Advertising your pro DM game is a key part of getting players to join

Becoming a professional Dungeon Master is more than just being a good DM; to be paid to DM online, you also need to engage in some self-promotion. Professional DM jobs require marketing yourself, advertising your games, and getting hired as a DM online by a consistent base of clients in order to make money as a DM. We’ll talk you through some of the strategies you can use to market yourself and your games so that you can get to the best part of pro DMing: running games of Dungeons & Dragons!

Can You Become A Professional Dungeon Master?

Many people wonder “Can I get a job as a Dungeon Master?”

As we said in our blog post on how to become a professional Dungeon Master, a pro DM is anybody paid to be a DM. This could 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. In these roles, professional Dungeon Masters might specifically be trying to tell an engaging story to an audience, showcase a publisher’s game, or create community spaces, but all of them have one goal in common: run a fun, engaging game of Dungeons & Dragons. But someone who’s a pro DM online doesn't have a ready-made audience of actors, convention attendees, or their local gaming community. Instead, online professional DMs have to market themselves so they can stand out from the crowd and become a professional DM with paid games, consistent players, and a good income.

How to Get Hired As A Dungeon Master

If you apply these principles, you could become a successful pro DM like Meaghan!

Making the leap from an experienced Dungeon Master to a professional DM with paid games is a big one, and it’s all about marketing (and a little bit of luck)! The idea of “marketing” yourself can bring up a lot of feelings: fear, annoyance, or even disgust. These are totally valid feelings. Marketing can indeed be complex, cumbersome, or dishonest – but it doesn’t have to be! When done right, marketing is just finding the people who want what you’re offering and telling them about it. Think of your marketing like the cover of a book, telling people just a little bit about what’s inside.

Before you start marketing yourself, get an idea of what sets you apart. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, savvy DMs find their strengths and lean on them. Think about what you’re like as a Dungeon Master. What kind of stories do you like to tell? What elements of Dungeons & Dragons do you focus on? How important are rules to you? Do you use modules or create campaigns from scratch? All of these things impact the style of your games.

Consider your skills, too. Are you great at improvisation, coming up with things on the fly? Do you know the Forgotten Realms inside and out? Are you an expert on every Virtual Table Top in the book? Do you create engaging NPCs? Talk to current and former players; ask them their favorite moments of your games, what they like about your DMing, and what has set you apart from their other DMs (one tool we’ve found helpful for understanding your strengths as a DM is Stars and Wishes).

You should also consider unique aspects of your identity. Are you LBGTQIA+? Neurodivergent? A person of color? Disabled? A veteran? If so, let potential players know! Players who share these identities might feel more comfortable playing in your games and confident that you’ll treat them with respect.

Finally, think about what experience you have that sets you apart as a Dungeon Master. Are you an educator working with a particular age group or with expertise in a particular field? Are you an actor who’s totally comfortable performing as other people? Are you a therapist with the emotional intelligence to guide people through conflict resolution? Are you a comedian or improviser used to “yes, and”-ing and coming up with ideas on the spot? Any of these kinds of experiences show people the strengths you bring to the table from your life outside of Dungeons & Dragons.

How To Market Yourself As A Professional DM Online

Putting in the extra effort to craft things like Kevin’s videos are a great way to stand out and get hired as a Dungeon Master

Now that you’ve got an idea of the assets that will get you hired as a professional DM, you need to be able to show them off. We’ll be looking at three different professional DMs for guidance. Even a quick look at these DMs profiles tells potential players the style of their games, their strengths as a DM, and what identities and experiences they bring to the table. Here’s what we found:

Kevin (a.k.a. KCoutoVA, he/they)

Game Style: His games focus on storytelling; they feature interesting NPCS, incorporate PC choices and backgrounds, and make heavy use of the Rule of Cool while still having exciting tactical combat.
DM Strengths: They are great at running games in the Star Wars universe, doing distinct and engaging character voices, and hosting an inclusive and welcoming table.
Identities: He is Hispanic and LGBTQ+.
Experience: They’re a teacher, voice actor, and podcaster.

Meaghan (a.k.a. MissMeaghanJ, she/her)

Game Style: Her games are usually either dark fantasy or horror stories; she often runs established campaigns like Curse of Strahd and encourages players to to try to “break the story” by playing in unexpected ways.
DM Strengths: She’s great at improvisational storytelling, working with trans, female, queer, and neurodivergent players, and running games in official D&D settings, like Ravencroft and Dragonlance.
Identities: She is a transgender woman.
Experience: She’s a D&D podcaster and writer of D&D materials.

Connor (a.k.a. TheHealerDM, he/him)

Game Style: His games have a high production value, prioritize roleplaying and exploration, and focus on building powerful stories and strong friendships that are good for the soul.
DM Strengths: He’s great at working with beginner players of all ages, listening empathetically, and bringing “bells and whistles” like a virtual tabletop, sound effects library, cosplay, and end-of-campaign mementos.
Identities: He is a queer man.
Experience: He’s a professional counselor, cosplayer, and well-established writer/sensitivity reader of D&D materials.

By focusing on specific elements and strengths, these DMs ensure that players know whether or not they’d be a good fit for games. A player who’s looking to engage in epic battles against the Empire might skip Connors roleplay-heavy games and play with Kevin, who does games in the Star Wars universe and runs tactical combat. A player who’s out for a dark horror story in the Ravencroft setting might skip Kevin’s sci-fi games and play with Meaghan, who knows the Ravencroft and focuses on darker genres of campaign. A player who’s looking to learn the game and make friends without messing with complex worldbuilding might skip Meaghan’s setting-heavy games and play with Connor, who focuses on friendship building and working with new players. None of these Dungeon Masters are inherently “better” than another, but each of them brings something unique to the table. They know how to show off that uniqueness, too; each of them has over 500 professional games under their belt!

You are much more likely to be paid to be a DM if you create your own online space like Connor

Once you’ve established your own game style, DM strength, and relevant identities and experiences, bring them together in a coherent profile, using pro DMs like these as examples. If your strengths lie more in DMing than writing, don’t worry: you can (and should!) also include more than your own words in your profile. Kevin includes voiceover reels and videos of his streamed games; Meaghan includes reviews and a list of her strengths as voted on by players, and Connor includes links to interviews where he talks about gaming and a list of his many writing credits for D&D adventures. Don’t be afraid to flex here - this is exactly the time to show off!

Paid DM Tips: Build A Client Base

This may seem obvious, but to be able to make money as a pro Dungeon Master, you need to have clients willing to pay you. Let’s say your goal is to make $500 a month through professional DMing. If you charge a (fairly low) $20 per session and run a campaign that meets once a week, all you need are 6 willing players to meet your financial goals. Once you find the players who resonate with your style, you’d be amazed how many of them keep coming back. When players find a game they enjoy and start building an adventure together, there’s a lot of motivation to stick around; at Young Dragonslayers, we have about 4 out of 5 players stay on from one season to the next!

Reviews like these will help you get a job as a DM

But even if players aren’t able to stick around, having a few professional DM games under your belt can help a lot in showing other potential players that you know what you’re doing. It’s even better if you can gather some reviews from your players; this tells potential clients what your games are like and helps build trust – word of mouth is the best marketing, after all! You can ask former and current players from your D&D (and other TTRPG) games and find new players through hosting convention games, DM exchanges, or free demo games.

To land professional DM jobs, it’s also helpful to engage in the other elements of the online D&D community and have an online presence besides just the pro DMing sites. Kevin has a YouTube channel where he posts videos of some of his games, a website showcasing his voice-acting range, and a Twitter account, where he engages with voice actors and D&D enthusiasts. Meaghan has three podcasts, two of which are D&D-adjacent, material on DMsGuild, and an active social-media presence on Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky. Connor opened up a Bluesky account after moving off of Twitter and has a personal website showcasing himself, his charity work, his DMing, and his D&D writing. Many professional DMs also volunteer to run games on community Discord servers, charity streams, libraries, community centers, and gaming conventions (if you’d like more detail on how to find these games, check out our article on finding gaming groups)! This is not just a great way to give back, but it also shows off your DMing skills to potential clients and gets your name out there.

Professional DMs for Kids and Teens Online

We’ve taken a bit of our own advice. Here at Young Dragonslayers, we’ve selected professional Dungeon Masters with a wide variety of strengths and identities who have experience working with kids and teens – then, we place them with young players who have compatible play styles and preferences. We have profiles for our Dungeon Masters so potential players (and their parents) can understand who they are; we write and film D&D content (like this!) to reach potential players, and post regularly to Facebook and Instagram to engage with D&D enthusiasts. If you’re a DM with experience working with children who’d rather spend time rolling dice than forming marketing strategies, drop us a line – who knows, you could get a job as a Dungeon Master for kids! If you’re a parent to a young D&D enthusiast looking for a group of players their own age and play style to explore the world of Dungeons and Dragons, why not check out our games? And if this advice helped you to get hired as a DM, reach out via email or social media to let us know. We wish you the best as you start your journey to become a professional Dungeon Master!

How To Market Yourself As A Pro DM Online