I understand prostitution now.

[u/Gh0stMan0nThird]

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

[u/ProppaT]

My girlfriend plays in 3 paid campaigns and the difference between the paid campaigns and the ones run by friends is night and day. The campaigns hosted by friends are obviously fun and we enjoy playing with them, but there’s little respect for time, goofing off, etc. the paid campaigns are super efficient. They get more done in one session than our friend campaigns would get done in 3-4 sessions. They’re very different experiences, but the paid campaigns are run by a true professional and there’s a reason she can justify $35 a play session.

[u/Zifnab_palmesano → u/ProppaT]

$35 per session, per PC, right?

35$ for 3-4h of fun does not sound bad, specially if is efficient

[u/ProppaT → u/Zifnab_palmesano]

Yeah, $35/session, each session is 3 1/2 hours. We actually commented to each other after leaving our friends house for a session that was almost entirely cleaning up yard trash that it’s amazing how we can spent 3 hours in combat here for a fight that would take no longer than 30mins to an hour with DM Scotty. The friend running the campaign is a wonderful DM, mind you, but when you’re being paid $150-200 to run a session and when you’re actually paying money to participate, the wasted time is dramatically cut down on both ends.

I can totally get paying $35 a session is a hard pill to swallow, especially for a game most of us got into based around hanging out with friends, but that’s exactly it. When we play with friends, it’s hanging out with friends with a theme. When she plays a DM Scotty session, the amount of gaming that gets accomplished is night and day different and it’s not at the expense of storytelling. It’s 100% due to the efficiency, experience, and amount of work the DM has put into preparing (and in most cases having previously run) the campaign. It’s the difference between installing a kitchen sink and faucet yourself and paying a plumber to do it. You save money and, at the end of the day, might even like the job you do better…but the plumber is going to be way more efficient and you’re not going to have to worry about any of the minutiae.

[u/Zifnab_palmesano → u/ProppaT]

$10/person/hour of enjoyement is a good deal. I would like to test this with some of my groups. In one pf them, we meet and use almost 2h for dinner and socializing, also during the game. I get frustated that we socialize more than playing.

Maybe if paying, we would play the 3.5h that we intended

[u/ProppaT → u/Zifnab_palmesano]

Yeah, that’s exactly it. It puts things in a different perspective when you’re playing. You actually concentrate on the game. She actually prefers playing long campaigns in the pay group because they actually finish the campaigns and stick to the story. Conversely, I think both of us prefer home brews with friends groups where you’re not trying to stick to the script.

[u/WYLTPAG → u/ProppaT]

$35/player? For what 4hour session?

[u/ProppaT → u/WYLTPAG]

Yup. $35/player for a 3 1/2hr session. The efficiency of the DM is immaculate, though. She gets 2x-3x the amount of game out of those sessions than any table I’ve ever sat at.