If DMing was a job, how much should you get paid?

[timbannock]

I just like the idea brought up of being paid by an FLGS to run a weekly game, sometimes to demo new books or maybe something that the shop might put on sale to spark some interest.

Don't know how feasible it'd be...but it sounds cool.

I chose $20+ an hour, because I know that when I run something--prewritten or not--I put a buttload of work into it.

 

[Nellisir]

Other.

If I'm getting paid, I'm treating it as a job, with all that goes with it. Therefore, I charge at one of two rates:

For one-off game sessions, I charge the same as I do for playing the bagpipes at your wedding: £200 (about $350) for half a day. You choose the system; I'll bring everything that's needed for the game.

For a regular campaign, I'll take less: about £10 per hour ($18), provided I'm including prep time as part of the billable hours. If not, double the rate. Here, we can negotiate on the parameters of the campaign - things like books used, house rules used, and so forth are all up for grabs (this is not the case with the one-off session). Again, I'll bring everything that's needed for the game.

In general, I won't supply snacks for the game (except for me), nor a place to play. Oh, and if I'm being paid for it, I want the money up front, and won't accept 'payment' in snacks, dice, or books. If it's a job, it's a job.

Note: if you cancel with less than 72 hours of notice, you still pay me.

For your money, I guarantee to show up on time, fully prepped and ready to go, and to bring my 'A' game to every session. I will adjudicate the rules fairly, run the best game I know how, and generally try to ensure all present have the best time possible.

Well said.

I'm a carpenter. I love making stuff out of wood. But that doesn't mean I should't get paid to fix your house.

If I got paid to DM, it'd be a high-quality, top-notch game. It'd be professional. I like to think my "free" game is high-quality and top-notch, but the fact is, game prep sometimes takes a back seat to finishing up stuff that pays, and I'm just as bad as the players when it comes to getting distracted. That wouldn't be acceptable to me if I were working.

Heck, I'd love to get paid for DMing. It'd give me the freedom to really put serious time into it. Maybe other people have the freedom to spend all weekend working on their game, but I don't. Why? Money.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

No Doubt = With Clout!

But it would be nice, eh?

Hell, yes!

-Samir

 

[Teflon Billy]

Honestly, when the community Centre approached me (via my friend Paul, who was their activities director), the 15 dollars an hour was not a prime motivator.

I was in my "RPG Missionary" phase and thought I was--thorugh the medium of my admittedy awesome GMing skills--going to be bringing in a whole new crop fo gamers to the hobby.

The reality of it is that the experience pretty much soured me on the idea of "Gaming with Strangers", "Gaming with Youngsters" and hell, "Gaming with the Poor"

Firstly, the table was basically about half kids with zero interest in playing. they had just been dumped their by their moms as cheap daycare. They sucked. "No attention span too short" seemd to be the motto.

Even they were better than the handful of doughy white kids whose entire imaginary output seemed to be Themselves as Black Gangsta Rappers.

The rest of the table was kids/teens who "just couldn't get it", and by "get it" I don't mean the math, or the setting...I mean really simple stuff. Names. The concept was lost on them.

Names seemed pretty easy to me. Really. I wasn't looking for anything culture-specific...just something that was recognizably a name.

The best one kid could do was I Really Rule. Another could manage It's not Rape, it's surprise sex in the Name: ______ section of the character sheet. When I asked what that was supposed to mean, he said that was his name on MSN meesenger.

The kid who literally couldn't think of another name for his character than Eminem (despite attempting to for 10 minutes) was starting to look better and better. :\

The lone girl at the table was just a fat schlub who didn;t seem to know why she was there, and seemed perfectly content to stuff her face with chips. Bags and bags of chips. One after the other.

The game itself was beyond idiotic. The entirety of the actions of most of the non white-gangsta-wannabe players at the table could be selected from the following list...

• I fart at him!
• I hump him!
• HAWHAWHAWHAW
• I kick him in the nuts

That's pretty much it. If they met anyone, those were the available responses.

The Gangstas seemd to be unable to get anything done other than throwing gang signs at one another, acting "hard" and talking about weed.

15 dollars an hour was slavery.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Yeah, that's probably true for most DM:s. We don't see it as a job, because it isn't a job to us.

But let me draw a parallell:

I like writing. I love writing. It's my hobby, my passion, my creative outlet. It is also my job.

And even though I love writing, I expect to be paid to do it when it's a job. Even if it's fun stuff like gaming material, comic book writing and gaming reviews. When it's not a job, I'm happy to do it for free, and continue to do so.

So I do both. Much as I (in a hypothetical alternative life) could be a salaried DM during the day, and a non-salaried DM for my friends during my free time.

So the hypothetical situation for me is something along these lines:

If a gaming store wanted to hire someone to DM one 4 hour session every day, weekdays, for paying customers, should that DM be salaried?

Yes, IMO.

Demoing games once in a while, maybe once a month at the same gaming store, for people curious about gaming, should that be salaried? No, IMO. But I think some sort of compensation is in order, such as discounts or free samples or some such.

I don't see it as a way of figuring out how much a DM is worth. A good DM is priceless. A bad DM ... not so much.

For a good DM and a good 4 hour session I'd pay up to 15 dollars once in a while. But I think a good DM is worth a lot more.

/M

QFT, and also for the 'pay to play' model that makes by far the most sense to me: FLGS's providing a "pro" GM who will make a real commitment to run a top-notch game at the time he's scheduled to run it, specifically as a marketable commodity.

I'm involved with a game store's attempts to schedule and organize games (RPGs, CCGs, minis wargames, etc.) and in every case, the so-called 'organizers' are shockingly disorganized, not to mention irresponsible. The idea of a GM actually showing up on time, every time, with prepared material for either a campaign or a series of one-shots (particularly if based around recent releases in the lines the organizers are supposed to be plugging) is completely alien to these 'volunteers,' but would be priceless for the store.

By contrast, 'scheduled' events don't go off because the GM 'didn't feel like running' or the organizer 'woke up late and got stuck in traffic...' or 'just didn't bother to show up.' Or call. Unpaid, of course, with no accountability other than their ethics - which don't include punctuality or reliability, obviously.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

DMing is a job.

I've done it in the past for the community centre and it pays 15 dollars/hour for 4 hours/ week (usually Sunday afternoons).

The players are usually awful children.

You are not getting paid enough. DMing for children would be like Hell being mixed with Disco

 

[Psychic Warrior]

Hmmm...that skirts the no politics rule doesn't it?

Dude - he's talking about the exchange rate for Jebus's sake.

Uh oh! Now I broke the no religion rule!

 

[Teflon Billy]

.

I'm involved with a game store's attempts to schedule and organize games (RPGs, CCGs, minis wargames, etc.) and in every case, the so-called 'organizers' are shockingly disorganized, not to mention irresponsible. The idea of a GM actually showing up on time, every time, with prepared material for either a campaign or a series of one-shots (particularly if based around recent releases in the lines the organizers are supposed to be plugging) is completely alien to these 'volunteers,' but would be priceless for the store.

By contrast, 'scheduled' events don't go off because the GM 'didn't feel like running' or the organizer 'woke up late and got stuck in traffic...' or 'just didn't bother to show up.' Or call. Unpaid, of course, with no accountability other than their ethics - which don't include punctuality or reliability, obviously.

I have a hard time bitching out volunteers. I mean if the guys are doing it gratis--and it's "priceless to the store"--then I (meaning the store owner) would be remiss to look a gift horse in the mouth...even a unpunctual unrelaible gift horse

 

[Zweihänder]

I selected other, as I would accept a single lump-sum payment for a whole campaign. And my payment would have to be made in yachts.

 

[ssampier]

In all seriousness, I would hesitate to recommend a price. After all it really depends on the individual DM's skill-level and players. Gaming is often you get as much as you put into it.

You are not getting paid enough. DMing for children would be like Hell being mixed with Disco

The road to Hell is paved with Disco balls and platform shoes...