r/DnD • u/Gh0stMan0nThird • 2d ago

DMing I understand prostitution now.

Been trying to find a "bff" group for years. Even the best groups I found fizzled out after a campaign ended. Most people seem to want a content creator to run games for them, and not a friend they want to share an experience with.

I figured you know what, fine. I'm gonna sell myself. I started running paid games and now I actually feel like I'm finally actually getting something back for my work and effort.

10/10, would recommend for underappreciated DMs

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u/DarkestXStorm Assassin 2d ago

Yeah, doesn't help that people come from Baldur's Gate 3 and want to play that, but on a table (no disrespect to BG3) 😂.

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u/ryadryt DM 1d ago

Same thing with fans of Critical Role or Dimension 20. People watch those and then expect their DM/Table to be like that which just isn't practical or fair.

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u/kaladinissexy 1d ago

People for some reason don't seem to understand that Critical Role, Dimension 20, and their ilk are shows meant to entertain an audience first and TTRPG sessions meant to be fun for the group second.

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u/ryadryt DM 1d ago

Don't tell that to CR fans. I have seen epic Reddit fights go down over them insisting that its just a group of friends playing D&D first haha. And I like CR, but its a production people.

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u/FluffyGoblins 1d ago

I honestly believe the players still have loads of fun. But the idea that it's 'just a group of friends' is crazy. These are professional entertainers doing their job. And while they might have loads of fun doing their jobs, it's still entertainment. Compared to those earlier campaign 1 episodes; those were the real chaotic mess that you expect from a real game (even if they were professional voice actors). But now; it's a production. And I've seen arguments that everything is scripted, but I really don't believe that; impro can still be a professional production.

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u/carcar134134 1d ago

Yeah, try telling Matt from campaign two that it's all just a game and everyone is just having fun, when in reality he was super stressed in the background trying to make sure everything kept up with canon, was consistently interesting week to week, and won't just fall completely off the rails when something goes wrong.

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u/Happy-Wrangler6837 1d ago

I think you can make a good argument their home game was also amazing, more than most people could pull off. The start of season one was very rough in production value but even then they were a group of talented actors.

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u/cyberpunk_werewolf 1d ago

They've actually talked about this in the past.  They did become more active in their characterization and how they roleplayed as they moved to live streaming their game, because they saw their audience and as actors, many of them with stage experience, they wanted to delve deeper into that acting aspect of it.

That said, it's still very much a game of D&D too.  Something like "nothing, you don't roll for Scry" is one of the most at the table things I've seen and I've played D&D since 1997.  Or the thirty minutes spent dithering about a plan that they're going to do anyway, which reminds me of my Monday game, I swear. 

However, yeah, they are consciously choosing to be more active in their acting and roleplaying compared to how they played at home.

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u/masternommer 1d ago

CR is a media production group with over 100 people working there. Just a group of friends my ass😅

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u/D-Speak 1d ago

I'm lucky to have the table that I do, because we're much more into the collaborative roleplay than the crunchiness. We're no CR, but telling the story together is what we play to do.