D&D fans are defending the Dungeon Masters who charge for their time, even though most people who run the game do so for free.
Dungeons & Dragons players who have never run a game might not appreciate the work that goes into DM’ing an adventure, nevermind a full campaign. Even running one of D&D’s pre-written official campaigns takes a lot of preparation, as you need to plan each week’s session.
The preparation time can increase tenfold if the DM is running a homebrew campaign, where they design the world and its adventures by scratch. The only way to save time is by using a random generation method, like the one in the Book of Many Things, but these often lead to substandard adventures.
There are some DMs who want payment for their time. Sometimes, this is just asking players to cover travel & food fees, but some want to be paid as if it were a profession.
DMs are charging for their D&D games
A user on the DnD Reddit created a thread asking fans about paid sessions, as they had seen DMs advertising spaces at their table for an hourly rate. This prompted players to defend the notion, due to supply and demand, as well as the time it takes to DM games.
“If you expect a DM to plan and run games on a weekly basis, I’m not gonna lie, $20 seems ridiculously cheap,” one user wrote, while another said, “If I were to charge my normal job hourly for DMing prep and gamerunning the bill would be $126 per session. That’s 1.5 hours of game time and equal time in prep. Sessions though would usually get closer to 2 hours.”
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“D&D has exploded into the mainstream,” one user explained, “Literally millions of new players are all in need of experienced DMs. There simply are not enough DMs to go around. It’s just supply & demand. Simple as that.”
“DMing is work. Prep time, coordination, either travel or computer expertise, creative juices ‘n’ such. It’s work. Workers get paid for their work.”
“For $15 people actually commit. Good DMs spend far more than session time.,” one user said, “It’s cheaper than a movie. Plus you can pay actual writers. I got a game with an original Vecna writer we play tested the stranger things crossover early access. The dude had 30 years writing scenarios and only charged to keep a—-s out. It isn’t so much money but respect. It’s minimum wage anything pays more.”
Those who are thinking of quitting their job and becoming the next Matt Mercer might be in for a shock, as the rates aren’t high enough to live off, unless you’re willing to spend more time playing D&D than at an actual job.
There’s also a case of being able to find regular customers who can commit to specific times of the week, because as we all know, the greatest D&D monster of them all is scheduling.
