Professional GM Diary: Pre Planning part 3

[Captain_Commando]

Actually if I were to use a place like Grand Central or South Street Seaport (mall), which are public, it wouldn't be too noticed since they're the types of food courts you see in a mall. As in lots and lots of tables and chairs surrounded by lots of fast food booths.

I wouldn't be sitting in the same place all day either. There'd be at least half an hour between sessions so I can eat and go to the bathroom. And because there is constantly changing traffic and an open atmosphere, security doesn't really bother anyone who is not disturbing the public because there are more important concerns than a guy running pen and paper games and bringing in revenue for the food vendors.

 

[PeelSeel2]

I hope you the best in your in devour!! That sounds exciting. Can you keep it posted how it goes, your experiences? I would be interested since nobody to my knowledge has tried to DM this way. I had a fantasy about it one time, but their where a lot of other things I could do in my spare time to earn a lot more money. As a secondary, since your developing the material, you may want to approach a publisher for your materials. That would be another source of secondary income.

 

[tenkar]

Actually if I were to use a place like Grand Central or South Street Seaport (mall), which are public, it wouldn't be too noticed since they're the types of food courts you see in a mall. As in lots and lots of tables and chairs surrounded by lots of fast food booths.

Private refers to privately owned or managed. Parks are public. Most everything else is private. Just because something is open to the public does not make it public. Sorry if I sound like I'm beating a dead horse, but I've had this conversation way to many times with way too many people

Odds are you won't attract undue attention.

In any case, of the 2 locations, I would suggest South Street Seaport for the weekdays. It can be near empty prior to 4 pm or so.

 

[Quartz]

Are you sure you should be charging so little? 7 players will give you $35 for 3 hours. That's only $11 per hour. And you've got to add in preparation time, which is likely another 3 hours, and your costs. So really, you're not going to be earning very much at all.

 

[Captain_Commando]

Are you sure you should be charging so little? 7 players will give you $35 for 3 hours. That's only $11 per hour. And you've got to add in preparation time, which is likely another 3 hours, and your costs. So really, you're not going to be earning very much at all.

I'm considering maybe...maybe upping it to $6 but no more than that. I'm not going to be relying on this for primary income so it's fine. I actually am going to write a book based on the story I work up for this campaign. I also plan to try writing a campaign setting book or series of articles to submit to game publishers based on the setting I generate for this campaign. It should pan out okay in the end especially if my campaign is successful (if people will pay to play this setting, then people will probably pay to buy this setting).

If any of you have read the little I've written of the campaign story so far on the support site (the address is given in the original post), please feel free to post your critique of my writing. Post it here or on the site itself in the story discussion thread. I'd like to know how readers respond to my work.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Careful there amigo.

Make sure you get the players to sign NDAs or some type of legal form giving you creative control over whatever you write. Some people consider anything they play 'their' characters and would look very unfavorably upon that.

 

[JackSmithIV]

The gaming scene in New York has suffered drastically recently with the closing of Neutral Ground. I was close with a couple of employees specifically. I think what you're doing it really cool and interesting! I visited NYU about 3 months ago, and security was actually pretty intense.

If you're ever looking for coffee and D&D talk, hit up my email. screenname at gmail dot com. Or you can check the company website for my Poison Ivy email (click below). Love to meet some 4E gamers from the home town.

 

[Captain_Commando]

The gaming scene in New York has suffered drastically recently with the closing of Neutral Ground.

Jeepers Creepers! You're right! They closed in December! I was just there a few months ago. They seemed fine then. Wow.

The longest campaign that I played in was at Neutral Ground. It lasted over a year. It was DnD 3.5 and we had some really crazy adventures before it broke up partially as a result of the change of store location.

That probably also means demand for a commercially run campaign may be at an all time high. I might get more gamers than I thought I would.

Neutral Ground had probably the most gaming space in the city. There are other gaming stores but not with a lot of playing space. It was like the central hub of gaming here. It will be sorely missed.

Oh, and the book I'm going to write about this campaign is going to be based on the NPC leaders of the caravan, not the PCs.