As I've mentioned before, I play the bagpipes, and have on occasion been paid to play at weddings, or to give lessons. In my experience, the safest thing to do is to chareg for your time (the amount you charge is justified by the skills you bring to the table, but it's not really the skills that are being paid for).
The reason for this is that if a wedding is cancelled at the last minute, the piper still wants paid. If the child refuses to do the practice necessary to actually learn, the teacher still wants paid. Similarly, if you were hired to DM all day at a GameDay, and then no-one showed up because the advertising was badly done, you would still want paid. And, if the group decide to spend the entire session quoting Monty Python at each other rather than actually gaming, you would still want paid.
(On occasion, I have been asked how much to play at the wedding, and how much for the reception. The way that works is that I would play quite a lot before the wedding, and then only a couple of tunes at the reception, so a lot of people are surprised when the price doubles for the reception. The reason for this is simple - if I play at just the wedding, I can then leave and do something else. If I do both, I have to hang around during the service, and so give up almost my entire day. That I'm not actually doing anything in that time is largely irrelevant - it's time I could be spending sleeping, watching a film, on a date, or whatever.)
The other lesson from weddings is that you should always ask to be paid in advance. Otherwise, you can get trapped at the reception because the person who should be paying you is having their meal and can't be disturbed. Alternatively, the risk exists that they might just refuse to pay. (And, for funerals, this is infinitely worse, since if you don't get paid in advance you basically have to intrude on someone's grief over something as crass as money.)
For a regular arrangement (such as teaching) this is much less of an issue.
I didn't take it as such
For the most part, I'm in the same position. As I may have said in an earlier posts, there are some things I do for money, and some I do for fun. In general, I prefer not to be paid for doing what I do "for fun", which currently includes DMing.
If approached for some sort of special event one-off deal, though, I would consider it.
I can only see a couple of scenarios where a group might. The first is if everyone in the group wanted to play, but all really hated the idea of DMing. (Or, perhaps, they had money to burn, but a real shortage of time.)
More likely, I can see a gamestore organising some sort of GameDay, and wanting some really top-notch DMs. And the third is if a group want to be entertained for some sort of special event.
Personally, I feel that a lot of people (even DMs) under-estimate just how much effort it takes to run games, much less really good games. And I think many groups who do have really good DMs underestimate just how much difference having such a DM actually makes. Probably because the really good DMs make the whole thing look effortless when, in reality, it is anything but.
Honestly, I wouldn't expect much demand. The most likely scenario I see is something like this:
Alan, Bob, Charles, Dave and Eddy played together for years in school. However, over time they drifted apart, attending different universities, getting geographically distant jobs, and generally losing touch. None of them have gamed for years.
However, at the school reunion, they got back together, and reminisced about the 'good old days'. Someone suggested they should get together some time, and telephone numbers were exchanged.
And Bob's 35th birthday is coming up, and he thinks "let's play the game again, that would be fun." Everyone thinks it's a great idea, but there are two problems: back in the day, no-one really wanted to DM anyway (they took turns because someone had to), and anyway none of them have gamed in years, and have eBayed their books.
But, undeterred, Bob heads to his old FLGS, which has somehow survived. The new owners happen to know me, and put Bob in touch. He phones, we discuss what he wants, I prep a one-shot game, and show up with everything everyone needs (including character sheets, dice, pencils, minis, a quick recap of the rules). Problem solved.
Now, there's no link between me and Bob. He's not even a friend of a friend. So, if I'm giving up my time, it's not unreasonable for me to expect to be paid. And, assuming I do my job properly, Bob and his friends will have a good time, and consider it money well spent. And so, everyone benefits.
(It should be noted: I think something like this is the most likely pro-DM arrangement. I don't think it's terribly likely. So, it remains a hypothetical exercise.)
