Now that you have signed up as a Game Master on StartPlaying, you'll need to make some games!

You first make a Game Template, then create an Adventure, then schedule a Session. Only then will your game appear in Games Search.

Templates contain all of the information about your game except dates and times. Your Game Template will be like an outline for your Adventures. When we create an Adventure, it will pull all its information from the Game Template.

It usually takes 24 to 48 hours on average for a Game Template to be approved. Every Game Template is manually reviewed to make sure it is in line with our Terms of Service.

If your template is rejected for any reason, it will be put back into the "Draft" state. An email will be sent to you letting you know what needs to be fixed.

1. Navigate to your Listings page

2. Click Create Template in the upper-right corner of the screen

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If a new D&D adventure comes out, you will probably want to run it. So is everyone else. You can have a game in Eberron that isn't named "Eberron." Put a little creativity into the name, and it will help you stand out from the crowd of others submitting that same adventure.

This is where you select if your template is for a Campaign or a One Shot. One your Template is approved you will not be able to change this so make sure you double check you click the right one!
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Here you will list the game you are running. Is this Pathfinder? D&D? The Witcher RPG? List out the game system you are using. You only want to list the game system that is actually tied to this game, so don't list multiple unless you are using multiple for some reason.

If the system you plan to run isn't listed here, reach out to support, and they will add it for you.

If you selected either "Dungeons & Dragons 5e" or "Pathfinder 2e" in the "Game System" section, you will see two additional sections appear under it.

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Descriptions are incredibly important because they are used to sell your game to players. Try to write 2-4 paragraphs here so that new players can learn about the game before applying to it. There is a minimum character limit of 300 characters.

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This is where you will tag the game with various things like High Fantasy, Gothic Horror, Wacky, or even Vikings! Make sure that you only list tags that accurately describe the game you will be running.

We use these tags for our advertising programs, and players can also filter the "Find Games Page" by these tags to help them find games with specific themes and genres.

This will be like your Adventures profile picture or cover image. You are not allowed to use any licensed art in your game listing, including cover art or any images from the modules you are running.

Any art you use here must either be license-free, or you must have the right to use it. We have a whole Google Drive folder filled with art we have made available to you.

Our image uploader only accepts PNG and JPG files. If you see a GIF on the site, it's from before we updated our image resizer! Those images have been grandfathered in and will remain up until the GM chooses to upload a new image. However, our site will not accept new GIF files.

The duration you list here is the estimated time you will be playing. I always recommend that you keep this as close to the actual time you believe it will take instead of trying to keep a wide window.

What ages is this game intended for? "All Ages" is the wrong tag if it's a mature game. Likewise, if you plan on allowing children into the game, "18+" is misleading. Once you have selected the one you want to use, click on "Next."

The session cost is the cost per player per session. Each player in your game will pay this for every game that they play. You can edit the prices in your templates at any time.

Safety Tools are crucial for making sure all players have a good time and feel safe during play. You must select at least one safety tool from the checklist and use it in the games attached to this template.

All of the safety tools in this section are explained in depth here, and each safety tool has a brief description if you hover over the blue icon next to its name.

This section is used to describe anything you want people to know about ahead of time that you think may be triggering for some players.

All games listed on StartPlaying are required to have content warnings.

Go over your safety tools or content warnings in greater detail, and you can explain any house rules you intend to implement.

This section uses dropdowns to set the various levels of combat/tactics, roleplay, puzzles, and experience needed a player can expect in your game. This is very helpful for players when they are searching for games.

If you have any fun extras that set your game apart, here's where you can list them. Think things like animated VTT maps, custom soundtracks, or original art. You can also add what you bring personality wise as a GM!

This section is where you will list where the game is played, such as the VTT or voice call platform. Do you use Zoom or Discord? Maybe you use Roll20 for maps or like to do Theater of the Mind. List all of that here.

Do you have any special guidelines or restrictions for character creation? Do you prefer players to roll for stats or take standardized abilities? Do you have your players create their characters in DnDBeyond? Here is the place to make this information known. There is a minimum of 150 characters required in this section.

We recommend that you have pre-generated characters ready for your game, as many players book sessions on the same day as play.

There are few things worse for players than showing up excited for their first session of a new campaign, only to learn that they don't actually get to play. Maybe they didn't know they needed to have a character ready, so they spend the whole first session making one.

This section prevents that from happening by telling players exactly what they need to bring to game night. This also applies to any tech they need to set up, such as chat service accounts (Discord account, Zoom account, etc.) or a working webcam. There is a minimum of 150 characters required in this section.

If you are receiving an error and cannot submit your template, double check that every section of your template is filled out. You cannot submit a template for approval unless every section is fully filled out.

Once you have finished filling out all the information on the game template, click the blue "Submit" button to send it for approval!

Once your game has been approved, you can create an adventure from it and have it listed on the Find Games page
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Yes, you can edit your game template before or after it has been approved. To edit your template, click the three dots next to the template, and then select Edit
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