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Aug 9, 2010 -- 11:22AM, Balerion wrote:

Alphastream, what are you doing, specifically, to "drive interest and add story and immersion, so [you] are growing all the time"?

Also, do you pay your DMs? How do you recruit enough DMs to keep up with increased players?

 

We don't pay our DMs. Honestly, the first session of Undermountain we were just saying out loud "wow, we will need more DMs" and players stepped up and said "hey, I might DM". The success has since attracted other people. We even have backup DMs willing to help, as well as volunteers that print things, do layout on handouts, etc. We share the load. I do reporting and prepare tracking sheets. I print out the warhorn list for who is signed up. Another person takes that list and signs in each player and helps fill tables. DMs that arrive early put the stuff on tables. Etc.

We do make sure they get a copy of the adventure. We give away extra posters and things like that. I worked with the store to get 20% off on D&D products on any encounter night or on pre-orders. We periodically do a raffle.

In terms of what we do to encounters, I've detailed them in my weekly write-ups. At the highest level, we just get the DMs excited. We do this by having the more experienced DMs share ideas on our DMs Google Group and then fielding comments/questions. This helps make sure DMs are prepped and also that they have some fun ideas. We used to have a quick DMs meeting before each session, but they really get it now and we have skipped that.

An example of what can be done is just to look at the room and monsters in an encounter and ask what the story is behind them. If the room is part of an elemental temple tainted by necrotic energy, then let's think of some ways to make that part interesting. Cover the walls in ancient elemental "prayers". Add a feature or two that can help the combat, such as braziers that when lit help counter the necrotic taint or elemental imbalance. Have monsters communicate with the party as they fight, helping to set the story for what is taking place. Honestly, that's almost as much fun for me to think through as running the actual tables. The DMs seem to share this. One of them was telling me how they added all these elemental aspects to an encounter, such as talking to an elemental spirit to help them open a door. Another DM made a torn map. Good stuff.

Aug 10, 2010 -- 7:42AM, Kedrith wrote:

 Good to see Alpha's lfgs is good the DMs. Im lucky in that my lfgs does the same.  Every staff goes out of thier way to thank us and the 20% discount on any D&D products anytime doesnt hurt either.

Alpha you out of an Uncle's Games store too?

Nope, our store is Guardian Games. We had seven new DCI/RPGA cards this week. Pretty cool.

• Do ask all of your players. I was really surprised that 3-4 of our players over time asked us to be DMs. Partly this is because we made DMing look cool.
• Offer your DMs something. The drink cozies, copies of the mod, discount of x at the store, raffle for some old product, etc. This can be a good incentive and a way to keep DMs feeling happy. I've got a box of cardboard minis/tokens and some other stuff another DM gave me that I will take to the store and give to DMs today.
• Try sites like Meetup, ENWorld, and other places to request DMs. A lot of times Meetup can have DMs looking to start a home campaign. This can be a way for those DMs to sharpen DM skills and meet players. They may find a home campaign on the side via DMing for Encounters.
• Run a DMs list and drive what you like in terms of quality. You can see from my recent posts an example of the kind of guidance we provide to DMs. We read each encounter, look for possible issues, dream up enhancements, and send that to DMs. We also provide really clear guidance in terms of our goals - they know TPKs are to be avoided and that the job is only done well if players are having fun. This avoids the worst DM issues. We also try to stress story. We are fortunate that our DMs really seem to like that aspect and do some great dramatic deliveries and story expansion.
• Worst case, consider running on two nights and having DMs do the work twice. This may require some other compensation. Compensation can be arranged with the store if everyone puts their heads together. For example: organize a discount for players that pre-order new D&D book X. DMs promote the book by handing out a flier about it and the discount. In exchange for the marketing/promotion, DMs get a discount on D&D stuff. The idea being for everyone to win. I organized a raffle for any player that showed me a receipt in a two-week period and I saw 12 store receipts for $20+. That is meaningful to the store and helps everyone.