From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

tl;dr: wanna live of dnd? her husband makes 90.000$ a year. In other
words: marry rich

I feel like this is a pretty poor example of money management. The whole spouse with a hobby job thing has been going on for a long time, and millennials are hardly the only ones that have been doing that.
I do find it interesting how the game is explained in the article though.

Source: https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/business/money-report/36-year-old-makes-37000-a-year-leading-dungeons-dragons-games-if-youre-doing-it-anyway-you-might-as-well-get-paid/3294720/

36-year-old makes $37,000 a year leading Dungeons & Dragons games: If rCyyou're doing it anyway, you might as well' get paid
By Mike Winters,CNBC and Raffi Paul,CNBC

This story is part of CNBC Make It's Millennial Money series, which
details how people around the world earn, spend and save their money.

People are surprised to learn that Mari Murdock, 36, is a professional
game master, a role in which she organizes and narrates tabletop
roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons.

"A lot of people don't see things like hobbies or artistic endeavors as something that could generally make them money," she tells CNBC Make It.

Admittedly, she didn't expect running D&D games to turn into a paying
gig, either rCo at least at first: "It was just a hobby I did with my
friends in college."

Dungeons & Dragons is an open-ended tabletop game in which the narrative
is shaped by the players' choices, whether that's through combat,
puzzles or negotiation. A GM is the world-builder and narrator for the players' actions, but they also enforce and explain the rules, kind of
like a mediator or referee.

Since random rolls of the dice can be the difference in whether a
player's character is swallowed by a gelatinous cube or crushed by a
herd of centaurs, a good GM will also be an adept improviser who can
keep the story moving based on the circumstances of the game.

In other words, it's not an easy gig. But as Murdock played tabletop
games through the 2010s, she grew more confident in the skills it takes
to run a good game. While not obvious at the time, it's what led to her becoming a paid GM.

"I love teaching, I love writing and I love playing games rCo it's been an interesting career path that's an amalgamation of all the things that I
want to do," she says.

Since 2021, Murdock's main source of income has been working as a GM for Dungeon Master Direct, a Utah-based company that specializes in online
and in-person tabletop roleplaying game sessions that range from $375 to
$750.

She makes $24,000 as a dungeon master for the company, plus another
$13,000 teaching writing at nearby Westminster University in Salt Lake
City, where she lives with her husband, Scott. He makes $96,000 as a communications director at a state agency.

Here's a look at how Murdock was able to turn her hobby into a career.
Becoming a tabletop gamer

The eldest of two siblings in a Latter-day Saints family, Murdock says
she was "willful" and "liked being my own boss" when she was growing up.

Most of her childhood took place in Michigan and in Utah, where she
spent her days "climbing trees, catching frogs, playing make believe."
At night, she would stay up reading books, pretty much "any type of storytelling."

In 2007, Murdock's family moved to Hawaii after her father got a
teaching job at Brigham Young University-Hawaii. She studied literature
at the school, and while there, played her first tabletop role-playing
game at a friend's house and "loved it."

In 2010, she took time off from school to become a full-time missionary.
She was assigned to Japan, the country where her mother was born.


While in Japan, Murdock met her now-husband, Scott, who was also doing missionary work in another part of the country.

Mari returned to Hawaii in 2012 and graduated from BYU-H with a
bachelor's degree in literature. She got a communications job on campus,
and was soon joined by Scott, who moved to Hawaii to be with her and
finish his degree.

They helped create a gaming club on campus, with Murdock acting as the
club's faculty advisor since she worked for the university.

The club was a hit, becoming the second-largest student group on campus. Murdock got more involved with the club, running tabletop RPGs for
first-time players. In 2013, she entered and won an open audition to
write fiction for Legend of the Five Rings, a popular collectible card
game set in feudal Japan.

"That really opened the doors to networking for other types of work,
because when people were looking for a writer who could do fiction at a professional level, my name would start coming up," says Murdock.
Getting hired as a professional Dungeon Master

Even if she didn't do it for a living, Murdock says she'd still be
planning D&D campaigns for friends, reading game books or writing fiction.

Since hobbies can become side hustles, "it's important to remember that creative work is work," she says.

As a friend once said to her: "You're going to be doing it anyway, you
might as well find someone to pay you for it."

In 2016, Murdock moved to Salt Lake City with Scott, where she studied
for a master's degree in transatlantic literature. She also continued freelance writing, mostly for Legend of the Five Rings.

"I got roped into writing anything that they needed me to," says
Murdock. This included novelizations of the game, as well as text that explains game mechanics, character backstories or text that appears on
game cards. She was mostly paid in free products at first, but later got
paid in cash.

In 2020, Dax Levine rCo an old friend from Murdock's university gaming
club rCo founded Dungeon Master Direct, a professional dungeon master
service. The timing was fortuitous, as tabletop gaming became more
popular during the pandemic.

The company was successful enough that in May 2021 Levine was able to
hire Murdock as a game master, commonly called a dungeon master when
playing Dungeons & Dragons.

"I run about three games a week on a busy week," says Murdock. Each
ongoing game, including prep, takes about four to five hours a week of
her time.

She also helps run company events, like the largest game of Dungeons &
Dragons ever played, according to Guinness World Records. The game was
held at a mall in Provo, Utah, and culminated in all 1,227 participants defeating an evil wizard named Vecna in the final attack.
Mari Murdock running a gaming session.
Graham Merwin | CNBC Make It
Mari Murdock running a gaming session.

Despite the fantastical elements of Dungeons & Dragons, Murdock says her interest in gaming has not been discouraged by her church. In fact, "a
lot of members of the LDS church gravitate toward fantasy games," she says.

Attitudes have change since the "satanic panic" of the 1980s, where
people had "this stereotype that kids in their basements were actually summoning these demons and things like that," she says.

For Murdock, gaming allows you to immerse yourself in "a pretend
situation where you are imagining that you are someone else. I think
that really develops creativity. It creates problem solving and a lot of empathy."

What Mari and Scott spend in a month

Here's how Mari and Scott spent their money in February 2024:

Debt repayment: $2,450 for student loans, credit card debt, PayPal Credit, personal loan
Mortgage: $2,147
Food: $1,390 on groceries and dining out
Discretionary: $832 for home goods, a Kickstarter contribution,
hair salon
Utilities: $452 for Wi-Fi, heat, water and electricity
Savings: $400
Subscriptions and memberships: $235 on Hulu, Spotify, Amazon Prime, Midjourney, Patreon, Nebula, Max
Insurance: $161 for health, dental, vision, car and home
Phones: $140
Gas: $71

In June 2023, Mari and Scott purchased a detached two-bedroom home in
downtown Salt Lake City for $535,000, with a down payment of $40,000. To afford the home, they took on a personal loan within their family, which
works out to $777 in monthly payments in addition to their mortgage.

As part of the move, they did what Murdock calls a "financial reset,"
with the goal of paying down the roughly $15,000 in credit card debt
they accumulated during the pandemic. For that reason, debt repayment is
the biggest monthly expense for the couple, with nearly $1,400 put
toward credit card payments alone.

They also have student loan debt of about $25,000 each. Scott hopes to
qualify for public service loan forgiveness in a couple of years, since
he works for a government agency.
Mari Murdock and her husband Scott celebrate their 10th anniversary.
Courtesy of Mari Murdock
Mari Murdock and her husband Scott celebrate their 10th anniversary.

Prior to the move, the couple had consistently paid a tithe to their
church totaling one tenth of their income. However, they have paused
their monthly contributions until they can pay down their credit card debt.

Murdock usually spends up to 10 hours a week volunteering for the Relief Society, an LDS philanthropic women's organization. She figures her
current contribution to the church is "my time commitment rather than my
money commitment."

They own a fully paid off 2018 Jeep Compass, so they save money on transportation costs, only paying about $200 for gas and car insurance
each month.

As for investments, the couple has about $20,000 set aside through
Scott's 401(k) and pension. "Once we are completely out of debt besides
the mortgage, we will probably put more into our retirement accounts,"
says Murdock.
Looking ahead

Once their debt is paid down, "we're hoping to maybe foster children or
adopt children, because that's something we've always been interested
in," says Murdock.

As for her career, juggling freelance writing, GMing and teaching "can
be overwhelming at times," Murdock says. But it's also "fulfilling to
all of the parts of my brain that just loves doing all sorts of
different things."
Mari Murdock walking in Salt Lake City with her husband, Scott.
Graham Merwin | CNBC Make It
Mari Murdock walking in Salt Lake City with her husband, Scott.

Murdock wants to continue these pursuits, but would like to branch out
and write her own novels too.

"I went to school specifically to learn how to be a creative writer, so
I love that GMing is a creative outlet that allows me to hone my
storytelling, plotting and characterization skills," she says. "I feel
very lucky that I'm able to do this. I'm feeling happy and blessed with it."
--
microblog: https://dice.camp/@kyonshi
macroblog: https://gmkeros.wordpress.com
pictures: https://portfolio.pixelfed.de/kyonshi
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On 4/25/2024 10:49 AM, Kyonshi wrote:


tl;dr: wanna live of dnd? her husband makes 90.000$ a year. In other
words: marry rich

My wife makes that, I made 70k last year, but where we live to get that
is expensive, we're in a tiny 70's house (about 1000 sq ft.) that's
falling apart, needs probably 150k, maybe more in deferred maintenance
from the previous owners, and 2 kids in a just so-so neighborhood &
school.



Source: https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/business/money-report/36-year-old-makes-37000-a-year-leading-dungeons-dragons-games-if-youre-doing-it-anyway-you-might-as-well-get-paid/3294720/

36-year-old makes $37,000 a year leading Dungeons & Dragons games: If rCyyou're doing it anyway, you might as well' get paid
By Mike Winters,CNBC and Raffi Paul,CNBC...

...in-person tabletop roleplaying game sessions that range from $375 to $750...

Is that per person? Probably not, if not that's about $15 per hour
minimum for players assuming 5 person games. If her games take 15
hours (as is said later) between prep and play she should be getting
about $25 an hour.

...She makes $24,000 as a dungeon master for the company, plus another
$13,000 teaching writing at nearby Westminster University in Salt Lake
City, where she lives with her husband, Scott. He makes $96,000 as a communications director at a state agency.

A little discrepancy there. She really makes $24k from DMing... for
another company. Sounds like she's getting screwed on pay.

"That really opened the doors to networking for other types of work,
because when people were looking for a writer who could do fiction at a professional level, my name would start coming up," says Murdock.
Getting hired as a professional Dungeon Master

$24k isn't really opening the doors for anything.


Even if she didn't do it for a living, Murdock says she'd still be
planning D&D campaigns for friends, reading game books or writing fiction.

Since hobbies can become side hustles, "it's important to remember that creative work is work," she says.

As a friend once said to her: "You're going to be doing it anyway, you
might as well find someone to pay you for it."

And that's how you turn your hobby into a chore.

"I run about three games a week on a busy week," says Murdock. Each
ongoing game, including prep, takes about four to five hours a week of
her time.

24k for 15 hrs a week, assuming a couple weeks off a year she's making
$3.20 an hour?!? Maybe there's some overhead like venue, scheduling
done by someone else or something, but she's really getting screwed at
that rate!

In June 2023, Mari and Scott purchased a detached two-bedroom home in
downtown Salt Lake City for $535,000, with a down payment of $40,000. To afford the home, they took on a personal loan within their family, which
works out to $777 in monthly payments in addition to their mortgage.

So they got a 60 year loan with no interest from family. They should be
paying ~$3,300 a month with a bank loan. Must be nice.
--
-Justisaur

|+-|+
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
-|-4'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On 4/25/2024 11:32 PM, Justisaur wrote:

On 4/25/2024 10:49 AM, Kyonshi wrote:

tl;dr: wanna live of dnd? her husband makes 90.000$ a year. In other
words: marry rich

My wife makes that, I made 70k last year, but where we live to get that
is expensive, we're in a tiny 70's house (about 1000 sq ft.) that's
falling apart, needs probably 150k, maybe more in deferred maintenance
from the previous owners, and 2 kids in a just so-so neighborhood & school.

Source: https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/business/money-report/36-year-old-makes-37000-a-year-leading-dungeons-dragons-games-if-youre-doing-it-anyway-you-might-as-well-get-paid/3294720/

36-year-old makes $37,000 a year leading Dungeons & Dragons games: If rCyyou're doing it anyway, you might as well' get paid
By Mike Winters,CNBC and Raffi Paul,CNBC...

...in-person tabletop roleplaying game sessions that range from $375 to $750...

Is that per person?-a Probably not, if not that's about $15 per hour
minimum for players assuming 5 person games.-a-a If her games take 15
hours (as is said later) between prep and play she should be getting
about $25 an hour.

...She makes $24,000 as a dungeon master for the company, plus another $13,000 teaching writing at nearby Westminster University in Salt Lake
City, where she lives with her husband, Scott. He makes $96,000 as a communications director at a state agency.

A little discrepancy there.-a She really makes $24k from DMing... for another company.-a Sounds like she's getting screwed on pay.

"That really opened the doors to networking for other types of work,
because when people were looking for a writer who could do fiction at a professional level, my name would start coming up," says Murdock.
Getting hired as a professional Dungeon Master

$24k isn't really opening the doors for anything.

Even if she didn't do it for a living, Murdock says she'd still be
planning D&D campaigns for friends, reading game books or writing fiction.

Since hobbies can become side hustles, "it's important to remember that creative work is work," she says.

As a friend once said to her: "You're going to be doing it anyway, you
might as well find someone to pay you for it."

And that's how you turn your hobby into a chore.

"I run about three games a week on a busy week," says Murdock. Each
ongoing game, including prep, takes about four to five hours a week of
her time.

24k for 15 hrs a week, assuming a couple weeks off a year she's making
$3.20 an hour?!?-a Maybe there's some overhead like venue, scheduling
done by someone else or something, but she's really getting screwed at
that rate!

In June 2023, Mari and Scott purchased a detached two-bedroom home in downtown Salt Lake City for $535,000, with a down payment of $40,000. To afford the home, they took on a personal loan within their family, which works out to $777 in monthly payments in addition to their mortgage.

So they got a 60 year loan with no interest from family. They should be paying ~$3,300 a month with a bank loan.-a Must be nice.

I mean, I have absolutely nothing against her doing it like that. But
this article is supposedly about how millenials use their money, and
frankly, this is someone having a small side hustle while her husband
earns the money, and they are getting a no-interest loan from her
family. That's all... great for them, but what about people who don't
have a spouse that can support them doing their hobbies or have a family
that can support them?

And yeah, it's not a good use of her time if earning money is her goal.

It's one of those typical articles about how well millenials have it in
a lot of ways.

Anyway, the old maxim about making your hobby your job is that then you
won't have a free day for the rest of your life...
--
microblog: https://dice.camp/@kyonshi
macroblog: https://gmkeros.wordpress.com
pictures: https://portfolio.pixelfed.de/kyonshi
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On 4/25/2024 10:49 AM, Kyonshi wrote: https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/business/money-report/36-year-old-makes-37000-a-year-leading-dungeons-dragons-games-if-youre-doing-it-anyway-you-might-as-well-get-paid/3294720/
36-year-old makes $37,000 a year leading Dungeons & Dragons games: If
ayou're doing it anyway, you might as well' get paid
By Mike Winters,CNBC and Raffi Paul,CNBC...

Personally, I can't imagine anything worse than making my hobby my
job. It turns the thing I enjoy most into something I /have/ to do.
One of the reasons I enjoy the things I do is that I /don't/ have to
them. The worst parts of DMing are that feeling of obligation trying
to pump out the next adventure; that you're players are waiting on you
to create another interesting and fun experience. Especially when
there's a deadline ("Oh god, we're meeting up to play in TWO days and
I haven't even started the final dungeon!!!").

Throw in the idea that people are PAYING me for the privilege? I'd go
nuts. Not to mention, I'm sure quality and experimentalism would go
down. Can't take risks, not if you want that filthy lucre to keep
coming in; just pump out pablum.

DM for money? No thank you. Not me.



--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On 4/26/2024 5:22 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On 4/25/2024 10:49 AM, Kyonshi wrote:

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/business/money-report/36-year-old-makes-37000-a-year-leading-dungeons-dragons-games-if-youre-doing-it-anyway-you-might-as-well-get-paid/3294720/

36-year-old makes $37,000 a year leading Dungeons & Dragons games: If
rCyyou're doing it anyway, you might as well' get paid
By Mike Winters,CNBC and Raffi Paul,CNBC...

Personally, I can't imagine anything worse than making my hobby my
job. It turns the thing I enjoy most into something I /have/ to do.
One of the reasons I enjoy the things I do is that I /don't/ have to
them. The worst parts of DMing are that feeling of obligation trying
to pump out the next adventure; that you're players are waiting on you
to create another interesting and fun experience. Especially when
there's a deadline ("Oh god, we're meeting up to play in TWO days and
I haven't even started the final dungeon!!!").

Throw in the idea that people are PAYING me for the privilege? I'd go
nuts. Not to mention, I'm sure quality and experimentalism would go
down. Can't take risks, not if you want that filthy lucre to keep
coming in; just pump out pablum.

DM for money? No thank you. Not me.

there was the idea floating around at one point that players would
actually chip in some money for every session so the DM could afford
buying all those expensive books. But I never saw it done properly.
--
microblog: https://dice.camp/@kyonshi
macroblog: https://gmkeros.wordpress.com
pictures: https://portfolio.pixelfed.de/kyonshi
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On 27/04/2024 1:22 am, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On 4/25/2024 10:49 AM, Kyonshi wrote:

Personally, I can't imagine anything worse than making my hobby my
job. It turns the thing I enjoy most into something I /have/ to do.
One of the reasons I enjoy the things I do is that I /don't/ have to
them. The worst parts of DMing are that feeling of obligation trying
to pump out the next adventure; that you're players are waiting on you
to create another interesting and fun experience. Especially when
there's a deadline ("Oh god, we're meeting up to play in TWO days and
I haven't even started the final dungeon!!!").

Throw in the idea that people are PAYING me for the privilege? I'd go
nuts. Not to mention, I'm sure quality and experimentalism would go
down. Can't take risks, not if you want that filthy lucre to keep
coming in; just pump out pablum.

DM for money? No thank you. Not me.

Yeah, it just sounds kind of stressful to me. I have been running games
for so many decades that it's kind of just second nature for me, with
lots of winging it and flying by the seat of my pants. If I was getting
paid for it I'd feel obliged to bring some kind of level of
professionalism to proceedings which would just kind of kill the reason
I do it, ie, to relax and have fun with my wife and my mates - no
glasses of wine behind the DM's screen if I feel like it, taking
exhaustive notes rather than mostly leaving that to my players and
asking them to recap for me at the start of every session (haha), etc,
etc, etc. As you say, all more in the name of trying for an acceptable
level of consistency rather than taking risks, taking the game to crazy
and unexpected places and so forth.

That said if people want to do this and others want to pay, more power
to them I guess. But the best payment for me will always be everyone
around the table having a good time and, ideally, getting really into
the adventure.
--
As always, I remain...
Spawn

--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On Sat, 27 Apr 2024 01:02:40 +0200, Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

On 4/26/2024 5:22 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On 4/25/2024 10:49 AM, Kyonshi wrote:

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/business/money-report/36-year-old-makes-37000-a-year-leading-dungeons-dragons-games-if-youre-doing-it-anyway-you-might-as-well-get-paid/3294720/

36-year-old makes $37,000 a year leading Dungeons & Dragons games: If
ayou're doing it anyway, you might as well' get paid
By Mike Winters,CNBC and Raffi Paul,CNBC...

Personally, I can't imagine anything worse than making my hobby my
job. It turns the thing I enjoy most into something I /have/ to do.
One of the reasons I enjoy the things I do is that I /don't/ have to
them. The worst parts of DMing are that feeling of obligation trying
to pump out the next adventure; that you're players are waiting on you
to create another interesting and fun experience. Especially when
there's a deadline ("Oh god, we're meeting up to play in TWO days and
I haven't even started the final dungeon!!!").

Throw in the idea that people are PAYING me for the privilege? I'd go
nuts. Not to mention, I'm sure quality and experimentalism would go
down. Can't take risks, not if you want that filthy lucre to keep
coming in; just pump out pablum.

DM for money? No thank you. Not me.

there was the idea floating around at one point that players would
actually chip in some money for every session so the DM could afford
buying all those expensive books. But I never saw it done properly.

But that's not really paying the DM so much as helping the group enjoy
the game. It's somewhat equivalent to everyone chipping in to pay for
snacks and drinks. It's an expense shared by the group. It's, "Hey, I
want to give you guys a great game, but the tool I need to do so is
too expensive, can you guys help out". If the group is willing, I've
no problem.

But paying the DM for DMing? That's, "Hey, I can give you a great
game, and I could do it for free just as easily, but I want money for
it." Which isn't necessarily bad - offering services for pay is what
capitalism is all about - but it turns play into work. It turns what
should be a fun and relaxed experience into an obligation. Maybe some
people are fine with that. I'm not going to damn anyone for following
that route. If DM and players are fine with it, that's great. But the
idea of me doing it sends shivers down my spine.






--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On 4/26/2024 4:02 PM, Kyonshi wrote:

On 4/26/2024 5:22 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On 4/25/2024 10:49 AM, Kyonshi wrote:

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/business/money-report/36-year-old-makes-37000-a-year-leading-dungeons-dragons-games-if-youre-doing-it-anyway-you-might-as-well-get-paid/3294720/

36-year-old makes $37,000 a year leading Dungeons & Dragons games: If
rCyyou're doing it anyway, you might as well' get paid
By Mike Winters,CNBC and Raffi Paul,CNBC...

Personally, I can't imagine anything worse than making my hobby my
job. It turns the thing I enjoy most into something I /have/ to do.
One of the reasons I enjoy the things I do is that I /don't/ have to
them. The worst parts of DMing are that feeling of obligation trying
to pump out the next adventure; that you're players are waiting on you
to create another interesting and fun experience. Especially when
there's a deadline ("Oh god, we're meeting up to play in TWO days and
I haven't even started the final dungeon!!!").

Throw in the idea that people are PAYING me for the privilege? I'd go
nuts. Not to mention, I'm sure quality and experimentalism would go
down. Can't take risks, not if you want that filthy lucre to keep
coming in; just pump out pablum.

DM for money? No thank you. Not me.

there was the idea floating around at one point that players would
actually chip in some money for every session so the DM could afford
buying all those expensive books. But I never saw it done properly.

Never saw that, but I did get splat books as gifts. Of course the rule
I had I wouldn't allow anything in a splat book unless I owned it,
probably helped, along with a free pass to try anything once if you were
the one who bought it for me. :D
--
-Justisaur

|+-|+
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
-|-4'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On Sat, 27 Apr 2024 17:21:10 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 4/26/2024 4:02 PM, Kyonshi wrote:

On 4/26/2024 5:22 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On 4/25/2024 10:49 AM, Kyonshi wrote:

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/business/money-report/36-year-old-makes-37000-a-year-leading-dungeons-dragons-games-if-youre-doing-it-anyway-you-might-as-well-get-paid/3294720/

36-year-old makes $37,000 a year leading Dungeons & Dragons games: If >>>>> ayou're doing it anyway, you might as well' get paid
By Mike Winters,CNBC and Raffi Paul,CNBC...

Personally, I can't imagine anything worse than making my hobby my
job. It turns the thing I enjoy most into something I /have/ to do.
One of the reasons I enjoy the things I do is that I /don't/ have to
them. The worst parts of DMing are that feeling of obligation trying
to pump out the next adventure; that you're players are waiting on you
to create another interesting and fun experience. Especially when
there's a deadline ("Oh god, we're meeting up to play in TWO days and
I haven't even started the final dungeon!!!").

Throw in the idea that people are PAYING me for the privilege? I'd go
nuts. Not to mention, I'm sure quality and experimentalism would go
down. Can't take risks, not if you want that filthy lucre to keep
coming in; just pump out pablum.

DM for money? No thank you. Not me.

there was the idea floating around at one point that players would
actually chip in some money for every session so the DM could afford
buying all those expensive books. But I never saw it done properly.

Never saw that, but I did get splat books as gifts. Of course the rule
I had I wouldn't allow anything in a splat book unless I owned it,
probably helped, along with a free pass to try anything once if you were
the one who bought it for me. :D

I was similar. I was never against adding content from splat-books,
but I'd add it because I thought it necessary/neat, and not just
because it existed. Simply crying "But it is in the rulebook!" was
never a winning argument with me... especially if it was an uncommon
ruling or in some weird side volume I'd never heard of.

Which isn't to say our group didn't experiment. Tell me about
something neat and that you'd like to try it, and I'd just as likely
give it a shot. I think the only difference between our methods was
that Ididn't have to own the rulebook personally (but I did want to
read about the addition, of course. Back in the day, this usually
meant a quick trip to the photocopier so I could have my own 'pages'
for reference ;-) If the addition worked in our campaign - if it fit
the style of our game, it didn't unbalance the mechanics, or wasn't
outright stupid - we'd keep it. If it didn't, I explain why to the
players and we'd stop using the rule / spell / monster / class /
whatever.

I think, overall, we had a 50% success rate. A lot of the stuff -
especially in the TSR days - was either too stupid, too unbalanced, or
just added too much complexity for us to stick with for very long.




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