Suggestions for finding a GM to hire?

[dsfriii]

Is there any one else sort of weirded out that people are willing to pay you to DM....

 

[tensen]

Boy, I wish there was a big GM-for-hire market here in Dallas.

Can we import you?
One a month.. borrow Wil for a few days and make him run a game... for 72 hours at a time... then ship him back when he finally wants to sleep.

 

[Katerek]

Is there any one else sort of weirded out that people are willing to pay you to DM....

Not at all. DMing is a full time job anyway. It something that has come up more than once with the people I game with. Basically, it is always real life that gets in the way of good gaming, and quite frankly my real life is rather dull. The only reason I do not DM 3-5 days a week is because running games doesn't pay the bills.

My current players have made mention before of all chipping in and basically paying me so that I could DM full time. It is a fun thing to think about, no matter how unrealistic it is.

 

[Cedric]

Is there any one else sort of weirded out that people are willing to pay you to DM....

The fact that this is a company hiring someone for employee morale and recreation...and that they will be paid, by the company..keeps me from AT ALL being weirded out by this.

In fact, I applaud the initiative of the company officers and am somewhat jealous of the employees.

Now if someone was hiring a GM to run a game for him and his friends that could be strange, but again...depending on the circumstance. As RPG's and RPG'ers have matured they have realized that the pressures of Real Life make gaming more of a challenge, but that it is still important enough to them to fit into their lives somehow.

Being a GM, especially for multiple games and game systems is a lot of work. I do not find it at all strange that in todays high demand world where so many "old school" gamers have graduated from the game room to the board room that hiring a GM would be at all unreasonable.

But then...I used to play games for a living. I was paid by a distrubutor to playtest dozens of games, provide feedback and help decide which games will sell, which won't sell and which games are much better then their sales figures would indicate.

I had a great time with everything from the original Middle Earth CCG (where they took none of suggestions!) to multiple RPG's that changed dramatically based on our feedback. It was a good job.

Cedric

 

[Elder James]

Elder James, you speak wisely and said everything I was thinking about that classified ad. Thanks.

Well shucks, Tom. I dunno about speaking wisely, I just sometimes gotta say my piece



Malichai,

No harm, no foul, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to read my post and clear those few misconceptions of mine up. It's much appreciated. And I apologise if I came across as some wannabe sage spouting off about the philosophy of GMing.

I guess I do have something of a dictatorial approach to GMing, but only with regards to who has the final say on any given ruling in an active game session. I enjoy playing the game. I don't enjoy stopping mid-game to discuss the finer details of whether or not my interpretation of the mechanics of a spell are the same as the player's interpretation. I dislike it even more if a player starts dicussing mechanics interpretation of something that isn't even remotely connected to the current game situation.

Such bull sessions are for before and after the game session. My concern was that this sort of thing might happen given your phrasing and my own misinterpretation of your 'classified ad'. You took the time to respond and clarify that for me, and again I say thank you.

I agree with you that flexibility on the GM's part is tantamount, and I must apologise if I gave you the impression that I railroad my players into the plot. Players will always want to go off on tangents, or ignore the designed plot completely in order to do their own thing. I encourage this behaviour in players because any plot or adventure or even a whole campaign would get stale and dull without the players being able to do their own thing. Often times, the players will come up with something ingenious, and the GM will just go with it. The real trick of GMing is trying to make it sound like it was the GM's idea in the first place

A good GM can always make use of what the players want to do, incorporating all their plans and still fit his own plot into that mix and if he does a decent job of it, the players will find themselves deep in the plot and will realise that they really want to see it through to the end.

But now I am just rambling on

Good luck with your hiring, Malichai.

 

[Altalazar]

What an interesting concept - just how WOULD a GM be as shaped by the forces of the free market?

I wonder if GM- and Player-for-hire companies could be formed and make a profit...

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

I don't think it's that strange at all. In fact, I think it's quite a marketable idea. Some people don't know enough fellow gamers, or they do, but not enough good GMs. I'm sure plenty of good GMs would love to make this their career, they spend enough time working on it anyway that it's pretty much a full time job as it is.

Heck, if I had some experience, and you'd be willing to fly me from Boston to Kansas every week, I'd do it

Maybe this is something local game stores shoul look into. Hiring out employees as GMs. I don't think an entire GM for hire company would generate enough business to maintain operating costs, but a game store whose focus is gaming anyway might be able to make a little extra cash doing this.

 

[Shallown]

I think a GM/Player for hire company would work if there was a large enough customer base. I think half the problem is we, as gamers, are spread all over. Imagine if you had the population of Gen-con living in one town. A pretty diverse population in terms of demographics but enough people to support business cattering to gamers, like Rental space for gamers- special designed rooms just to facilitate gaming. things like that.

Yes a utopia for some and maybe a nightmare for others.

 

[Altalazar]

I think there is a catch-22 - If gamers are too widely dispersed, then there won't be enough gamers to make a "professional" GM viable because there are no customers. And if they instead are concentrated in one area, there will be enough gamers around with enough voluntary GMs that no one will need to hire one.

 

[shadowlight]

I think there is a catch-22 - If gamers are too widely dispersed, then there won't be enough gamers to make a "professional" GM viable because there are no customers. And if they instead are concentrated in one area, there will be enough gamers around with enough voluntary GMs that no one will need to hire one.

Speaking of dispersed gamers, can you make it to the Gameday Altalazar? (see my sig)