'Do something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life.' It's an all-too-familiar cliche, and it's one that, in 2025's rather hostile economy, many might challenge. Despite this, the goal of many creative people is still to turn their hobbies into a career. This is true of artists, dancers, authors - and, increasingly, Dungeons and Dragons players.
The 'professional DM', someone who gets paid to play D&D, is a flexible concept that's still evolving. To fully understand it, we need to examine where it came from, and what forms it can take.
A brief history of professional D&D
Design work had always been a primary source of income for a tabletop RPG fan. Beyond DnD books and boxed sets, magazines like The Strategic Review, Dragon Magazine, and those that came after offered fans a place to publish their monsters and adventures, as well as news, reviews, and play reports relating to the TTRPG world.
Those play reports, a commonality in the world of miniature wargaming, would prove influential for the next wave of professional Dungeon Masters.
In the mid-2000s, the first actual play series hit the internet. These recorded D&D games took inspiration from the early world of e-sports and videogame streaming, but Evan Torner argues in Watch Us Roll: Essays on Actual Play and Performance in Tabletop Games that wargaming's play reports and internet roleplaying forums also helped shape the medium.
Penny Arcade (notably also one of the first webcomic producers to make a living from their art) are widely considered the first English-language actual play stars. However, Critical Role, who began sharing their adventures in 2015, are monumentally more famous for their actual play work. When we think of the professional DM today, Matt Mercer is usually the first person that springs to mind.
Actual plays like Critical Role introduced large audiences to D&D, but they also introduced a lot of individuals to the world of professional DMing. "One of the primary reasons I am a game designer today is that professional GMs invited me to their home games and cast me in their actual plays", Rowan Hall, game designer at Critical Role's Darrington Press, tells Wargamer. "The internet has been a major part of allowing folks to connect and offer (or utilize) paid GMing opportunities."
Harry McEntire, DM of YouTube actual play Natural Six, says his introduction to D&D and professional DMing all started with "listening to Not Another D&D Podcast". He praises actual play for creating an approachable space that encourages new DMs, professional and otherwise, to join.
"There are all kinds of impossible standards that are set by professional DMs", McEntire tells Wargamer. "I think of all the wonderful things Matt Mercer has done for D&D, the single most important thing he has done is be a welcoming, responsive, and generous person at the table".
The pandemic, the internet, and mainstream D&D
One year after Critical Role set sail, Netflix aired season one of Stranger Things, a dark fantasy show about children who understand and battle monsters using their passion for D&D. It's no coincidence that, in 2017, Wizards of the Coast recorded between 12 and 15 million players, the largest number in D&D history.
Tabletop RPGs had officially hit the mainstream. More people than ever wanted to play, and the demand for D&D games and shows grew.
This effect was compounded in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. James Gregory, DM of the actual play Roll Britannia, directly cites the pandemic as the beginning of his professional D&D career. "I found myself in early 2020 with lots of time on my hands, as many people did", he tells Wargamer. "The thing I'd always wanted to try was Dungeons and Dragons. I set up a game with my friend and, for laughs, I said 'let's record it and release it as a podcast'."
Surveys showed an 85% increase in interest in D&D in 2020, with Wizards of the Coast's revenues that year increasing by over 46%. The internet and global lockdowns provided professional DMs, who had always made running games at cons and stores part of their careers, unlimited access to a growing audience.
Coincidentally, 2020 is also the year that StartPlayingGames, the largest website for finding RPG players and groups, was founded. Currently, the website boasts that it's helped over 20,000 users find someone to play D&D with.
Spenser Starke, designer of Alice is Missing and Darrington Press' Daggerheart, credits StartPlayingGames with helping to grow DMing as a business. "I think places like StartPlayingGames have made it a lot easier to facilitate paid game experiences beyond convention play or Reddit LFG groups", he says.
"When the pandemic moved most games online, I imagine that also introduced some people to playing remotely in a way they hadn't before, which means GMs can now run games from their own home for people all over the world." "It seems like it opened the door in a much bigger way for game groups to expand beyond in-person home campaigns", Starke adds.
Alec Englund, a 31-year-old D&D fan from Midwest America, is one of the 20,000 StartPlayingGames users that made money DMing through the platform. "I just figured I could make some extra cash doing so", he tells Wargamer. "I figured artists can sell their paintings, so I can sell my service as a DM."
Jesse Rozsa, DM of YouTube's Laughing Lich Corporation, also began DMing for a fee in 2020. "I wanted to branch out more in the hobby and offer my DMing services to the community", he explains. "Subscriptions and books, especially Kickstarters, were starting to weigh heavy on my wallet so I kindly asked any new groups on Roll20 for a fee per session."
Why do people pay for professional DMs?
Despite its long history, there's some controversy around some forms of paid DMing, particularly games that are run online. Social media groups often react to advertising such services with hostility, and debates about whether the practice should exist are regularly recycled. Regardless of public opinion, people continue to pay to play (or watch) D&D.
The recent history of professional DMing clearly suggests one reason why D&D fans might pay to play an RPG: supply and demand. "The obvious is that D&D and nerd culture are mainstream at this point", Alec Englund says, "so naturally as player and DM counts rise, so will paid DMing".
"I think the 'hustle culture' also increases this more in recent times", he adds. "People have talents, and now more than ever it's easier to find people willing to pay for those talents." "I imagine it's similar to hiring a DJ", Englund says, "like paying for something you have no working knowledge of."
Jesse Rozsa says that the groups he DMed for gave clear reasons why they were paying for the service. One group apparently "wanted to hire me because they were professional adults with busy lives and didn't have time to read all the rules". Another "wanted all of the friends to be players, because if one person is the GM, they feel a little left out". Incidentally, this second group was also made up of "busy adults who didn't have time to read all the material."
Englund also cites convenience and consistency as a major draw for paid DMing services. "A lot of campaigns fall apart due to scheduling, and a lot of campaigns are run by your average Joe, who might be a fine guy, but the game may not live up to the potential it could have." "Paying for DMing comes with the assumption that the DM is going to show up and run the game consistently, and they're going to come with clear effort and time put into their work", he adds.
An example of these factors in practice is RPG Taverns, a London-based venue founded in 2024 with the sole aim of running paid D&D games. "We specialize mostly in people who have never played D&D before or don't have time for a regular group", co-founder Sam Lawes tells Wargamer.
RPG Taverns' games are run on a "drop in, drop out system", Lawes explains. "You buy a ticket, turn up, and we provide the GMs." The venue apparently runs five to six sessions a day, six days a week, with "about 20" DMs running games. Despite its fairly recent opening, Lawes and fellow co-founder Shaan Jivan says the business has "grown really quickly", with a large number of sell-out days.
In the world of actual play, a product is provided rather than a service. And, in most cases, that product is given away for free. Both Natural Six and Roll Britannia are free to watch or listen to through channels like YouTube and Spotify.
When a fan pays these DMs for their time, that payment tends to come from ads and platforms like Patreon - and the monetary support is more emotional than transactional. "We have an amazingly loyal and active fanbase on Discord and in our growing Patreon", Harry McEntire tells Wargamer. "They've just been incredible."
Natural Six is a more unique case, as its players crowdfunded the project before their campaign began. The Natural Six Kickstarter promised to fund a high-quality campaign featuring notable faces from the UK games industry. This included Final Fantasy's Ben Starr, The Witcher 3's Doug Cockle, and Harry McEntire himself, who had previously appeared in game series like Xenoblade Chronicles.
The Kickstarter campaign estimated that each day of filming for Natural Six would cost around $8,000 (£6,000), and it was hoping to fund 10 episodes of a campaign. The final sum raised was over $50,000 (£37,000). Just over a year later, Natural Six now has 30 episodes and 35,000 YouTube subscribers, so revenue now comes from more traditional sources - ads, Patreon, and merch sales. "We've just done our first merch drop, and we sold out in half an hour", McEntire adds.
Can you really make a career out of this?
With demand for D&D content surging, there's seemingly more work than ever for the professional DM. But can you earn enough to make a living? The answer, in most cases, is still no.
"I am the only [cast member] of Natural Six who has been paid", Harry McEntire says. "We are not yet at a stage to pay people to sit at the table." "We sit around the table at weekends so no one has to take time off work", he adds. "However, I have to take days off work in order to write, so I'm sort of paid to write an episode."
Like Natural Six, the majority of Roll Britannia's income is also spent on the show. "What we do with the money that comes in is reinvest it in better equipment, travel, and more stock", James Gregory explains. "The money pays for us to stay in an Airbnb when we record and to feed us while we're out there." "The money that we made last year was actually surplus to what we needed, so we invested in having a really nice Christmas party as a team", he adds.
Alec Englund also says that the money he made from DMing was "definitely not a liveable income". "I kept my rates lower than most on the StartPlayingGames site ($10 per person per session)", he adds. "It's always just been extra pocket change. In order to realistically make a living, you would need like 4-8 ongoing campaigns a week", Englund explains. "Personally to me, that's more work than a full-time job!"
Englund touches on two of the biggest challenges facing paid DMs: burnout and fair rates of pay. The first is an issue that every DM I spoke to highlighted as a challenge of the profession.
"I struggle with burnout all the time, and I think that's fairly normal for people who are making art for their job", says Spenser Starke. "I am incredibly lucky to make games for a living, so sometimes it's just about returning to play and being creative for fun again."
"It can be very rewarding, but also very draining", says Shaan Jivan. "We do find there's a lot of burnout from [professional DMing] because you're performing for everyone else and you're providing a service."
"Burnout is a big challenge for paid DMing", Alec Englund says. "Especially if you're trying to make it a main source of income, the challenge is not to spread yourself too thin."
Englund describes a time when he was running two private games, two paid games, and occasional one shots. "It was far too much", he says. Englund says he began to "dread" running certain games and even broke down once due to the stress of prepping a campaign.
It's tough to earn a fair wage when no one can agree on what that fair wage should be. The rate of pay for professional DMs ranges vastly, and much of the stigma around paid DMing stems from the idea that it's too expensive - particularly when a group of friends can get together and play D&D for free.
In 2025, a Gen Con volunteer can expect to be paid $8 per person for a four-hour session. Alec Englund charged $10 for a three-hour weekly session, while a ticket for an RPG Taverns game tends to cost around $20 (£15).
Along with Roll Britannia, James Gregory occasionally ran paid D&D games through the platform Fiverr, where he says he was "quite flexible" with pricing. He had previously been paid $135 (£100) to run a two-hour game for five people. "When it comes to things like Fiverr, there's always someone who will do it for less money than you, which makes it challenging to stand your ground and say 'this is fair pay for my time and effort'", he says.
Harry McEntire, who has never paid to play Dungeons and Dragons, told Wargamer he would expect to pay "$20 to $30 an hour". "If you play a three-hour game for $20, that's $60 for a great evening", he explains. "That's less money than you'd pay to go to the theater, less than you'd pay to see live music, and less than you'd pay for a sporting event. And, last time I checked, people don't often get invited up on stage to play the drums."
Advice for future paid DMs
Despite the long hours, inconsistent wages, and total lack of profits, people continue to pursue the life of a paid DM. Passion for the game keeps professional DMs going.
Even when burned out, Rowan Hall says that she turns to RPGs to recover her energy. "I feel very lucky that, working in the TTRPG industry, I can turn back to games and the wonderful people at my tables to help with any burnout I experience. Getting a group of friends together to play is a wonderful way to reconnect with the passion and fun that makes this industry so creatively fulfilling."
McEntire shares a similar sentiment. "The fact that, at any point, I get paid any money to be a DM is staggering to me. It's remarkable because I can't quite believe I get to do it. It's such a joy and such a wonderful way of engaging in something creative."
When asked for advice they might give to future professional DMs, there was a stark contrast in answers. Those whose experience came from actual play all shared similar tips: dream big.
"You will never regret spending time on something you're passionate about", James Gregory says, "even if it takes up a lot of your time." "When you're working in a community that gives so much back, it's well worth it." "It is hard", he adds. "With podcasting, around 12 episodes in, you're going to feel disheartened, because you think no one is listening. But stick with it."
"As a game designer, I always recommend that people follow their passion", says Rowan Hall. "I often view creative endeavors through the lens of 'if you build it, they will come'." "When people love what they create and they are excited to put it out into the world, the right people will find it."
On the other hand, those that mainly ran paid games online offered different advice: start small. "Start with a side gig, with one campaign", says Alec Englund. "Then add another, and if you can't handle running two games while also working full-time, then you should probably reconsider." "Another tip is to create stuff ahead of time, because if people are paying, they're going to expect quality."
"Get organized", he adds. "Create a proper structure for your notes. Use a calendar to track game time. Write session notes. Do the work, it is worth the effort."
"Have only one group", Jesse Rozsa recommends. "Don't quit your day job and go all in on GMing." "Learn a VTT and become an expert in it", he adds. "When people take time out of their busy schedules to play a game, they expect it to run smoothly and be entertaining. Learn what they want to get out of the game and why they are paying you in the first place."
There are many factors that might account for why these answers differ so greatly. One might be how isolating running paid games is in comparison with actual play. All actual play DMs I spoke to highlighted that they share their workload and pressures with the rest of the cast, while paid DMs running games online largely work alone.
This might also be a case of survivorship bias. Darrington Press, with its ties to Critical Role, has already found success in the tabletop industry. Natural Six and Roll Britannia, while not making a major profit, are considered successful actual play shows. Harry McEntire also acknowledges that the pre-existing fame of Natural Six's cast means "we have jumped the queue" in terms of success.
Dungeons and Dragons may have been around for 50 years, but it's only been 'mainstream' for a fraction of that time. Rapid growth, combined with technology, has given the community new ways to monetize their creative hobby. However, we are nowhere near able to call 'professional DM' a definitive career. Even Matt Mercer, the ultimate edge case, supplements his living with videogame voice acting.
Still, these stories are a sign that change is coming, albeit slowly. The history of professional DMing shows that the roleplaying industry can be turned on its head in just a few short years.
Want to share your experiences as a professional Dungeon Master? We'd love to hear your stories in the Wargamer Discord. Otherwise, here's some helpful hints and tips for picking DnD classes and DnD races.