Quote from: Kyle Aaron;1054755In case someone sues for emotional distress after you kill their character.

I would laugh at this if I did not read on another forum of something similar. In the first book of Pathfinder Rise of the Runelords to showcase how bad Goblins are in the game world. They kill a npc guard dog. The players have not even had a chance to get to know or even become remotely attached to said animal. Apparently a player character began crying her eyes out at the senseless murder of the dog at someone else table. Totally ignoring the context and possible playing the wrong rpg.

No, this is real: http://rpgtrailer.com

(My Investigation Skill is obviously through the fucking roof...)

That's the guy with the mobile "Play RPGs for Therapy" bus, remember?  He was here talking about it and asking questions a while back.  He's a recreational therapist.  This is legit, pretty sure.

The RPG Trailer was a cool project idea (a mobile gaming space for the rural disabled). I have no idea if it ever worked out. The website isn't working for me beyond the front page.

http://go.rpgtherapeutics.com

Quote from: Almost_Useless;1054752What are they doing in these games that requires a million dollars in liability coverage?

That's basic for any interaction with the public. Crazy shit happens sometimes and everyone sues at the drop of a hat.

I really have to wonder if the whole thing wasn't some kind of backward con? Like, some dude trying to work as a "professional GM" setting this up as a kind of proof that his skills are in demand?

Quote from: RPGPundit;1055099I really have to wonder if the whole thing wasn't some kind of backward con? Like, some dude trying to work as a "professional GM" setting this up as a kind of proof that his skills are in demand?

I think it's simply that demand has now outstripped supply. It's no more different than when I had to bring on deputy GMs at the club to handle the overflow at the big table: 'cept instead of being reimbursed financially, they're straight paid a salary or hourly rate. I think that's progress for the hobby, ultimately. It's the second step in professional legitimization (first step being clubs that financially reimburse members, attract sponsors, require relatively substantial fees from players etc...).

We're already seeing players pay for GMs both online and offline for several years now in a relatively more public manner. When I was running LDRC, players paid £5 ($6-7 for US posters) every session to join -- many paid in advance for the month because a level of trust was established, both with me personally but more so the brand because I had taken the time to build it over the years. Roll20 took the plunge a couple years ago and officially facilitate GMs who want to charge for their games -- and now like a third of the games are paid-for and many of those same games actually have players signed up for them.

It's just maturation of the hobby and someone seeing a niche and having the initiative to do something with it (a man after my own heart, honestly).

Quote from: Almost_Useless;1054752What are they doing in these games that requires a million dollars in liability coverage?

In case someone gets triggered because your pregens were not diverse enough.

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;1055135I think it's simply that demand has now outstripped supply. It's no more different than when I had to bring on deputy GMs at the club to handle the overflow at the big table: 'cept instead of being reimbursed financially, they're straight paid a salary or hourly rate. I think that's progress for the hobby, ultimately. It's the second step in professional legitimization (first step being clubs that financially reimburse members, attract sponsors, require relatively substantial fees from players etc...).

We're already seeing players pay for GMs both online and offline for several years now in a relatively more public manner. When I was running LDRC, players paid £5 ($6-7 for US posters) every session to join -- many paid in advance for the month because a level of trust was established, both with me personally but more so the brand because I had taken the time to build it over the years. Roll20 took the plunge a couple years ago and officially facilitate GMs who want to charge for their games -- and now like a third of the games are paid-for and many of those same games actually have players signed up for them.

It's just maturation of the hobby and someone seeing a niche and having the initiative to do something with it (a man after my own heart, honestly).

My thoughts exactly. Though I just find it funny to think about the legal jumble that is about to be created by (and for) the GMs that use pre-published adventures;).

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;1055135We're already seeing players pay for GMs both online and offline for several years now in a relatively more public manner. When I was running LDRC, players paid £5 ($6-7 for US posters) every session to join -- many paid in advance for the month because a level of trust was established, both with me personally but more so the brand because I had taken the time to build it over the years. Roll20 took the plunge a couple years ago and officially facilitate GMs who want to charge for their games -- and now like a third of the games are paid-for and many of those same games actually have players signed up for them.

It's just maturation of the hobby and someone seeing a niche and having the initiative to do something with it (a man after my own heart, honestly).

Roll20 really did not facilitate paid GMing  that implies that they enforce the payments in some way.  It was obvious for some time that paid GMing was going on as a lot of GMs were resorting to it to deter flakes as opposed to GMs wanting an income stream. Roll20 is simply covering their asses requiring all GM's asking for payment to put a disclaimer in their posts.

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;1055135I think it's simply that demand has now outstripped supply.

In my experience, demand for DMs has always surpassed the available supply. That measure is relative only to the number of players vs the number of DMs. What we're seeing here is the size of the overall gaming community growing enough to support DMing as an an actual profession. In theory.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1055099I really have to wonder if the whole thing wasn't some kind of backward con? Like, some dude trying to work as a "professional GM" setting this up as a kind of proof that his skills are in demand?

Unfortunately a similar subject came up over on BGG.

In that case a member was asking about a seminar at a convention where a woman claimed she was a "professional DM" and got payed to DM. Her advice was to "Never prep. Make it all up as you go. And this little gem. Dont bother learning the rules. Just have the rules lawyer in the group do that for you and make up the rest.

Quote from: Omega;1055638Unfortunately a similar subject came up over on BGG.

In that case a member was asking about a seminar at a convention where a woman claimed she was a "professional DM" and got payed to DM. Her advice was to "Never prep. Make it all up as you go. And this little gem. Dont bother learning the rules. Just have the rules lawyer in the group do that for you and make up the rest.

That covers most of how I GM. I learn the rules though.

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;1055135I think it's simply that demand has now outstripped supply. It's no more different than when I had to bring on deputy GMs at the club to handle the overflow at the big table: 'cept instead of being reimbursed financially, they're straight paid a salary or hourly rate. I think that's progress for the hobby, ultimately. It's the second step in professional legitimization (first step being clubs that financially reimburse members, attract sponsors, require relatively substantial fees from players etc...).

We're already seeing players pay for GMs both online and offline for several years now in a relatively more public manner. When I was running LDRC, players paid £5 ($6-7 for US posters) every session to join -- many paid in advance for the month because a level of trust was established, both with me personally but more so the brand because I had taken the time to build it over the years. Roll20 took the plunge a couple years ago and officially facilitate GMs who want to charge for their games -- and now like a third of the games are paid-for and many of those same games actually have players signed up for them.

It's just maturation of the hobby and someone seeing a niche and having the initiative to do something with it (a man after my own heart, honestly).

Hmm, surprising.  Still, I can't buy the notion that any significant number of people are making a living off it. Also, the notion of quality control would be right nonsensical.