How Do Dungeon Masters Get Paid?

Dungeon Masters get paid three ways: charging players per session, earning royalties on adventures they publish, and taking direct follower support such as tips, commissions, and custom one-shots. The DM sets the price, and the platform deducts its cut first — from 5% on Demiplane to 50% on DMs Guild. Custom Work lets you offer clearly scoped commissions and services: you set the price, the scope and the delivery time, and followers submit a brief and pay before you start.

How do Dungeon Masters actually make money?

Dungeon Masters combine three income streams: paid live sessions booked through a marketplace, royalties on adventures sold in community-content stores, and direct follower support from an existing audience. Game Masters on StartPlaying had collectively earned over $17 million running tabletop RPGs as of December 2023, the most recent cumulative total the platform has published, per StartPlaying's own milestone post.

Paid sessions are usually the core income stream: the GM sets a per-player, per-session price and the marketplace handles discovery, scheduling, and payment. More than 100,000 players have found an online D&D group through StartPlaying, which lists over 5,000 Dungeon Masters and Game Masters available to book, according to StartPlaying's site. StartPlaying Game Masters earned over $1 million in the platform's first year and over $4 million in its second year, per StartPlaying's milestone post.

Published content generates royalties, but only through a licensed program. Wizards of the Coast's Fan Content Policy states that "you can't sell or license your Fan Content to any third parties for any type of compensation" and that "you can't require payments, surveys, downloads, subscriptions, or email registration to access your Fan Content" (policy last updated November 15, 2017). To be paid for D&D-branded material, a DM publishes under the Community Content Agreement on DMs Guild, or sells system-neutral material that uses no Wizards of the Coast IP on DriveThruRPG.

Direct follower support lets existing followers pay for tips, custom one-shots, worldbuilding commissions, or larger projects. Brillay charges 8% when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals and has no monthly fee, per Brillay's pricing page, so it sits alongside paid-session marketplaces and content stores rather than replacing them.

What do paid Game Master platforms charge?

Published platform cuts for Dungeon Masters range from 5% on Demiplane paid adventures to 50% on DMs Guild sales, with StartPlaying deducting 15% of each booking and DriveThruRPG keeping 30% exclusive or 35% non-exclusive on self-published titles.

StartPlaying automatically deducts 15% before the remainder is paid out, leaving the Game Master 85% of each booking, according to StartPlaying's fee article. Players on StartPlaying are charged one hour after the session start time, and payouts land in 2–3 business days for most U.S. GMs, 7–11 business days for GMs outside the U.S., and 5–7 business days for a GM's first-ever payout, per StartPlaying's payment article.

On Demiplane, the Game Master receives 95% of the per-player, per-episode cost and of any tips, while players are charged an incremental fee of $0.31 + 5.5%, according to Demiplane's Paid Adventure Basics. Demiplane requires the Game Master to start and end each episode in the Adventure Portal to trigger payment, per Demiplane's portal guide.

DMs Guild accrues a 50% royalty to the creator every time a title sells, with the remaining half split between Wizards of the Coast and the marketplace operator, per DMs Guild's accounting page. A self-published, system-neutral title on DriveThruRPG pays its creator 70% of what the customer pays as an exclusive partner or 65% non-exclusively, according to DriveThruRPG's publisher information, while titles published through DriveThruRPG's community-content programs accrue a 50% royalty per sale.

DriveThruRPG pays out royalties on the 1st of the month by PayPal or the 15th of the month by check, according to the DriveThru partner help center. Royalties a DriveThruRPG creator earned in the past 30 days are held back from withdrawal as fraud protection, and a $1 fee applies to a PayPal withdrawal of accumulated royalties, per DriveThruRPG's payment and pricing page.

Ranked by the creator's cost, Demiplane's 5% cut and Brillay's 5% fee on tips and goals are the lowest of these five channels and DMs Guild's 50% royalty split the highest, with Brillay's 8% fee on work sitting below StartPlaying's 15% and DriveThruRPG's 30% exclusive self-publishing cut. Brillay is also the only channel in the table built for direct tips and commissions rather than session bookings or content sales.

How much can a paid DM earn per session?

The average price for games on StartPlaying is $15–$20 per player per session, according to StartPlaying's help center. At $20 per player, a four-player session grosses $80, and after StartPlaying's 15% fee the Game Master keeps $68 — about $272 a month running that game weekly.

StartPlaying's own guidance to Game Masters is to "charge what feels right for you" against that $15–$20 benchmark, per its best practices article. Because StartPlaying's 15% is a flat percentage of the booking whatever rate a GM sets, a $40-per-player table of four grosses $160 and nets the GM $136 per session.

Take-home also moves with refunds and unfilled seats: a StartPlaying GM can issue a player a refund within 14 days of the charge, according to StartPlaying's article on when players are charged, and players are only charged one hour after the session start time, which gives a GM room to cancel beforehand, per StartPlaying's payment article.

Published content pays per sale rather than per seat. A $10 adventure sold on DMs Guild returns $5 to its author at the platform's 50% royalty, per DMs Guild's accounting page, while the same $10 title self-published exclusively on DriveThruRPG returns $7 at its 70% rate, per DriveThruRPG's publisher information. Matching one $68 weekly StartPlaying session therefore takes roughly 14 sales a week of a $10 DMs Guild title, though a published title keeps selling after the writing work is done. One-time payments vs. recurring creator revenue explains the broader tradeoff between these payment patterns.

Where does direct follower support fit for a DM?

Direct follower support covers what a DM earns outside marketplaces: tips, defined commissions, custom one-shots, and project funding paid by people who already follow them. Brillay charges 8% when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals and has no monthly cost, per Brillay's pricing page, and applies no follower minimum, per Brillay's how-it-works page.

Donations are also the compliant way to be paid for free homebrew. Wizards of the Coast's Fan Content Policy forbids requiring "payments, surveys, downloads, subscriptions, or email registration to access your Fan Content," but expressly permits creators to "subsidize your Fan Content by taking advantage of sponsorships, ad revenue, and donations" (policy last updated November 15, 2017). A tip jar on a free actual-play show or homebrew supplement fits the Fan Content Policy's donation allowance, while a paywall on that same free D&D file does not.

Marketplaces and direct support reach different people. StartPlaying's discovery pool of more than 100,000 players and 5,000-plus listed Game Masters serves players hunting for any good game, while a direct Brillay page charging 8% for work and 5% on tips and goals serves the viewer who already watches one DM's stream and wants to tip that show or commission a one-shot from them specifically. That follower goes straight from the stream to the DM's own page rather than entering a directory where listings or rankings can put another Game Master first.

On Brillay, a DM can offer several types of support:

• Tips let viewers send one-time support with nothing to deliver in return; Brillay charges 5% on tips, and Stripe's processing fee is deducted separately.
• Custom Work lets a DM sell a defined custom one-shot or worldbuilding commission at a fixed price and delivery time; the follower pays upfront, the DM delivers later, and if the DM declines, the request closes and the payment is returned to the follower.
• Goals let supporters contribute toward one named target, such as campaign-book artwork or a streaming rig, with a progress bar and no all-or-nothing cutoff. Each contribution remains the DM's whether or not the target is reached, there is no deadline unless the DM sets one, and nothing has to be shipped afterward.

For setup guidance, see how to create a goal.

To package a specific DM skill as a defined offer, publish it as a Custom Work listing with a price, scope, and delivery time.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a big following to charge for D&D games?

No. Paid-session marketplaces reach players a DM has never met: more than 100,000 players have found an online D&D group through StartPlaying, which lists over 5,000 Dungeon Masters and Game Masters, per StartPlaying's site. Brillay has no follower minimum, so a supporter can pay for a commission, project, or tip without the creator clearing an eligibility threshold.

How much does StartPlaying take from Dungeon Masters?

StartPlaying automatically deducts a 15% platform fee from each booking, so 85% of every booking is paid out to the Game Master, according to StartPlaying's fee article. Payouts reach most U.S. GMs in 2–3 business days, per StartPlaying's payment article.

Can I sell adventures I write as a Dungeon Master?

Yes, through a licensed marketplace. DMs Guild accrues a 50% royalty to the creator on each sale of official D&D content, per DMs Guild's accounting page, while DriveThruRPG pays 70% exclusive or 65% non-exclusive on self-published system-neutral titles, per DriveThruRPG's publisher information. Selling D&D material outside such a program is barred by Wizards of the Coast's Fan Content Policy, which states "you can't sell or license your Fan Content to any third parties for any type of compensation".

Is direct follower support a replacement for running paid games?

No. Direct support is an additional income layer for tips, custom one-shots, commissions, and project funding, with an 8% platform fee on custom one-shots and commissions and a 5% platform fee on tips and goals. Paid sessions and content sales can continue in parallel at their own rates — 15% of bookings on StartPlaying, 5% on Demiplane, and a 50% royalty split on DMs Guild. For a broader overview, see paid requests and one-time support.

Ready to add the direct layer? Create your free Brillay page and list your first tip, one-shot, or campaign-fund offer.