Tabletop RPG Workers Say Their Jobs Are No Fantasy

In the magical worlds of pen-and-paper RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, players are empowered to be and do whatever they please, with the help of rulebooks, campaign settings, and other products released by companies like Wizards of the Coast and Paizo. Although many fans dream of contributing to their favorite franchise, the reality of the industry can be harsh, with low pay, endemic overwork, and an enormous reliance on freelance labor. And while there have been efforts to be more inclusive, some say the industry is still tough for women, LGBTQ folks, and people of color to thrive in.

Like the video game industry, the tabletop RPG industry is built on the passion of hobbyists starry-eyed about receiving W-2s from their favorite escapist outlet. Sixteen current and former workers across several TTRPG publishers who spoke to WIRED say that, in the industry of fantasy games, signing your contract might be where the fantasy ends. Many of these sources asked to remain anonymous for fear of professional repercussions in an industry they describe as small, tight-knit, and prone to retaliation. While some people said they were happy in their jobs, many others—especially those at bigger publishers—had a different experience.

“It’s soul-sucking. It’s draining. It never stops,” says one former employee of Paizo, the Seattle-based publisher behind popular titles Pathfinder and Starfinder. She says she worked until 10 pm on Fridays and over weekends for much of her years-long tenure.

Another former Paizo employee says he left because of “moral compunctions” over the working conditions. “It wasn’t so much shock as it was just a growing sense of disappointment,” he says. “There were so many different isolated incidents that happened; it was kind of like death by a thousand cuts.”

Last week, Paizo employees announced they had formed a union with the Communication Workers of America—the first of its kind for the TTRPG industry. “Paizo’s workers are underpaid for their labor, required to live in one of the most expensive cities in the United States, and subjected to untenable crunch conditions on a regular basis,” union representatives said in a statement. A group of 40 Paizo freelancers are also refusing to accept Paizo contracts. The actions come after a wave of allegations against the company made by former employees last month on Twitter, involving below-living-wage pay, overwork, and abuse.

Paizo employees say they are waiting for the company to voluntarily recognize the union. One freelancer says she will go back to working with Paizo if they do so. The company has not publicly responded to its employees’ union drive, nor has it directly addressed any of the allegations made on Twitter. Paizo did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment on this article.

Born out of the predominantly white and male 1960s Midwestern war-gaming community, TTRPG culture has long been accompanied by cultish fandom. In the last few decades, particularly after Hasbro purchased Wizards of the Coast in 1999, the TTRPG hobby has solidified into a scrappy but prominent industry. Wizards of the Coast, which publishes Dungeons & Dragons, has seen sales of the game grow every year for the past six years; its overall revenue reached $816 million in 2020.

Wizards of the Coast is the exception, not the norm. In fact, Wizards of the Coast and Paizo are among the few, if not the only, companies employing over 50 full-time workers devoted to TTRPGs, current employees of those companies say. The rest of the industry is mostly composed of several midsize or small publishers of indie pen-and-paper games. Others in the industry make a living as one- or two-person businesses crowdfunding games on sites like Kickstarter or self-publishing adventure books.