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Author Topic: Polling for business idea  (Read 700 times)

Romegypt

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Polling for business idea
« on: October 17, 2018, 03:09:36 pm »

How many people here would be interested in paying for a Professional DM? I understand it may depend on price, etc.

so, therefore-



What would you consider a good price for a session?

What would you expect from such a DM?

Would you expect them to follow the rules as exactly as possible, or be more flexible?

How many others do you think you know that would be willing to pay for high quality campaigns?



Please give answers- I respect you may be busy, but I am at a point where I need to decide what to do, and starting a business, particularly a gaming company is a dream of mine. I just need to make sure it will realistically work out before I begin investing in it.
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Trekkin

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Re: Polling for business idea
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2018, 03:17:34 pm »

I'm not going to do your research for you, but here's a thought experiment for you.

Consider the sorts of people who play D&D.
Now imagine the sort of person they'd reject with sufficient frequency to make that person willing to consider paying for a DM when so many are willing to do it for free (and, indeed, they're perfectly capable of being one for free if only they either had players or could play solo).
Now imagine that guy, but with all the entitlement he'd feel by virtue of paying you.
Now imagine needing to keep many of them happy in order to make a living.

Still want to do it?
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Loud Whispers

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Re: Polling for business idea
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2018, 04:51:29 pm »

1. I always think of it more as something between friends, not something you pay for
2. Dank quality narrative
3. I imagine the most important thing would be to learn first what each player is expecting, whether that be more freeform or adherence to rules
4. Everyone I know is poor or else has too much money. Of the latter half interested in gaming, they are exceedingly frugal whilst sober and unlikely to pay for something they could get for free - which is obviously the greatest competition for paid DMing, anyone can do it for free.

Some useful links
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/dungeon-masters-only/8800-paid-dming-yes-no-maybe
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?91070-Paid-DMing-GMing
https://returnofthedm.com/2017/03/13/paid-gming-a-great-income-stream-or-doomed-to-failure/

Yoink

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Re: Polling for business idea
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2018, 07:10:46 pm »

I think paid DMs generally work with non-gamers for the most part.
I actually read a very interesting thread on Reddit about this just recently. Think reunions or kids' birthdays or corporate groups looking for a team building exercise.
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askovdk

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Re: Polling for business idea
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2018, 08:50:10 am »

I will (also) suggest that you target cooperation HR departments.
Seriously, - the money hangs loose on managers that needs a cool team building event.
In my current employment we have had escape rooms, bowling, go carts, dinners, and even a couple of live roleplaying sessions.

This will require creating an excellent one evening session for non-experienced gamers.
I.e. probably have (mostly) predefined characters (with background the participants can read beforehand).
A mostly recognizable setting, - i.e. low mythos Call may be better than fantasy.
I have a scenario collection at home for Call called something like ‘Blood Brothers’, that have stories reflecting classic horror movies, and as team building events something like that could work.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Brothers-P-Call-Cthulhu/dp/0933635699/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1539871049&sr=1-1&keywords=blood+brothers+roleplaying



With a story ready you get a friend who has sold his soul to the cooperate machine to recommend trying it as the next team event.
You show up with a few cool props and do your GM magic.
As soon as you have some good review, you could have a spot in the entertainment industry.


As for money: My team in Denmark usually have around 300 DKK (= 50 $) per person for such events. So running a session with a team of 6 could bring around 300$. Not alot, but probably more than you could milk usual gamers for again and again in a long campaign.



« Last Edit: October 18, 2018, 08:58:57 am by askovdk »
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