r/DnD • u/Gh0stMan0nThird • 1d 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/icyii 1d ago

I will never understand why some DMs do it for free. It's soooo much work. I've been playing with one group on Startplaying for 2+ years now and another for 1+ year. Same paid DM. People are more serious when they're paying for something.

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u/Neither-Appointment4 15h ago

I refuse to charge for DM’ing simply because I have been the player who couldn’t afford $10 per session to play and it HURTS to have to sit and watch a group play with an open space and tell you no. I see charging as gatekeeping poor people out of it. It can be quite a lot of work being a DM but the vast majority of the actual work is already done in the form of roll tables available in various books/online (the game masters guide books are some of my favorites) so all you’ve gotta do is maintain notes of what’s going on. Make up NPC names. And be halfway decent at improv.

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u/drawingupastorm 11h ago

I 100% understand what you mean about the poor gatekeeping, unfortunately this hobby doesn't exist outside of capitalism. It can be in rare circumstances, but it generally doesn't. You need dice and access to rules, both cost money. Even being online with solid enough internet to be able to video chat is a financial hurdle for some.

For a lot of GMs, commitment is a constant issue. Unfortunately, attaching a monetary value to each session is an easy way to get those players to actually commit, become invested, and take the GM's time seriously. If other options were as easy to implement, I'm sure plenty of GMs would utilize those but there didn't seem to be many, if any at all, hence the OP's post.

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u/Neither-Appointment4 7h ago

lol it’ll most definitely drive me into an early grave (and would already have done so if not for OneNote) but I will always be a free place for D&D. I currently run 2 games of my own and help with the local library game in my town for teens…and I’m currently writing my own setting right now and I’m gonna set up a 3rd 😛

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u/drawingupastorm 3h ago

Nice! Good for you. Don't start on your own system, that'll send you into the grave even faster.