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Honestly I much rather no longer play TTRPG then having to pay to have the right to participate in an activity where everyone contribute. And while it is a craft, being a player also uses skills as well and even if you were to claim (and rightfully so I might add) that a DM invest more time into the game it is still no ground for the group to pay. It is a group effort and a hobby at that. To turn a hobby into a job is something you can do sure but to pretend that a paid option is better then a free one on that criteria alone ? Oh please... XD

6,000+ monster now on D&D alone. For immersion, like a great DM, always prepping, I create audio text to speech using different free online resources, else Github (yeah, Github has python programs that are as good as 11 Labs). Here is an example: I played this on my tablet at the table, I wrote it up myself at the time and added audio - but with Ai, ooooh damn. th-cam.com/video/iN034BFP484/w-d-xo.html PS Yes, I use ChatGPT 4 since it came out and use it so much I have 2 accounts, and stopped using Google by 80% - historically I'd Google so much, Google would make prove I'm not a bot LOL

Wow! Heath Ledger walking among us again!

I cannot imagine a player using or wanting to use this at the table. So weird.

Hey good video. Can you make a follow up video on the tools you use???????? I am kinda interested

cool vidaetoo

I think there is a place in the market for dScryb, but as you stated the value isn't there for me. I would rather have one of the dScryb's features be excellent than all of the be ok. There subscriber tiers are crazy as you stated.

I guess if they get a better search function it MIGHT be useful, but I'm perfectly capable of writing small text blocks.

this is great thank you.

"But youtube needs this video to be 8 minutes long" uh huh, seem to have added an extra digit

I wasn't ready for "top"

That might assuage my unreasonable guilt about taking people's time and i've no excuse not to renumerate people in my *current* circumstance (at least while that lasts). thanks for the nudge.

Not happy you have exposed us GMs to the world. Kidding, what you have described is called "being the GM". These are the things required to do you job. Your best advise is don't misuse them. I have been a GM since 1979 and have used them all and still do. At the end of the day, we are all at the table to have fun, make sure everyone is.

Since rounds are considered to be simultaneous, I have a rule that my players can have a minute to strategize at the top of the round, but can not tell other players what actions to take during their turn. This led me to discover that I had an experienced player who had been “coached” during combat for so many years that he had no idea what to do with his character when he was making his own decisions. It’s been great seeing him grow in confidence as he starts figuring out strategies and how to support the group.

Something not mentioned is how does the act of paying the GM change the game. How many players die …shit, definitely meant characters…how many characters die when you are being paid IF they are alive. Coming back into the hobby after 200 or 300 years off and it seems like it’s impossible for characters to die in 5e. So maybe it doesn’t matter, but I’d be interested to know if a character ever died in the entire history of Start Playing 😂 (note: I’ve played 3 high level 5e one shots via Start Playing and it was loads of fun)

This is the answer and secret weapon to the most perplexing of DM questions…”let the rule of cool rule.” Love it!

I haven't been able to find live games in my area because my work schedule simply doesn't line up with our local groups. SPG has changed that. Now I can find games at pretty much any time of day and day of the week. While it's not the same as playing in person, I've been having a lot of fun.

Great video. When running a session or campaign do you sometimes have 2nd thoughts about things that may kill one of the players? I would think, well they are paying I don't want them to die.

Finding out if a GM is good is hard because it can just be a personal thing. For example, I really liked the content of the video and wanted to hear it all, but at the same time couldn't stand the way he talked. I would be so mad if I had paid for a few hours of gaming with him.

Alternatively, they could make it a clickable pdf full of links to pages. With a drop-down menu. Not too much to ask for. And the little companies always have map files, but major names don't

Loved the vid liked the part about GMing being a growth market keep it up.

Thank you for this excellent breakdown and review

Hey, good afternoon. Well done and I stayed for the entire video. I have been running on SPG for almost two years now and I have finished about 7 campaigns. Before charging I never finished any campaigns, like ever. I do wish I could advertise and I probably need to have better copy on my game descriptions. I wonder about that. I wish you well and good luck to your channel. I have subscribed so you now have one more.

I signed up on SPG the about the same time you did... mostly out of just curiosity. I pitched a one-shot game to them, and got it approved. Then I started having doubts, and never did anything with it. And in that time, you make $10k. Maybe I need to give it a go. Thanks for the video!

Wow, this is also "the secret video of the 4 forbidden..." I am glad I found it though. It looks like you are getting back to posting vids...good! You really need to do that in order for the dreaded algorithm to put your stuff out there.

As a GM of over 30 years...hey I did this all through covid for cash and or PRIZES...but many of the newbies that are not part of the culture of TTRPG. It's hard when you tell people that you only let 18+ play and younger people come in. It's also hard when people had no idea what is and in not normal. It's to a lot of people watch crittical role and expect it to be like that.

Sounds like you’ve just identified a need that can be profitability filled… 😏

I've never paid to play a game before. Is that $25 per session or per hour? I know some sessions can go 3-4 hours or longer. That could get rather spendy. Or do you limit sessions to an hour? I don't think I would like that either as some encounters take longer than that alone.

Hey, that was awesome! Exactly the information and inspiration I was looking for!

Paid DMing is like hiring a personal trainer imo. Sure you could ask your friend to do it and hey they might even be great at it, but if you want consistency and regular sessions paying is the way to go. Another positive is that bad players kinda filter themselves more. Everyone at the table has a stake in the success of the sesssion because they paid to be there. Compared to my friend sessions theres a LOT less checking out and the players are more present and active.

Great video!

Tooooo much hands

I feel like it's like eating with friends. Whether you meet at each other's house or pay to go to a restaurant or Cafe and pay others for the venue or food is really up to you and your friends.

I would probably just do it for extra spending cash and just let then pay like $5 each. I would probably only do it for people who desperately want a DM online and never for my personal play groups. I would be honest and let them test it out.

You assess a gm's worth by applying a rating system 1-5 attached to a review. It's not difficult. Sites like rpg club use this and it works just fine. No need to overcomplicate things. If they get lower than a 4 they get canned. Simple as that.

I've been gaming with StartPlayingGames for a few years now. It is SO EASY. I really love it.

I'm an old school player. I started with AD&D when I was in my early 20's. In my 40's I played the 3.5 version. I'm now 61, and I've never played the 5e version but I'm interested in looking into it. In the old days players would buy their snacks for the game and they'd rotate on buying snacks for the DM. Buying snacks for the DM was always considered the norm, as a way of thanking him for going through all the work of creating the world for the players to have fun with in. The idea of paying DM's for a game is a new thing for me, but if DMs want to start charging players a reasonable price instead of us buying snacks for it, then I don't mind paying. As to whether or not a DM is worth the price they're asking...a player has always had the right to shop around at tables till they find a DM that suits the way they like to play. The web site you talk about sounds interesting. I'll have a look at it. Thanks.

Cheers! You definitely summed it up in the end. GMing is a craft unlike any before and the GM's that put the time, effort, and work to improve on their craft deserve to be compensated. 🙌🏽🙌🏽

Some excellent advice here, even if circumstances will of course vary table-to-table. Speaking as the GM for a streaming campaign that runs live, last-minute player unavailability has proven to be an... interesting situation. Thought provoking, Nioret! Thanks for putting this out there. - Angel of Darkeport

Thanks so much for sharing this insider info about what it's like to be a paid GM. I have been curious about this, wondering if it's something I could do in retirement. I already have a Discord channel or 2 set up for my friends, and you make it sound like a feasible endeavor. Sounds like a cool way to be reimbursed for the hard work of being a GM! It is a labor of love, but it's a big job!

The rating issue and the tagging system is a mistake. I'm a story teller as a general rule... normally. BUT with some players I change the way I GM and the game becomes focuses on dungeon delving, or combat and I encourage min/maxing. In other words, I model my games based both the system and the players.

So I'm curious how did you handle session 0? Was that a paid session or just part of session 1?

Wednesday is definitely game night tho.

Thanks for the awesome video

I watched this video, and I did give it a thumbs-up--the scheduling advice is good--but getting to the advice was a slough/slog. This video should start at 5 minutes and 21 seconds, perhaps with a new 30 second intro. Everything before that point drags and is not relevant to the topic. If I had been a little less interested in the topic I would have clicked out of the video before it got to the topic, but scheduling is a pain, so I waited for it to get on-topic.

I love your videos.

Also, yes, expect dates and 'things' will be the competition weekly, I assume 'schedule-tetris' will be not only a weekly issue, but seasonally! The Winter holidays especially have never been defeated!

And the DMCC build and test awaits on. I have great confidence in people who don't want the simplified 5E or the super detailed Pathfinder 2. DMCC appears to be mostly 'new tricks' and avoiding Hasbro every playing their OGL trick again. That alone, is worth handling a copy of DMCC, my new players need to enjoy sans the manipulative 'pressure' of all players purchase all books. ONLY THE GM NEEDS A BOOK! Plus I'm a bibliophile. I realized what Matt et al were doing too late for the Kickstarter. Tsk.

For those who have done this: my fear is that if GMing were to be a job for me, it would become... well, a job, that I would lose my passion for it. I am prone to burnout (probably due to undiagnosed ADHD). Has anyone had this issue? If not, how do you stave it off?

So as a player who pays for games, it's mostly online and it's for the ability to use the vtt, and get books. Now my current and longest paid dm. Basically runs ic-chats in text which can be whole second sessions during our off playtime. Mixed in with occasional doing 1v1 super chats, which can Basically be like a 1v1 section with npcs or important events. If you're asking how big or crazy this can get. Summary: We've had player's die in theese chats, it's that intense.