For me, to get over the imposter syndrome, I ran some free sessions and asked for reviews. Once I was confident, I began charging. Most of my initial players joined my paid adventure.
@@Iceblade269 I run official WOTC modules mostly. I have switched to homebrew with parties that want to continue to play after an adventure is over. I didn’t find enough interest in homebrew offerings.
Definitely an important consideration. I was worried it would change my love of the game. Turns out, for me personally, it has intensified my love of the game.
Thanks for the insights. Playing with friends is essential for me, so that question doesn't really comes up on my end. But speculating that a typical evening (or afternoon) is about 4 hours of playing and that it requires 2 hours of prep time and one hour of transit there and back (aka a whole work day)... in my country a DM would have to charge roughly about 200 bucks US for one such session before taxes and stuff to make a (meager) living; I figure it'd not easy to find a group to pay that much. Of course on the other hand... doing a job you like doing is worth a lot (I had that once but that times are over). P.S.: Downvote for lack of cat... just kidding.
I always aim for cat, but I'm just the human here... You've got good points there on the financial front. You definitely won't get rich at this, and making a solid living really depends upon your own needs, state, country, etc... So much comes down to money, unfortunately, because it'd be great if everyone could do what they love.
I just looked at the game schedule and John Wick (writer for 7th Sea 2nd edition) has a table for his game for $30. To be able to play with some of the actual game designers is incredible.
( I have been trying to post this comment 3 times now. I realized that by mistake I made a link in the comment which made it so my comment was hidden for me. so This is my 3rd attempt.) Thanks so much! It was very enlightening and helpful, and once I'm done with my larger project (start næxt year) I think I'll attempt to use the platform as well :D I was left with a few questions though, that I was hoping you might have an answer to. 1. What's a realistic amount of sessions to work each month in your own experience? and what amount of pre session hours are you required to do for your games? 2. In your experience it is essential to make money from multiple platforms to make an honest living and pay rent through DMing. platforms such as (youtube, Patreon, startplayinggames, + maybe more). 3. How would you as a professional handle any “bad” behavior from a customer, or a player which seems unsatisfied in his or her game experience, or just a simple conflict of interest? (this can be for any reason) Once again thank you so much for going out of your way to help people like me. if i'm the only one my comment has been hidden from then i apologize for any spam.
I didn't see any of your other attempts, only this one, so you're probably good. :) Happy to answer the follow up questions, thanks for asking them! 1) Everyone's capacity is different. I know that's a cop-out answer, but it's true. I'm starting my 8th campaign, 6 for profit, 2 for family, and that is pushing my limits, personally. Your amount of pre-session and PER session prep are going to vary. I usually need to do quite a bit up front, perhaps as many as 10 hours to set things up in a manner that satisfies me, to onboard players and seed their backstories through what I've got coming for them and customize the game. On a weekly basis, a PER session basis, 2 hours prep for a 4 hour session is usually more than enough if I know the material well. If I don't, then I might need a little more. 2) Prior to my surgery on the 15th, Pro-DMing was my only source of income. Since I am now monetized on TH-cam I also make.... Wait for it... About $2 a day. :D So, I'd still say Pro-DMing is my only source of income. Again, everyone's needs for rent and other items is different. It's fairly plausible to make $2-3k a month if you work at it, but it caps out fast unless you can run a ridiculous number of games. If that's not enough in your area, then you might be in trouble. 3) I've had a handful. Most problem players solve themselves by leaving in a paid game. Occasionally you have to step in and address problem behavior politely but firmly. RARELY, you might have to remove someone from your game. The overall health of the game is more important than individual members and you need to treat it that way, everyone has PAID to be there, and no 1 person should wreck that for everyone. If someone has a bad experience and is upset, I would refund their ticket price and let them go their way. Ultimately, pretend you're in a customer service position (because you are) and keep your cool at all costs. I hope that helps!! Keep any other questions coming, friend.
@@DM-Timothy once again you have been extremly helpful and I might Even consider paying to join you in a few sessions, to do as you did and see what a game with a pro dm feels like.. Also last question. As a pro DM, do you still find the time to be a player and not a DM?
I have played on SPG for a few short campaigns. I talked with one DM about his experience and curious about yours. His main complaint was about player turn over. (not showing up, last minute cancel, campaigns fall apart due to schedules etc) Do you or did you before you gathered your community, have the same issues? It can be a mixed bag of the types of players you get at your table. Do you have any filter on the types of players you want? (power gamers, rules lawyers and other nightmare players in general)
Great questions. I didn't have much of a turnover problem, honestly. Most new campaigns would get one or two players that didn't manage to stick, but the majority of the group would work out and I'd just keep pushing forward. The hardest were actually groups that were already formed as friends or the like, because if THEIR schedule fell apart, the campaign ended, while if a group of strangers had 1 or 2 who couldn't make it, they politely bowed out and new strangers joined in, until everyone became friends. I take the time to interview new players for seats at my tables, but don't specifically try and avoid any precise style of player. I'm really looking for compatibility with the personalities at the table and with me. I've yet to flat out deny a player, but I've had 1 or 2 that have proved my concerns valid to where I won't invite them back.
Not long, actually. I was already running two live games for family, and have run games for decades so I reached out to every player I ever had and asked them to review me, so there was some meat to my profile, and created free games for my family games to show some activity, then I ran a 1 shot to attract some players and launched my first campaign with someone from that game who wanted to try a full campaign and we filled that game over about 2 weeks of recruiting (solely through SPG)
My personal favorite method was to join a game with a DM running with Foundry, and in particular take a screen shot of the modules they had turned on, then start playing around with it yourself. There's a number of great youtube tutorials out there, too, as well as excellent resources on their Discord server.
Did they remove the "Request a game" feature altogether now? You mentioned it was very well hidden, but I can't find it for the life of me. I did find a blog post called "How Does StartPlaying Work For Players?" which linked to it, but the page it's trying to load cannot be found.
Man, it does look like that option has been removed. I know they're working on a lot of other options, so hopefully a more streamlined version of that will appear eventually. I'm actually doing another review of things for both players and DMs next month. I'll do my best to dive deep enough to make it easy!
I don't think I have what it takes to be a pro-DM but one can dream! I do wonder though, how long on average are your campaigns? Do you run the same story/module for all your groups?
I think you’d be surprised as to whether or not you “have what it takes”. I know I struggled to get the gumption to run my first game. My campaigns generally run a little over 2 years from 1st to 20th level. I run multiple modules/stories, though sometimes I might have two or three groups on the same story if interest is strong.
For me, to get over the imposter syndrome, I ran some free sessions and asked for reviews. Once I was confident, I began charging. Most of my initial players joined my paid adventure.
Nice, thanks for sharing your experience. Having players join from one game to another is a confidence booster, for sure! :)
Do you run adventure paths / modules, or run games in your homebrew world
@@Iceblade269 I run official WOTC modules mostly. I have switched to homebrew with parties that want to continue to play after an adventure is over. I didn’t find enough interest in homebrew offerings.
this is an interesting topic. personally, i would love to be able to play d&d more, but i don’t want it to feel like work.
Definitely an important consideration. I was worried it would change my love of the game. Turns out, for me personally, it has intensified my love of the game.
Thanks for the insights. Playing with friends is essential for me, so that question doesn't really comes up on my end. But speculating that a typical evening (or afternoon) is about 4 hours of playing and that it requires 2 hours of prep time and one hour of transit there and back (aka a whole work day)... in my country a DM would have to charge roughly about 200 bucks US for one such session before taxes and stuff to make a (meager) living; I figure it'd not easy to find a group to pay that much. Of course on the other hand... doing a job you like doing is worth a lot (I had that once but that times are over). P.S.: Downvote for lack of cat... just kidding.
I always aim for cat, but I'm just the human here...
You've got good points there on the financial front. You definitely won't get rich at this, and making a solid living really depends upon your own needs, state, country, etc... So much comes down to money, unfortunately, because it'd be great if everyone could do what they love.
Thanks for the video! I am just getting started on Startplaying, so interesting to hear your experiences!!!
I just looked at the game schedule and John Wick (writer for 7th Sea 2nd edition) has a table for his game for $30. To be able to play with some of the actual game designers is incredible.
That is pretty awesome!
Startplaying is pretty good.
Solid agree. I haven't looked around for other services, because I'm quite happy right where I'm at.
( I have been trying to post this comment 3 times now. I realized that by mistake I made a link in the comment which made it so my comment was hidden for me. so This is my 3rd attempt.)
Thanks so much! It was very enlightening and helpful, and once I'm done with my larger project (start næxt year) I think I'll attempt to use the platform as well :D I was left with a few questions though, that I was hoping you might have an answer to.
1. What's a realistic amount of sessions to work each month in your own experience? and what amount of pre session hours are you required to do for your games?
2. In your experience it is essential to make money from multiple platforms to make an honest living and pay rent through DMing. platforms such as (youtube, Patreon, startplayinggames, + maybe more).
3. How would you as a professional handle any “bad” behavior from a customer, or a player which seems unsatisfied in his or her game experience, or just a simple conflict of interest? (this can be for any reason)
Once again thank you so much for going out of your way to help people like me.
if i'm the only one my comment has been hidden from then i apologize for any spam.
I didn't see any of your other attempts, only this one, so you're probably good. :)
Happy to answer the follow up questions, thanks for asking them!
1) Everyone's capacity is different. I know that's a cop-out answer, but it's true. I'm starting my 8th campaign, 6 for profit, 2 for family, and that is pushing my limits, personally. Your amount of pre-session and PER session prep are going to vary. I usually need to do quite a bit up front, perhaps as many as 10 hours to set things up in a manner that satisfies me, to onboard players and seed their backstories through what I've got coming for them and customize the game. On a weekly basis, a PER session basis, 2 hours prep for a 4 hour session is usually more than enough if I know the material well. If I don't, then I might need a little more.
2) Prior to my surgery on the 15th, Pro-DMing was my only source of income. Since I am now monetized on TH-cam I also make.... Wait for it... About $2 a day. :D So, I'd still say Pro-DMing is my only source of income. Again, everyone's needs for rent and other items is different. It's fairly plausible to make $2-3k a month if you work at it, but it caps out fast unless you can run a ridiculous number of games. If that's not enough in your area, then you might be in trouble.
3) I've had a handful. Most problem players solve themselves by leaving in a paid game. Occasionally you have to step in and address problem behavior politely but firmly. RARELY, you might have to remove someone from your game. The overall health of the game is more important than individual members and you need to treat it that way, everyone has PAID to be there, and no 1 person should wreck that for everyone. If someone has a bad experience and is upset, I would refund their ticket price and let them go their way. Ultimately, pretend you're in a customer service position (because you are) and keep your cool at all costs.
I hope that helps!! Keep any other questions coming, friend.
@@DM-Timothy once again you have been extremly helpful and I might Even consider paying to join you in a few sessions, to do as you did and see what a game with a pro dm feels like.. Also last question. As a pro DM, do you still find the time to be a player and not a DM?
I have played on SPG for a few short campaigns. I talked with one DM about his experience and curious about yours. His main complaint was about player turn over. (not showing up, last minute cancel, campaigns fall apart due to schedules etc) Do you or did you before you gathered your community, have the same issues?
It can be a mixed bag of the types of players you get at your table. Do you have any filter on the types of players you want? (power gamers, rules lawyers and other nightmare players in general)
Great questions. I didn't have much of a turnover problem, honestly. Most new campaigns would get one or two players that didn't manage to stick, but the majority of the group would work out and I'd just keep pushing forward. The hardest were actually groups that were already formed as friends or the like, because if THEIR schedule fell apart, the campaign ended, while if a group of strangers had 1 or 2 who couldn't make it, they politely bowed out and new strangers joined in, until everyone became friends.
I take the time to interview new players for seats at my tables, but don't specifically try and avoid any precise style of player. I'm really looking for compatibility with the personalities at the table and with me. I've yet to flat out deny a player, but I've had 1 or 2 that have proved my concerns valid to where I won't invite them back.
How long did it take to start your first game and fill your table on startplaying? Starting fresh and all.
Not long, actually. I was already running two live games for family, and have run games for decades so I reached out to every player I ever had and asked them to review me, so there was some meat to my profile, and created free games for my family games to show some activity, then I ran a 1 shot to attract some players and launched my first campaign with someone from that game who wanted to try a full campaign and we filled that game over about 2 weeks of recruiting (solely through SPG)
Any advice on how to learn to use Foundry?
My personal favorite method was to join a game with a DM running with Foundry, and in particular take a screen shot of the modules they had turned on, then start playing around with it yourself. There's a number of great youtube tutorials out there, too, as well as excellent resources on their Discord server.
@@DM-Timothy thank you. I may end up doing that. I found it a bit overwhelming
@@mechanussunrise Totally understandable. If you have any specific questions, drop me a line and I'll help if I can :)
Did they remove the "Request a game" feature altogether now? You mentioned it was very well hidden, but I can't find it for the life of me.
I did find a blog post called "How Does StartPlaying Work For Players?" which linked to it, but the page it's trying to load cannot be found.
Man, it does look like that option has been removed. I know they're working on a lot of other options, so hopefully a more streamlined version of that will appear eventually. I'm actually doing another review of things for both players and DMs next month. I'll do my best to dive deep enough to make it easy!
I don't think I have what it takes to be a pro-DM but one can dream! I do wonder though, how long on average are your campaigns? Do you run the same story/module for all your groups?
I think you’d be surprised as to whether or not you “have what it takes”. I know I struggled to get the gumption to run my first game.
My campaigns generally run a little over 2 years from 1st to 20th level. I run multiple modules/stories, though sometimes I might have two or three groups on the same story if interest is strong.
Wish they would invest a bit more in their UI. It lacks basic features like bookmarking or saved searches etc.
One thing they are pretty great at is taking feedback. I'm no web developer, but I'm sure if you dropped them a line, they'd at least look at it!
Can you add a link to your profile there?
I sure can. startplaying.games/gm/gm-tim-1
I'll drop it in the description for others, too.
Neck surgery? Geez dude, hope you are doing alright.
Thanks for the care my friend! I'm doing better than I have any right to expect. :)