A young dungeon master prepares for a session using paper, dice, and a DM screen. — Wondering if you can get a job as a DM? You might just become a professional Dungeon Master with these paid DM tips!

With the newfound popularity of Dungeons & Dragons and the growing suite of tools to play online, there’s a significantly higher demand for Dungeon Masters. Now, more people than ever are actually getting paid to be a DM, running games for interested players who are looking for a particular D&D experience. But there’s a huge gap between having an inkling that you want to become a professional Dungeon Master and actually making money as a DM. Five years ago, I had never run a game of D&D in my life. Now, I’m a professional DM with multiple sessions every week. While everyone’s experience is unique, here’s what I’ve learned on my journey and what I recommend as you take the steps to become a professional Dungeon Master.

What Is A Professional Dungeon Master? (And Why Do You Want To Be One?)

A paid DM adjusts his suit and tie. — You can get paid to be a DM without wearing a suit, we promise.

First things first, let’s clarify some terms. For the purposes of this article, a Professional Dungeon Master is anybody paid to be a DM. This can be for an actual-play production, game publisher, community center, online group, library, or just a crew of local players hoping to dip their toes into the game. Many have considered making the leap to professional DMing (it can be very rewarding), but first, you have to ask yourself: why? Do you enjoy being a DM and want more opportunities to do so? Have you gotten positive feedback around your DMing skills and want to grow in your skills? Do you want to supplement (or, ambitiously, replace) your current income? Making money as a Dungeon Master is a tempting prospect, but take it from me: you’ll need more motivation than that to be able to make it as a professional Dungeon Master.

Is It Hard To Be A Paid DM?

A stressed new DM bites her pencil as she begins reading our professional Dungeon Master Guide. — With our professional Dungeon Master guide, you hopefully won’t run into too much trouble!

As with any time you turn a hobby into a paid gig (which I’ve done a few too many times to count), there are drawbacks. A whole bunch of new tasks get added to your plate, like scheduling (and rescheduling), wrangling emails, troubleshooting tech issues, moderating conflict, invoicing, marketing, taxes, and (possibly my least favorite) putting in all the work to set up and schedule a game and having nobody show up. Even once all the administrative tasks are out of the way, DMing professionally looks very different from DMing with friends. Your players, or an organization on their behalf, are paying for the experience and are expecting more of you. It’s a job you have to show up to - even if you’re exhausted, you didn’t have time to prepare, or you’re not at all in the mood to play. And though you do still have some control over the ways you play and the adventures your players go on, you may have to engage with parts of the game you don’t personally enjoy (I, for one, could give less than a whit about political intrigue or high-level magic in my games, but if that’s what my players want, that’s what they’ll get).

But if you truly love DMing and you’re willing to put in the work it requires to make it a job, it can be incredibly rewarding. If you love being a Dungeon Master, making money as a DM can justify the time and effort you spend preparing for sessions, reading D&D books, and learning more about the game you love. You can even throw some of that income back into the game and buy books, adventures, virtual tabletops, professional subscriptions, and other great D&D resources (here are a few we recommend). And, of course, you get to play the game that you love and have the satisfaction of watching new players learn to love it too, experienced players push the boundaries and try new things, and all of your players enjoying the masterpiece adventure you craft for them.

What Do You Need To Become A Professional Dungeon Master?

A small office equipped with a ring light, microphone, and acoustic panels. — You can get a job as a Dungeon Master without a full home studio, but a nice setup goes a long way!

As you might imagine, there are plenty of folks who want to become a professional Dungeon Master, but few who actually become one. There are many reasons for this (including, I’m not not too proud to admit, the role of sheer dumb luck), but there are a few things you can do before venturing into the world of professional DMing to increase your chances.

Practice

The best way to become a good Dungeon Master is, well, to be a Dungeon Master. Practice makes perfect, as they say! This is very much true for DMing, which requires a unique combination of rules knowledge and on-your-feet thinking that are best acquired through experience (and, if you’re interested, through our online course). Having played on both sides of the DM screen, the best professional Dungeon Masters have run D&D in a variety of contexts for a variety of people.

It’s especially important to DM for people who don’t know you (or each other) well. That will be your job in most pro-DM contexts, and it’s a very different feel from running games for your friends. Getting some practice in before taking the leap will grow your skill set, give you a better idea of what being a professional DM will look like, and help you determine what game and player styles you most enjoy. Ask around at local libraries, community centers, game stores, and game conventions; most of them would be happy to have you run a one-shot or campaign!

Materials

There are also a few materials that you’ll need in order to start DMing professionally. One way or another, you'll need access to the base rules, but you'll also need any supplemental materials, like monster statblocks, NPCs, random tables, pre-made encounters, or modules that you can pull from. In my experience, the more of these you have at your fingertips, the better! I can’t count the number of times my players have veered off from the path I expected them to go on and I’ve frantically searched my D&D folder for exactly the resource I needed to make it look like I’d planned it all along.

If you plan to run games in person, people will likely expect you to bring physical dice and a Dungeon Master Screen (it really completes the mood), and you'll enhance the experience by bringing miniatures and maps. If you plan to run games online, finding a clean background, a microphone (even one on a headset), and decent lighting will go a long way towards making you look like a professional. If you want an extra edge and are tech savvy, you can get your hands on a Virtual Table Top and the tokens, maps, and other assets you’ll need to use it in your games.

The Right Attitude

If you've been a Dungeon Master before, you already know that your best-laid plans don't always go the way you thought, that the creative (and chaotic) minds of your party often find loopholes, weird ideas, or things you never thought of. This is all the more true in the world of professional DMing. In your personal games, the Dungeon Master is (or should be!) another player who has just as much fun as anybody else at the table. In professional DMing, making sure your players have fun is your priority and your own fun is secondary. You’ll certainly still enjoy yourself, but you’ll also need to be able to let go of your vision for a campaign, your preferences for rules styles, and, sometimes, having control over what’s happening at all!

Make Money As A DM with Savvy Marketing

A whiteboard with a hand drawing arrows toward the word "audience." — If I had just one tip for paid DMs, it would be this: know your audience and find your niche!

The unfortunate truth of trying to succeed in a popular field is that you’ll need to stand out from the crowd. Start off by considering your unique skills as a Dungeon Master. You may know the lore of the Forgotten Realms inside and out and create lavish campaigns that fit perfectly into the existing universe. You may be a skilled actor who can creatively and engagingly roleplay as interesting non-player characters. Or you may be a creative person so familiar with the ruleset that you’ve started to use it for other settings, like Star Wars or superheroes. Talk about these strengths so that people know what you bring to the table. For me, my DM skills have a lot to do with the social aspects of the game: making all kinds of people feel comfortable, heard, and have a good time as a cohesive group where they can practice conflict resolution and roleplay skills.

Also consider what kind of player you are looking for. You may be a good fit for players who love getting into the crunchy combat mechanics and diving in deep on the rules. Perhaps you’re best with players who are just starting out and need someone to guide them? Maybe you really shine with other players who like flexing their roleplay chops. You may regularly work with neurodivergent people and be able to fit their unique needs. Perhaps you’ve been playing every edition of D&D since the 70s and can satisfy the most devoted D&D fan. Maybe you hold a marginalized identity and can serve players who share it. I know that for me, an LGBTQIA+ DM, I love being able to run games for LGBTQIA+ players where they can be themselves and not worry about being judged.

In all of this, it helps to find evidence to back up your claims. Players want to find a DM who doesn’t just talk a big game but really knows what they’re doing behind the screen. Getting testimonials and reviews from your players is an easy way to do that (I went about this in a fairly non-traditional way by writing a book; unless you already authorship in your sights, I don’t recommend that route)! You can ask your current players to write a few words about their experience; some websites, like StartPlaying, will let players leave reviews on your profile. If you’ve run games for a particular organization, you can ask for a few words of reference from someone involved there, like a librarian, that can show potential players that you’re experienced and proficient. For more specifics on marketing yourself as a DM, I particularly recommend checking out Dollars & Dragons and other resources by professional DM Friday Strout.

Is It Possible To Become A Professional Dungeon Master?

A woman looks up at the sky contemplatively. — “Can I get a job as a Dungeon Master?”

If you’ve decided that you’d like to make money as a Dungeon Master and you’ve got the experience, materials, and marketing plan, absolutely! There are hundreds of professional DMs, online and off, who regularly run games of D&D for people and/or organizations who pay for them to do so. I’m living proof! Nearly every week, I run games here at Young Dragonslayers for tween and teen players online. While it still has all the challenges of a hobby-turned-job, it’s truly the most rewarding work I’ve ever done.

If you’re an awesome Dungeon Master experienced working with kids and teens, drop a line to Katie, our founder. You may become a professional Dungeon Master sooner than you think!

If you’re a young aspiring Dungeon Master, we have an online course just for you. Dragon Leaders will help you design your own one-shot adventure, learn to manage challenging situations at your table, and create monsters and NPCs your players will love. You’ll also get a list of our favorite resources for character generation, mapmaking, and more.

Finally, we offer professionally DM-ed campaigns for kids and teens almost every night of the week. If you or you child would like to join us for a game, you can fill out our interest list to find out about upcoming campaigns.

Steps to Becoming a Professional Dungeon Master