First foray into paid DMing - 16 session in.

[thullgrim]

I’ve thought about joining a paid game. I’m a forever DM and for the games I want to play in I think I’d have to join a paid game. I’m just really wary of spending a bunch of trying to find the right GM and group if that makes sense.

I’ve though running a paid game, again because there are games I want to run that don’t really fit what my group enjoys playing, but again I’m wary of trying to weed through players to try and find a group that meshes and again with trying to keep that group together to run something. The expectation to always be ‘on’ is also something I worry about.

I think it’s great that the hobby has reached and place where you can make some extra money having fun.

 

[GMMichael]

• They’re brilliant role players. They get into character and really think about how to interact with the scenes and NPCs
• They all know the WFRP ruleset proficiently.
• they’re polite and respectful to each other and really communicate welll.
• They’re consistent: my average attendance over the 18 weeks is 5.5 players.
• They don’t try rules exploits or come in to be distuptive
• four out of the six are DMs in their own games.
• Three out of the six know the adventurers I’m running familiarly and it doesn’t seem to have spoiled anybody’s enjoyment.

So, you're the luckiest GM ever? Congratulations!

I think the German would probably be fine. Maybe the market is smaller but it’s still tens of thousands of potential players. There are likely German, Austrian, Swiss players that would prefer to game in German.

Yeah, sounds like an ideal market. They show up right on time, with paper and pencil, at least one rule book, and slightly betrunken. At least, that's how I show up.

 

[Agamon]

As a forever GM, I've tried at least a dozen times, playing online games with randos, and the last game, which was a paid game from SP, was the only one where either the game made it past session 2, or I didn't drop out by session 2.

Granted, it only lasted 8 sessions, due to not being able to get more than 3 players, and then one of those 3 needing to drop out do to RL situations, but I did enjoy it, and would have kept playing, despite the cost.

I'd be willing to try this myself, if I wasn't already running two games for two groups of friends and playing in a third.

 

[djotaku]

Hey. So as some will know back in August I took my first steps into paid DMing. It wasn’t something I did lightly but I’ve been DMing for 30+ years, have a theatrical character and believe that if you’re good at something you shouldn’t do it for free. I thought a side hustle might not be a bad thing in this day and age, though I absolutely am not trying to do it for a living or to support myself.

I started off by playing 5 paid sessions myself to see what things were like and I saw a real mixed bag. Some awesome story telling but poor session management, variable attendance and some really weird and wonderful stuff on VTT. Some of which I loved, some seemed awful.

I used Start Playing as a base, and wanted to run WFRP 4e - a system I’m very familiar with both in rules and with the Foundry System and decided to run a set of pre-written adventures from the Ubersreik series. I set my price at $15 a session and wanted to aim for 6 players. Maybe the price is a bit lower than some but it was middle of the range for a niche game like WFRP that took relatively little extra investment beyond what I had already bought. We play for 3 hours at 8pm UK time.

When I came to run it was very different to what I expected. It only took me about two weeks to find five players to start. I advertised on Start Playing, the WFRP discord and on this site. Our first two sessions saw one player drop out and one who was considering playing change their mind. Though by session 4 I reached 6 players and have had the same six for 18 sessions in total. I was really pleased with this. It is about $75 a session after charges which feels like a nice place to start from scratch. I had started with a fortnightly game but after a few sessions did a secret ballot and they unanimously voted to switch to weekly and it’s been that way since session 4.

A little about the players:

• They’re brilliant role players. They get into character and really think about how to interact with the scenes and NPCs
• They all know the WFRP ruleset proficiently.
• they’re polite and respectful to each other and really communicate welll.
• They’re consistent: my average attendance over the 18 weeks is 5.5 players.
• They don’t try rules exploits or come in to be distuptive
• four out of the six are DMs in their own games.
• Three out of the six know the adventurers I’m running familiarly and it doesn’t seem to have spoiled anybody’s enjoyment.

There are some down sides:

• I am always on during a session. I feel the need to be on my game and in manager mode from start to finish. I still have a great deal of fun but I know I’m working.
• Sometimes I really don’t want to game but I’ve made a commitment and people are paying so I feel like I have to show up. That’s a certain amount of pressure. Not overwhelming but it exists nonetheless.
• I spend about 2 hours prep a week to get ready for each session.
• The discord for my group takes a bit of extra time.

Overall though. It has been a fantastic experience. I’m already planning another WFRP campaign for the summer when this one finishes and I would definitely see it as something I’m happy with and proud of.

I just thought I would share these thoughts. See if anyone has had similar experiences or done things differently.

I'm not surprised your players are DMs. As the forever GM I always cherish the opportunity to get to be a player. Since "no one" wants to GM, one way to get one is the pay for one.

Curious about one thing - when you say it took 2 weeks to find 5 players to start - how does that work? Do people indicate their interest in playing and until you fill all the seats, the game doesn't happen?

 

[Agamon]

I'm not surprised your players are DMs. As the forever GM I always cherish the opportunity to get to be a player. Since "no one" wants to GM, one way to get one is the pay for one.

Curious about one thing - when you say it took 2 weeks to find 5 players to start - how does that work? Do people indicate their interest in playing and until you fill all the seats, the game doesn't happen?

Yes, there's a mechanism in Start Player to show how many players are needed for the game to get started. Players apply to the game with a short questionnaire, and then there's a back and forth with the GM, who can tell the player more details. The first session, usually session zero, but obviously not if you join an ongoing game, is usually offered free as a "demo" to see if the game is a good fit.

 

[djotaku]

Yes, there's a mechanism in Start Player to show how many players are needed for the game to get started. Players apply to the game with a short questionnaire, and then there's a back and forth with the GM, who can tell the player more details. The first session, usually session zero, but obviously not if you join an ongoing game, is usually offered free as a "demo" to see if the game is a good fit.

That's pretty neat. Next year I might consider hiring a GM to do a birthday one-shot for me, the forever GM.