How to Charge for Drop-In D&D Game Slots

Charge for a drop-in D&D slot by listing each open seat as a fixed-price Creator Service with no ongoing obligation attached: the player pays upfront for that one session, you confirm the date and time directly, and nothing auto-renews. A workable starting price is $20 to $30 per seat for a three-to-four-hour online session — a step above the $15–$20 average on booking marketplaces, because a drop-in seat buys you no repeat business. This keeps an open table's core appeal — no long-term commitment — while still getting you paid before you prep.

FanBell is free to start with no monthly fee and applies a 12% platform fee only when a fan pays (pricing).

An open table runs on a specific promise: players can pick up a seat for one session without signing up for a campaign. The Alexandrian's widely-cited Open Table Manifesto describes this structure as letting a game be "picked up and played with little or no prep," where attendance is drop-in and drop-out rather than a fixed roster. That structure is exactly what makes an open table different from a campaign — and it is also what makes pricing an open table feel awkward, because there is no subscription to bill and no ongoing relationship to invoice. A per-slot Creator Service link solves that: it is a single, priced transaction for a single seat.

What should a drop-in D&D seat cost?

Price a drop-in D&D seat at $20 to $30 per player for a three-to-four-hour online session, above the marketplace midpoint because a one-shot generates no repeat bookings. StartPlaying's own help center states that "the average price on StartPlaying is $15–$20 per session per player" in its Best Practices for Game Masters guide.

"The average price on StartPlaying is $15–$20 per session per player, but charge what feels right for you." — StartPlaying Help Center, "Best Practices for Game Masters"

Three adjustments move a drop-in seat inside the $20–$30 band. Session length is the first adjustment: StartPlaying's help center states in its Best Practices for Game Masters guide that "most games on StartPlaying are 2–3 or 3–4 hours long", so a two-hour introductory one-shot sits near $20 while a four-hour convention-style scenario sits near $30. Prep load is the second adjustment: a pre-built module you have run before costs you less time than a bespoke scenario written for one night, and a drop-in seat price should reflect that gap in prep hours. Scarcity is the third adjustment: an open table that fills every week supports the top of the $20–$30 band, while a new open table that still has to prove itself supports the bottom.

Two hard price floors are worth knowing before setting a drop-in seat price. StartPlaying's help center states that the platform "requires a minimum charge of $5 per session to ensure payments are processed correctly through Stripe," per its article on editing a player's price — a useful signal that very low per-seat prices get eaten by fixed processing costs. Stripe's published US card rate includes a fixed $0.30 per successful transaction, per Stripe's pricing page, which is 6% of a $5 seat but only 1% of a $30 seat.

What counts as a drop-in D&D slot?

A drop-in slot is a single, standalone seat at one session that does not obligate the player to return, unlike a recurring campaign seat that implies weekly attendance. A drop-in slot is typically a one-shot, a West Marches-style hexcrawl, or a rotating open table whose roster changes week to week.

The defining feature of a drop-in slot is that buying one seat creates no expectation of buying another. A drop-in slot differs from a campaign booking in one important way: campaign players are effectively pre-committing to a cadence, while a drop-in player is evaluating a single night. Roleplay Rescue describes open tables as "drop-in-drop-out social games designed to allow low-commitment play on any schedule" — low-commitment play is the product being sold, and the price should match a single unit of it, not a subscription.

Why price a single seat instead of the whole table?

Pricing per seat lets you fill a table incrementally as individual players commit, instead of needing one buyer to cover the whole session cost upfront. Each seat becomes its own transaction, so a table of four separately-paying players generates four confirmations instead of one lump payment you would otherwise have to split or chase down after the session ends.

Per-seat pricing is also how the largest tabletop booking marketplace works: StartPlaying states that "every game charges on a per player, per session basis" in its player guide, so buyers arriving from that marketplace already expect to pay for one seat at one session. Per-seat pricing matters most when your player pool is a rotating cast rather than a fixed group: if three regulars plus one new face claim seats, per-seat pricing means each player pays independently instead of one person fronting the whole session cost. For a full comparison of charging per seat versus one flat price for the whole table, see per-player vs. per-table pricing for paid D&D; for the per-seat dollar benchmarks GMs use for an ongoing session, see how much to charge per player for a D&D session.

How do you list a single drop-in seat as a paid offer?

List a drop-in seat as a Creator Service with a fixed price and turnaround window, then use the private order thread to send the game details — VTT link, Discord invite, start time — after payment clears. FanBell runs no live scheduling calendar; the Creator Service is the payment and intake step (how it works).

The session itself happens on whatever platform you already use, such as Roll20, Foundry, or a Discord voice channel. Name the ruleset explicitly in the listing, because a drop-in buyer is choosing a system as much as a night: Roll20's own Orr Group Industry Report for Q2 2021 put Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition at 53.7% of campaigns on Roll20, and Roll20 has not published a newer edition of that report, so treat 53.7% as a 2021 snapshot rather than a current share. A workable listing for a single seat needs:

• What's included: one seat at one specific session, not an ongoing spot.
• Game and system: the ruleset, tone, and content rating.
• Session length and format: online or in person, roughly how long it runs.
• Character requirements: pre-gen provided, or the player brings their own.
• Confirmation method: where the join link gets sent after payment (the private order thread).

Because Creator Services support full media both directions, a player can attach a character sheet with their request, and you can send back a map or voice message confirming the slot.

How is a drop-in seat different from a recurring campaign seat?

A drop-in slot is priced and sold as a single transaction with no renewal, while a recurring campaign seat implies the same player returning week after week for an ongoing story. The distinction is commercial rather than mechanical: both use the same listing structure, but only the campaign seat assumes a second purchase.

Wizards of the Coast told a 2023 press summit that 58% of D&D players play on a weekly basis, as reported by GeekWire; Wizards has not published the underlying survey data, so the 58% figure should be treated as secondary reporting of an unpublished internal study rather than a citable primary dataset. Read directionally, that reporting suggests much of the audience buying seats from a paid GM already plays on a standing weekly cadence, so some drop-in buyers are testing a table before committing to a recurring seat. The listing itself should still be sold as a single unit, not charged as if the player has committed to the whole run. If a good one-off session turns into a standing seat, that is a separate listing decision covered in turning a one-off request into a recurring paid tabletop game.

Should you collect payment before or after the session?

Collect payment before the session for a drop-in seat, since there is no ongoing relationship to fall back on if an unfamiliar player no-shows afterward. Upfront payment is standard practice on paid-session marketplaces for exactly this reason, and the largest tabletop booking marketplace charges players automatically rather than invoicing them after play.

StartPlaying charges players automatically per session and gives them "a 24-hour cancellation period through which players can skip a session before being charged," per its own player guide. After that 24-hour window closes, the charge goes through and any refund is issued as site credit rather than reversed automatically, per StartPlaying's refund policy.

A FanBell Creator Service link works the same way structurally — the fan pays when they claim the seat, before you do any prep or confirm details. If a request falls outside what you can deliver — wrong system, wrong level range, a player who backs out immediately — you can decline and refund it rather than run the session at a loss of time. The mechanics of collecting from a full table upfront, including how to handle a partial no-show, are covered in collecting payment from your D&D table upfront.

What do you actually keep on a $20, $25, or $30 seat?

A $20 drop-in seat sold through a FanBell Creator Service nets about $16.72 after a 12% platform fee and standard US Stripe card processing; a $25 seat nets about $20.98, and a $30 seat about $25.23. The formula is net = price − (0.12 × price) − (0.029 × price + $0.30).

FanBell's platform fee is 12%, charged only when a fan pays, with no monthly fee. Payment-processing fees are deducted separately from creator earnings, so creator earnings equal the fan payment minus the platform fee minus the processing fee. Stripe's published US rate is 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge on domestic cards, with an additional 1.5% for international cards and an additional 1% when currency conversion is required, per Stripe's pricing page.

Stripe's published 2.9% + $0.30 rate is not one universal number. Stripe's card rate varies by country, payment method, card origin, currency conversion, and any custom or negotiated platform agreement, so a creator outside the US, or one taking international cards, should read the rate card for their own country on Stripe's pricing page rather than assume the US figure applies.

Two implications follow from the $20/$25/$30 fee math. First, Stripe's fixed $0.30 component means fee drag falls as the seat price rises: total fees come to 16.4% of a $20 seat but 15.9% of a $30 seat under the published 12% platform fee and 2.9% + $0.30 US card rate. Second, filling one extra seat at $25 adds roughly $21 of net revenue to a single session, which is a larger swing than any realistic fee optimization between payment platforms.

How does a direct link compare with a marketplace listing?

A drop-in seat sold directly through your own link keeps more of the price than the same seat sold through a booking marketplace, because a marketplace charges a cut for discovery and scheduling tools you do not need if you already have an audience. StartPlaying deducts 15% automatically before payout; FanBell charges 12% only when a fan pays.

StartPlaying deducts its fee automatically at 15% before payout, per its help center. Venmo charges a seller transaction fee of 1.9% + $0.10 on payments received by a business profile, per Venmo's own fees page. PayPal's standard US rate for receiving a domestic invoicing transaction paid through PayPal Checkout is 3.49% + $0.49, per PayPal's merchant fees page.

"StartPlaying automatically deducts 15% before the remainder is paid out to you." — StartPlaying Help Center, "What Does the 15% Fee Cover?"

Fee percentage is not the whole tradeoff. A marketplace's fee buys exposure to new players searching for a table, while a direct link is cheaper per seat but relies on you already having somewhere to post it, such as a Discord server or a stream. Peer-to-peer apps are cheapest on paper but carry policy constraints: Venmo's help center states that a buyer may pay for goods or services only "by paying an authorized business profile or by tagging a payment to a personal profile" as a purchase, per Venmo's article on selling goods and services — so a plain personal-account transfer is not the intended channel for a paid game seat. For the full case on moving intake off a marketplace once you have an audience, see taking D&D bookings without StartPlaying fees.

What should any direct-payment setup for drop-in seats include?

Any direct-payment setup for drop-in seats — FanBell, a Venmo business profile, a PayPal invoice, or a Stripe payment link — needs the same six things: a fixed published price, payment captured before prep, a written cancellation window, a private channel for delivering join details, a refund path, and a record of what each player paid.

Use this checklist to evaluate whichever tool you pick:

• Fixed, published price per seat. The player should see the exact amount before paying, not receive a quote afterward.
• Payment captured upfront. A drop-in player has no ongoing relationship with you, so the charge should clear before you prep.
• A stated cancellation window. StartPlaying's published 24-hour window (player guide) is a reasonable model to copy in your own listing text.
• A private channel for join details. The VTT link, Discord invite, and start time should go to the buyer privately, not into a public comment thread.
• A refund path you control. Confirm before your first sale how the tool handles a refund, and whether it returns cash or credit.
• A per-transaction record. Payments received for services are generally reportable business income; the IRS states that "you must report on your tax return all income you receive from your business, including income not reported to you on a Form 1099" in Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business, so keep a record of each seat sold regardless of which tool routes the money. The US Form 1099-K filing threshold has reverted to more than $20,000 in gross payments and more than 200 transactions, per the IRS newsroom FAQ on the 1099-K threshold, which means most drop-in GMs will sell too few seats to receive that US form and still owe tax on the income; creators outside the US should check their own country's reporting rules rather than apply the $20,000 US threshold.

Peer-to-peer apps such as Venmo clear the fixed-price and upfront-payment tests but usually fail the refund-path and per-transaction-record tests without extra manual work. Booking marketplaces clear all six requirements but charge for discovery an established creator may not need. A creator link like FanBell clears all six requirements at a lower published fee than the 15% StartPlaying deducts, but finds no new players for you.

What else can an open table sell besides the seat itself?

Beyond the seat price, an open table can take Tips from regulars who want to support the game without buying anything specific, or Wishlist / Project Support toward a stated goal such as new minis or a VTT subscription. Tips require no delivery or reply from the creator.

Wishlist / Project Support collects cash toward a funding goal with a progress bar — it is not a store and does not ship anything, so keep Wishlist separate from seat sales. A quick rules or lore question from a player between sessions can also be priced separately as a Paid Private Question, where the creator sets only price and reply time and answers by text or voice — there is no file exchange on that offer, so save character-sheet reviews for a Creator Service instead.

Frequently asked questions

How much should I charge for a single drop-in D&D seat?

Charge $20 to $30 per seat for a three-to-four-hour online session. StartPlaying's help center puts the average price on its platform at $15–$20 per session per player (Best Practices for Game Masters), and a drop-in seat reasonably sits above that average because it produces no repeat booking.

Can I sell a single D&D seat without committing to a recurring campaign?

Yes. List the seat as a one-time Creator Service with a fixed price and turnaround, with nothing that renews automatically. The player pays for that session only, and you are free to run it as a genuine open table where the roster changes week to week.

Does FanBell handle the scheduling or booking calendar for the game?

No. FanBell collects payment and intake details for a listed Creator Service; the actual date, time, and platform (Discord, Roll20, Foundry) are confirmed directly with the player through the private order thread after payment. There is no built-in scheduling calendar.

What happens if a player pays for a drop-in seat and then can't make it?

You can decline and refund a request that falls through before you have prepped or run the session. Setting your own cancellation window in the listing description — similar to the 24-hour policy StartPlaying publishes for its own bookings (player guide) — helps set expectations upfront.

Is a drop-in seat priced differently from an ongoing campaign seat?

The listing structure is the same — a fixed price and turnaround — but a drop-in seat is sold as a single, standalone transaction with no renewal, while a campaign seat is priced assuming the player returns weekly. See how much to charge per player for a D&D session for the ongoing-seat benchmark.

Do I need a marketplace like StartPlaying to run an open table?

No. A marketplace helps you find new players you do not already have, at a 15% fee deducted automatically (StartPlaying). If you already have players through Discord, a stream, or social media, a direct FanBell link charges 12% only when a fan pays and skips the discovery layer entirely.

Create your free FanBell page and turn your next open-table night into a priced seat instead of a group chat full of "who's in?"