I remember reading an article about a silicone valley Gm who was making pretty good money.  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-07-08/how-to-be-a-professional-dungeons-dragons-master-hosting-games

  I think as said already, balls to ask for money (and being somewhere where people have the money to spend on it) and go for broke.  Just do not plan on enjoying game mastering in your spare time with friends any more.

Quote from: jeff37923;1134135OK, a friend ran across this and wanted my input on it, so I wanted to get theRPGSite brain trusts' opinion on it as well. It is a business selling paid GMs called StartPlaying Games and they offer online and in person gaming by a network of GMs (prices vary).

I always point people to OutSchool.com which turned this quarantine and now the Summer into, among other things, a massive lab to teach kids D&D.

I'll use for example Megan Hardy, who is I believe making a full time living DM'ing and teaching D&D to kids online at Outschool.  But know there are probably a dozen people at this point teaching and running D&D for kids on Outschool now. Megan's just I think a pretty fair example of how it's done.

This is not the introduction to D&D class, it's actually a "So you've been introduced, here's a mini-campaign to continue" type class:



The description for that class:

Description
Class Experience
This will be a fun six week campaign for those ready to adventure.   Our heroes will be heading out to save the land from an evil ruler.  Along the way they will face several challenges, battles and make friends.  Dungeons and Dragons can serve as a great tool for teaching logic and critical thinking.  This is a self created campaign, that follows the rules of Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition.  It is  designed specifically for children ages 9-14.   I'm highlighting problem solving, logic puzzles and team work.  They will be learning all these skills while having a grand adventure.  While I will ask for character creation before the game begins.  I will happily work with any student to create a character if they don't know how.  

First Class:  The group meets and group dynamics are examined.  They will learn of an evil ruler terrorizing the land, and will be given different options on how to proceed.  The players will be given clues towards the best course of action.

Second Class:  The group will face combat and be given the chance to possibly make allies in their quest.  Will they be able to use their critical thinking to decide if they need allies and who that should be.

Third Class:  The adventures will find that they will have to change plans.  Can they overcome a sudden change in events.  They will also be given some special clues that can help them find magical weapons to help in their adventure.  They will be in the form of logic puzzles/riddles.  If they can work together as a group they will each gain a magical weapon.

Fourth Class:  Word of our adventures exploits have reached far and wide.  They will find themselves with dangers every direction they turn.  Can they find a way to neutralize some threats?  Sometimes words can help more then swords.  During this leg of the adventure, they will need to chose their words carefully.

Fifth Class:  Our heros are close to defeating the evil ruler and freeing the land.  The battles they face will be tougher.  The ruler will through distractions at our rulers and try to split the group up.  Will they fall for his evil plan, or will they use their critical thinking skills to see through his plan.

Sixth Class:  The students will face the final battle and take down the evil ruler.  Then they will be faced with choices.  Who will rule upon his death?  Will they stay and protect the land.  What does the future hold for them?

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I think she got tired of doing the intro courses, and there are a ton of others now doing those intro courses, so now that she has a pretty decent following of students there, she does a lot more adventures. Some are weekly, and some like this are like a mini-summer-camp of several times a week:



You can see an interview Megan did on Nerdarchy here. It's two years old at this point. She's probably doing even more than 15 classes a week at this point (during the Quarantine I imagine it's way more in fact), though I imagine some are privates now:

[video=youtube;XoqSM3P9NZA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoqSM3P9NZA&t=759s[/youtube]

Quote from: Snark Knight;1134201I also know from experience that a lot of players, particularly those coming off a unhealthy diet of Critical Roll, have expectations of just about everything and anything going the way they want - rerolls, enemy motivations, NPC reactions - and will have a tantrum of, "I'm paying for this, it should be like THIS!", something which I've encountered in free games even.

I've seen this from a Critter DM - never from a player though! DM PM'd me after game to explain I was playing it wrong. Being too pro-active mostly.

Quote from: Mistwell;1134206fap fap fap

That's a nice spammy advertisement, but has fuck all to do with paid GMing via StartPlaying Games. Your website is a paid teaching tool which has been co-opted by people to teach/run the latest version of D&D. Not the same set-up.

Quote from: jeff37923;1134219That's a nice spammy advertisement, but has fuck all to do with paid GMing via StartPlaying Games. Your website is a paid teaching tool which has been co-opted by people to teach/run the latest version of D&D. Not the same set-up.

I am not advertising anything. Why would I? I have no connection to that in any way. It's just an example you can look to concerning 1) pricing, 2) frequency, 3) standards used for setup, 4) means of marketing it, 5) a video of someone who has done it talking about the various problems and benefits of it, etc..

It's not "my" website. WTF?

I know, serves me right for every trying to help you out Jeff. You could ask "what's the weather outside" and I could answer and you'd likely freak out that my answer was some dig on you.

Quote from: jeff37923;1134135OK, a friend ran across this and wanted my input on it, so I wanted to get theRPGSite brain trusts' opinion on it as well. It is a business selling paid GMs called StartPlaying Games and they offer online and in person gaming by a network of GMs (prices vary).

Personally, I think it's trashy. Roleplaying is something that is SUPPOSED to be gratifying for the DM as well as the players; is the DM not a player himself? Whenever I play, the DM usually gets the first crack at snacks and booze; he isn't required to bring any if he doesn't want to. That is the price we pay as players because being a DM is more time consuming than simply running a PC. It's sort of like if your buddy throws a party and you bring a bottle of Scotch...he's doing all the hard work so you bring something to enjoy communally as a way to say thanks. If I went to a party and someone charged me to get in, I'd think they were being a total asshole, much like I'd think a DM who charged to run games is an asshole.

Conventions, different situation I think as that is like paying cover at a club when there's a live band. But that's also not a weekly occurrence or anything.

Quote from: Brad;1134223Whenever I play, the DM usually gets the first crack at snacks and booze; he isn't required to bring any if he doesn't want to. That is the price we pay as players because being a DM is more time consuming than simply running a PC. It's sort of like if your buddy throws a party and you bring a bottle of Scotch...he's doing all the hard work so you bring something to enjoy communally as a way to say thanks.

Yeah our in-person games we bring booze and often food for the DM. Sometimes order delivery of dinner too, and the DM doesn't pay for their dinner. It's just polite. Online play is a bit different - the most we've done is pay for their access to Roll20 advanced options and DnDBeyond access.

Here is how I look at it:

People are fine with adventure writing for money. So what's different about running it for money if you want? It's not something everyone would do, but if it works for them, then great.

As soon as the marketing machine made RPG hit the mainstream, this was inevitable.

I would wager the DM's who would actually be the ones you would want to pay for are those with professional theatrical training and on stage experience.  I can safely assume that there are currently a lot of out of work theater performers a little desperate to make ends meet.  If they can run a memorable game then sure, make a little money for the effort.

Read a few profiles on that site and it's not all 5e so at least there is some variety for the older D&D editions and other systems.

For those that their only credentials is they love RPG's and have been playing a long time?  Uh, no, that's really not a selling feature for me.  It's like seeing these groups on Roll20 where a group is looking for a DM.  Baffles me that they never think of one of them trying it out themselves.

Bards got paid for their gigs.  Most RPG's run these days are just big storytelling games using simple game mechanics as the order of the day.  I say for those tempted to go for it but as mentioned, expect to be at the mercy of your players and be their little b*tch.  No thanks.  I'd personally prefer to keep RPG's as my hobby I enjoy, not my work I endure.

I was paid to GM/DM games for two years at a local bar that insisted on paying when I volunteered. It was good money, so why not? I gave it up to run in the defunct deli of a grocery store for free because getting paid means you have to deal with players (customers in this scenario) and things like character death or problem players (and there were many) just are not worth the grief. I'd rather run a game for free now than to be paid and have to bend to the situation.

Game store nearest to me runs a pay to play D&D campaign for a group of home school kids.   I do not know what they charge the players (I think it is 15-20 per session), but they also sell the phb to them and snacks and dice.  So they get a good bang from the group out of the gate and enough to pay the DM.  I think the sessions are around 1.5-2 hours.   They have enough players to run two tables both with 6-8 players twice a week.

   So it looks to me that it could be a thing to have success with in person.  Digitally, there could be traction with the current social distancing.  But I suspect DM'ing for 8 tweens could be a first view of hell.

If you're a 6/10 woman, you could book as many games as you want without even reading the rulebook. The rpg.net neckbeards would gladly pay for the privilege just to "storygame" with you.

I say 6/10 because anyone more attractive would make more with even the most rudimentary and unsuccessful OnlyFans page.

Quote from: DickFeynman;1134380If you're a 6/10 woman, you could book as many games as you want without even reading the rulebook. The rpg.net neckbeards would gladly pay for the privilege just to "storygame" with you.

I say 6/10 because anyone more attractive would make more with even the most rudimentary and unsuccessful OnlyFans page.

You're not wrong.

Quote from: oggsmash;1134378Game store nearest to me runs a pay to play D&D campaign for a group of home school kids.   I do not know what they charge the players (I think it is 15-20 per session), but they also sell the phb to them and snacks and dice.  So they get a good bang from the group out of the gate and enough to pay the DM.  I think the sessions are around 1.5-2 hours.   They have enough players to run two tables both with 6-8 players twice a week.

   So it looks to me that it could be a thing to have success with in person.  Digitally, there could be traction with the current social distancing.  But I suspect DM'ing for 8 tweens could be a first view of hell.

I ran a game for a bunch of 12-year-olds for about a year, best players I've ever had!

Quote from: Zalman;1134409I ran a game for a bunch of 12-year-olds for about a year, best players I've ever had!

  Exceptions do not always make the rule false.   were they complete strangers who's karen mothers were paying you to run the game?  Because the right 12 year olds would be a blast, and as long as you have complete veto power, any group can be good.  I think once money changes hands the veto power might become much less absolute.