Professional GM: Possible Return

[Drkfathr1]

Do you think Vegas will give me odds on this?

Yes.

You can get odds on pretty much anything in Vegas.


Ahhhhhhh Vegas.

Can't wait to read that book.

 

[catsclaw227]

I spent years working on this book not just to figure out a good story but how to design it as a marketing goldmine. I wrote it from both an artistic perspective and a practical perspective. Getting my publisher contact to take a look will be relatively easy (since our families are on friendly terms with each other). I just need an agent for representation. There's more but this is not relevant to the thread.

But, you see, it IS relevant to this thread. You are talking about being a ProDM to support the bills until you get your advance from your book.

You seem unreasonably confident that you will get your advance, yet piles and piles of evidence states otherwise. Just because your families were on friendly terms doesn't mean squat. I am on friendly terms with lots of people, but if their child asked me to give them $5,000 advance to develop a website as a consultant for my company, I would absolutely need to see a body of work they have already done, and if it isn't up to the quality that I need to satisfy MY clients, I say sorry, but no thanks.

You CAN'T rely on your father's old contacts. You SHOULDN'T rely on them. The business world is much more harsh than I think you realize.

The ProDM stuff can't be your fall back until you "get your advance". You should find a real JOB and then the ProDM AND your book will be your fall back.

For the sake of your mom, and your family, don't count on the book advance. There's likely a 95+% chance you won't get one. It takes years to get published.

Have you had your big book idea vetted yet? Have you gotten advice from a publishing professional yet? You really need to be published in a periodical first. Get some short stories published. Get some fiction published at WOTC or KQ or something like that. Get Published First.

Anyway, have you put together a group yet? do you even have a single paying group? Get that too. Get that and run them for 2-3 sessions first. Survey them after the session, sending an email. Find out what worked and what didn't. Do. Some. Market. Research.

Don't just assume that, because it sounds plausible in your head, it is a plausible venture.

I would love to see the results of the survey.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

This thread is just one giant facepalm!

[smacks forehead]

Olaf the Stout

 

[illwizard]

Well,

I'm going to side with the minority and say good luck to you- people here seem to be quick to judge someone they know nothing about, despite your claims.

And for what it's worth, most of the best players and DM's I've gamed with, have worked fast food joints and worse. No shame in that, and certainly not an indication of their intelligence or otherwise.

Peace!

 

[Captain_Commando]

The ProDM stuff can't be your fall back until you "get your advance". You should find a real JOB and then the ProDM AND your book will be your fall back.

Anyway, have you put together a group yet? do you even have a single paying group? Get that too. Get that and run them for 2-3 sessions first. Survey them after the session, sending an email. Find out what worked and what didn't. Do. Some. Market. Research.

It's not a fall back. It's a side business while I'm looking for a job. The numbers I gave are the amount of success that would bring things to a stable situation if a job doesn't become available in that time. I expect half of those numbers when everything is up. That's maybe 1 or 2 days a week. The rest of those days plus the other days of the week are spent job hunting. Some income is better than no income.

I've already started testing material using the meetups of the local meetup group. I'm considering hosting free or reduced rate games ($3-5 an hour) for a week or two aside from the meetup stuff I'm doing for free to fine tune my services. By the time that's done, the website will be complete and the business will be ready.

 

[Captain_Commando]

To the threads still being posted on:

I'm going to need a title for the business website and something to call myself. I'm open to suggestions.

I was thinking something along the lines of 'social game coordinator' instead of 'dungeon master for hire' or 'game master for hire'. I need something that sounds professional and doesn't limit me too much on the options of service I can provide.

On the business cards I'll need to make for business networking, a service/job title could make or break.

 

[Hereticus]

I'm going to need a title for the business website and something to call myself. I'm open to suggestions.

How about "Advanced Role Playing Solutions".

"Advanced" has been one of the hottest buzzwords in business the past decade.

.

Have you considered hiring yourself out as a gigolo, or as a male prostitute?

Or as a chippendale type DM?

You can double your tips by doing lap dances on the side.

Another avenue of income is to sell your blood at a local blood bank.

If that doesn't work out, your non-vital organs will fetch more money.

 

[thatdarnedbob]

How about "Advanced Role Playing Solutions".

"Advanced" has been one of the hottest buzzwords in business the past decade.

I think Advanced Roleplaying Systems Entrepreneur would be a better fit.

 

[Captain_Commando]

How about "Advanced Role Playing Solutions".

"Advanced" has been one of the hottest buzzwords in business the past decade.

When I saw this I started thinking "Advanced Storytelling Solutions" but then I realized what that abbreviates to...

 

[timbannock]

You don't want to "limit" who you market to, but you also don't want to be so generalized (generic?) as to miss out on people. If you're running RPGs, especially just one game (D&D 4e), then you probably want to market the best way you can to that audience specifically. I mean, if that's what they are looking for, they are going to search for things like:

Dungeon Master
Dungeonmaster
DM
Narrator
Storyteller
Game Master
Gamemaster
Gamesmaster

In fact, if you can do any kind of SEO analysis, I'd dump those exact terms into Google and see what comes up with more hits, and what the top hits of each one is.

I.e., if you're going to be DMing Dungeons & Dragons, you want to name yourself after whatever comes up on Google first when looking for the game Dungeons & Dragons. Therefore, I suspect Dungeon Master and DM would be the best bets.

If you look at this from an SEO standpoint (search engine optimization, for the unlearned), that could help you and your marketing (ESPECIALLY of your website) a whole lot.

And if you're only doing a specific region/city/area, you should probably incorporate something like that into the name as well (or at least as a subheading).

Random (hopefully not completely stupid) examples I thought of in 2 seconds:
"New York's Greatest Dungeon Master for Hire" (The Above Domain Name is For Sale email us at nyc@nyc.com for price quote)
"Dungeon Master Meetup NY" (DAVIDMORGANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM)
"Dungeon Master for Hire: NYC's greatest DM" (Index of /)
"NYC Dungeon-Crawl: DM for Hire in NYC for D&D 4e Games" (www.nycdungeon.com)

If you use the word dungeon prominently, just make sure you make it clear that you're not selling some kind of BDSM service!