Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/11/20/meet-a-professional-dd-dungeo.html
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Glad you put “D&D” in the headline, since professional dungeon masters and mistresses who wield whips and sport leatherwear are far more common.
Seriously, what a neat job. I’m happy he’s found a way to earn money and esteem from it.
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I’m glad people like this exist.
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filled with skeletal beasties called Gnolls.
Heh, n00bs. Gnolls are not skeletal
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My very first DM was Ben Browder. Yep, that one. We attended Furman University together. And if the name doesn’t ring a bell, here’s one of my favorite clips from one of my favorite shows…
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Nice to see he is wearing his formal chain mail
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As it turns out, the very attributes that help form the core of every Dungeons & Dragons character—strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma—are the same ones needed to be a stellar Dungeon Master.
Oh gawd, I can’t read anymore of this article.
And the photos in the article, help me. Totally reminds me of the 30 rock episode with the photo shoot
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Clearly there’s a demand for this guy so i will not negatively criticize him but people are paying how much for a single/one-off 3hr session? I’ve never played D&D and i just wrapped one up a month or so ago, we did it all through Discord and Roll20. Sessions were about 3hrs long and went on for like 4-5 months on Sunday nights, i had a lot of fun and i could not imagine trying to distill everything down to a single session,
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I think I’d e good at this. But for that price everyone better stay on topic. The prep work for the game makes DMing a PITA.
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The footnote says everything you need to know about the quality of research and respect for the subject matter in this article:
“*This article has been updated to correct an error. Wizards of the Coast did not create Dungeons & Dragons.”
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“He’s worth the money,” says Kevin Papa.
…asuming one, yknow, has the money.
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Honestly, his dissertation sounds like it could be a worthwhile read.
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$250-350!? I’m not sure what to make of that. I know people that make money charging a hell of a lot less to teach kids and do parties and stuff with all the props… but that’s quite the NYC mark-up.
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Having done quite a bit of DMing over the years, yes, it can absolutely be a job, no question about it. And a creative and fun one, too. I’m sure he kicks ass at it. But this bit:
“I need to be cracking jokes,” he says. “I need to be acting as though we’re just a group of friends playing D&D, because that’s the experience everybody wants.”
This bit just makes me sad. For some reason paying someone to pretend to be your friend for a bit strikes me as crushingly sad. I mean, I’m not blaming anyone involved I’m just… it’s painful to imagine.
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That isn’t what is going on. They are paying to be entertained, not for pretend friends. He is just saying he needs to approach it like they are already friends. Fly casual. Just like many other entertainers.
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No way! How cool. It was great to see him have a small part in guardians of the galaxy 2 due to the director being a fan of farscape, indeed one of my favourite shows as well.
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It mentions a sliding scale. So there may be a good bit of haggle involved. One of the biggest challenges involved in getting an adventure going as you get older is finding a GM. It involves a good amount of prep time, human wrangling and math. It’s pretty thankless.
Once you get known as the GM in your friends circle you become the GM. It could be years before you get a chance to kick back and be a player again.
So this may be appealing to older players who can split the adventure 5 ways.
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Oh? I must have misunderstood. Still, I’m glad to have been mistaken.
He looks and sounds like the sort of person I’d probably develop a crush on, so it’d be weird to pay to hang out with him. However, the reason I’ve never played D&D is that I don’t know anyone with experience, so it makes sense that this would exist as a service.
