Professional GM: Possible Return

[Longtooth Studios]

Email me your address and I will send you a set of boards to help. Try and promote them at your games, and I will help more if it leads to sales.

Nothing wrong with a dream, where would we be if our founding fathers (Gary and Dave) had not had a dream all those years ago.

Keep looking for a day job, work your butt off, but keep dreaming too.

 

[Captain_Commando]

Email me your address and I will send you a set of boards to help. Try and promote them at your games, and I will help more if it leads to sales.

Nothing wrong with a dream, where would we be if our founding fathers (Gary and Dave) had not had a dream all those years ago.

Keep looking for a day job, work your butt off, but keep dreaming too.

Thanks. From the pics I saw I'll definitely give them a try.

I'm thinking of ideas on how to further build up a good reputation as a game master. One idea is a DnD tournament. I could design a series of encounters/dungeon levels based on the battle challenge concept I'd been fiddling with. Once I get Herald certification maybe I can get it approved as an RPGA event with the help of other RPGA judges in the area.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

I am not sure I'd want to hire one that applies for a job at BK.

I'm not sure I'd want players that had to hire a DM.

 

[gizmo33]

I'm not sure I'd want players that had to hire a DM.

I agree - walking into a room full of strangers who drove away their last DM would be a little scary. The set of players I do know are bad enough. It might help to work with some sort of pimp-like person that can collect money and deal with the personality issues that arise.

 

[Captain_Commando]

I agree - walking into a room full of strangers who drove away their last DM would be a little scary. The set of players I do know are bad enough. It might help to work with some sort of pimp-like person that can collect money and deal with the personality issues that arise.

The potential promise of money gives me courage. Anyway, such groups are a minority among those I'm going to be marketing to.

Chaot at RPGnet got my foot in the door with a temp agency. God bless whoever Chaot is.

It's not a 100% guarantee for a job so I'll keep checking job ads and setting up the game mastering business on the side.

I figured out some of the numbers so I'll share this with all the brainstorming contributors. If a temp job doesn't pay enough, having game mastering on the side might add up with the job to meet my requirements. My mother rented out a couple of rooms and my brother is helping a little so I just need to make the difference.

My target is a minimum of $900 a month.

With a somewhat generous estimate, this is the level the business would have to perform at to make ends meet if I didn't have other sources of income. This doesn't include printer ink and paper and other materials that I have in sufficient quantity for the time being.

30-day Metrocard = $81 (unlimited public transportation)
$40 budgeted for food expenses per week x 4 = $160
$40 budgeted for xerox copies and business cards.

20 hours a week x 4 weeks x $15 = $1200
monthly income with regular games only = $959
I'd have a $19 monthly surplus.

If I were to raise it to $20/hour and achieve less hours per week...

15 hours a week x 4 weeks x $20 = $1200
monthly income with regular games only = $959
I'd have a $19 monthly surplus.

Keeping in mind a manhattan movie ticket costs $12 for an average 2 hour film and a broadway ticket commonly sells at $200 for a 3 hour show...

****
IRS Publication 501 (2008)
IF your filing status is...single
AND at the end of 2008 you were...*under 65
THEN file a return if your gross income was at least...**$8,950
***

I won't likely have to file a tax return unless I get a really good advance for my novel. I'll keep records in case that happens. The current average advance for a novel is about $10,000. A particularly marketable novel will have a good chance of getting more.

 

[catsclaw227]

Taking a quick glance at your numbers above....

The $40/wk for 4 weeks comes out to about $5.33 of food per day for 30 days. I can't eat on only $5.33 per day for a full month. Remember, you need to keep your mental acuity up and eating poorly doesn't help.

Did you already consider that you will do about 20 hours of prep for every 20 hours of gaming, if you want this to be professional enough for people to want to pay for?

Also, you show $81 + $160 + $40 = $281 in expenses every month. $1200 - $281 != $959. You may want to check your math.

You will also have some additional expenses that you might not expect or cannot predict. Office supplies, new backpack or carrying device, RPG books or PDFs, laminating, etc. I would build in AT LEAST $30-$40 per month of "Murphy's Law" expenses.


Regarding the publishing advance:
Getting a $10,000 advance to write a book when you have never been professionaly published before is a pipe dream. Ask any professional writer.

Do you have a list of articles/essays/short stories that you have had published professionally?

 

[Mournblade94]

The potential promise of money gives me courage. Anyway, such groups are a minority among those I'm going to be marketing to.

Chaot at RPGnet got my foot in the door with a temp agency. God bless whoever Chaot is.

It's not a 100% guarantee for a job so I'll keep checking job ads and setting up the game mastering business on the side.

I figured out some of the numbers so I'll share this with all the brainstorming contributors. If a temp job doesn't pay enough, having game mastering on the side might add up with the job to meet my requirements. My mother rented out a couple of rooms and my brother is helping a little so I just need to make the difference.

My target is a minimum of $900 a month.

With a somewhat generous estimate, this is the level the business would have to perform at to make ends meet if I didn't have other sources of income. This doesn't include printer ink and paper and other materials that I have in sufficient quantity for the time being.

30-day Metrocard = $81 (unlimited public transportation)
$40 budgeted for food expenses per week x 4 = $160
$40 budgeted for xerox copies and business cards.

20 hours a week x 4 weeks x $15 = $1200
monthly income with regular games only = $959
I'd have a $19 monthly surplus.

If I were to raise it to $20/hour and achieve less hours per week...

15 hours a week x 4 weeks x $20 = $1200
monthly income with regular games only = $959
I'd have a $19 monthly surplus.

Keeping in mind a manhattan movie ticket costs $12 for an average 2 hour film and a broadway ticket commonly sells at $200 for a 3 hour show...

****
IRS Publication 501 (2008)
IF your filing status is...single
AND at the end of 2008 you were...*under 65
THEN file a return if your gross income was at least...**$8,950
***

I won't likely have to file a tax return unless I get a really good advance for my novel. I'll keep records in case that happens. The current average advance for a novel is about $10,000. A particularly marketable novel will have a good chance of getting more.

Do you have a college degree? If you have at least 60 credits you can substitute teach. SInce substitute teaching is the best babysitting job ever you can do your prep work in the classroom as long as you can keep order.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

I agree - walking into a room full of strangers who drove away their last DM would be a little scary. The set of players I do know are bad enough. It might help to work with some sort of pimp-like person that can collect money and deal with the personality issues that arise.

It may seem we are making light of this CC, but it is something to consider. People that have trouble finding a group may have been kicked out of other groups for being a "problem player." We've all seen the threads around here. A problem player may feel entitled to stay in the group because he is paying for your services. And the other players may feel cheated because their paid experience is being ruined by said problem player. You really have to consider how you would handle such situations.

I speak from (volunteer) experience. I ran regualr games at my friends hobby shop. His rule was to allow anyone who wanted to play into games run in his club. I met some good friends, but I also encountered more problematic players than I have ever before or since running my game there. These were people whose friends couldn't stand gaming with, so they were forced to find groups elsewhere. It's hard to walk the line between being firm about disruption and the realm of insulting a fellow gamer. I did it for the sake of my friend's store and you'll be forced to do so for the sake of your business.

 

[Woas]

Here's an open ended question and mind you, I got about three quarters through page one so if it has already been asked and discussed, please just let me know and I'll go back and read it.

What happens if the paying customer doesn't like a particular rules call or outcome that you as GM make?

For example, at a restaurant if I get a poor meal or it hasn't been cooked correctly, or for any reason I find that it is not satisfactory I can ask for a new one or give it back and not pay.

Say while playing my character dies based on the interpretations of the rules you as the GM uphold. What if I say no-way.I ain't paying for this outcome... to 'lose'. What makes it so that people aren't just paying you to stroke their ego and let them sunder the Earth to oblivion and not just leave anytime it looks like the player character(s) are losing?

Yea know what I'm saying? I'm not sure if I'm making myself real clear though now that I'm typing it, I'm sorry. The problem is clear in my head but not translating as well as I'd want it to...

 

[Captain_Commando]

Taking a quick glance at your numbers above....

The $40/wk for 4 weeks comes out to about $5.33 of food per day for 30 days. I can't eat on only $5.33 per day for a full month. Remember, you need to keep your mental acuity up and eating poorly doesn't help.

Did you already consider that you will do about 20 hours of prep for every 20 hours of gaming, if you want this to be professional enough for people to want to pay for?

Also, you show $81 + $160 + $40 = $281 in expenses every month. $1200 - $281 != $959. You may want to check your math.

You will also have some additional expenses that you might not expect or cannot predict. Office supplies, new backpack or carrying device, RPG books or PDFs, laminating, etc. I would build in AT LEAST $30-$40 per month of "Murphy's Law" expenses.

Regarding the publishing advance:
Getting a $10,000 advance to write a book when you have never been professionaly published before is a pipe dream. Ask any professional writer.

I have a bunch of bookbags. I can borrow RPG books. I've got leftover office supplies that were my father's. Also, I'm eating off of food stamps at home. When I go out to a session or a job place is when I might have to spend money on food.

The prep percentage of my time will be much less in the long run if the same modules are run repeatedly for different clients.

I noticed where I made a mistake about the advance. 10k is the average advance. 5k to 6k is the average first time advance. It's still enough to keep things stable for 6 months. That is the important thing for me.

average 1st time advance
http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question83692.html

average advance
http://jwikert.typepad.com/the_average_joe/2005/04/whats_the_avera.html

As for character death, there will be pregens that can be used as backup and I can let a player spend an action point to survive somehow. I will spin the situation with improvised narrative to keep the players happy. I'm not a tyrant with the rules. It's a storytelling service. I'm there to coordinate and present a story, not haggle with the client. I can make up rules bends that make sense on the fly. Also, on the client survey will be questions about how the client(s) wish to handle character death.