Right, the reason I see one shot vs. campaign as priced different comes from a few factors. Sure, you need to do prep work for both one shots and a sustained campaign, but a one shot you can recycle for other customers (you may want to provide "bespoke" sessions to all your customers, but if you look at the DM services out there, a lot of providers doing one shots offers a handful. Saves you on some overhead there. A campaign just requires "more" work because on top of all the prep you have for a one shot, you have arcs and continuity and it's just a bigger project requiring a bigger investment of you time.
You'll also notice some paid DMs offer services to run off the shelf published adventures as campaigns or one shots. Those I raise my eyebrow at, but it's a thing. Price accordingly.
These are all good points. Thank you for providing your insight. I will definitely keep these things in mind should I move forward with this endeavor.
I think $15.00 is a good, if low price for a professional DM. For 4 players, that works out to about $10 an hour (assuming you are doing a couple of hours of prep). Remember to charge for prep time and remember to include your overhead.
At $5 a session, people are not really paying a DM; they are covering dinner and materials.
I think $15.00 is a good, if low price for a professional DM. For 4 players, that works out to about $10 an hour (assuming you are doing a couple of hours of prep). Remember to charge for prep time and remember to include your overhead.
At $5 a session, people are not really paying a DM; they are covering dinner and materials.
As I didn't factor in the overhead and prep time, it's starting to seem like $20 is a more fair price.
Not to say that professional services shouldn't be paid appropriately, of course they should, especially if you are considering doing this for a living. So if your main point of this is to make money, then you'd need to consider the value of your time, being several hours of prep time as well as the 3-4 hours session. The problem is that there are many people who are getting the same thing for free, so the demand for a paid service is much lower (still exists, but not many).
Keeping that in mind, you'll probably have a hard time finding a group of people that would willingly consistently pay $20 per session for this sort of thing. You may have more success with One Shots to start with at a lower fee, and then if there's a group that's willing to pay for a higher fee for a full campaign then go with that. Try selling to a full group rather than individuals so that in case anyone chooses not to keep paying they wouldn't be messing up the game for everyone else.
Unfortunately, it is in your advantage to charge high and skip out on prep time. Nobody can confirm whether or not you actually spent the time you said you did. So start with something lower and do One Shots. $20 is really high of a price point for a lot of people, especially if it is something they'd pay for on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. If you compare it to watching a movie, you need to consider that movies are produced by many highly skilled professionals, whereas nobody can verify how good of a DM you are. Also people don't watch movies (typically) on a regular basis. They go see a movie when there's a movie for them to see. I don't think you'll be able to easily sell your services for $20.
Not to say that professional services shouldn't be paid appropriately, of course they should, especially if you are considering doing this for a living. So if your main point of this is to make money, then you'd need to consider the value of your time, being several hours of prep time as well as the 3-4 hours session. The problem is that there are many people who are getting the same thing for free, so the demand for a paid service is much lower (still exists, but not many).
Keeping that in mind, you'll probably have a hard time finding a group of people that would willingly consistently pay $20 per session for this sort of thing. You may have more success with One Shots to start with at a lower fee, and then if there's a group that's willing to pay for a higher fee for a full campaign then go with that. Try selling to a full group rather than individuals so that in case anyone chooses not to keep paying they wouldn't be messing up the game for everyone else.
Unfortunately, it is in your advantage to charge high and skip out on prep time. Nobody can confirm whether or not you actually spent the time you said you did. So start with something lower and do One Shots. $20 is really high of a price point for a lot of people, especially if it is something they'd pay for on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. If you compare it to watching a movie, you need to consider that movies are produced by many highly skilled professionals, whereas nobody can verify how good of a DM you are. Also people don't watch movies (typically) on a regular basis. They go see a movie when there's a movie for them to see. I don't think you'll be able to easily sell your services for $20.
All fair points. Appealing to a full group of people would likely be better in the long term and doing one shots that allow for flexibility is better for the short term. From what I'm hearing here as well as talking with other people outside of these forums, $20 seems to be the upper limit and $10 is the safe amount.
I think $15.00 is a good, if low price for a professional DM. For 4 players, that works out to about $10 an hour (assuming you are doing a couple of hours of prep). Remember to charge for prep time and remember to include your overhead.
At $5 a session, people are not really paying a DM; they are covering dinner and materials.
As I didn't factor in the overhead and prep time, it's starting to seem like $20 is a more fair price.
But to actually find people actually willing to pay, its going to be a struggle. You really need to think about using Twitch to stream games and create a subscriber following to actually make any money, otherwise really how many people are looking to pay $80/month to be hosted by a stranger? And they are only going to do it if your adventures are extremely good. That in itself is tricky if you don't know your audience (until they start playing).
I am a DM for my friends for the last couple years, and that is done free. I also DM a Play by Post group of strangers. I am capable, but not great.
I have also been a player that paid a "Professional DM" 15$ USD (so approx. $20 CAD) every week for over a year. I no longer do, but only because of scheduling conflicts. The experience was fantastic and I regret not being able to participate anymore.
Given the above, here is my opinion: I would NOT pay $15-20 per 4 hour session UNLESS that was the DM's career. I know enough now to ask up front; does the DM have a full time job? If they do, I would not pay that much. The quality of the sessions depends on prep work, and a full time job interferes with that. On the other hand, someone that is trying to make a living from it will/should:
Put in the time to make every session an experience... whatever that ends up meaning for you.
A good session zero to put you in a group of like minded individuals so everyone you play with has the same intentions.
Create a memorable homebrew that is believable, fantastic and in line with what the players asked for in Session zero. Or make a published module much better.
Give everyone time in the spotlight. Which inevitably means not making huge groups (6 or more) to make more money per session.
$5-10 is fine for a hobbyist that wants to recover subscription and other costs. It also makes sure the players are invested, will show up, want to actually participate and not just tag along silently and swing a sword when combat occurs with a character that otherwise has no personality. Charging a fee also usually means the DM will be reliable too.
On the flip side, for a professional career DM that provided the whole package, I would pay more than $15-20.
I consider the price of 15$ a bit high. I'd expect not only an experienced DM, but a dedicated one. ShadowKurama mentions his experience, but not how much involvement or dedication he will put into it. I'm now more experienced than I was 15 years ago, but back then I provided a superior experience for the group since I was more dedicated, I spent a lot of time for prep and adding interesting plots or situations tailored to my group. Now I just don't have the same time due to my job and adult responsibilities.
Another point for the price, when I was looking for paid DMs in roll20, their prior experience on other paid experiences was important. I think players will be more reluctant to pay high for somebody starting to offer a paid experience. You'd need a period to adapt to the different needs of the group, it's different to DM for strangers paying for the service.
I feel 10$ is a fair price for somebody that will offer a good experience but it's not very experienced on paid-DM, I would even recommend starting with one-shots or short campaigns for 5$.
I am a DM for my friends for the last couple years, and that is done free. I also DM a Play by Post group of strangers. I am capable, but not great.
I have also been a player that paid a "Professional DM" 15$ USD (so approx. $20 CAD) every week for over a year. I no longer do, but only because of scheduling conflicts. The experience was fantastic and I regret not being able to participate anymore.
Given the above, here is my opinion: I would NOT pay $15-20 per 4 hour session UNLESS that was the DM's career. I know enough now to ask up front; does the DM have a full time job? If they do, I would not pay that much. The quality of the sessions depends on prep work, and a full time job interferes with that. On the other hand, someone that is trying to make a living from it will/should:
Put in the time to make every session an experience... whatever that ends up meaning for you.
A good session zero to put you in a group of like minded individuals so everyone you play with has the same intentions.
Create a memorable homebrew that is believable, fantastic and in line with what the players asked for in Session zero. Or make a published module much better.
Give everyone time in the spotlight. Which inevitably means not making huge groups (6 or more) to make more money per session.
$5-10 is fine for a hobbyist that wants to recover subscription and other costs. It also makes sure the players are invested, will show up, want to actually participate and not just tag along silently and swing a sword when combat occurs with a character that otherwise has no personality. Charging a fee also usually means the DM will be reliable too.
On the flip side, for a professional career DM that provided the whole package, I would pay more than $15-20.
Yes, I agree with all of this. And overhead for pros is higher than us amateurs also. I have seen in-person sessions that go for $300-$500 a session, but the entire session used miniatures and there were 3-D maps. Also, as someone who has many artist friends, I would ask a professional if they have licensed their art and music. In that scenario, I would expect to pay between $150 and $200 for a customized private four-hour show.
I would also check to see what the local party entertainers charge, that is essentially the business you are getting in to. Here in the bush-wilds of North Carolina, $15 per person seems high (even if it is only marginally better than minimum wage), while in Long Island City, the Uber to the game shop would be higher.
I do not charge for sessions, but all my subscriptions, my metal dice, a bunch of minis, all my books (on DnDBeyond and Roll20) were basically gifts from my groups. Plus I don't have to pay when they do party art commissions, etc, etc.... It is also been years since I had to pay for sodas or snacks when DMing. So people are willing to spend money even on barely adequate DMs.
I am a DM for my friends for the last couple years, and that is done free. I also DM a Play by Post group of strangers. I am capable, but not great.
I have also been a player that paid a "Professional DM" 15$ USD (so approx. $20 CAD) every week for over a year. I no longer do, but only because of scheduling conflicts. The experience was fantastic and I regret not being able to participate anymore.
Given the above, here is my opinion: I would NOT pay $15-20 per 4 hour session UNLESS that was the DM's career. I know enough now to ask up front; does the DM have a full time job? If they do, I would not pay that much. The quality of the sessions depends on prep work, and a full time job interferes with that. On the other hand, someone that is trying to make a living from it will/should:
Put in the time to make every session an experience... whatever that ends up meaning for you.
A good session zero to put you in a group of like minded individuals so everyone you play with has the same intentions.
Create a memorable homebrew that is believable, fantastic and in line with what the players asked for in Session zero. Or make a published module much better.
Give everyone time in the spotlight. Which inevitably means not making huge groups (6 or more) to make more money per session.
$5-10 is fine for a hobbyist that wants to recover subscription and other costs. It also makes sure the players are invested, will show up, want to actually participate and not just tag along silently and swing a sword when combat occurs with a character that otherwise has no personality. Charging a fee also usually means the DM will be reliable too.
On the flip side, for a professional career DM that provided the whole package, I would pay more than $15-20.
I consider the price of 15$ a bit high. I'd expect not only an experienced DM, but a dedicated one. ShadowKurama mentions his experience, but not how much involvement or dedication he will put into it. I'm now more experienced than I was 15 years ago, but back then I provided a superior experience for the group since I was more dedicated, I spent a lot of time for prep and adding interesting plots or situations tailored to my group. Now I just don't have the same time due to my job and adult responsibilities.
Another point for the price, when I was looking for paid DMs in roll20, their prior experience on other paid experiences was important. I think players will be more reluctant to pay high for somebody starting to offer a paid experience. You'd need a period to adapt to the different needs of the group, it's different to DM for strangers paying for the service.
I feel 10$ is a fair price for somebody that will offer a good experience but it's not very experienced on paid-DM, I would even recommend starting with one-shots or short campaigns for 5$.
I can definitely agree with all of this as well and also go one step further. The things that were listed for a DM trying to make a living are just what I expect of myself as a DM. As I wasn't exactly trying to make a sales pitch here, more or less looking for the general climate around the idea, I didn't say those things in my original post. That's a mistake and I likely should because it certainly does factor into a person being willing to pay for the service. I by no means would call myself a "professional DM". If I did, I feel like I'd be insulting those that I consider far more skilled than I. What I do claim is being an extremely passionate DM with a level of skill honed through years. If I may respond directly to the points mentioned:
I must admit that I'm a bit of an over prepper lol. I get so wrapped up and invested in creating worlds for my players that I'm typically spending around 6-8 hours prep for each session.
I always preach the benefits of a session 0 that is focused on getting everyone on the same page for the most enjoyable experience.
I don't like to brag on the things I've created. Honestly, I make things for my players and let them talk of it. I can say that I've given them fond memories over the years. There words. It's also there words that caused me to search the information on this topic.
I personally think a good party size is between 4-6. I aim for 5 myself. The intent is always going to be having a good experience rather than making money.
If this became a full career for me, maybe add this to the things I stream on twitch as was mentioned in a different post, it would be a dream. In order to make that dream a reality, there is a lot of work and growing that I must do. Thank you for the amazing input.
Yes, I agree with all of this. And overhead for pros is higher than us amateurs also. I have seen in-person sessions that go for $300-$500 a session, but the entire session used miniatures and there were 3-D maps. Also, as someone who has many artist friends, I would ask a professional if they have licensed their art and music. In that scenario, I would expect to pay between $150 and $200 for a customized private four-hour show.
I would also check to see what the local party entertainers charge, that is essentially the business you are getting in to. Here in the bush-wilds of North Carolina, $15 per person seems high (even if it is only marginally better than minimum wage), while in Long Island City, the Uber to the game shop would be higher.
I do not charge for sessions, but all my subscriptions, my metal dice, a bunch of minis, all my books (on DnDBeyond and Roll20) were basically gifts from my groups. Plus I don't have to pay when they do party art commissions, etc, etc.... It is also been years since I had to pay for sodas or snacks when DMing. So people are willing to spend money even on barely adequate DMs.
Getting to the point of having licensed art and music for a homebrew world would be awesome. I'd love to be able to say I have created an adventure/setting book that comes with its own music. Going further, I'd love to create that and be able to run it personally for people. Licensing is always important when it comes to commercial things. I have many artist friends as well and things always get dicey when people don't pursue obtaining them.
I hadn't thought of looking at entertainer's charge though. It actually is very much the same type of business. As I'm out in Cali, things can get pretty expensive pretty fast. Fortunately, this would be online to start and the cost down heavily.
I have been DMing professionally for about 6 months now so if you have any specific questions I would be happy to answer. I charge about 13 dollars per person per session for 3 hour sessions and I have had no problem finding clients willing to pay at that price.
Ya get what ya pay for in my experience with paid DMs. We had a $15 per session DM that was not worth it and now have a $25 per session DM that is a bargain. The market will dictate what you can charge but a good starting point at $15 isn't too bad. Now if you get a few sessions going through the same module it will mitigate the prep time and afford you a better ROI. Don't worry about those who say they wouldn't pay for a DM or that even $50 a session is too much. People will pay when value exceeds price. You could be crappy at $15 and have people jumping ship or could be at the Mercer end of the spectrum where I'd pay $10k for a session and not bat an eye lol.
Ya get what ya pay for in my experience with paid DMs. We had a $15 per session DM that was not worth it and now have a $25 per session DM that is a bargain. The market will dictate what you can charge but a good starting point at $15 isn't too bad. Now if you get a few sessions going through the same module it will mitigate the prep time and afford you a better ROI. Don't worry about those who say they wouldn't pay for a DM or that even $50 a session is too much. People will pay when value exceeds price. You could be crappy at $15 and have people jumping ship or could be at the Mercer end of the spectrum where I'd pay $10k for a session and not bat an eye lol.
Totally agree. I think if you're planning on asking for money from your players, you need to consider what your purpose of all this is:
1. Are you making this a full time job or planning to have it as a full time job in the future?
2. Are you trying to cover some of the costs that you're providing to your players / friends? Such as minis, books, dndbeyond subscriptions, roll20 subscriptions, etc.?
3. Are you just trying to make some extra cash on the side?
If you're trying to make it a full time job, then you price your sessions accordingly, and you'd probably run games for more than 1 group each week. If you charge $15-$25 per player, you'd make around $60-$75 per session, or maybe more depending on how many players or how you charge. But to make a living, say $750 each week, you'd need to run around 10 sessions/groups per week which might be pretty taxing on you.
If you're just trying to cover the costs, I'd just be up front about it, and maybe ask for something small like $5 per session just to help cover some of the costs. Never expect to cover all your costs as you'll always have to pay for some of it and probably most of it yourself. You could always ask someone else to prepare snacks or make a rotating schedule of it too.
If you're just trying to make some extra cash, follow generally what everyone else has been saying but don't bother trying to push for too much especially if you're having fun with it too.
I would pay to join a game, but for me to pay, the DM would have to be extremely well known, or have a lot of renown within the community. For example, if Matt Mercer or Satine Phoenix, offered to run a game for public, in which they charged for their services, then I’d be willing to pay.
I might even be willing to pay something like $25 a session, more if the proceeds, or part of them was going to charity.
Unless the DM is someone of that calibre however, I would not pay.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
I have been running paid one shots for just over a year, I am a 30 yr Game Master. My games have been priced at $20 a seat for a 4 hour game, with the store getting an agreed upon cut. This price point came by a deduction of local (East, TN) wages vs other stories of paid DMs. I have recently started 2 ongoing campaigns, meeting every 2 weeks. I have 6 players in one and 5 players in the other. The seat cost gets every player a set of Koplow dice, a WizKids mini, D&D beyond printed character sheet, and character folio to keep said sheet. There may be other swag as we go, but this is all that was promised.
These are all good points. Thank you for providing your insight. I will definitely keep these things in mind should I move forward with this endeavor.
I think $15.00 is a good, if low price for a professional DM. For 4 players, that works out to about $10 an hour (assuming you are doing a couple of hours of prep). Remember to charge for prep time and remember to include your overhead.
At $5 a session, people are not really paying a DM; they are covering dinner and materials.
As I didn't factor in the overhead and prep time, it's starting to seem like $20 is a more fair price.
Not to say that professional services shouldn't be paid appropriately, of course they should, especially if you are considering doing this for a living. So if your main point of this is to make money, then you'd need to consider the value of your time, being several hours of prep time as well as the 3-4 hours session. The problem is that there are many people who are getting the same thing for free, so the demand for a paid service is much lower (still exists, but not many).
Keeping that in mind, you'll probably have a hard time finding a group of people that would willingly consistently pay $20 per session for this sort of thing. You may have more success with One Shots to start with at a lower fee, and then if there's a group that's willing to pay for a higher fee for a full campaign then go with that. Try selling to a full group rather than individuals so that in case anyone chooses not to keep paying they wouldn't be messing up the game for everyone else.
Unfortunately, it is in your advantage to charge high and skip out on prep time. Nobody can confirm whether or not you actually spent the time you said you did. So start with something lower and do One Shots. $20 is really high of a price point for a lot of people, especially if it is something they'd pay for on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. If you compare it to watching a movie, you need to consider that movies are produced by many highly skilled professionals, whereas nobody can verify how good of a DM you are. Also people don't watch movies (typically) on a regular basis. They go see a movie when there's a movie for them to see. I don't think you'll be able to easily sell your services for $20.
All fair points. Appealing to a full group of people would likely be better in the long term and doing one shots that allow for flexibility is better for the short term. From what I'm hearing here as well as talking with other people outside of these forums, $20 seems to be the upper limit and $10 is the safe amount.
But to actually find people actually willing to pay, its going to be a struggle. You really need to think about using Twitch to stream games and create a subscriber following to actually make any money, otherwise really how many people are looking to pay $80/month to be hosted by a stranger? And they are only going to do it if your adventures are extremely good. That in itself is tricky if you don't know your audience (until they start playing).
I am a DM for my friends for the last couple years, and that is done free. I also DM a Play by Post group of strangers. I am capable, but not great.
I have also been a player that paid a "Professional DM" 15$ USD (so approx. $20 CAD) every week for over a year. I no longer do, but only because of scheduling conflicts. The experience was fantastic and I regret not being able to participate anymore.
Given the above, here is my opinion: I would NOT pay $15-20 per 4 hour session UNLESS that was the DM's career. I know enough now to ask up front; does the DM have a full time job? If they do, I would not pay that much. The quality of the sessions depends on prep work, and a full time job interferes with that. On the other hand, someone that is trying to make a living from it will/should:
$5-10 is fine for a hobbyist that wants to recover subscription and other costs. It also makes sure the players are invested, will show up, want to actually participate and not just tag along silently and swing a sword when combat occurs with a character that otherwise has no personality. Charging a fee also usually means the DM will be reliable too.
On the flip side, for a professional career DM that provided the whole package, I would pay more than $15-20.
Kerrec's answer in totally on point.
I consider the price of 15$ a bit high. I'd expect not only an experienced DM, but a dedicated one. ShadowKurama mentions his experience, but not how much involvement or dedication he will put into it. I'm now more experienced than I was 15 years ago, but back then I provided a superior experience for the group since I was more dedicated, I spent a lot of time for prep and adding interesting plots or situations tailored to my group. Now I just don't have the same time due to my job and adult responsibilities.
Another point for the price, when I was looking for paid DMs in roll20, their prior experience on other paid experiences was important. I think players will be more reluctant to pay high for somebody starting to offer a paid experience. You'd need a period to adapt to the different needs of the group, it's different to DM for strangers paying for the service.
I feel 10$ is a fair price for somebody that will offer a good experience but it's not very experienced on paid-DM, I would even recommend starting with one-shots or short campaigns for 5$.
Yes, I agree with all of this. And overhead for pros is higher than us amateurs also. I have seen in-person sessions that go for $300-$500 a session, but the entire session used miniatures and there were 3-D maps. Also, as someone who has many artist friends, I would ask a professional if they have licensed their art and music. In that scenario, I would expect to pay between $150 and $200 for a customized private four-hour show.
I would also check to see what the local party entertainers charge, that is essentially the business you are getting in to. Here in the bush-wilds of North Carolina, $15 per person seems high (even if it is only marginally better than minimum wage), while in Long Island City, the Uber to the game shop would be higher.
I do not charge for sessions, but all my subscriptions, my metal dice, a bunch of minis, all my books (on DnDBeyond and Roll20) were basically gifts from my groups. Plus I don't have to pay when they do party art commissions, etc, etc.... It is also been years since I had to pay for sodas or snacks when DMing. So people are willing to spend money even on barely adequate DMs.
I can definitely agree with all of this as well and also go one step further. The things that were listed for a DM trying to make a living are just what I expect of myself as a DM. As I wasn't exactly trying to make a sales pitch here, more or less looking for the general climate around the idea, I didn't say those things in my original post. That's a mistake and I likely should because it certainly does factor into a person being willing to pay for the service. I by no means would call myself a "professional DM". If I did, I feel like I'd be insulting those that I consider far more skilled than I. What I do claim is being an extremely passionate DM with a level of skill honed through years. If I may respond directly to the points mentioned:
If this became a full career for me, maybe add this to the things I stream on twitch as was mentioned in a different post, it would be a dream. In order to make that dream a reality, there is a lot of work and growing that I must do. Thank you for the amazing input.
Getting to the point of having licensed art and music for a homebrew world would be awesome. I'd love to be able to say I have created an adventure/setting book that comes with its own music. Going further, I'd love to create that and be able to run it personally for people. Licensing is always important when it comes to commercial things. I have many artist friends as well and things always get dicey when people don't pursue obtaining them.
I hadn't thought of looking at entertainer's charge though. It actually is very much the same type of business. As I'm out in Cali, things can get pretty expensive pretty fast. Fortunately, this would be online to start and the cost down heavily.
I have been DMing professionally for about 6 months now so if you have any specific questions I would be happy to answer. I charge about 13 dollars per person per session for 3 hour sessions and I have had no problem finding clients willing to pay at that price.
Ya get what ya pay for in my experience with paid DMs. We had a $15 per session DM that was not worth it and now have a $25 per session DM that is a bargain. The market will dictate what you can charge but a good starting point at $15 isn't too bad. Now if you get a few sessions going through the same module it will mitigate the prep time and afford you a better ROI. Don't worry about those who say they wouldn't pay for a DM or that even $50 a session is too much. People will pay when value exceeds price. You could be crappy at $15 and have people jumping ship or could be at the Mercer end of the spectrum where I'd pay $10k for a session and not bat an eye lol.
Totally agree. I think if you're planning on asking for money from your players, you need to consider what your purpose of all this is:
1. Are you making this a full time job or planning to have it as a full time job in the future?
2. Are you trying to cover some of the costs that you're providing to your players / friends? Such as minis, books, dndbeyond subscriptions, roll20 subscriptions, etc.?
3. Are you just trying to make some extra cash on the side?
If you're trying to make it a full time job, then you price your sessions accordingly, and you'd probably run games for more than 1 group each week. If you charge $15-$25 per player, you'd make around $60-$75 per session, or maybe more depending on how many players or how you charge. But to make a living, say $750 each week, you'd need to run around 10 sessions/groups per week which might be pretty taxing on you.
If you're just trying to cover the costs, I'd just be up front about it, and maybe ask for something small like $5 per session just to help cover some of the costs. Never expect to cover all your costs as you'll always have to pay for some of it and probably most of it yourself. You could always ask someone else to prepare snacks or make a rotating schedule of it too.
If you're just trying to make some extra cash, follow generally what everyone else has been saying but don't bother trying to push for too much especially if you're having fun with it too.
I run on zero session. I get paid ten dollars a player. I have had the same 2 players for about 6 weeks
The game was to be a one shot.lol
I would pay to join a game, but for me to pay, the DM would have to be extremely well known, or have a lot of renown within the community. For example, if Matt Mercer or Satine Phoenix, offered to run a game for public, in which they charged for their services, then I’d be willing to pay.
I might even be willing to pay something like $25 a session, more if the proceeds, or part of them was going to charity.
Unless the DM is someone of that calibre however, I would not pay.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
I have been running paid one shots for just over a year, I am a 30 yr Game Master. My games have been priced at $20 a seat for a 4 hour game, with the store getting an agreed upon cut. This price point came by a deduction of local (East, TN) wages vs other stories of paid DMs. I have recently started 2 ongoing campaigns, meeting every 2 weeks. I have 6 players in one and 5 players in the other. The seat cost gets every player a set of Koplow dice, a WizKids mini, D&D beyond printed character sheet, and character folio to keep said sheet. There may be other swag as we go, but this is all that was promised.