Can someone give me some good advice before I start dropping money on this?

I'd like to start doing some Roll20, the intro bit I did seems fun.  I'm not adverse to spending some money on my hobbies BUT I'm looking at spending money for a series of modules ($50), DM Bundle ($80), and a subscription if my group has 6 players ($50). I have a hard time swallowing the $180 price tag or kicking a player out though.  Can the players purchase any of these things and apply them to the game?  A bit of google-fu says if a player has already purchased a DM bundle (1 year + old info) they can't share the DM bundle with me since they're not the creator right?  I kind of hope that's wrong.

EDIT: And when it says they're not downloadable that's meaning I can't make a PDF and read through it on breaks at work right?  Lunch break is normally where I do my prep work for modules up until the days of quarantine... *sigh*

Hi Ben! A player who has purchased compendium material (PHB, MM, XGtE, etc.) has access to that material in any game they are in that has set the 5e Compendium as the default for the game. A player who has purchased compendium material can create a game and invite you and promote you to GM. You will then have access to their purchased compendium material, plus most of the subscription benefits they may enjoy. And no, you cannot download a WotC book as a pdf. I don't know of any service that legally does that (though others may have some sort of off-line reading option).

keithcurtis said: And no, you cannot download a [D&D 5th Edition] WotC book as a pdf. I don't know of any service that legally does that (though others may have some sort of off-line reading option). Books of 4E and older editions are available to purchase as pdfs on a popular site, but what Keith said holds true for D&D 5E, just to clarify

Also, you mentioned $50 dollars for 6 players.  The only one that needs a subscription to gain the things that offers is the GM.

Yeah, all the books I own so far are Pathfinder/3.5 edition pdf's purchased through one of the online pdf stores that sell legal copies.  But I don't own any 5th edition D&D materials on or offline yet.  Just the free intro pdf and lost mines through Roll20. There isn't a way for the creator and the GM to combine libraries or anything then right?   Playing with some strangers off reddit and none of us know each other so the time tested method of DM buys the module and players buy the pizza doesn't work out great. Although the more I look it seems like the DM bundle has a free module series and since they're strangers I can boot one of them to make 5 players.  So that at least takes it down to $80 which is reasonable if everything is the same quality as the Lost Mine of Phandelver thing that's free for a week (and nothing I found says the price after btw....)

keithcurtis said: Hi Ben! A player who has purchased compendium material (PHB, MM, XGtE, etc.) has access to that material in any game they are in that has set the 5e Compendium as the default for the game. A player who has purchased compendium material can create a game and invite you and promote you to GM. You will then have access to their purchased compendium material, plus most of the subscription benefits they may enjoy. I have two games going.  One for my son and nephew and a couple others and I can buy the DM bundle for.   $80 seems fine for a quality product. The other for internet strangers though has 6 players interested.   Tell me if this is correct: As a creator & owner of the PHB I can share that stuff with 5 players for the free subscription.   That means when they do the charactermancer it lets them pick Mountain Dwarves and various backgrounds from the PHB since it's my game and I share with them even if they don't own it themselves.... right?   Or if they own a 2nd book I don't they can use it on their own charactermancer and link it to me and show it on their sheet but I can't see the other content from that book right? And if we want to add a 6th player the options are 1) I buy a subscription myself.  2) they gift me a subscription.   There is no option #3 where they apply a subscription they already own to a game that I'm creator of?  That way in case the game falls apart after two hours they still have a sub they can use themselves?

If you're the GM, you can share your compendium materials (e.g. PHB, XGE) into your games (and you can do that with several games). As a Pro, you get up to 15 players in those shared games. You don't share them with players, so it's no issue how many players you have in a given game. Players can gift you dollars toward a subscription (which is very worth it), or other marketplace items (even token sets, which are cheap). I usually ask my players when we begin the game if they're willing to kick in for my Pro subscription, but say I'll pay for the first month myself. Then as they get invested in your game and everyone gets to know each other, it becomes more comfortable to simply ask them to pick up the next month and honor that agreement. For free modules like Mines of Phandelver, or the Tales modules, once you create games with them they will not go away in a week. You can continue to play them after the "free purchase" period is over.