Dungeon Master (D&D Game Master) For-Hire
Are you a Dungeon Master who is tired of doing all these campaigns for free? There may be a solution for both you and your party(ies)!
This article is a part of the series: ‘Online Side Hustle Ideas (on a silver platter)’. Here’s a list of all past and upcoming ideas.
Have you heard of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D)?
If you haven’t, that’s the game that they play in Stranger Things, as well as in Riverdale (although they call it G&G).
If even this does not help… Well, D&D is the mother of all tabletop games (board games being some of its main competitors for people’s time). In fact, it is a fantasy role-playing game that may or may not have a board at all.
The problem
Playing D&D is a demanding task. You need to read the rules, which span hundreds of pages, create a character, get together for a good 5 to 10-hour session (otherwise, why did you even bother?).
But even if you’ve got all these covered, there is still one important ingredient.
You need a Dungeon Master (DM).
A DM is the game organizer. That’s the person who has spent hours and hours preparing the session (the adventure) you will be playing. Normally, they would know the map, the monsters in it, their strengths, and so on. They would be making funny voices when you meet goblins or scary ones if there’s actual danger (‘cause goblins are not too hard to slay).
In essence, the whole experience revolves around the skill of the DM.
Given the extraordinary geekiness required to be a DM, I have only met two people in my life that are Dungeon Masters.
The solution
Many people around the world can be Dungeon Masters.
My group of friends would love to play D&D together if we had a DM that would be up for it. Moreover, we would gladly pay for a well-prepared campaign or an artistic DM that brings life to the campaign.
D&D ‘payments’ have usually been snacks or other non-monetary contributions but how do you bring snacks to your online D&D session?
With the technological advancements around video conferencing and online payments, any DM around the world could make a living out of their passion. They could get introduced to many people and the best part is – if the group enjoys playing with you – they are going to be regular clients for a very long time (from months to years).
Target customer
There is really no need to get into that as any DM knows what kind of people play D&D much better than me. What is important though is to know that 5% of the US population has played at least 1 game of D&D!
That said, I would suggest focusing on beginners (or people who have played a couple of games). It is much more likely that they don’t have access to any DM. They will also be less demanding than experienced players.
Another consideration is gender. It seems that female players are more comfortable with female DMs. Therefore, if you are a male DM this may be limiting your target audience somewhat.
There is also a great market for this in a the professional development niche (say sales). Many companies are looking for ways to train empathy in their teams. That’s a good place where you can fit in.
How to start this as a side hustle
First of things first – marketing.
To be honest, every DM that I know has been so in-demand that they say “I don’t do this anymore” or “please leave me alone”, mainly because it is pro-bono work that sucks up your Saturday. Until now.
Now you can start receiving payments for this, making everyone in the process happy.
As a DM, you already know enough people that would be interested in your services.
“That’s not true,” you may argue.
Just contact your D&D friends and ask them if you being a paid DM for them or their friends/acquaintances sounds like a good idea. I am sure they have always felt a bit awkward that you are preparing the session (or campaign if we are talking about many sessions). They may well be your first clients or at least bring you your first clients. After all, they know your DM skills best.
So how do you set this up?
You need a virtual table top. Most people go for Roll20. It has everything needed - character sheets, maps, characters, NPCs, monsters. You can also buy pre-made adventures there. What they do lack though is a good voice chat.
You need a video platform that can host long meetings (possibly with unlimited duration).
You need to get set-ups with payments, possibly in a way where everyone who plays can pay you separately. One such place is 3veta.com. That’s the go-to solution for paid online meetings, including D&D sessions.
If you are looking for something more funky, Gather may be a good place to do that. It is very interactive and fun and you can visually enter different meeting rooms making this a great adventure.
Find a way to roll dice in a transparent way. Here’s a good place to do that. To be honest, I’d rather use my own D20 at home, but some players may complain that I can manipulate the game. Roll20 also has a pretty good dice roller.
Depending on your campaign, you may or may not need a map. Roll20 is the go-to place for this. It’s not super easy and would require a fair amount of setup, but may enhance the experience. Don’t focus too much on that though. Use it as some external help, but focus on human interaction – that’s what D&D is about anyways.
If you are still not convinced, read about how this family is playing D&D over Zoom.
Session Duration
It seems that most DMs for-hire hold shorter sessions (than they would with their friends). Usually the demand is for 2 or 3-hour long campaigns, scheduled on a weekly basis.
Keep in mind that a 3-hour session requires a good amount of time in preparation. Plan for this, too!
Character Sheets
There are different ways to approach character sheets.
When I was starting, the way we approached this was through PDF files. However, if you want something professional and very specialized simply build your character on the cloud. D&DBeyond is probably the best place for that.
If you can, go through an individual session with each new player as DM Snugglybeast suggests. Help them build their character and develop their backstory. This will help them fit into the campaign smoothly.
Let’s not also forget player tokens. Some DMs prepare tokens for the players, others let them create their own. Here’s a great place to build tokens.
Dice
While online dice are a thing here’s what tip I got from a professional DM:
There is a spiritual contract with dice. Don't use digital dice tools unless you have to. Use the trust system and don't lie, unless it makes your players happy. The best dungeon masters cheat, unless the whole party really does want to explode from a random critical hit and have their favorite characters die.
So there you have it. Use your physical dice and cheat if you must.
Equipment
Voices (and noises) are an important part of the game and you want to nail those. I use Rode NT-USB microphone but Blue Yeti is also quite standard. Here’s a very good piece on the equipment you can get, depending on your budget.
If you are receiving payments for this, you should also make sure to have a reliable PC or a tablet.
Each setup is different, so you must be prepared for a lot of experimentation until you get it right.
On the topic of equipment. If you have it, you can also think about other types of content - videos, podcasts, etc. This will help people sample your storytelling skills before they commit to a game. One great execution of this strategy is The Hobbled Goblin Podcast.
Pricing
It is hard to make yourself ask others for money, especially in the beginning. However, you’ll have to get over it.
Then the X-dollar question (depending on how much you charge) is… well.. how much to charge?
Most of the prices out there are between $10 and $30/hour.
It is important to note that the pricing is quoted in hours of play and NOT in total hours invested. Therefore, even if you want to charge $10 per hour, you must keep in mind that a 5-hour session is prepared for maybe another 2-3 hours. So if you want to charge $10 per hour, then $10* 8=$80. However, when listing your prices, they should not include your preparation time, thus $80/5 = $16/hour. Point being, make sure that at the end of the day you get the money that you want to make.
After speaking with dozens of DMs most of them believe that if you manage to receive $30/h then you’ve done a good job and this business can be sustainable.
Example scenario ($30/h for the whole party)
Now, let’s run some numbers.
Imagine you charge $30/h for each hour played (for the whole party). Say you play a 5-hour session with 3-hours worth of preparation. That’s a total of 8 hours (or a full working day) for which you’ll get $30*5=$150.
Say you work every working day, so that’s 22*$150 = $3300, which you should pay taxes on.
And that was assuming that you manage to score 22 days with 5-hour sessions in each of them.
Ouch.
While a single session sounds fun and lucrative, it probably won’t cut it.
How to make a living out of D&D?
Overall, if you want to move full-time to D&D, only moderating games won’t be enough (see example scenario above).
You’ll have to think of other ways to contribute to your income. Examples are:
Help with character sheet creation
DM coaching (offering help to fellow DMs)
Voice and acting coaching (offering help to both players and DMs)
Prepare and sell campaigns to other DMs
Sponsored content (you will be interesting for advertisers if you have a number of different clients)
To turn the side-hustle into a full-time job, you’ll have to think a bit outside of the box and get outside your comfort zone.
Extra thoughts
Give your clients some readings prior to the game. Maybe the basic rules (how to create a character, etc.). You can even send them some Twitch streams so they can get used to the idea.
You can record some basic videos on how to set up your character, etc., to save time during the actual campaign.
Related to 2, you can even set 1v1 sessions where you explain and help them set up the characters. Explain each race and class, so you can help them out with filling the character sheet.
When thinking about D&D, “geeks” are the guys you want to target. Sounds to me that the IT industry has a concentration of geeks.
Make sure you can NPC people who are not available at the moment. This makes it better for everyone involved. Still, let them earn experience for being a part of the adventure even for a small part of it. Holding back experience means players lose interest.
If you want to get listed on a marketplace of DMs, Start Playing Games is a good place to do that.
Online platforms like Roll20, D&DBeyond, or FantasyGrounds all make you pay full price for the book's content within their systems. That means that even if you personally own physical copies of all of the books, if you want to have the list of a cleric's magic spells, stat blocks for an orc, or even the description of a basic item (e.g. a healing potion) in the VTT, you need to pay for the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, or Dungeon Master's Guide.
Being a DM for-hire, you will be engaging in an employer-employee relationship with your clients. This means that they are paying you for entertainment and should get out of the game entertained. Keep this in mind!
Beware of the Matt Mercer effect. The Matt Mercer effect relates to the fact that Matt Mercer is probably the best DM in the world. However, due to his popularity, D&D players expect every DM to be as good as him. Therefore, they are often disappointed by their ‘everyday’ DMs. Being paid for your DM services amplifies the Matt Mercer effect.
Regarding the Matt Mercer effect, music is becoming a must. I would just search for ‘Epic music compilation’ and that would work well enough. However, ‘Lord of the Rings’ also does wonders!
If you feel like you need some kind of coaching, there people who provide such services, too. One particularly interesting idea for me was that you can pay another DM to brainstorm content with you.
Finally, you cannot be a good DM if you don’t love the D&D. If you have any doubt that you enjoy playing, maybe it is not right for you. It is absolutely certain, that people will know this.
Need help starting with this idea? Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn or directly on my email: iliya@3veta.com.
Looking to start a side hustle but that’s not right for you? You can find a whole list of similar side hustle ideas here.
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