This is not aimed at any specific content creator.
Once upon a time I wrote an article with a similar title to this one. I still believe there are those amongst us in the TTRPG hobby who are just here to make a quick buck. Yes, unfortunately, if I don’t want to step on some toes it’s going to look like I’m straw manning this whole thing. But trust me if you know where to look, the signs are there.
[Disclaimer: This is my opinion! There are plenty of other platforms and outlets for you to vent your opinions. It’s okay if you disagree, but please keep it civil. Telling me I’m wrong is probably not the own that you think it is. Please don’t be the reason I have to shut comments down yet again. Thank you!]
Let’s start at the most basic level, which probably consists of 70-85% of the fan base, just like any fan base. I’m counting most Game Masters in this category because while we create stuff for our games, we aren’t necessarily selling anything. These are the casual weekend gamers, the folks getting together once in a while to roll dice together who rarely give the industry much thought at all.
Then there’s the rest of us. We’re the super serious hobbyists who follow TTRPG news like it was a national headline, watch DungeonTube videos at 3:00AM, and write some fan content for blogs or for sale. (Hi, that’s me.) I have faced up to the fact that I’m probably never getting rich off selling roleplaying games like many other content creators. However, it doesn’t keep me from trying.
Where the lines start to blur significantly is in the about top 5-10% of the fan base. You know, the ones who have designer, artist, writer, editor credentials, or even own a TTRPG company. Even then, I’d guess there are very few who can say they’ve gotten rich off of gaming.
Here’s the “but.”
Thanks to the bloody rise of social media influencers, we have some people who make plenty of money off of selling things to the hobby and have very little to nothing to do with us outside of making that dollar. (Or Pound, Euro, Sheckel, whatever.) These are the people who secretly detest all of us obsessed nerds as soon as they leave the convention floor following their big Gen Con panel appearance or whatever. They have their name cemented in someone’s Dungeons & Dragons supplement because it helps sell more copies.
Maybe some of the creators I’m thinking of did care at one time. Maybe they were just in it for fun and games literally. Then there are those creators who were cosplayers or someone with a throwaway college degree that saw a chance to make some big money off all of us nerds. I wish I could say I’m ashamed of them, but they are likely making considerable bank, especially shills for Wizards of the Coast/D&D.
I only know this because I looked up (Redacted’s) public financials and she made about one dollar per fan to the tune of 800K+ fans that year. I might be underestimating with the undisclosed totals, but $4,350 average per month just on YouTube AdSense ain’t too shabby. I could just about live off that. Of course that’s just the YouTube Partner Program. Then we get into all of the other stuff including free convention stays, trips to WotC HQ, D&D in a Castle appearances, etc. By the time it’s all said and done, yeah she’s possibly making a million dollars on the TTRPG audience.
Then there are the dozen or so “Community Advisors” who working on D&D these days. Some of them were already on the payroll at WotC, while others have businesses and YouTube channels of their own. My best guess is they are more interested in keeping their corporate bosses happy more than they give two shitz about any of the actual community. From what I’ve seen, none of those people have a damned clue what someone like me thinks of D&D or what WotC is doing on any given week.
Don’t even get me started on crowdfunding such as Kickstarter.
I wish I were kidding. I hear Professor DM is in the million-dollar club. I wouldn’t name him outright if I was going to shit on him. It’s okay. I truly celebrate anyone that can pull off what he did. He’s a good guy. I think it’s great that he overcame cancer and can cover those bills.
Other people like (Redacted) have a $3.2 million Kickstarter and now apparently he thinks he’s too good for the rest of us. Obviously if we don’t have access to video editors for YouTube and artists for our DriveThruRPG offerings, then we should just go eff ourselves or something. He sure does enjoy punching down on smaller creators, though. Otherwise he wouldn’t have kept doing it until his Kickstarter fulfillment duties became a bigger priority. Best of luck, dude. I’m going to keep making content my way.
Do I sound bitter? Maybe a little. Sure, I’d love to make a million bucks on Kickstarter. There are plenty of companies who do it every day. I’ve backed plenty of them up until now. My money is tied up elsewhere these days. Nothing more going out unless something comes in. I’m happy if I make $1.21 on DriveThruRPG on any given month.
Some people on DungeonTube think I’m a wallet with legs, and some TTRPG YouTubers are tabletop gamers who love the hobby and genuinely just want to share their ideas with the world. The complicated part is figuring out which one is which or who is who. I know which one I am, but I’m farther and farther every day from making a single dime on YouTube, Kickstarter, here, etc…
Recent YouTube monetization changes.
Yes, I’m aware of the 500-subscriber tier. It’s completely worthless as far as I’m concerned as I don’t live stream anything and probably never will. AdSense won’t kick in until 1,000 subscribers and 8,000 certified public watch hours. I’m so far from that goal it doesn’t seem possible right now. I wish I knew what the fix was.
YouTube/social media are only major part of the TTRPG experience that bring me down these days. Sure, I’m a wee bit jealous. I’d dearly love to have the kind of money to afford a pizza late at night sometime or a cup of that fancy expensive latte at one of those big coffee shops on the regular. I’d love to combine my hobby with a career in a way that feels fulfilling and meaningful. I don’t know how or when it’s going to happen yet.
Someone posed an interesting question the other day.
Would I sell out to a big game company like Wizards of the Coast if they rolled a pile of money and/or fringe benefits (writing credits, con appearances, social media stardom, etc.) up to my door? Would I go to work writing/designing D&D if given the chance? The answer is not what you think.
Change the company to Free League Publishing and we have a deal. Two Little Mice need a third mouse or something? Sure. I’d do that. WotC? (Collective cringe.) No, probably not. Yes, money buys a lot of things that make me happy, but my ethics are not for sale and WotC has shot themselves in the ass when it comes to lines I won’t cross.
Roleplaying is more than a hobby to me. It’s a sacred art. It’s a sweeter science than boxing. Game mastering, roleplaying, writing, rolling dice, and having fun are more important to me than turning a fast dollar. I won’t compare it to religion, but gaming is way up there in my esteem. If I can’t live with my own conscience at the end of the day, what’s the point of doing whatever I did?
I’m trying to put the negatives behind me, but this stuff keeps me awake.
I probably need therapy, but here we are instead. Other than the social media/YouTube stuff and all of the disgusting grifters in the DungeonTube/D&D influencer sphere, what is there? Strangely in terms of running/writing games themselves, nothing really bugs me that much.
I get a little annoyed when people take three or four minutes out of a fifteen-twenty-minute video to shill their Patreon or Ko-Fi. Whatever pays the bills, I guess. Maybe I’m a freak, but I have a different attitude when it comes to producing and advertising my own endeavors. But it’s not for everyone.
We’ll get into my opinion of paid Dungeon/Game Masters in another article. Right now I have mixed feelings about that topic. I personally wouldn’t but I guess some people do make a living off of running (usually) D&D for strangers. Good for them, I suppose.
If I had a crowdfunding project…
First, I would make sure the whole manuscript was laid out awaiting artwork before I even announced it. Second there would only be three tiers: PDF, Print + PDF, and Retail (6 physical for an enormous discount.) No add-ons. No incentives. Last, I would talk about the making-of on my YouTube channel but not shill the crowdfunding campaign. I’d rather have an evergreen video about the game than try for more sales.
I figure I can always do the interview circuit if I want to hype the game. There’s also social media such as Instagram and Facebook if I can do it without going into debt. We can always sell dice and t-shirts after the thing is in stores. There’s also the possibility of doing in-person demos at conventions and game shops, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
My usual publishing modus operandi.
Right now with no art budget and being a one man show, I publish on DriveThruRPG.com. I try to keep the price of my digital offerings down. Since I do openly use AI art on things that aren’t character sheets, I offer an art-free, printer-friendly, text only version of what I’m working on. It’s not fancy, but it gets the job done. I have a larger sourcebook still in the works that might, maybe go over the $5.00 mark, but it’s going to be packed!
I miss the days of AD&D hardcover 128-page books that cost $12.99 at Waldenbooks. Unfortunately those days are gone forever along with the store. One of my goals in life is to keep prices for digital offerings in line with those old 1980s game prices until I can get a 100% human drawn print on demand book.
If I just wanted to make quick cash because I didn’t care about people—
I’d pump out AI generated documents and art on DriveThru and Itch at the rate of 2-3 books per day and make them look like a game line. Or I’d do the same thing only compiled into a print book on Amazon for dirt cheap. As long as I can keep up with ChatGPT payments, it’s pretty much pure profit right now. Please, please, please DO NOT try that at home! This was not a suggestion. Remember ethics.
The same kind of scheme can be applied to YouTube. If I wanted to make fast money while it lasts, I’d make a completely unrelated channel using AI revenge stories. You know the ones that talk about “I caught my wife cheating with my brother, so I completely destroyed them both financially” or whatever. My wife listens to that drivel. I’m sure the channel is making good money, though. I briefly considered doing the fantasy gaming version of those stories and just have some monster run into the middle of the story and eat someone instead of them being cut out of the inheritance or whatever. The possibilities are endless until YouTube finds a way to put a stop to it.
Personally I wouldn’t do any of that stuff. Yes AI is a great tool for small creators. But that’s where it should begin and end as far as I’m concerned. Taking advantage of people, even AdSense, is still a bad practice. Brainstorming and generating ideas is perfectly reasonable, but having AI do all the work is a foolhardy notion. Some of that stuff is so obvious right now but wait until the technology gets even smarter.
At the end of the day, it’s about doing what you think is best.
Use AI or don’t. Please don’t punch down on people who do, especially if you’re a well-known DungeonTuber with a couple of multimillion dollar Kickstarters. I think punching down on people is bad form in general. Spread the joy. As I like to say, If you’re going to hate (on AI,) feel free to donate (human made art.)
Someone once mistakenly accused me of telling people to play the game any way they want but then telling the same people “you’re doing it wrong.” Please don’t ever let me turn into that guy. Run your game any way you want. Yes, really. Not my fish, not my pond. Have fun.
This is also where I usually say, “Don’t be a douchebag at your gaming table or online.” As I’m sure I’ve offended someone today, I’ll just say just try to be civil even if we don’t agree.
Please use your discernment. At the end of the day, that’s all any of us can do. If something on the Internet looks like a scam; it probably is. Don’t take any wooden nickels.
Let’s get back to discussing games, stat blocks, monsters, spells, magic items, characters, literally anything game related after one more article in this series. This YouTube monetization thing really has me triggered. D&D 5E/5.5E has me triggered. D&D influencers have me triggered.
I say it every year, but I think 2026 bears repeating it. This year I intend to write more, read more, and discuss cool TTRPGs as well as supplements. Most of all, let’s just have more fun. Let’s explore. Let’s save the kingdom from the evil warlord. Let’s discuss all the fun stuff in gaming that we love.
With the world in the state it finds itself in today, please be kind. Please be considerate to one another even if we don’t agree. Lastly, please pursue the thing that brings you the most joy without harm to others. Thank you!
