Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Meet a Professional Game Master
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7715100" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Not entirely. Fishing and hunting guides fall into that class of people who are either supporting the hobbies of 1%ers, or else are the sort of special treats that middle class persons may purchase every other year or so if they are passionate about something. The real difference isn't really the role, but the regularity with which the hobby is pursued. RPGers may want to meet weekly or biweekly. If you are paying a professional to assist you in that, that's like going white water rafting with a guide every weekend, or paying for good seats at a professional football game every weekend, or flying out to the beach every weekend. </p><p></p><p>No one says to the white water rafting guide, "You charged six people $480 to spend six hours on the river. That's a total rip off!!" No one says to the hunting guide, "Why are you charging me $1000 a day?" With some thought, most people would be able to figure out why the fees have to be so high. </p><p></p><p>The professional DM is in the same boat.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Do you DM? </p><p></p><p>I love DMing, but even I have a lot of days when I feel just crushed by the responsibility and the work load and the feeling that there just isn't anything in it for me. If I could afford it, I'd love to pay someone to DM for me to a standard that I would be pleased with because being a player is awesome. Most of the enjoyment of DMing is vicarious. There is a satisfaction in doing the job well and seeing people enjoy your work. But it's not the same thrill as being in the story, overcoming problems by your wits, and so forth. </p><p></p><p>The truth is ultimately that not only do most people not want to do the job, many can't do the job. My impression is that there are always more players without a GM, than there are GMs without players. The limiting factor on the hobby is the availability of people willing to give away their time for free to entertain others, and who actually can entertain others.</p><p></p><p>I mean, heck, you can prove that just by perusing the EnWorld boards closely. Supposedly we are all passionate RPers. But try roughly tabulating what percentage of posters, when someone on the board ask for help creating content, are actually willing and able to help produce content for those posters. How many people actually start threads with, "Look at these wonderful things I'm willing to share." Some of that has moved out of the threads onto blogs, but it was never a really high percentage. GMing is a potlatch economy. You give away stuff with no expectation of return.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7715100, member: 4937"] Not entirely. Fishing and hunting guides fall into that class of people who are either supporting the hobbies of 1%ers, or else are the sort of special treats that middle class persons may purchase every other year or so if they are passionate about something. The real difference isn't really the role, but the regularity with which the hobby is pursued. RPGers may want to meet weekly or biweekly. If you are paying a professional to assist you in that, that's like going white water rafting with a guide every weekend, or paying for good seats at a professional football game every weekend, or flying out to the beach every weekend. No one says to the white water rafting guide, "You charged six people $480 to spend six hours on the river. That's a total rip off!!" No one says to the hunting guide, "Why are you charging me $1000 a day?" With some thought, most people would be able to figure out why the fees have to be so high. The professional DM is in the same boat. Do you DM? I love DMing, but even I have a lot of days when I feel just crushed by the responsibility and the work load and the feeling that there just isn't anything in it for me. If I could afford it, I'd love to pay someone to DM for me to a standard that I would be pleased with because being a player is awesome. Most of the enjoyment of DMing is vicarious. There is a satisfaction in doing the job well and seeing people enjoy your work. But it's not the same thrill as being in the story, overcoming problems by your wits, and so forth. The truth is ultimately that not only do most people not want to do the job, many can't do the job. My impression is that there are always more players without a GM, than there are GMs without players. The limiting factor on the hobby is the availability of people willing to give away their time for free to entertain others, and who actually can entertain others. I mean, heck, you can prove that just by perusing the EnWorld boards closely. Supposedly we are all passionate RPers. But try roughly tabulating what percentage of posters, when someone on the board ask for help creating content, are actually willing and able to help produce content for those posters. How many people actually start threads with, "Look at these wonderful things I'm willing to share." Some of that has moved out of the threads onto blogs, but it was never a really high percentage. GMing is a potlatch economy. You give away stuff with no expectation of return. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Meet a Professional Game Master
Top