Paid Games Questions

Paid GMing is not a thing I ever wanted to do but I need income and am struggling to find a job so...here I am. I started GMing and using this site at the same time, in 2014. I've got over 450 hours logged with Roll20 and know it pretty well, and I've been playing RPGs since 2007. My concerns lie more in the business side of things. I've never done anything like this before and I'm a bit nervous that I'm gonna miss some legal thing or other and get myself in trouble. What I want to do is start with one-shots to get my footing. I know that there are plenty here but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to use them for paid games or not. How do I find that out? Do I have to contact the creators individually? 

I am not a lawyer, but you should probably get permission to use any intellectual property. Several of the artists have given blanket permission to use their work, but to be on the safe side I would ask. Modules are probably not going to be useable without express permission. On the other hand, I doubt that anyone would waste their time trying to get a large payment from someone with no money. The most likely worst case scenario would be a Cease and Desist letter. Roll 20 has some published material on paid games, which you should find and become familiar with. 

al e. said: I am not a lawyer, but you should probably get permission to use any intellectual property. Several of the artists have given blanket permission to use their work, but to be on the safe side I would ask. Modules are probably not going to be useable without express permission. On the other hand, I doubt that anyone would waste their time trying to get a large payment from someone with no money. The most likely worst case scenario would be a Cease and Desist letter. Roll 20 has some published material on paid games, which you should find and become familiar with.  Ah, finally, a response. I really appreciate it. I'll dig into all of that.

Standard "not a lawyer" disclaimer, but I believe you don't need to worry about permission/IP as long as you're not streaming.  If you're just charging for your time in a gaming session, that's acceptable use.  It's when you start profiting off of the visuals in a streaming context when you get into licensing issues.

The Aaron said: Standard "not a lawyer" disclaimer, but I believe you don't need to worry about permission/IP as long as you're not streaming.  If you're just charging for your time in a gaming session, that's acceptable use.  It's when you start profiting off of the visuals in a streaming context when you get into licensing issues. Ah, that's a huge relief. I've only streamed a session once, and that's because it was the final session of a 3 year long campaign.  That will make things a lot easier. I did reach out and got permission from one of the module makers I was looking at, incidentally.

Back in shadowy pre-history, I ran D&D sessions for pay. This was before the interwebs existed, so, in person. I found that they went better if I completely rewrote all of the adventures. Putting it all in your own language and style means, unless you imbibe before the game, you will know exactly what the author meant. There is a tradition in RPGs that filing off the serial numbers makes it your creation, and it would mean nobody could legally challenge you. BTW- When I embarked on this 'get poor quick' scheme I quickly found that I earned less than minimum wage when it was all said and done. If you are desperate to put food on the table shipping companies will hire anyone who can pass a background check to load trucks this time of year. It ain't glam, but it does pay. I did 30 years at [redacted] after taking a desperation job. Good luck at whatever course you take.

al e. said: Back in shadowy pre-history, I ran D&D sessions for pay. This was before the interwebs existed, so, in person. I found that they went better if I completely rewrote all of the adventures. Putting it all in your own language and style means, unless you imbibe before the game, you will know exactly what the author meant. There is a tradition in RPGs that filing off the serial numbers makes it your creation, and it would mean nobody could legally challenge you. BTW- When I embarked on this 'get poor quick' scheme I quickly found that I earned less than minimum wage when it was all said and done. If you are desperate to put food on the table shipping companies will hire anyone who can pass a background check to load trucks this time of year. It ain't glam, but it does pay. I did 30 years at [redacted] after taking a desperation job. Good luck at whatever course you take. The last job I had I quit in August. My intention was to take a month off and then find something. I had a good savings. My brother was hospitalized and everything changed. I took more time off because he needed his family, and my mom and I were the only ones with regular availability to go see him. The job I quit was a factory job that I'd worked for almost 5 years, and that took a huge toll on my mind and body. Forgive me for being a choosy beggar, but that's not a type of work I'm going to pick up ever again if I can avoid it. I'm aware of how little it will earn, though I think that the internet has made it a bit easier to make such a thing profitable. I just want to eat and keep the lights on until I can find work that is both more consistent and that I actually want to do.