Anybody ever hear of being paid to be a DM?

[Klorox]

Here's the story: my roommate found out I play D&D. He and some friends who play Magic are very interested in playing D&D.

Unfortunately, between the kids and job, our schedules are incompatible.

He's volunteered to try to be the DM of his new group, and I've lent him some books.

He asked me if I've ever been the DM (I'm about 15 years older than this guy and have been playing longer than he's been on the planet), and I told him I've done the job, but it isn't for me.

He told me he wants to be the DM, and that he's heard that "professional Dungeon Masters can make a lot of money"

I've never heard of such a thing.

Is this true?

[ThurlRavenscrof]

I've heard of DMs making money by running games for kids birthday parties but not by charging other adults. If you charge adults it's normally just so you can afford to buy the next campaign book or because you're a store running AL

[Sigreid]

I've heard of it, but don't think it's common. Some people probably do make it work, but do do that you'd probably need to create custom content and run it for multiple paying groups where each person pays a couple of bucks per session. Basically you'd have to treat it like a job and probably get a reputation by DMing at stores and conventions.

Personally I think it would take all the fun out of the game.

[Feuerphoenix]

I let my group pay the costs of the roll 20 Premium account and the texture packs. And they apprechiate it, because they see it as an investment into a more beatuful game (and better possibilities to create maps with light etc).

But other than that? No I mean, I play this for fun, as does my group. I want to have a great time with them. I don't see a reason, to get paid as a dm. Because it changes focus of having a game, on which you spend time with friends to a service, who has to offer a high quality ( a quality, that your players don't start to argue, why they should pay for this content you offer to them). Also it Opens the door for offering game Bonusses for money (" oh you want a holy avenger for your pally? Mmh maybe I could alter that favors, if you pay amount x"). I don't like the money aspect in DnD above the necessary level...

[Pex]

Contribute for snacks.
Contribute for lunch or dinner.
Contribute if you need to rent a table or room at a store.

You don't pay for the privilege of playing.

[Honest Tiefling]

I've heard of professional Magic the Gathering players (and seen a few in the gaming store), but never heard of a professional DM.

Maybe he should stick with the card game if he wants to make money...

[Foxhound438]

definitely heard of it, especially in respect to convention touring. I don't think it would be a good idea to charge cash to DM for a regular group.

In order to "make good money", however, you would have to first gain a reputation of being a genuinely great and talented DM. Maybe you could fund traveling to conventions by DMing all day as an average DM, but you're not going to attract a high paying crowd with average material.

[Beneath]

I'm told it used to be more of a thing in the RPGA days (like TSR-era) but I don't know anything about that. From what I can tell, GMs who are able to make their stuff into a job tend to make their money by writing about the craft of being a GM or writing adventures (which doesn't pay that well), or have successful campaign podcasts, and so on.

The math says it's probably impossible to make a living by running games, but you'd need to find a lot of people willing to pay for a seat at your table. Like. Let's say you live in a place where a one-bedroom apartment is $800/mo. To qualify for a lot of places you need to make 2.5x rent minimum, so that's $2000/mo or $500/week.

If you're running five weekly games, or equivalent (ten biweekly games, or three weekly games and four biweekly games, or three weekly games, three biweekly games, and two monthly games, etc.), that's a session every weekday, and you need to make $100/session. With four players that's $25/seat; with five it's $20/seat. You could go lower for larger groups but that's tricky 'cause with larger groups you're likely to have attendance problems and that means people not wanting to pay full price for sessions they had to cancel on.

So, in other words, to afford an apartment running games for $25/seat/session, you need to have four people attending each and every session, five sessions a week. Since you likely won't have people showing up multiple times a week, that's at least 20 people, assuming they're all perfectly reliable. If you do a combination of weekly, biweekly, and monthly things, at 3 weekly, 3 biweekly, 2 monthly that's 32 players. If you can't manage as many weekly events (and remember that your weekly players are the people paying you $100/mo; finding 12 people willing to pay you $100/mo for D&D who live in a place they can come to you would be a challenge), then you might have 2 weekly, 3 biweekly, and 6 monthly, which is 44 players assuming $25/seat.

Maybe add 50-100% of that to account for people signing up for higher attendance than they manage.

Your expenses will be higher than this; in a city large enough to pull this off, $800 probably won't rent you an apartment nice enough to convince people to drop $100/mo to see you, and working out of another space you'll have to pay for that. You will have to pay for catering since you're not throwing the kind of event people are willing to pay for food at after paying to get in the door (you can't get around this by cooking for yourself without going through the permitting process for opening a food service business), though a regular catering contract may get you a better deal than ordering a stack of pizzas twenty times a month. Of course, as the amount you charge climbs, your potential clientele drops. Already we're talking, like, you need to find in the neighborhood of 40 to 100 people willing to drop money on a game regularly, and $25 is not a small expense for, say, a student.

There are significantly fewer people willing to step up and GM than there are spaces where someone could step up and GM, and that kind of imbalance always has someone willing to pay someone to do it, but not necessarily enough someones to make a living off of, or people willing to pay even enough to cover the labor.

'cause that's another thing. If you're doing this, a four-hour session isn't just a four-hour session. There's cleaning before and after, there's arranging food to everyone's preferences, there's the actual session planning. Some of that you can re-use if you run the same adventure for multiple groups, but that takes a fair amount of railroading to do consistently (by, say, running two groups through the exact same content), railroading, let me remind you, of a group of people collectively paying you at least $100/session; if you don't think that's going to give them a somewhat entitled attitude, you're way off. Plus even if you are using the exact same adventure, you probably should review the specific capabilities of the party you're bringing and figure out what they're likely to try for various challenges.

If it takes, say, an hour to clean up after a session, an hour to prepare the space (arranging food and making sure your living room looks like a place of business ready to receive customers), and four hours to prepare a four-hour session, that's a ten-hour workday (this is also probably why there are fewer DMs than players; the DM has a lot more weighing on them during the game, and has to spend hours beforehand preparing, and quite often has to be the one sending out attendance calls, and often ends up physically hosting the game which is work too).

That's just the part you get paid for and the support specifically around that. That doesn't cover time spent reading other DMs' session reports and campaign logs looking for things to pilfer or things that worked and didn't, not time spent staying abreast of new systems ('cause there will be people interested, 'cause your market's broader if you run multiple things, 'cause running games other than just the one makes you a better GM), or reading published adventures you're not going to run for a group, or writing craigslist posts, or flyering your local game stores, or designing your flyers, or anything at all around promotion (which, remember, your goal here is to convince at minimum several dozen people, enough that most will by necessity be complete strangers, that your table would be a good application of both their time and their money).

This is why professional D&D players tend to have podcasts or funded blogs or something of that sort; it's easier to make a living asking a large number of people for a little bit of money each than a few people for a lot. The scale-up is better too; most of the people funding you aren't paying you to do anything significant especially for them every month.

[RSP]

I've heard of it but I don't think it's a full time gig. More like get 5 guys together who are each willing to pay $5 a session, once a week, to game at the local store. The DM doesn't really know these people but for $25 a week, it's worth doing.

[Waterdeep Merch]

I've known a few, actually. They typically do it for groups that request the DM's time because they've got a reputation for being good at DMing, where the players don't have a good DM between them and the DM isn't really a friend or has way too many things on their plate to DM for fun. It's unsteady work at best, from what I understand, and no one pays them all that well- just enough to make it worth the effort.

My players sometimes pay me with: snacks, money for the meal I usually cook (I like presenting feasts worthy of my games), miniatures, paints for miniatures, books and other supplements, and other RPG gear I can use to make the game more fun. I think that's how it should be, really, and I try to return the favor for other DM's when I get to play.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

The trick is to think modern.

I know a guy who watches Critical Role and one other D&D show. They must make a few bucks off Critical Role shirts and Google ads.

The whole Critical Role gang seems fairly photogenic and talented and Matt Mercer is pretty a fine DM.

[Naez]

I've heard of it but it's normally like "A group desperately needs a DM so they offer to pay one." not "Dude goes around asking to be paid to DM."

[MaxWilson]

He told me he wants to be the DM, and that he's heard that "professional Dungeon Masters can make a lot of money"

I've never heard of such a thing.

Is this true?

Anyone good enough at DMing that they can actually make rent by charging for D&D games is smart and talented enough to make a LOT more money doing something else.

DMing doesn't scale.

The sole exception to this rule is if one of your players happens to be a spendthrift billionaire who will throw thousands of dollars at you per session just because he can. Good luck finding that player. :-P

[agnos]

Let's think of it this way. Normally, you can play a D&D game for 4-6 hours M-F after work (6pm until done). Saturday and Sunday, you can get 8-12 hours give or take. Assuming the bottom end of those (4 hours M-F and 8 hours S/S), that's 36 hours of play. Considering self employment taxes and insurance, you likely need at least $30 per hour to break even somewhere around a solid 45k a year draw. That's charging players $20 a session and having each and ever session full with 6 people and each session booked. If I were guaranteed to have a good time and a good DM, then $20 for a session is nothing. I'd drop it in a heartbeat. But I can count on one hand how many DM's I'd be willing to pay that amount. Realistically though, I think you'd need to charge players between $30 and $40 a session to really break even since you won't be able to fully book each session. I just can't imagine there being reasonable demand enough for a >$20 but <$50 per session DM even in a major metropolitan area; especially since most groups you can "trade off" dming for roughly free gaming sessions with approximately 80% of a "professional" value (at worst under normal circumstances).

[mephnick]

You'd have to be pretty god damn amazing to think I'm going to pay you to play your own hobby. As a DM I think I'd hate the pressure I'd put on myself to deliver a worthwhile product. Money changes everything.

[imanidiot]

If you're running five weekly games, or equivalent (ten biweekly games, or three weekly games and four biweekly games, or three weekly games, three biweekly games, and two monthly games, etc.), that's a session every weekday, and you need to make $100/session. With four players that's $25/seat; with five it's $20/seat. You could go lower for larger groups but that's tricky 'cause with larger groups you're likely to have attendance problems and that means people not wanting to pay full price for sessions they had to cancel on.




Assume 5 hours per session and another 5 per game per week for prep and you're working 50 hours a week At most in an ideal scenario you're going to be making $10-15 per hour. That's noticeably poor in any city.

[ZorroGames]

You'd have to be pretty god damn amazing to think I'm going to pay you to play your own hobby. As a DM I think I'd hate the pressure I'd put on myself to deliver a worthwhile product. Money changes everything.

Given the money paid by people to professional athletes the ratio of money earned proportional to the audience seems "in scale" for professional DMs. :smallwink: :smallbiggrin:

TBH the concept seems 3rd Sigma strange... Definte "Say What?" material.

[Temperjoke]

I don't think there's a way to earn enough money as a "pro" DM, not to make a full living anyways. I mean, it's probably more of a reimbursement sort of thing, for snacks, etc.

[Sigreid]

Well, I did a google search and Roll20 apparently just hired a professional DM to basically show off how great their product is. So in their case it's a advertising expense. No idea what they pay.

[Findulidas]

I think this is as common as a youtubers being able to live of the youtube money. That is few people in the world might be able to do it. So I wouldnt bet on it.

[CaptainSarathai]

It's not pro-DMing that makes you money. It's "pro blogging" that makes you money.
If you have a YouTube channel that gets enough popularity to run ads, you can make a bit of cash.
On top of that, set up a webstore. Sell t-shirts, sell stickers and pins and all that.
Sell adventures like you would on the DMsG. Sell printable tokens and dungeon tiles.
Write articles, put half of them behind a Patreon wall.
Sell ad space on your blog page.

Try to cover costs of any materials by getting a "sponsorship" from your FLGS, and then advertise their online sales system. Or create your own online market and register yourself with suppliers as an online retailer.
Build enough of a fan base in views/hits and use that to leverage "paid reviews" for other companies' products. This can create a cycle where you get a game or supplement before anyone else, can post early reviews and be among the first, and pull more attention to your site.

It takes a TON of work. It's all branding and business, and you're still not gonna get anywhere near a good living on it.
I guess if that's the kind of thing you like, and it's that or a pitiful warehouse job that you hate, then working 60+hrs a week for what you'd get paid to work 40hrs at your crummy job is perhaps better than slaving away.

But it's a rare breed who wants to put in the work, and can be motivated to maintain the work for the years it will take to build a brand. It's fewer still who are lucky enough to be truly successful. So yeah - I'd probably laugh in a "professional DM"s face, right up until the earned a paycheck to prove me wrong. I think I'd be laughing for a very long time.

[Findulidas]

It's not pro-DMing that makes you money. It's "pro blogging" that makes you money.
If you have a YouTube channel that gets enough popularity to run ads, you can make a bit of cash.
On top of that, set up a webstore. Sell t-shirts, sell stickers and pins and all that.
Sell adventures like you would on the DMsG. Sell printable tokens and dungeon tiles.
Write articles, put half of them behind a Patreon wall.
Sell ad space on your blog page.


You earn so little from youtube atm. You gotta hit millions on your clips and release them often to actually be able to live off it. To be fair though long clips make way more money so I guess streaming the sessions have that going for it.

Its the other things you listed that make the money though.

[Sabeta]

I know Youtubers who manage full time with around 20,000 subs. Granted, some of those are rising stars, but the point stands. Conversely there are people on my box with hundereds of thousands of subs and yet never post a video because it wasn't pulling them enough money.

The type of content you push out the door makes quite a difference. Anime bloggers/commentators are stuck getting their ad revenue and sponsorhips from Crunchyroll and Kadokawa. Relatively small money all things considered. Meanwhile, some lucky ducks have been approved for major money through the illustrious Diet Coke ad. I'm not sure what the revenue on that is, but any Youtuber I've seen who talks about their content and the ads it gets wants Diet Coke.

Though when Youtube fails to be a sole provider I usually see groups turn to Twitch Stream donations or Patreon. Very rarely do small time youtubers build up enough capital to start a brand or anything similar to it. Though Mr. Happy did somehow manage to pull off a signature coffee deal.

As for TCs question. I'm not sure. Matt Mercer and friends get paid to put on their show, and I'm sure Conventions and Parties might find a niche market, but I can't imagine it being a primary income source.

=edit=
The recent ad crunch most negatively effected idiots who made their money off of controversy or dark/crude humor such as H3H3. Where they can't understand why their videos might get demonetized for pretending to urinate on one another and then cut off their testicles. Like, really? How dumb do you have to be to not get that advertisers might not want to be a part of that.

[Findulidas]

Where they can't understand why their videos might get demonetized for pretending to urinate on one another and then cut off their testicles. Like, really? How dumb do you have to be to not get that advertisers might not want to be a part of that.

Well first off you are just wrong. They are well aware of it. Second its not just something that just happened over day, youtube had been doing it for years and they just ramped it up suddenly so people realized it.

The problem with the current system they have is that its just dumb though, it doesnt just demonetize the controversial clips like you said though. Theres a huge grey area where there is chance your clip might get demonetized and most clips will be part of it, including educational videos for children. Its partially run by an algorithm and partially by people. It also used to be that there was no way to tell if your clips infact had been demonetized or when they were. There also used to be no way to remonitize your video if the algorithm had been in the wrong and you wouldnt know anyway. So some people had unmonetized videos for over many years and they had no idea. Until it got out that youtube did this and they suddenly had a notice for it since youtube was forced to admit it.

Secondly the categories of the demonetization is (or was if they have changed it again) just dumb. They lumped in people who where swearing with people who were literal terrorists calling for beheadings of people, selling illegal drugs, sexual humor, harassment, sexual suggestive content, subjects related(?) to war, natural disasters, tragedies or whatever and the list goes on. As you might imagine having an algorithm run wild with this wide of a set of targets wont be good. I bet you cant do a 2 hour session on dnd without running into atleast one of these.

[Beelzebubba]

Contribute for snacks.
Contribute for lunch or dinner.
Contribute if you need to rent a table or room at a store.

You don't pay for the privilege of playing.

This.

DM never pays for pizza, never chips in for drinks, and only hosts as a last resort. :smallsmile:

I think paying will introduce a set of expectations and pressures that will cause resentments to build up around the table. The DM for giving up his free time for a low price, the players for not having a fantastic result every game.

If you're being paid to do a thing, either charge your 'going hourly rate' or nothing. Never discount. You're not going to want to pay an adult professional's hourly rate for this, and I bet he'll eventually not find it worth his time.

However, it would be nice if I'm wrong.

[Beelzebubba]

The recent ad crunch most negatively effected idiots who made their money off of controversy or dark/crude humor such as H3H3. Where they can't understand why their videos might get demonetized for pretending to urinate on one another and then cut off their testicles. Like, really? How dumb do you have to be to not get that advertisers might not want to be a part of that.

It also affected basically any political discussion with any controversy on either side of the spectrum.

This happened to people with good sourcing, legitimate information, tackling controversial issues.

So, don't paint with too broad of a brush here.

[Cl0001]

I've heard of dms getting paid to run a group for a bunch of younger kids, like under 12 who don't have experience in d&d. But they usually don't make that much money, maybe $30 bucks for a four hour session. But it's money that's easy to get, fairly reliable. and fun for some people.

[Findulidas]

I've heard of dms getting paid to run a group for a bunch of younger kids, like under 12 who don't have experience in d&d. But they usually don't make that much money, maybe $30 bucks for a four hour session. But it's money that's easy to get, fairly reliable. and fun for some people.

I would probably want to get paid if I had to play with really young kids though.

[Waterdeep Merch]

I would probably want to get paid if I had to play with really young kids though.

I adore teaching young kids the game. They get so incredibly excited by everything, they're always ready to learn more. If you have wolves attack, you can bet that one of them will do everything they can to try and tame one. If you let them, just watch how happy it makes them. They'll take it with them everywhere, like their best friend. Every plan will include their wolf pal.

You give your average player a wolf, they're likely to get it killed out of lack of concern or roll their eyes at how weak they are. It's not optimal, so why bother.

[Findulidas]

I adore teaching young kids the game. They get so incredibly excited by everything, they're always ready to learn more. If you have wolves attack, you can bet that one of them will do everything they can to try and tame one. If you let them, just watch how happy it makes them. They'll take it with them everywhere, like their best friend. Every plan will include their wolf pal.

You give your average player a wolf, they're likely to get it killed out of lack of concern or roll their eyes at how weak they are. It's not optimal, so why bother.

Well they also get upset about small things. Can be complete *******s towards each other and lack respect. Will probably argue about a rule and how they would want it. Would probably leave the table easily. Would probabably have even shorter attention span.

Granted I see what you mean, but they are still kids.

[Sir cryosin]

I've heard of it but I don't think it's a full time gig. More like get 5 guys together who are each willing to pay $5 a session, once a week, to game at the local store. The DM doesn't really know these people but for $25 a week, it's worth doing.

I'm in one group that does this.

[Sir cryosin]

Only professional DM's are twitch streamers or YouTube streams. If you treat it as a job were you market your self and your games. Have a place to play. Providing entertainment and injoyment. You could probably make it into a job. But there need to be a demand for it.

[Sigreid]

Only professional DM's are twitch streamers or YouTube streams. If you treat it as a job were you market your self and your games. Have a place to play. Providing entertainment and injoyment. You could probably make it into a job. But there need to be a demand for it.

It would probably be a lot like professional DJ. Few people get to do it, and most are poor. Fewer people make a decent living at it. Very few people make a good living off it or even get rich.

To fit in one of the last two categories you would have to have a solid business plan and a reputation for being so good complete strangers feel lucky to get to pay for the privilege of seeing you in action.

Also, it sounds like the OPs friend is on the young side, so his definition of making a lot of money may be very different than mine. :smallbiggrin:

[willdaBEAST]

I think this is a good example of the double-standard we have for creative work. Why shouldn't someone who is spending hours of their own time prepping and potentially offering you an unparalleled form of escapism earn more than $30 an hour? Having the mentality that only the best of the best should earn close to that is equally baffling to me. People are willing to pay a personal trainer $50 an hour without hesitation, same for yoga classes, soul cycle, etc.

A more apt comparison might be seeing a movie in a theater. Here in LA that can be $15+ a person for a 90 minute film that could be terrible. For a 4 hour session with a good DM wouldn't even $40 per player be in line with what we'll pay for a movie ticket? The idea that some people will DM a 3 hour session for a group of children they don't know for only $30 is crazy to me. A baby sitter would cost much more than that. I understand that exposing a new generation to a wonderful game is important and fulfilling, but DMs shouldn't undercut the value of what they do. For me, even a halfway decent DM can create a level of immersion that is more engaging than almost any other medium. A lot of us would probably put DnD or role-playing near the top of our list of "most important parts of our lives", so why not value the person who allows us to do that? Especially when they've put in the time and effort to master their craft.

I work as a sound designer, so I have a bias in terms of issues like this. I'll get people I don't know asking me to work on their passion project for peanuts (below minimum wage), or for free (I'm essentially paying them to work on their film) because it'll be so fun and I get to be creative! Think of all the exposure you can get! I know this is true for DJs, photographers and many other freelancers.

All that said, like most creative fields, I don't think you should ever get into DMing for the money. You should do it because you love it. However, if you're good at it, there should be a realistic way to make money off it and not only for the top 1%.

[Laserlight]

That's like the people who want to be a wealthy best selling author. Is it possible? Sure. But 99.999% of the people who say they want that, aren't writing the 20,000 words per month necessary to make a living at it. It ain't "money for nothing".

[Koningkrush]

The reason I wouldn't charge for a game is because it means my games suddenly have an expected quality, and it turns into a profession rather than a game. I don't want my games to have some kind of production value required and I don't want to worry about whether or not I "earned" my payout.
The only thing that would make somewhat sense is a Patreon.

[Bohandas]

I think I've heard of people who work at some comicbook shops running games as part of their job, as part of a promotional event or perhaps because an RPG club rents time there or something.

I went to a Games Workshop promotion at a comicbook store one time where customers could play Warhammer 40k battles being run by one of the employees.

EDIT:
Also I think the guy who writes D&D Kids (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?501287-D-amp-D-Kids) runs a game in the context of being a staff mumber at a school with a gaming club

[Cl0001]

Well they also get upset about small things. Can be complete *******s towards each other and lack respect. Will probably argue about a rule and how they would want it. Would probably leave the table easily. Would probabably have even shorter attention span.

Granted I see what you mean, but they are still kids.

Yeah, I've talked to someone who did it and he has to have really interesting session planned because if one kid gets distracted, nothing gets done.

[Sigreid]

I think this is a good example of the double-standard we have for creative work. Why shouldn't someone who is spending hours of their own time prepping and potentially offering you an unparalleled form of escapism earn more than $30 an hour? Having the mentality that only the best of the best should earn close to that is equally baffling to me. People are willing to pay a personal trainer $50 an hour without hesitation, same for yoga classes, soul cycle, etc.

A more apt comparison might be seeing a movie in a theater. Here in LA that can be $15+ a person for a 90 minute film that could be terrible. For a 4 hour session with a good DM wouldn't even $40 per player be in line with what we'll pay for a movie ticket? The idea that some people will DM a 3 hour session for a group of children they don't know for only $30 is crazy to me. A baby sitter would cost much more than that. I understand that exposing a new generation to a wonderful game is important and fulfilling, but DMs shouldn't undercut the value of what they do. For me, even a halfway decent DM can create a level of immersion that is more engaging than almost any other medium. A lot of us would probably put DnD or role-playing near the top of our list of "most important parts of our lives", so why not value the person who allows us to do that? Especially when they've put in the time and effort to master their craft.

I work as a sound designer, so I have a bias in terms of issues like this. I'll get people I don't know asking me to work on their passion project for peanuts (below minimum wage), or for free (I'm essentially paying them to work on their film) because it'll be so fun and I get to be creative! Think of all the exposure you can get! I know this is true for DJs, photographers and many other freelancers.

All that said, like most creative fields, I don't think you should ever get into DMing for the money. You should do it because you love it. However, if you're good at it, there should be a realistic way to make money off it and not only for the top 1%.

Short answer to why it's so hard to be paid as a DM is that there's a large pool of people who do it for free as a fun activity with their friends. Like a round of golf or poker night.

[EvilAnagram]

I've charged $20 and a pizza to help people on LFG sites. I basically walked them through how to play and show them the ropes of DMing so they can run their own games.

[Laurefindel]

I know quite a few people that are, or have been, "professionally" DMing for either a RPG club, the local gaming store or even the town's para-scholar activities. All were aimed at 8-15 y/o kids and paid rather poorly (like $5 per person per session, so $20-$30 for a 3 or 4-hour shift). I think the town's one actually paid by the hour, most likely minimum wage, but still.

[CaptainSarathai]

Alright, I have found one exception:
It is becoming popular to use boardgaming and RPGs as therapy for different mental issues.
This is very different to running a game for your friends though, because the point of the session is therapy - you have to confront and work through something that the patient needs.

In this case though, you're not primarily a DM. You're a therapist, with all the degrees of education, licensing, and legislation which comes with that.

[willdaBEAST]

Short answer to why it's so hard to be paid as a DM is that there's a large pool of people who do it for free as a fun activity with their friends. Like a round of golf or poker night.

That's certainly true, but I also come across that as a reason to not pay people in my profession (film). Actors tend to get the short end of the stick, they're basically expected to work for free in order to get exposure.

I think there's a lot of room for DMing to become a viable profession (to more than a handful of people), especially with streaming and online platforms like roll20. I'm predicting a reality show called "America's best DM" or something of that nature popping up in the near future as well, which will help raise exposure.

That said we need to value this experience. I'm not asking DMs to gouge their friends: for film work I cut friends a huge deal, since I get to spend all day working with them. However, if you're hosting strangers and are a great DM, I think you should get paid a fair rate, at least comparable to a personal trainer. I think the onus is largely on us as a community. If we balk at the idea of individually paying a DM $30 for a 3-4 hour session , we can't expect people who are unfamiliar with DnD to do the same.

Out of curiosity, what would you all be willing to pay to sit at a table run by Chris Perkins or Matt Mercer?

[Waterdeep Merch]

That's certainly true, but I also come across that as a reason to not pay people in my profession (film). Actors tend to get the short end of the stick, they're basically expected to work for free in order to get exposure.
I feel your pain. Copy/credit has become a joke in my group.


I think there's a lot of room for DMing to become a viable profession (to more than a handful of people), especially with streaming and online platforms like roll20. I'm predicting a reality show called "America's best DM" or something of that nature popping up in the near future as well, which will help raise exposure.

That said we need to value this experience. I'm not asking DMs to gouge their friends: for film work I cut friends a huge deal, since I get to spend all day working with them. However, if you're hosting strangers and are a great DM, I think you should get paid a fair rate, at least comparable to a personal trainer. I think the onus is largely on us as a community. If we balk at the idea of individually paying a DM $30 for a 3-4 hour session , we can't expect people who are unfamiliar with DnD to do the same.

Out of curiosity, what would you all be willing to pay to sit at a table run by Chris Perkins or Matt Mercer?
I feel that's fair. D&D has a lot of exposure these days, and there can be a world of difference between a super experienced, creative DM that likes to add bells and whistles and your buddy who only runs modules and rarely all that well. If there's a market, why can't you make a living off of it? That's the crux of all good business.

[Sigreid]

That's certainly true, but I also come across that as a reason to not pay people in my profession (film). Actors tend to get the short end of the stick, they're basically expected to work for free in order to get exposure.

I think there's a lot of room for DMing to become a viable profession (to more than a handful of people), especially with streaming and online platforms like roll20. I'm predicting a reality show called "America's best DM" or something of that nature popping up in the near future as well, which will help raise exposure.

That said we need to value this experience. I'm not asking DMs to gouge their friends: for film work I cut friends a huge deal, since I get to spend all day working with them. However, if you're hosting strangers and are a great DM, I think you should get paid a fair rate, at least comparable to a personal trainer. I think the onus is largely on us as a community. If we balk at the idea of individually paying a DM $30 for a 3-4 hour session , we can't expect people who are unfamiliar with DnD to do the same.

Out of curiosity, what would you all be willing to pay to sit at a table run by Chris Perkins or Matt Mercer?

I still think it's considered too much of a fringe hobby and joke or weird to mainstream.

I have no familiarity with those people, and no interest in playing with people who aren't my friends or who I think won't become friends to include the DM. I may be an anomaly. In my group we "pay" the DM by taking a turn as DM so everyone gets to play.

[KorvinStarmast]

My wife was out of town a few weeks ago so I got onto roll20 to see if I could join a game.

I was somewhat surprised to see that some were listed as "pay to play" so I skipped them. On the other hand, after about five attempts, no takers and it was past midnight.

There's a group looking for another player who may or may not include me next week. Interesting first toe in the water of joining random D&D games in the wild.

[CantigThimble]

An RPG podcast I follow has a patreon in which one of the options is $30 a month for a monthly session with one of the people running the show. (The Arcology podcast, if you're curious) But that's for Shadowrun, which is a much more demanding game than 5e and also has a smaller community.

[RustyArmor]

Seems to be getting popular in roll20. I have not looked into said games myself however since I only play with my group of friends.

[MeeposFire]

They essentially do that at many conventions.

I am not really a fan of paying for such a thing though it is not due to it being immoral, just that paying for that sort of experience changes the dynamic of the game fo rme (gaming for me is about being with friends and having a good time paying direct money makes it more of a customer relationship even with friends).

Now giving back to the DM in niceties and little favors do not bother me as much since they are the things I would do for a friend anyway such as buying food, snacks, or drinks. I do not pay a friend to hang out but I will give a friend a pizza when they go an extra mile to hang out (which is how I see DMing).

One exception to the money rule is if for the DM to game with us the DM had to do some sort of related expense I would feel fine chipping in to pay for it. Once again that is something I would do for a friend.

[Fishybugs]

I remember about 8-12 months ago, Dragon Talk interviewed someone who was a professional dungeon master. He started by doing kid's parties (as mentioned earlier in the thread) and worked up from there. I wish I could remember his name. A quick Google search reveals a few services willing to GM for money, but I'm at work and can't link to them at this time.

[90sMusic]

I know DMs who charge to play dungeon master.

They don't make a lot of money though. Even at the higher end of the spectrum where they're making $10 per player per hour, with a 4 hour session and 5 players that is only $200 a week. And you have to spend a lot of time doing prep work to make the game of a high enough quality to justify paying for it to charge that much. You couldn't get away with it as a career unless you treated it like a con job and just took advantage of people all the time.

Most DM's I know that charge only charge a little bit and the main reason they do it isn't to make money, it is for 1) paying supply costs of buying/making new minis and maps and so on and 2) making sure their players really want to be there. A halfass player who gets bored halfway through every session or isn't that invested in playing isn't going to spend any money to play.

I actually paid a DM to run a game for me and some friends for a few months once. It was a custom setting with a lot of rules variations and featured things you don't usually see like gestalt characters, epic boons, that sort of thing. Most DMs are very selfish and only want to run campaigns they want to run for themselves with no care in the world for the players, so it's very difficult to find one to run a different kind of campaign. That is why we paid for one. He did a good job too, was really fun. Only reason we stopped playing was because that particular group of friends were all in the entertainment industry (singer, actor, and two voice actors) and it was really hard to keep all our schedules aligned so that we could keep playing.

Maybe we'll resume it one of these days when everyone gets some more free time on their hands. I'd also be up for playing it again with a new group just because I enjoyed the setting and the rules. It's fun to do non-standard things, most people in D&D just want to do the exact same kinds of adventures all the time.

[Sigreid]

I know DMs who charge to play dungeon master.

They don't make a lot of money though. Even at the higher end of the spectrum where they're making $10 per player per hour, with a 4 hour session and 5 players that is only $200 a week. And you have to spend a lot of time doing prep work to make the game of a high enough quality to justify paying for it to charge that much. You couldn't get away with it as a career unless you treated it like a con job and just took advantage of people all the time.


Well, if I were going to do it as a career i would want to have 4-5 of these groups that payed me to DM, and they would each get the same adventures. So I would get at least 4-5 paydays out of my prep work. Then when it has played out with my groups, I'd publish and sell it. $800-1000 per week isn't going to make you rich, but it's not going to have you in the poor house either.

[Kane0]

Well, the saying does go "If you're good at something, never do it for free" doesn't it?

One of the perks of capitalism/consumerism society I suppose, just look at the people making a living by creating youtube videos (often by playing games). Just don't be surprised if you have a limited pool of clients.

[furby076]

There are some folks who do it and make about 3 to 5k per month. Players pay more than 25 per game per person. Some of these paid dms will even travel the country (on your dime) to dm for you. Some may scoff and make fun, but its a thing. Its absolutely not hard to imagine: group of friends making 60+k per year and want to play 2x per month. Each person pays 50 to 100 to play. Guess what, back when i was fresh out of college, making 40k per year, i went out almost each night and spend 40 to 50$ on booze. Spending 50 to 100 every 2 weeks is nothing. Now imagine you are an adult making 80k per year....thats just inexpensive fun.


A dm hosts 1 to 2 games per day. 4 players at 75 a head = 300 per game. Lets say the dm only has 5 games a week, and thats 1500 per week or 6000 per month

http://www.glixel.com/news/meet-the-dd-players-who-make-a-living-running-games-w479506

[furby076]

I think this is a good example of the double-standard we have for creative work. Why shouldn't someone who is spending hours of their own time prepping and potentially offering you an unparalleled form of escapism earn more than $30 an hour? Having the mentality that only the best of the best should earn close to that is equally baffling to me. People are willing to pay a personal trainer $50 an hour without hesitation, same for yoga classes, soul cycle, etc.

I fully agree with you. We have people throwing numbers "$5 per hour per head", which is cute in a sad way.

folks, first, its just not about the table time...its about the supplies, time to make the story, figures, experience, and creativity. Any DM here knows how long it takes to make a session. Though, even if there was zero prep work....really... $5? Thats how much you value 4 hours of your entertainment time? So what movie do you go to, for 4 hours, that costs $5?

we live in a society where we will buy a 700 phone, every 1 to 2 years, but think a 99 cent app is highway robbery. We value our 60 inch 4k tv that cost $3k, but then torrent the latest movie cause we are too cheap to rent it. Hate to break it to you folks..tv is the commodity..,the content is the value.

these DMs set advanced rates/contracts. They tell you the cost per hour, and no shows on the player part is the players problem. Maybe a new paid DM will only charge for those that show up, but they will quickly learn that people respect your time when they have skin (money) in the game.

If i was desperate for a dm, id have no issue...AT ALL, paying 50 to 75 per player per game. Heck, id pay 100...cause im used to 6 to 8 hour sessions.

I used to be an IT consultant for Accenture, so understand billable rates are high (300 to 600 per hour). I do scuba dive photography (personally ) but my experience and work is so good people always ask to buy my stuff. I tell them about 75 per picture. They get shocked at the price, but when i explain this requires: thousands of hours training, 15 to 20k in diving equipment, paying to travel to these places, getting lucky to find the right picture, and post processing...they typically pay more. So is it hard to imagine that someone, who spent years practicing, hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars on supplies, charges 50 to 100 per person?

Guys, be real, nobody will waste their time for your 5 per head. Maybe you dont have the money to spend, or you have a DM...but many folks dont have a DM and have 50 to 100 to spend every couple weeks

[Sigreid]

I fully agree with you. We have people throwing numbers "$5 per hour per head", which is cute in a sad way.

folks, first, its just not about the table time...its about the supplies, time to make the story, figures, experience, and creativity. Any DM here knows how long it takes to make a session. Though, even if there was zero prep work....really... $5? Thats how much you value 4 hours of your entertainment time? So what movie do you go to, for 4 hours, that costs $5?

we live in a society where we will buy a 700 phone, every 1 to 2 years, but think a 99 cent app is highway robbery. We value our 60 inch 4k tv that cost $3k, but then torrent the latest movie cause we are too cheap to rent it. Hate to break it to you folks..tv is the commodity..,the content is the value.

these DMs set advanced rates/contracts. They tell you the cost per hour, and no shows on the player part is the players problem. Maybe a new paid DM will only charge for those that show up, but they will quickly learn that people respect your time when they have skin (money) in the game.

If i was desperate for a dm, id have no issue...AT ALL, paying 50 to 75 per player per game. Heck, id pay 100...cause im used to 6 to 8 hour sessions.

I used to be an IT consultant for Accenture, so understand billable rates are high (300 to 600 per hour). I do scuba dive photography (personally ) but my experience and work is so good people always ask to buy my stuff. I tell them about 75 per picture. They get shocked at the price, but when i explain this requires: thousands of hours training, 15 to 20k in diving equipment, paying to travel to these places, getting lucky to find the right picture, and post processing...they typically pay more. So is it hard to imagine that someone, who spent years practicing, hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars on supplies, charges 50 to 100 per person?

Guys, be real, nobody will waste their time for your 5 per head. Maybe you dont have the money to spend, or you have a DM...but many folks dont have a DM and have 50 to 100 to spend every couple weeks

As has been stated, the real challenge is developing a customer base who believes you're going to give them that 50-100 dollars per head value. I know, for example, my DMing isn't worth that because I don't like doing the grunt work of DMing very much.

It probably works a lot like professional speakers. As I understand it, most of them give away their speaking until they build up enough of a reputation as a good speaker that people will effectively bid to have them speak.

It also matters what the players want out of the game. Do they want an intense, professional quality experience or do they want to screw around with their friends for a few hours? There are both kinds of groups.

[Knaight]

If i was desperate for a dm, id have no issue...AT ALL, paying 50 to 75 per player per game. Heck, id pay 100...cause im used to 6 to 8 hour sessions.

Few people would though. I certainly wouldn't - I almost always GM anyways, but more fundamentally an RPG session is not worth $50 to me. Buying in at all cheapens it as a social activity with friends, and without that aspect the $50 price tag is laughable. The demand just isn't there. Meanwhile, on the supply side there's a bunch of people (myself included) willing to enjoy their hobby without being paid for it. Without that though, basic livable wage conditions are going to be relatively high, and that conjunction makes the market just not work. So you get some people with occasional side gigs, you get conventions with minimal compensation never intended as payment and always more along the lines of offset costs, and other such things.

[poolio]

My friend is pretty much a full time DM, and I'm starting to get into it as well cause he's got so many requests for DMs' at his shop, i guess it just kinda comes down to the kinds of groups, before, i had a hard time imaging paying someone to hang out like this, but he put it into perspective, as dm you're expected to know everything and be ready to change things right there at the table and keep things fun, and if you're good at it, and there's people who want to play but lack anyone in their particular circle of friends with the knowledge, skill, or time to do it right, plus there's always the case of what if everyone wants to play and no one wants to run it?

Soi guess it's becoming more common to outsource the more difficult role at the table.

[Byke]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgIbNtCSpOY

There are videos on how to become a professional DM :)

[RumoCrytuf]

Here's the story: my roommate found out I play D&D. He and some friends who play Magic are very interested in playing D&D.

Unfortunately, between the kids and job, our schedules are incompatible.

He's volunteered to try to be the DM of his new group, and I've lent him some books.

He asked me if I've ever been the DM (I'm about 15 years older than this guy and have been playing longer than he's been on the planet), and I told him I've done the job, but it isn't for me.

He told me he wants to be the DM, and that he's heard that "professional Dungeon Masters can make a lot of money"

I've never heard of such a thing.

Is this true?

What I wouldn't give to be paid to be a DM...

[Sigreid]

What I wouldn't give to be paid to be a DM...

Well, start building your brand and go for it. You might be one of the ones that is Abe to make it work. It will probably take a lot of hours and frustration to get going, but it is possible.

[poolio]

What I wouldn't give to be paid to be a DM...

Well there is a couple drawback that comes to mind right now, I'm mostly handling adventures league games, which first off i don't really like they way those are written and presented, and second, i don't really have any control of who plays in my group that day, and the individuals that end up in a party don't always mix well, like last game i did i had three completely new, never played before, players, and if it were just them it would have been great, but then i had three late comers, two of which came with about an hour left of game time, and they just really bogged down the game,

So that's one thing to consider, it's different then playing with people you know and like.

[MeeposFire]

Another thing to keep in mind that when it comes to something you do for fun sometimes doing it as a job can potentially reduce or even ruin the run you have at the activity. I have known many music teachers that rarely play music anymore themselves because doing so now feels like work since that is their job most days. These people still love music and love their jobs but now creating music is a job and it can be hard to separate job from fun hobby.

[furby076]

As has been stated, the real challenge is developing a customer base who believes you're going to give them that 50-100 dollars per head value. I know, for example, my DMing isn't worth that because I don't like doing the grunt work of DMing very much.

It probably works a lot like professional speakers. As I understand it, most of them give away their speaking until they build up enough of a reputation as a good speaker that people will effectively bid to have them speak.

It also matters what the players want out of the game. Do they want an intense, professional quality experience or do they want to screw around with their friends for a few hours? There are both kinds of groups.

Makes sense. Like many have to go to college, trade school, apprenticeship before starting a job. Experience and credentials are necessary. I have no idea how it starts. Maybe you started dming casually, like the vast majority, then dm'd some games at the comic shop. Then maybe made a few recordings and shared it. Then people notice. Building your brand, as has been said, is key. Probably a good hint: if you have a lot of people asking to join your game, and asking to get on a waiting list....you can probably charge :)

i dont agree that hiring a dm is mutually inclusive of an intense game. If i were doing this as a business, i would ask the group what they want. For 2 reasons: 1) to make sure i can make it happen (e.g., if they want a comedian DM, but I'm not a comedian, i am not the right dm), 2) to make sure i build the appropriate world.


Few people would though. I certainly wouldn't - I almost always GM anyways, but more fundamentally an RPG session is not worth $50 to me. Buying in at all cheapens it as a social activity with friends, and without that aspect the $50 price tag is laughable. The demand just isn't there. Meanwhile, on the supply side there's a bunch of people (myself included) willing to enjoy their hobby without being paid for it. Without that though, basic livable wage conditions are going to be relatively high, and that conjunction makes the market just not work. So you get some people with occasional side gigs, you get conventions with minimal compensation never intended as payment and always more along the lines of offset costs, and other such things.

Nobody says the professional DM has to stop dming for his friends, for free. The dm may have his regular group, but does this as well. As for few people willing to pay, says you. I know many people willing to pay top dollar to be highly entertained in their chosen hobby. I race cars (not professionally ), and i will easily drop $1,000 to get a private trainer and access to a race track for half a day. I scuba dive, and will easily plop down some serious cash to dive with world class divers in caves.

Your statement that paying for something makes it "cheaper" is wildly false. Im sure you pay money to have fun. When i pay professional drivers to train me, or dive masters to guide me there is a lot of before, during and after social time. We have plenty of fun. Eat, drink and sleep together (not sex, i mean on trips). As for supply and demand...considering most of us just recently (about 2 or 3 weeks ago for me) heard about this, id wager supply is very low. Like all startup businesses and contract jobs, the early days of your business venture will most likely require you to have a 2nd job or dip into your savings (e.g., starting capital).

Don't doubt innovation, ingenuity of people willing to find a new career path. Don't doubt the need of people who are seeking entertainment, and will pay to make sure they get it


My friend is pretty much a full time DM, and I'm starting to get into it as well cause he's got so many requests for DMs' at his shop, i guess it just kinda comes down to the kinds of groups, before, i had a hard time imaging paying someone to hang out like this, but he put it into perspective, as dm you're expected to know everything and be ready to change things right there at the table and keep things fun, and if you're good at it, and there's people who want to play but lack anyone in their particular circle of friends with the knowledge, skill, or time to do it right, plus there's always the case of what if everyone wants to play and no one wants to run it?

Soi guess it's becoming more common to outsource the more difficult role at the table.

So, how did you and your friend get started? I think many are incredulous, but a story (free, i hope 😊) might shed some light. How do you advertise yourself?


What I wouldn't give to be paid to be a DM...

Well, give a good story, and get paid



Another thing to keep in mind that when it comes to something you do for fun sometimes doing it as a job can potentially reduce or even ruin the run you have at the activity. I have known many music teachers that rarely play music anymore themselves because doing so now feels like work since that is their job most days. These people still love music and love their jobs but now creating music is a job and it can be hard to separate job from fun hobby.

As my father in law says.... "work" is a four letter word for a reason

[Sigreid]

As my father in law says.... "work" is a four letter word for a reason

Well, they call it work and pay you for it instead of making you pay for super happy fun time because even a job you are really good at and love sucks at least 10% of the time where you have to do things you don't want to.

[willdaBEAST]

Nobody says the professional DM has to stop dming for his friends, for free. The dm may have his regular group, but does this as well. As for few people willing to pay, says you. I know many people willing to pay top dollar to be highly entertained in their chosen hobby. I race cars (not professionally ), and i will easily drop $1,000 to get a private trainer and access to a race track for half a day. I scuba dive, and will easily plop down some serious cash to dive with world class divers in caves.

Your statement that paying for something makes it "cheaper" is wildly false. Im sure you pay money to have fun. When i pay professional drivers to train me, or dive masters to guide me there is a lot of before, during and after social time.

You could even test out your new campaigns for free with friends, troubleshooting any complications and workshopping ways to make it more engaging. I'm glad you called out the "cheapening" argument, it doesn't make any logical sense.

As I pointed out in an earlier post, there's a really strange disconnect with creative fields vs tangible physical activities. The examples you gave are great, I find it hard to believe anyone would expect a stranger to teach them how to drive a race car or teach them diving for free. Whereas a lot of people will ask an artist to design a logo for their company for free or if they're a musician, put on a concert for "exposure". You can't eat or pay rent with "exposure", but you can die from exposure.

I think the heart of the issue with many creative fields is that from the outside people think to themselves: "I could do that if I tried hard enough." Totally devaluing the amount of work and talent required to be good at whatever it is. Even with what I do (sound design), appearance drastically changes how clients treat me. If I'm sitting in a million dollar recording studio, people are going to treat me differently than if I'm behind a computer in my home studio. I've gotten an exterior mixing board solely because the faders dance around autonomously while I'm working and it impresses clients. You'd think in a field like sound, the mix would be the only thing that matters and superficial appearances wouldn't be important, but they make a difference.

It's very strange to me that the community seems split on supporting the idea of professional DMs even being a possibility. It reminds me a bit of when people only like musicians that are "underground" and only 70 people know about them. When that musician achieves any greater success, they've "sold out". Just think of your own campaigns as a player, imagine if your DM could spend his or her entire week prepping an amazing world, tying your characters into it and flushing out how it all fits together. Or if your favorite novelist worked on a campaign just for your group? I think that would be amazing and even if it's not practical or feasible, shouldn't we at least strive to create an environment where it would be possible?

[Knaight]

Your statement that paying for something makes it "cheaper" is wildly false. Im sure you pay money to have fun. When i pay professional drivers to train me, or dive masters to guide me there is a lot of before, during and after social time. We have plenty of fun. Eat, drink and sleep together (not sex, i mean on trips). As for supply and demand...considering most of us just recently (about 2 or 3 weeks ago for me) heard about this, id wager supply is very low. Like all startup businesses and contract jobs, the early days of your business venture will most likely require you to have a 2nd job or dip into your savings (e.g., starting capital).

My statement wasn't that paying for "something" makes it cheaper. It was that paying your friends to do something with you makes that, specifically, cheaper.

[furby076]

My statement wasn't that paying for "something" makes it cheaper. It was that paying your friends to do something with you makes that, specifically, cheaper.

Ah, thank you for the clarification. That makes sense. I would never charge my friends/family for one of my photographs; just like they wouldn't charge me to come help me do something (e.g., baby sit, help move, etc). Given that, while I couldn't speak for every paid DM, i doubt many (if any) charge their buddies all of a sudden

[poolio]

So, how did you and your friend get started? I think many are incredulous, but a story (free, i hope 😊) might shed some light. How do you advertise yourself?



Well he's co-owner of a cards and board games shop, and it started with adventures league, the way AL works in most shops is there's a sign up sheet for DMs and gor players, the problem with that is AL is aimed at new players, so you usually end up with way more players then DMs, so then the games usually end up getting called off, and if the large player parties weren't enough to turn off any newbie DMs, the adventures themselves would, the official adventures league adventures are so poorly laid out that it's kinda hard for people who don't have previous experience to run,

So seeing the problem with the way it works now, my friend decided that by running the games himself or having other friends of his with experience do it, then he'd get more people coming in regularly, buying books, buying dice, and the charge right now is just $5 a person which is pretty much just paying the friends and employees for their time running the games, he's not really making any profit from it directly, but the increased in d&d related sales is definitely what keeps him doing it,

Plus if people really get into it, and want one of us to run a regular campaign, then that is certainly a possibility, the difference with that is it's the same group, AL games are pretty all over the place with who shows up, but with the dedicated group it's like a monthly fee, cause you as a group have hired someone with a ton of experience to dedicate their time to learning the ins and outs of a whole book to run a great, and possibly customized, game for you and your friends.

And the campaign games is where he'll actually make money off of the game itself.

So really the decision to charge for AL games has just been all good.

Hope this helps anyone else interested, and if anyone has any questions I'd be happy to help as much as i can :smallsmile:

[furby076]

Hope this helps anyone else interested, and if anyone has any questions I'd be happy to help as much as i can :smallsmile:

THanks! That's great info. Definitely sheds some light. Is it still fun, or is it becoming more "worky"? Do you feel pressured to do more than what you have done before?

[Naanomi]

When we did 'rotating GMs'; the current GM didn't have to chip in for food...

Also I know people who were compensated to run stuff at conventions in the 2e era; mostly by vendors hoping to advertise their stuff. I played a great one shot in a con hosted by 'dwarven forge' with a huge constructed dungeon crawl. Kenzerco was paying GMs to run Hackmaster at cons too for a while

[poolio]

THanks! That's great info. Definitely sheds some light. Is it still fun, or is it becoming more "worky"? Do you feel pressured to do more than what you have done before?

No problem, glad to help.
And it hasn't felt to much like work, not yet at least, I've only been doing it about a month once per week, it is still fun, but i feel like it'd be more fun if it were my own adventures and whatnot, and as far as feeling like i need to do more? It's actually the other way around, the adventures provided have so much pointless conversation options and
The games are only supposed to go from 6-10 so I'm usually cutting things and maybe adding my own little things on the fly that would help get the same experiences or results but quicker (like who the PCs are looking for or where to go next ect.)

The only downside right now is one i mentioned before which is you don't always get to pick your players, most of the ones i have are great, but i usually have this one kid who is pretty much "that guy" he's always over thinking everything and doing the dumb things that derail the game,

But again, still lots of fun and not a bad way to make a little extra cash

[furby076]

Good for you! Most likely,if you keep liking it, get more gear (figures, board's, etc), and exposure you will probably be able to setup and create your own games. It doesnt even have to be your home, you could travel to others houses to run games.


i wish you success

[Sigreid]

Good for you! Most likely,if you keep liking it, get more gear (figures, board's, etc), and exposure you will probably be able to setup and create your own games. It doesnt even have to be your home, you could travel to others houses to run games.


i wish you success

If you develop a high level of skill with one of the virtual desktop it seriously increases your potential customers as well.

[poolio]

If you develop a high level of skill with one of the virtual desktop it seriously increases your potential customers as well.

Thank you both, I've played on fantasy grounds before, but have never dm'd with it before, if things keep going well i just might start looking into it:smallsmile:

[Sigreid]

Thank you both, I've played on fantasy grounds before, but have never dm'd with it before, if things keep going well i just might start looking into it:smallsmile:

With a FG ultimate license you could allow people to join and play without them having to purchase their own license as well. They just have to download the free demo version.

I've also been finding that Campaign Cartographer 3 allows even someone such as myself with limited patience and even more limited artistic talent to create beautiful scale maps.

[poolio]

With a FG ultimate license you could allow people to join and play without them having to purchase their own license as well. They just have to download the free demo version.

I've also been finding that Campaign Cartographer 3 allows even someone such as myself with limited patience and even more limited artistic talent to create beautiful scale maps.

Thanks, writing these down now, could be a good investment should my current career options continue down this path :smallwink:

[furby076]

I love it when we come together :)