Paid D&D games?

**l33t_fl33t** · 2010-02-12, 03:57 PM (ISO 8601)

Do these things even exist? Would you be willing to pay a "pro" DM to run a game? How much would you be willing to pay?

I don't think that running a good D&D campaign is much different from writing a novel (in fact, quite a few of the D&D books sound exactly like that) so I started thinking, since people already pay for various venues of entertainment, wouldn't they pay to play a D&D campaign?

I believe I would, provided that it was up to par. I suppose what "up to par" means will depend on the price.

Anyway, discuss.

**The Rose Dragon** · 2010-02-12, 03:58 PM (ISO 8601)

There was this guy who did that very thing and posted his experiences on these very boards.

Commander_Keen or something.

**DragoonWraith** · 2010-02-12, 03:59 PM (ISO 8601)

I probably wouldn't, but just because you might be interested, here's a thread by a guy with a similar idea. Should have some good information.

**Comet** · 2010-02-12, 04:02 PM (ISO 8601)

If I had to pay for a D&D game, I would make sure that the rest of the gaming group was as good as the DM. The DM can't make the game alone, it's a group effort and a single asshat can ruin the game for everyone even if the DM is a god.

I probably wouldn't pay for a game of D&D, personally. Perhaps not for any pen&paper game. It just doesn't seem like a thing where you can be 'pro' or 'amateur'.

Incidentally, I think we had another guy here who wanted to be a mercenary-DM a while back. Can't remember what decision he ended up with, though.

Edit: Ninj'd

**Tyndmyr** · 2010-02-12, 04:02 PM (ISO 8601)

I might. I'd have to know how he DMs first, though. Otherwise, I might be paying for something different than what I want. Truly good DMs are sometimes hard to find.

**Nero24200** · 2010-02-12, 04:06 PM (ISO 8601)

I don't think I'd ever pay, nor would I really encourage anyone else to do so. You can't exactly be a "pro" DM.

What's more, those better at DMing (in my experience at least) tend to be so because they know their group well and cateer for them, something that's not likely to happen after only a single game or so. To this end, it's hard for me to image a game I've "paid" for.

Besides, why do it? Unless you are desperately short of people to play with.

**Myou** · 2010-02-12, 04:06 PM (ISO 8601)

Never. When no-one wants to DM I just do it myself. I would hate playing with someone who I was paying to run the game, it makes for a poor relationship. I game with friends not with people who I hire.

**Tyndmyr** · 2010-02-12, 04:15 PM (ISO 8601)

I see the relationship of friendship as something orthagonal to business relationships. After all, it's not unheard of for someone to become friends with their boss, or with a customer.

There's of course nothing wrong with DMing yourself, but as services go, I've paid far more for entertainment than paying a quarter of a DMs fee(presumably, $15 a hour or something). Hell, I spend more than that on weekly pizza and snacks, let alone books, modules, figures, and whatever else catches my eye.

It would have to have something that makes it preferable to free DMing, though. Scheduling...availability...location, whatever the case may be. Quality of Dm is only one of many factors in getting a game together.

**Optimystik** · 2010-02-12, 04:23 PM (ISO 8601)

I'd probably pay Rich to GM, but not many others.

I recall a post from Roland saying he was pretty good at it.

**Emmerask** · 2010-02-12, 04:23 PM (ISO 8601)

Well my major issue regarding that would be that I would want a session quality that greatly exceeds normal free to play sessions.

That would include a completely self made and extremely detailed campaign world (ie if I find a book somewhere there better be some information about the author for example) and of course a good story.
The problem with that is that such detailed campaign world require weeks of preparation time, so if the dm wants to make good $/hour it would get pretty expensive I guess.

So even with all those requirements I have I would still hesitate to pay more then a good evening at a cinema so maybe 12$/session (duno us cinema prices ;)) or somesuch.
Problem is that both points are pretty much not compatible 48$ (if 4 player campaign) for maybe 20 hours creating the campaign and story is very very low.

But if it is not that much better then normal sessions why pay?

**Tyndmyr** · 2010-02-12, 04:30 PM (ISO 8601)

Emm, presumably, a paid DM would want to DM more than one game if he wanted to make any money at it. If he used the same setting, and, where appropriate, the same adventures for each group, he could reduce his per-session setup time significantly without impacting the quality of the game.

But yeah, I'd expect a well fleshed out setting. Be it homebrew or a well fleshed out version of an existing setting, it should be done well. I wouldn't pay for a bunch of prefab modules off the internet.

**l33t_fl33t** · 2010-02-12, 04:41 PM (ISO 8601)

Conjob, Nero, I disagree. Having been both victim and torturer [laughs] in the arrangement, I can really say that there is a significant difference between somebody who's been a DM for years and somebody that's just started.

I would also, like many other people, only pay if I truly saw it as being worth it.

Emmerask has a very good point, and I'd like to add something to it. Dungeon Mastering is a multidisciplinary field - you need to be both an actor, a writer, an illustrator AND know the game. And to get paid for it, you'd probably need to be exceptional in all of them. Of course, such harsh requirements and affordable prices don't match.

However, that doesn't mean that it's totally incompatible. Maybe you could attract players on the basis of celebrity status (Gary Gygax as DM anyone?) or by outsourcing - in some countries $50 is a lot of money.

**RandomNPC** · 2010-02-12, 04:45 PM (ISO 8601)

I remember reading about a woman who had her gamers paying all of her bills so she could keep writing story for her game. Apparently she's really good at what she does. Then again thats one of those things i've heard about people hearing about, and we all know how that goes.

Honnestly if my gamers wanted to put five bucks in the tip jar, I'm not going to complain, but at the same time, I'm not asking for money.

**Lysander** · 2010-02-12, 04:46 PM (ISO 8601)

I could imagine one Pro DM running the same campaign hundreds of times, constantly improving the story, characters, dialogue, balance, fleshing out the world to painstaking detail.

Does the party suddenly decide to roam east, off the plot rails? He knows what's there and has a plot hook waiting. Few casters in the party? No worries, this probably came up in this campaign three years ago, he can adjust the BBEG and loot to compensate. Do the PCs decide to turn evil and join the BBEG? No worries, he has the good guys stated out and has a plotline for them as the enemy.

I'm not sure how practical or appealing a pro DM is. It's an interesting idea though.

**Tyndmyr** · 2010-02-12, 04:47 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by l33t_fl33t

Conjob, Nero, I disagree. Having been both victim and torturer [laughs] in the arrangement, I can really say that there is a significant difference between somebody who's been a DM for years and somebody that's just started.

This is also incredibly true. No great DM started out that way...DMing takes a lot of prep time, work, and experience. Sure, eventually you might be able to pull great campaigns out of a hat, and DM a group flawlessly, but I've never, ever seen someone start out that way. Especially if they didn't play before dming.

**Project_Mayhem** · 2010-02-12, 06:05 PM (ISO 8601)

I would likely never pay for a game, but whenever we game round my house I give the DM free cider and snacks. Mainly cause he's more generous with xp when he's pissed.

**CockroachTeaParty** · 2010-02-12, 06:14 PM (ISO 8601)

Man, what I wouldn't do to get paid to DM. I just don't think I've got the stones to put a personal add in the paper or whatever. I mean, there's so many variables... I'd have to give out '1 free session' for a prospective group, to let them know what they're paying for.

And what would I charge? A rate by the hour? A flat fee for one session?

Still, that would be a sweet job. I just don't think there's enough people near where I live that would be willing to pay for such a thing.

Besides, I enjoy DMing for my friends, but having money be a factor would make things odd. Maybe if one of my friends gets absurdly wealthy, they could simply keep me in their home, in a special container, and let me out to run games in exchange for food...

**dukexx** · 2010-02-12, 06:17 PM (ISO 8601)

Unless it was Silverclawshift's DM, I probably wouldn't.

**Samb** · 2010-02-12, 07:03 PM (ISO 8601)

I would pay for a D&D session. But then I think to myself:
"Couldn't I use that money to get Mass Effect 2 instead?"

And that's just what I did.

So here I am, trying to cap Shepperd's level on all classes, and get with sexy blue skin aliens. That would be like 3 sessions for $20 each and less time constraints or dealing all the "unknown" variables everyone else mentioned.

BioWare are awesome DMs. Everyone should play Mass Effect and its sequel. I'm totally hooked.

**herrhauptmann** · 2010-02-12, 07:06 PM (ISO 8601)

Aren't you technically paying for a DM when you play at a Con? Aren't the DMs at the tables paid for it?

**AslanCross** · 2010-02-12, 07:19 PM (ISO 8601)

I would never pay to play, but I wouldn't mind being paid to DM. I do put in a lot of work into it. I'd like to at least be paid for the ink I consume to print all my notes as well as the coffee I drink.

**Aik** · 2010-02-12, 07:19 PM (ISO 8601)

For my style of play ... no, I think it's a horrible idea. It's not up to the DM to bring the fun to the game - it's a group effort. Why would you pay someone to bring in a quarter (or whatever) of the fun?

But then, if you treat RPing more like a novel where the DM does a huge amount of work and the players just go through it without major input, I guess it makes some sense. Not a lot, because people are willing to do it for free, but some. In a more freewheeling game where everyone's firing in lots of creative input, it's a nonsensical idea.

**PlzBreakMyCmpAn** · 2010-02-12, 07:21 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by dukexx

Unless it was Silverclawshift's DM, I probably wouldn't.

more explanation?

**Xenogears** · 2010-02-12, 07:34 PM (ISO 8601)

I like playing DnD when I get the chance but mostly as a way to hang out with friends. So no I would never pay someone to DM. If my friends need money (and i have any....) I'd lend them some and if their not my friends I probably wouldn't be playing with them.

**randomhero00** · 2010-02-12, 08:19 PM (ISO 8601)

Naw, I wouldn't pay. The fun comes more from involving one's friends and you don't pay friends.

**Ormur** · 2010-02-12, 08:21 PM (ISO 8601)

I wouldn't have anything against paying a DM in principle. If one were new to roleplaying and wanted an experienced DM then hiring someone might be the quickest way. Still I don't think I'd ever do it, it seems too impersonal. I was too shy to look for other gamers, let alone meet up with a total stranger for something slightly silly like roleplaying (my attitude before ever playing).

**DragoonWraith** · 2010-02-12, 08:24 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by dukexx

Unless it was Silverclawshift's DM, I probably wouldn't.

This. I would totally pay to join one of his campaigns.

**Thefurmonger** · 2010-02-12, 08:38 PM (ISO 8601)

i think I would be ok with paying, provided the DM was really good.

I would expect a lot of fleshing out of the world, visual aids, music, etc.

**valadil** · 2010-02-12, 08:50 PM (ISO 8601)

I'd consider it but only for a one shot. I'd like to see what a pro DM can do and see what I can learn from it.

**Iceforge** · 2010-02-12, 09:07 PM (ISO 8601)

No, I don't think I would pay for that, except maybe like a token price.

In a LARP I am taking aprt in (or used to take part in, anyway), there was a small price (5-6 USD more or less when converted) pr. session, but that also covered the GMs transportation and various props.

I've considered talking to my current group about making a pool, for instance if all players leave about 10USD pr. month, then those money could go towards various props for the game, but they wouldn't be paying me, as much as chipping into a pool dedicated to buying props

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