the story stay high quality.
I don’t just take anyone who can pay. I’ve turned people away because they wouldn’t fit the party or I knew they’d cause problems. Group chemistry, reliability, and tone matter.
There’s a lot that goes into running a successful, long-term, high-quality campaign. And with the sheer number of D&D streams and shows out there now, people should have a better sense of what that level of DMing actually looks like.
Eighth, the AI arguments are selectively applied and overstated. If you use streaming, cloud services, social media, or VTTs, you’re already in the same environmental footprint category. Targeting AI alone is moral cherry-picking. And legally, AI training isn't copyright infringement under current law—you can dislike it ethically, but that doesn’t make it illegal.
I had a feeling this was going to pivot to AI shilling before it was over. Sigh.
While being a professional DM is a cool concept in theory I just find it hard to see it as something conventional
First the people who need a professional DM are probably those with little time so it would probably be hard to schedule things in a way that works for all of them
Second there is no real good way to gauge if someone is a good DM or not yeah you can say they have 13 years of experience but it doesn't mean they are good at making a campaign that's fun
Thirdly people's Play styles differ vastly and what works for some people as a DM won't work for others
I'm not trying to hate on you or anything NLK
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It feels like two different conversations are being mixed together.
Free D&D being normal doesn’t make paid D&D illegitimate. And disliking AI art doesn’t automatically mean someone is obligated to commission artists for every project. People can choose what they pay for and what they don’t.
If someone wants a free, low-prep game with friends, great. If someone wants a high-production, reliable campaign and is willing to pay for it, also fine. Neither invalidates the other.
What does feel out of line is the level of hostility. Disagreeing with paid D&D or AI tools is one thing, but no one should be getting harassed simply for trying to make a living doing something they enjoy.
Most of the friction here seems to come from assuming that preference = moral rule, and that’s where things derail.
Eighth, the AI arguments are selectively applied and overstated. If you use streaming, cloud services, social media, or VTTs, you’re already in the same environmental footprint category. Targeting AI alone is moral cherry-picking. And legally, AI training isn't copyright infringement under current law—you can dislike it ethically, but that doesn’t make it illegal.
I had a feeling this was going to pivot to AI shilling before it was over. Sigh.
Calling that “AI shilling” misses the point.
That wasn’t shilling—it was highlighting selective outrage with real-world comparisons. If someone uses streaming services, cloud storage, social media, or VTT platforms, they’re already part of the same general environmental footprint. Targeting AI alone isn’t a principled position; it’s moral cherry-picking. And legally, AI training isn’t copyright infringement under current law—you can dislike it ethically, but that doesn’t make it illegal.
More importantly, I wasn’t even defending AI as a product. I was explaining why I use AI-generated art for banners for free events and for NPC tokens.
I wish I could pay artists. My wife is an artist—she barely makes money off her paintings. If I asked her to make portraits for just 20 NPCs in one city, even at $5 ( we both know that's not what they charge) per portrait, that’s $100 for one location. Yet people tell me I should do that to “support artists,” while also saying I shouldn’t charge $20 for a four-hour session.
That $20 goes toward my prep time, Discord Nitro, Inkarnate for 16K maps, D&D Beyond books I share with the party, and the work I put into vetting players so the table actually works. It’s a curated, high-quality experience.
So no—this isn’t “AI shilling.” It’s explaining why I use a practical tool for free events and NPC assets while charging a modest fee for a professionally run session.
First, “D&D isn’t meant to be a job” is not a factual argument—it’s a personal preference. Wizards of the Coast explicitly allows paid DMs. Platforms like StartPlaying, Roll20, and Foundry are built around professional games. Conventions and LGS programs run paid tables constantly. Paid D&D isn’t a fringe idea—it’s an established part of the hobby.
Second, free D&D already exists in my community—by choice. I host a 4+ year ongoing campaign every Sunday, completely free. I also run free one-shots, free community events, and free giveaways. So the idea that I’m “commercializing D&D at the expense of free play” is simply false.
Third, “most people play for free” is irrelevant. Most people cook for friends for free. That doesn’t invalidate professional chefs. Most people take photos for fun. That doesn’t invalidate photographers. Hobby norms don’t invalidate professional services.
Fourth, your scheduling argument is just wrong. I dedicate 9–10 hours per day total, spread across six campaigns—rotating prep, maps, NPCs, lore, and encounters. I never claimed 9 hours per campaign. That’s a misread, not a contradiction.
Fifth, “reuse maps” and “you don’t need art” are preferences, not rebuttals. My players want high-production games—and they pay for that experience. I provide hundreds of handcrafted maps, 200–300 NPCs per campaign, custom lore, homebrew races/classes, and tailored story arcs. That’s labor.
Sixth, D&D already being “expensive” doesn’t make paid DMs irrational. People already pay for rulebooks, minis, VTTs, modules, and subscriptions. Paying $20 for a curated, professionally-run weekly experience is not absurd—it’s a service fee.
Seventh, it is hypocritical to say “pay real artists” while also saying “you shouldn’t charge.” You’re demanding I spend more money while insisting I shouldn’t earn any.
Eighth, the AI arguments are selectively applied and overstated. If you use streaming, cloud services, social media, or VTTs, you’re already in the same environmental footprint category. Targeting AI alone is moral cherry-picking. And legally, AI training isn't copyright infringement under current law—you can dislike it ethically, but that doesn’t make it illegal.
Ninth, “average D&D player” is irrelevant. I’m not selling to basement tables. I’m selling to players who want high-production, reliable, professionally-run campaigns.
Disliking paid D&D or AI art doesn’t make either illegitimate. It just means you don’t want to pay for it.
Point by point, only the points I care about. (As a general statement, I'm not against the general existence of paid games, and what you do for yours isn't something I'm concerning myself with; I'm mainly here for the AI point.)
1: "Allows" isn't the same as "endorses", and doesn't show intent. False argument.
7: It's also hypocritical to use stolen assets and charge players for the time you're using them.
8: AI is disproportionately high in terms of resource use compared to all those other services, and all those other services are more valuable to society as a whole. (Yes, entertainment is considered to be providing value here.) Also, the law being slow to catch up (along with lobbying by tech companies swaying opinions of lawmakers who don't understand the impacts of the technology) isn't a valid argument.
Eighth, the AI arguments are selectively applied and overstated. If you use streaming, cloud services, social media, or VTTs, you’re already in the same environmental footprint category. Targeting AI alone is moral cherry-picking. And legally, AI training isn't copyright infringement under current law—you can dislike it ethically, but that doesn’t make it illegal.
I had a feeling this was going to pivot to AI shilling before it was over. Sigh.
Calling that “AI shilling” misses the point.
That wasn’t shilling—it was highlighting selective outrage with real-world comparisons. If someone uses streaming services, cloud storage, social media, or VTT platforms, they’re already part of the same general environmental footprint. Targeting AI alone isn’t a principled position; it’s moral cherry-picking. And legally, AI training isn’t copyright infringement under current law—you can dislike it ethically, but that doesn’t make it illegal.
More importantly, I wasn’t even defending AI as a product. I was explaining why I use AI-generated art for banners for free events and for NPC tokens.
I wish I could pay artists. My wife is an artist—she barely makes money off her paintings. If I asked her to make portraits for just 20 NPCs in one city, even at $5 ( we both know that's not what they charge) per portrait, that’s $100 for one location. Yet people tell me I should do that to “support artists,” while also saying I shouldn’t charge $20 for a four-hour session.
That $20 goes toward my prep time, Discord Nitro, Inkarnate for 16K maps, D&D Beyond books I share with the party, and the work I put into vetting players so the table actually works. It’s a curated, high-quality experience.
So no—this isn’t “AI shilling.” It’s explaining why I use a practical tool for free events and NPC assets while charging a modest fee for a professionally run session.
See, what it sounds like is actually happening here is that people are complaining that you're charging them money for a service that you're using generative AI tools to help provide.
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pronouns: he/she/they
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I am a professional Dungeon Master. This is not a hobby I dabble in—it is work. It is my job.
I hand-craft maps. Hundreds of them. I write storylines and long-term plot arcs. I design hooks, twists, factions, secrets, consequences, and character-driven outcomes. I maintain continuity across six simultaneous campaigns, each running three or more hours per session, some with seven players at the table. Each campaign contains hundreds of fully realized NPCs—people with families, occupations, motives, histories, alliances, and grudges. The world has deep, layered lore so it feels lived-in, not procedural.
My longest campaign ran for over four years. I canceled exactly one session the entire time.
Each campaign easily contains over 500 custom maps. I make maps for everything. Taverns. Alleys. Forest paths. Back rooms. Ships. Dungeons. Cities. Battlefields. I design homebrew races and full classes—deeply detailed, mechanically balanced, and narratively integrated into the world. I give those to my players for free.
I also have two kids. A wife. I am writing a book.
And I still dedicate 9–10 hours a day per campaign to make sure every single session that night is fully prepared and immersive.
So yes—this is a lot of work. Because it is work.
Now here’s the part people don’t want to confront.
A lot of people in this community hate AI. A lot of people say, “Pay artists.”
And I do. Whenever I can afford it, I commission real artists.
But why is it that art must always be paid for…
while games—actual campaigns run by real human DMs—are expected to be free?
Why is it noble to demand compensation for visual assets…
but somehow immoral for a DM to charge for sessions?
AI cannot write a living campaign.
AI cannot adapt to player decisions in real time.
AI cannot roleplay seven unique NPCs in one scene.
AI cannot manage pacing, tension, character arcs, combat balance, table dynamics, or emotional storytelling.
AI cannot run a session.
A human DM does all of that.
So if you demand that artists be paid for their labor—but you also demand that campaigns be free—you are not standing on moral ground. You are standing on hypocrisy.
If you complain about AI art while insisting that real DMs should give away thousands of hours of labor for nothing, then your position is incoherent. Either creative labor has value… or it doesn’t.
You do not get to argue both.
My final point is simple and irrefutable:
If you are the type of person who complains about AI art,
you had better not be complaining that campaigns are pay-to-play.
Because if art deserves to be paid for,
then so does the immersive, handcrafted, human-run experience that actually brings your world to life.
Examples of the kind of custom work I provide to my players:
Realm Walker
https://www.dndbeyond.com/species/2055866-lustrian-realm-walker
Lustrian Arachne
https://www.dndbeyond.com/species/2080011-lustrian-arachne
Hollowshade
https://www.dndbeyond.com/species/2086030-hollowshade
CIRCLE OF THE PRIMORDIAL WILDS
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/2504860-circle-of-the-primordial-wilds
WAY OF THE WYRD MENAGERIE
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/2710797-way-of-the-wyrd-menagerie
Druid of the broken circle
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/2662790-druid-of-the-broken-circle-cat
Gark
https://www.dndbeyond.com/species/2087432-gark
To be honest this is a very good point, yes some people rely on art for their income but those people also charge outlandish prices for work that takes so much longer than it could be compared to ai, while i do agree that sometimes ai can be overused as a whole it helps more than hunting down an artist and getting them to perfectly design what you are after within a timely setting
First of all: If you don't get paid for it, it isn't a job, it's a hobby. Calling being a DM for free a job is like calling being a Reddit moderator a job. If you're actually getting paid to run games, that's a little different, and the amount of work makes a little more sense.
Second: You're putting in a lot of work. Not every DM needs to do that, and not every campaign or group needs it. D&D is designed to be able to run mostly/entirely Theater of the Mind.
Third: AI "art" has issues that go beyond "pay the artists". There's basically no public models that aren't trained on stolen work, and the Earth resources required to run it at the rate it's being run are staggering. For instance, if you support AI, you're partly to blame for the current high prices of RAM.
And to point out: While the use of models trained on stolen data is already morally shaky, if you're using it as a paid DM, you're actively stealing from every single artist it was trained on for profit.
Is...anyone doing that, though?
pronouns: he/she/they
This was my first thought.
I think the OP would be getting more traction and probably agreement if the lived experience was up front: "This was the Xth time in Y weeks that players have asked me to DM for their group, but not offer compensation..." or something along those lines.
As stated above, if you are a professional DM, then you are getting paid. Who are these people that are not paying you, but also against AI art?
everyday.
Just to clarify, are those people here on the D&D Beyond forums? Or are you just venting?
pronouns: he/she/they
Believe it or not, this comes up constantly. I’ve had multiple conversations across StartPlaying.games, Reddit, and Facebook where players complain that there aren’t enough free campaigns. I’ve personally reached out to people looking for games, offered them tours of what I provide, and shown them the full scope of my work—only for some to take offense that I charge while also using AI for certain images.
Every few days, I hear the same arguments from 15 to 20 different people: disbelief that I charge $20 per session, followed in the same breath by criticism of an AI-generated banner for a free dice giveaway, along with the claim that I “should have paid an artist instead.”
What they don’t seem to factor in is that I don’t even keep the full $20—StartPlaying takes about $3 per seat, every session.
What makes it worse is that my wife gets the brunt of it. She handles our advertising, schedules the meet-and-greets, and personally welcomes everyone into the server—so she’s the one fielding most of these complaints and hostility.
The contradiction is hard to miss: being told not to charge for my time and labor, while also being told I should spend more money on commissioned art.
D&D is not meant to be a job. It is not designed to be a source of income. You can do that, and that’s great for you, but 99.9% of D&D players are playing D&D whenever their schedules line up so they can hang out with a group of friends for a few hours. I DM 1 campaign year round and do a handful of oneshots every year, and I do this for free because I play dnd with my friends to have fun, not to make a living. Not every campaign needs intricate art for every character and a new fresh exciting map for every encounter (may I suggest reusing maps maybe?). But you don’t need expensive commissioned art for every NPC and town in your world. Free D&D is the norm, because most DMs are not running six different games as their main source of income to provide for a family of four. You are far, far removed from a normal D&D player. If I can run through some of your points? Great. If you are running 6 sessions at a time, you cannot dedicate 9 hours a day to each of them. If you dedicate 9 hours total, that’s a different story, but that’s not what you said. It isn’t hypocritical to dislike AI art and like free D&D. D&D is already an expensive hobby with rulebooks and minis and everything else that everyone needs, charging a fee just isn’t rational for an already expensive hobby. Like I said before, you are not the average D&D player. The average D&D player gets 5 of their friends in someone’s basement to have fun, they are not running to six sessions a week for a paycheck. And most importantly, you’ve conveniently omitted the main reasons people don’t like AI. It consumes incomprehensible amounts of water and electricity, usually produced by fossil fuels, absolutely terrible for the environment. It takes works that real human people spent hours on, puts it in a blender with a dozen other stolen artworks and sells the product without paying the original artists for their work.
I’m a decent DM and an above average rules lawyer
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This isn’t hyperbole, and it isn’t me venting. I’m not talking about a handful of bad interactions or one-off comments. I’m referring to people across D&D Beyond, Reddit, Facebook, Discord, and other LFG spaces who are actively looking for games—people I personally reach out to, offer tours to, and take the time to walk through everything I provide.
Between the two of us, my wife and I easily talk to 20–30 people a day between the two of us to help fill one-shots, ongoing campaigns, and special events. This is a consistent, repeatable experience, not an exaggerated story or a grievance post—it’s simply what comes with running paid campaigns in public-facing D&D communities.
The answer is simple and one you will always fight against. It is basic human psychology.
If the average Joe thinks he can do X. Then comes the thought why pay someone to do what I can do. On a sports side, why do so many kids want to earn a living playing X? Because they think they can do that sport. If people feel that they can do X, they are more likely to say I can do that and not pay. Look at all of the DIY projects.
Why do adults pay to see sporting events, because as an adult they realize that no they can't earn a living playing. Why do lawyers and accountants make money, because people realize they can not do that job.
As for DMing, people know that kids can do it, and their friend jane. They don't realize what they don't know. They don't understand the work you go through to give a great game.
Because people always think anyone can DM, paying for one is not needed. This has nothing to do with right/wrong or anything. Just human psychology.
First, “D&D isn’t meant to be a job” is not a factual argument—it’s a personal preference.
Wizards of the Coast explicitly allows paid DMs. Platforms like StartPlaying, Roll20, and Foundry are built around professional games. Conventions and LGS programs run paid tables constantly. Paid D&D isn’t a fringe idea—it’s an established part of the hobby.
Second, free D&D already exists in my community—by choice.
I host a 4+ year ongoing campaign every Sunday, completely free. I also run free one-shots, free community events, and free giveaways.
So the idea that I’m “commercializing D&D at the expense of free play” is simply false.
Third, “most people play for free” is irrelevant.
Most people cook for friends for free. That doesn’t invalidate professional chefs.
Most people take photos for fun. That doesn’t invalidate photographers.
Hobby norms don’t invalidate professional services.
Fourth, your scheduling argument is just wrong.
I dedicate 9–10 hours per day total, spread across six campaigns—rotating prep, maps, NPCs, lore, and encounters.
I never claimed 9 hours per campaign. That’s a misread, not a contradiction.
Fifth, “reuse maps” and “you don’t need art” are preferences, not rebuttals.
My players want high-production games—and they pay for that experience.
I provide hundreds of handcrafted maps, 200–300 NPCs per campaign, custom lore, homebrew races/classes, and tailored story arcs. That’s labor.
Sixth, D&D already being “expensive” doesn’t make paid DMs irrational.
People already pay for rulebooks, minis, VTTs, modules, and subscriptions.
Paying $20 for a curated, professionally-run weekly experience is not absurd—it’s a service fee.
Seventh, it is hypocritical to say “pay real artists” while also saying “you shouldn’t charge.”
You’re demanding I spend more money while insisting I shouldn’t earn any.
Eighth, the AI arguments are selectively applied and overstated.
If you use streaming, cloud services, social media, or VTTs, you’re already in the same environmental footprint category.
Targeting AI alone is moral cherry-picking.
And legally, AI training isn't copyright infringement under current law—you can dislike it ethically, but that doesn’t make it illegal.
Ninth, “average D&D player” is irrelevant.
I’m not selling to basement tables. I’m selling to players who want high-production, reliable, professionally-run campaigns.
Disliking paid D&D or AI art doesn’t make either illegitimate.
It just means you don’t want to pay for it.
I agree with what you said. But at this point, I think people should understand how much work it takes to run a real campaign—not one that gets canceled every other week or loses players every month, but a long-running, coherent campaign where both the players and the story stay high quality.
I don’t just take anyone who can pay. I’ve turned people away because they wouldn’t fit the party or I knew they’d cause problems. Group chemistry, reliability, and tone matter.
There’s a lot that goes into running a successful, long-term, high-quality campaign. And with the sheer number of D&D streams and shows out there now, people should have a better sense of what that level of DMing actually looks like.
I had a feeling this was going to pivot to AI shilling before it was over. Sigh.
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While being a professional DM is a cool concept in theory I just find it hard to see it as something conventional
First the people who need a professional DM are probably those with little time so it would probably be hard to schedule things in a way that works for all of them
Second there is no real good way to gauge if someone is a good DM or not yeah you can say they have 13 years of experience but it doesn't mean they are good at making a campaign that's fun
Thirdly people's Play styles differ vastly and what works for some people as a DM won't work for others
I'm not trying to hate on you or anything NLK
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It feels like two different conversations are being mixed together.
Free D&D being normal doesn’t make paid D&D illegitimate. And disliking AI art doesn’t automatically mean someone is obligated to commission artists for every project. People can choose what they pay for and what they don’t.
If someone wants a free, low-prep game with friends, great. If someone wants a high-production, reliable campaign and is willing to pay for it, also fine. Neither invalidates the other.
What does feel out of line is the level of hostility. Disagreeing with paid D&D or AI tools is one thing, but no one should be getting harassed simply for trying to make a living doing something they enjoy.
Most of the friction here seems to come from assuming that preference = moral rule, and that’s where things derail.
Calling that “AI shilling” misses the point.
That wasn’t shilling—it was highlighting selective outrage with real-world comparisons. If someone uses streaming services, cloud storage, social media, or VTT platforms, they’re already part of the same general environmental footprint. Targeting AI alone isn’t a principled position; it’s moral cherry-picking. And legally, AI training isn’t copyright infringement under current law—you can dislike it ethically, but that doesn’t make it illegal.
More importantly, I wasn’t even defending AI as a product. I was explaining why I use AI-generated art for banners for free events and for NPC tokens.
I wish I could pay artists. My wife is an artist—she barely makes money off her paintings. If I asked her to make portraits for just 20 NPCs in one city, even at $5 ( we both know that's not what they charge) per portrait, that’s $100 for one location. Yet people tell me I should do that to “support artists,” while also saying I shouldn’t charge $20 for a four-hour session.
That $20 goes toward my prep time, Discord Nitro, Inkarnate for 16K maps, D&D Beyond books I share with the party, and the work I put into vetting players so the table actually works. It’s a curated, high-quality experience.
So no—this isn’t “AI shilling.”
It’s explaining why I use a practical tool for free events and NPC assets while charging a modest fee for a professionally run session.
Point by point, only the points I care about. (As a general statement, I'm not against the general existence of paid games, and what you do for yours isn't something I'm concerning myself with; I'm mainly here for the AI point.)
1: "Allows" isn't the same as "endorses", and doesn't show intent. False argument.
7: It's also hypocritical to use stolen assets and charge players for the time you're using them.
8: AI is disproportionately high in terms of resource use compared to all those other services, and all those other services are more valuable to society as a whole. (Yes, entertainment is considered to be providing value here.) Also, the law being slow to catch up (along with lobbying by tech companies swaying opinions of lawmakers who don't understand the impacts of the technology) isn't a valid argument.
See, what it sounds like is actually happening here is that people are complaining that you're charging them money for a service that you're using generative AI tools to help provide.
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