Getting Paid to be a Game Master

[BlackLens]

I recently began developing a website that caters to helping GM market themselves and provide tools to make planning events and payments easier.

Does anyone on this forum provide paid GM services? I'm finding that a lot of people are not just finding paid individual groups, but also new an interesting venues working with team-building groups, corporate contracts, and working out of table-top cafes.

What are your experiences in paid GMing and how has it been going for you? What challenges have you come across?

 

[Princelucianus]

I recently tried to set this up with a few friends (after doing a few Teambuilding and D&D sessions at 2 companies, but we couldn't make it work for us.
Why?
First we tried event or teambuilding organisations, but they said that one game host for 5-6 players was not good for a profitable turnover. They had a minimum of 1 game host for 10+ players.
Furthermore, they wanted to know if we could use the term D&D exclusively (which we couldn't) or if it was even possible to use on their website (which was never cleared).
Most were not interested in a fantasy role playing event, they wanted ''Dungeon and Dragons'' to be used and the fan base usage page from ''Wizards'' doesn't clear this up. Multiple requests to their helpdesk only resulted in ''Look at our internet page''.

So, we still have the website, but without advertising or an organization to back us.

Which basically means, it's dead.

So, I hope others can bring more positive remarks, for us it was not working...

 

[Morrus]

I recently tried to set this up with a few friends (after doing a few Teambuilding and D&D sessions at 2 companies, but we couldn't make it work for us.
Why?
First we tried event or teambuilding organisations, but they said that one game host for 5-6 players was not good for a profitable turnover. They had a minimum of 1 game host for 10+ players.
Furthermore, they wanted to know if we could use the term D&D exclusively (which we couldn't) or if it was even possible to use on their website (which was never cleared).
Most were not interested in a fantasy role playing event, they wanted ''Dungeon and Dragons'' to be used and the fan base usage page from ''Wizards'' doesn't clear this up. Multiple requests to their helpdesk only resulted in ''Look at our internet page''.

So, we still have the website, but without advertising or an organization to back us.

Which basically means, it's dead.

So, I hope others can bring more positive remarks, for us it was not working...

Who was “they” in this scenario?

 

[BlackLens]

That's a bummer that it didn't work out. Why was it so imperative that they use the D&D name? Did they want you to work for them to contract to other companies or was this the team that needed building making the request?

How many companies did you reach out to? Was this the same answer from every company?

 

[Longspeak]

Never done it myself, but I see a lot of listings for Paid GMing on Roll20. You might ask there.

On the one hand, it'd be cool to be paid for doing a thing I love. On the other, turning a thing I love into a thing I have to do sounds like a great way to fall out of love with it. And I already have a thing I don't love that I get paid to do.

 

[LordEntrails]

Furthermore, they wanted to know if we could use the term D&D exclusively (which we couldn't) or if it was even possible to use on their website (which was never cleared).
Most were not interested in a fantasy role playing event, they wanted ''Dungeon and Dragons'' to be used and the fan base usage page from ''Wizards'' doesn't clear this up. Multiple requests to their helpdesk only resulted in ''Look at our internet page''.

The Fan Content policy seems pretty clear to me...

One word: F-R-E-E. You can use Wizards’ IP (except for the restrictions listed in #3) to make Fan Content that you share with the community for free. Free means FREE:

• You can’t require payments, ...

...
Unfortunately, no. You cannot incorporate Wizards patents, game mechanics (unless your Fan Content is created under the D&D Open Game License), logos, or trademarks into your Fan Content without our prior written permission.

Pretty clear to me that you can not use their IP for commercial purposes unless you obtain a specific license to do so.

 

[Princelucianus]

They = Teambuilding or event companies.

Furthermore, I know what the website said, but it's confusing since it talks about fan content. Since people have been selling their DM service to companies quite openly online, I assumed:
Wizards doesn't care about this.
The DM's haven't talked to Wizards and sell their DM services without Wizards' knowledge.
They have organized some permission (I tried to do that, and was simply redirected to the fan page), but the two online attempts I spoke with said they didn't.

I also contacted Hasbro (Netherlands) who told me they (many they's) would come back to me..... what they (again) never did.

 

[Princelucianus]

That's a bummer that it didn't work out. Why was it so imperative that they use the D&D name? Did they want you to work for them to contract to other companies or was this the team that needed building making the request?

It's way easier to attract people/companies by
''We can organize a session of ''Dungeons and Dragons" for you and your colleagues''.
Instead of
''We can organize a session of fantasy roleplaying for you and your colleagues''.

If I say to my colleagues that I play D&D, I often hear ''I always wanted to play that''. If I say I play fantasy roleplaying games, they more often look like Jen from the IT crowd.

How many companies did you reach out to? Was this the same answer from every company?

We contact around 16 companies that were involved with teambuilding. Three of those responded, two of those with the D&D specification. We had a face to face discussion with one of three.

We also contacted 5 event organizers. Only one responded.

So, the response rate was pretty low.

I still hope to hear from people who actually made this work.

p.s: This was the website we have/had:
Office Dungeon Masters

 

[Jacob Lewis]

I recently began developing a website that caters to helping GM market themselves and provide tools to make planning events and payments easier.

Does anyone on this forum provide paid GM services?

Yes. Or at least I will be, as soon as I get a few more things set up, like my own website, etc. I've been working towards this for several months now, but I started thinking about it last year, doing research in my area and making preparations and plans for success.

I'm curious to know what you're doing and what you plan to offer. Is there somewhere I can learn what your website does, how it works, etc? Or are you just planning and developing at this point?

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

I recently landed a job as a Game Master for a non-profit company running weekly after-school games for kids. We use the game to teach social skills.