Getting Started
Hire a Dungeon Master - How It Works and What It Costs
Hiring a Dungeon Master works one of two ways: book seats at a pro's listed public game (per-seat, like tickets), or book the whole table privately for your group (flat rate, like an escape room). Either way you're buying the same product: a prepared adventure, a reliable schedule, and someone whose actual craft is making five people's evening great. Here's how the hiring works, what it costs, and how to pick a good one.
The two ways to hire
Per-seat, public games are the entry point: the GM lists a one-shot or campaign, you grab chairs, strangers fill the rest. It's the cheap way to sample a specific GM before trusting them with your whole group, and for solo players it is the product: a great table without bringing one.
Private tables are the full hire: your people, your occasion, an adventure tuned to you. Groups book them for birthdays, team events, reunions of scattered college parties, and the extremely common case of "five friends who all want to play and nobody wants to run it." That last group is the quiet majority of the private market, and hiring the GM is the correct solution to it; the forever-GM shortage is real, and money fixes it.
Ongoing private campaigns are the subscription tier: same GM, your group, weekly or biweekly, billed per session.
What it costs
Public seats run $15-30 per player per session (three to four hours). Private tables run flat rates roughly equivalent to filling the seats, commonly $100-250 depending on length, headcount, and custom prep; recurring private campaigns usually settle into a comfortable per-session rate. Specialty events (big parties, corporate, multi-table) price by inquiry.
The full economics get their own article, but the one-line version holds: it's movie-ticket-to-escape-room money for the evening, and the thing it buys that free can't is reliability.
What separates a professional from an enthusiastic friend
Not charisma. The pro difference is operational: they show up prepared (this checklist is their baseline, not their ceiling), they run safety and tone by default, they onboard total beginners without slowing the table, they manage spotlight like a resource, and the session happens on the date it was booked. Your enthusiastic friend does some of this sometimes. The person whose reviews depend on it does all of it, every time.
Which is exactly how to pick one: read the reviews, check the systems they run, and look at their listing history like you'd look at any professional's track record. Every GM here has a public profile for precisely this reason, and the satisfaction guarantee backstops the first booking. In-store along Utah's Wasatch Front, online in your timezone; the hiring part takes about three clicks either way.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to hire a Dungeon Master?
$15-30 per seat at public games; roughly $100-250 flat for private tables, varying with length, headcount, and custom prep. Ongoing private campaigns bill per session. Prices sit on the listing before you commit.
Can I hire a DM if none of us have ever played?
That's a core use case, not an edge one: pros onboard whole tables of first-timers routinely, bring pre-made characters, and pace the teaching invisibly. Say the group is new when you book and the GM plans for it.
Will a hired DM run our existing campaign or homebrew?
Many will, by arrangement: taking over a campaign mid-stream, running your group's homebrew setting, or building a custom scenario are standard private-table requests. Message the GM through their profile with specifics before booking.
How do I know a Dungeon Master is good before paying?
Reviews from previous players, a public profile with real history, and ideally one per-seat session at their public table before committing your group. Platforms with guarantees remove the remaining risk; that's what they're for.
Do hired DMs run games online?
Most run both: in-person tables at their local venues and online games over the major virtual tabletops, with times shown in your timezone. Format is listed per game, and the craft transfers; a good table is a good table through any screen.