š„ š The Man or Woman with Dragons in His or Her Pockets š„š
Updated: Dec 20, 2024
Professional Dungeon Masters? People paid to run games of Dungeons & Dragons? People quitting their day jobs to become professional Dungeon Masters? Oh, how I wish that my father had heard of this development. Just as I wish that he had heard of professional video game players. Why? Because my father evidently enjoyed reminding me and my brothers that such leisure activities were not worthy pursuits that would put food on the table and a roof over our heads. To be fair, who thought such paid gigs were a possibility?
I have posted a number of times to my blog about my renewed interest in roleplaying games (RPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons or D&D/DnD. As I have mentioned before, I played a handful of different RPGs growing up including the most widely recognized one, Dungeons & Dragons. Part of my renewed interest is rooted in nostalgia. But it is also due to the fact that the games are just plain fun to play. For me, one of the biggest obstacles to getting back into such creative pursuits is just deciding which game or games I want to play first and finding some people with whom to play. Considering that the games are now played online as well as in person, finding people with whom to play is hardly an insurmountable obstacle. For someone wanting to try their hand at playing these games, it is a great time to be alive. First, Dungeons & Dragons is bigger than it has ever been (although the popularity may be peaking). Secondly, there is no shortage of games to try covering a wide variety of exciting settings and genres. If sword and sorcery fantasy isn't your thing, maybe try playing as a Wild West outlaw, a spy, a superhero, or a dark, sexy vampire. You can even play as a kid in the 1980s encountering "strangeness" resulting from science experiments run amok (https://freeleaguepublishing.com/en/games/tales-from-the-loop/). If you are interested in roleplaying in a particular setting or genre, there is a fairly decent chance that someone else has already created a game in your desired game world or an existing game can be tinkered with to set up just such a game in your desired game world.
I was a little surprised to learn that, at least in some places, it is really difficult to find people willing to run games as Dungeon Masters, Game Masters, or whatever the game calls the individuals that act as arbiters of the rules and facilitators of play. Don't get it twisted. I can see the advent of such paid professionals. If someone is good at what they do, there are likely to be at least a few people willing to pay them to do it. But I guess that I am surprised that in a group of creative, intelligent people interested in playing such games, it can apparently be difficult to find someone willing to take on the mantle of Dungeon Master, Game Master, or whatever a particular game system calls the role.
Below is the link to the story about the apparent problem in finding players willing to run Dungeons & Dragons games as a Dungeon Master in New York City and two links to short videos responding to the article. What is interesting is the commentators' take on what is fueling the problem. They point out how simple and relatively barebones the early rules systems were and how the expectations for those taking on the role were not unreasonably high when these games were first released. They also discussed the amount of time and effort required to prep for a game.
I first played these games around the time that I went to junior high school. I certainly could have played the games at an earlier age. Would someone have paid me to run an RPG back then?Probably not. But playing a game or running a game never seemed like something that I couldn't do. The rules were not particularly difficult and there were not an inordinate number of rules. Moreover, the game books always made it clear that the person running the game was the final arbiter of the rules and that the rules were not sacrosanct. The person running the game was encouraged, actually expected, to be the "Master" of the game and to use the rules as a guide to tell an interesting story and to help everyone including the person running the game to have a good time. All the rules are basically optional. The person running the game is free to waive or modify any rule where doing so would lead to a better game for the group and a better story. That was true with the first such games and it is still an accepted tenet of today's roleplaying games.
This can admittedly be a tough thing for new roleplaying games players to grasp. A game where the rules don't matter? What is this nonsense? Calvinball? The simple truth is that the early roleplaying games expected the person running the game to make decisions where the rules didn't seem to apply, where the rules as written might yield an unreasonable, unrealistic outcome, or where the rules got in the way of the fun. This attitude regarding the rules was also an acknowledgement that no set of rules, no matter how extensive and well-written, can possibly address every possibility that might arise in a game where the creativity of the players can surprise even the most experienced referees. Roleplaying games are not board games. They are not video games. The players are basically free to do and attempt to do anything that a person (or other being) might conceivably try to do in a given situation. No set of rules, regardless of how "crunchy" and detailed they might be, can account for every possibility. While the rules create the means to determine the results of a player character's actions, it is incumbent upon the person running the game to determine when the rules should be applied as written, when they should be modified, and when they should be ignored. If this sounds confusing, trust me when I tell you that it is much easier to grasp this after you have played awhile.
Again, as I have mentioned in previous posts, I expect that I will eventually get back into playing these games. Collecting the books, box sets, and other game accessories/components is kind of fun, but playing is where the real fun lies. I just hope that I can find someone willing to take the reins for a game. If not, I expect that I will do so. I might even be able to conjure up a dragon or two.
If you are interested, be sure to click on the links below.
"It's Not Just You: NYC Has a Serious Dungeon Master Shortage"
"5e DnD Has a DM Crisis"
"How to Solve the 5E DM Crisis Once and For ALL (Ep 296)"
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