Though they probably make more $/hr…
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what a magical time to be alive.
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It’s not all that dissimilar from getting paid to tell jokes, dance, sing, perform, etc. It’s commendable that this guy has the performing chops to be engaging and the foresight to be a businessman about it and charge what his time is worth, though surprised people are willing to pay that much on a regular basis. I presume the price is total and not per person?
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That’s a common misconception that D&D players have of Pathfinder gamers, I know.
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i actually mean it – it’s amazing that we live in a time that can have professional D&D Dungeon Masters as a full-time job. when i was playing D&D back in the 70s and 80s, i NEVER would’ve guessed such a thing would ever be possible.
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One (1…) time I was paid to DM. It was for a gifted and talented class and I was about 14 at the time do didn’t have the smarts to say when approached that I’d just do it for free.
Didn’t run very long but they seemed to like it.
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A big part of DMing is manipulating the players into following the general story arc without being obtuse about it, and then improvising when they don’t.
The prep work can indeed be a PITA, but it isn’t too bad if you remember the ABC’s of live story telling: The only parts that are deserving of deep detail are Architecture, Breaking shit, and Core character development.
The rest is just extraneous busywork that can be glossed over.
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I’ve said that if Hollywood can’t get characters to go through the plot of an action film - it needs to be reworked.
Also, I like prepping, it just takes a lot of time.
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No, angrypants, I think you were right the first time; he doesn’t mean “casual performance” because he doesn’t say anything like that. The guy says “group of friends”. For money.
that’s messed up.
He’s treating his clients like a group of friends. How is that “messed up”?
Obviously these people HAVE friends. They just don’t have friends who are amazing DMs. This is basically a private storytelling session. Per the article, “When Woods runs a game, his style is part dorm-room hangout and part one-man show.” Meaning he wants people to be loose and engaged. People who aren’t just clam up and roll dice, instead of actually roleplaying.
You know, like when you go to a restaurant that “treats you like family”. They aren’t pretending you are family. For money. They are providing you food and service for money. This guy is providing entertainment and a service for money. People who have had well run games know what a good asset a good Game Master is.
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…where did that come from?
For some reason paying someone to pretend to be your friend for a bit strikes me as crushingly sad.
Asia’s hostess clubs are places men go to have young women pretend to find them charming while they buy overpriced drinks. Now that is sad.
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Well, only for games I really wouldn’t want to play in but hey, each to whatever suits them.
I know finding a GM is the hard part, but my group tends to pass it around naturally. Then again, we play a big variety of games too and I know that is uncommon as well.
It’s more that I know people that do this for a lot lower cost, but comparing what a DM for hire could charge in Houston to NYC makes the 5-6x cost difference seem a bit steep.
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I’m just teasing you about your name. cough I’ll try to be funnier in the future.
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Well, I find that a lot of players have no real agenda for their character, and just go where the party goes…and the rest have ideas, but no larger arc in mind.
Think of it like giving horses free reign: It’s nice for them, and needed sometimes, but…you’ll never really get anywhere interesting because horses just want to graze and frolic and sniff weird things. Nice, but not ideal for every game session.
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I don’t think we want to turn this into a discussion of what rpg’s should/should not be…
Derail City. 
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Fools and their money are easily parted.
Still, they could always be doing something worse with it.
That’s awesome. My small rural town had guy who we could pay to GM and we’d sometimes get him to run a one-off for adolescent birthday parties. He had author credit on an array of GURPS books and his own system, so I guess he was an RPG celebrity.
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I think it’d be fun to pay a guy that can put on a great session. but i couldn’t imagine wanting to do it on a regular basis.
Coincidentally the GM for the RP Discord group reached out yesterday and sent me materials to me to create my character for the new campaign in January. Looking forward to it, hoping i can put a bit more effort into my new character. The last campaign was my very first one ever and i felt like i could have done more with my character but being a newbie i wasn’t sure how much i could get away with.
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