A quick survey of fellow DM's and DM's to be...

[Dyson Logos]

I would hope the instructor could teach multiple styles of DMing and allow the student to take all of that has part of his learned bag of tricks. I think some games, even using the same system, require different approaches (capture the flag versus murder mystery, for instance). It is also true that some people are good at one style but not at others, though most could learn to be better, I believe. A good instructor should also be able to help a new DM use their own personal strengths to their best advantage at the table.

Quoted for Truth.

I know where my strengths lie, and I've seen some GMs who have incredible strengths in certain styles of play or certain settings (I know one GM who is incredible at political games, but weak at dungeon crawls).

 

[Mark]

I know where my strengths lie, and I've seen some GMs who have incredible strengths in certain styles of play or certain settings (I know one GM who is incredible at political games, but weak at dungeon crawls).

I know just what you mean. I had a friend who was great with number crunching and ran battles very well but could not infuse enough distinction between non-player characters to make any interplay seem like more than DM exposition. A few tips on how invest his "locals" with some traits and foibles and this guy became twice the DM in very short order.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I know where my strengths lie, and I've seen some GMs who have incredible strengths in certain styles of play or certain settings (I know one GM who is incredible at political games, but weak at dungeon crawls).

I don't think I've ever seen a GM who didn't have notable strengths and weaknesses. One guy I know, Will, is fantastically imaginative, has a wonderful understanding of genre (he's mostly a superhero GM), he's great at creating characters and worlds, great at storytelling and bringing NPCs to life thru characterisation and voice but when it comes to anything to do with numbers he sucks. He's really bad at reigning in powergamers so the PCs end up very unbalanced. He's really bad at setting the challenge level of the opposition to the PCs power level so fights are either cakewalks or impossible.

 

[timbannock]

I don't consider myself a great GM, but I regularly get told I am. Regardless, all of the best tips and tricks I've heard/read/used came from ENWorld and RPGNet forums. Add to that the "how to play" chapters of any RPG book on the market, and really, I can't see the need for services like this.

Or for paying for a DM. I mean, there's just so much information that's easily accessible for free. It's not like this stuff is esoteric or hidden away.

 

[Wombat]

Well, given that I have been GMing since 1976 and am comfortable generally with my style ... probably not interested.

 

[Mallus]

The only way I can see this working, as others have already pointed out, is to offer free content online (set up a site/blog, promote it, offer free materials) and eventually introduce products for sale, like inexpensive e-books. While continuing to give content away. If you can develop a core following for the site/blog, you could try personalizing things a bit, offer free Q&A sessions, Skype conference calls, stuff like that.

You need to convince people your material is worth paying for. Paradoxically, the only way to do that is to give away materials worth paying for.

Also, consider that sites like ENWorld offer similar content for free, from many smart, talented people. What makes yours different/noteworthy/worth spending filthy lucre on?