We’re back! This week is all about Joshua Kurtz on Sustaining Craft the Podcast, a series that features those in a creative field. Joshua was the second interview ever on the podcast, and his episode featured music that he created. Lots of things have changed since then, including Joshua’s move to full-time Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master as of January 2020. Since we’ve added video, watch below or on YouTube, listen below through Fireside, or simply keep reading to learn more how Joshua has grown his business over the past year and a half.
Catch up! Here’s the original episode with Joshua:
And here’s the new stuff:
NEW – YOUTUBE VIDEO
NEW – PODCAST
Joshua Kurtz discovered his niche accidentally.
As a dungeon master, Joshua offers Dungeons and Dragons, along with a few other table-top games, for people of all ages. “That’s how I make my living,” Joshua explained. “I run games for people.”
But he focuses mainly on providing campaigns for children.
This is the first follow-up interview on Sustaining Craft! Read Joshua’s original story here.
Dungeons and Dragons has increased in popularity in recent years, due to exposure from shows like Stranger Things and The Big Bang Theory. It’s a role-playing table-top game that uses a D20 dice, and the campaigns and worlds are guided by a dungeon master. “It’s very easy for new players to get into it,” Joshua explained. “It’s easy to pick up a rule book and in a few days or less, just be ready to play.”
His journey to full-time Dungeons and Dragons dungeon master started years ago, with roots in theater.
Joshua wrote his first musical in high school at age 17. “I started writing it as a joke,” Joshua explained. “It was going to be funny. It was a little inside joke between me and a few friends for something else we were creating, like ‘What if this were a musical?’. And then my mom’s like, ‘Oh, you should ask the drama teacher if you could put it on there,’ and I did and she said yes, which was not what I was expecting her to say.”
Then he joined the Young Americans, a college touring group, for five years. He traveled the world, teaching kids to perform. When he made his way back to the states, he started his own theater company, Aftershock Entertainment.
He also began running sound for the Ritz Theatre Company, and he taught an acting class there in the summer of 2017. Parents started asking him if he offered childcare.
He explained that he wasn’t a professional childcare provider, but he could offer a table-top game for a few hours. Two and a half years later, Joshua has grown his business into full-time work and even discovered that others were making their own living as a dungeon master. “I’m seeing the stories start to circulate and people are realizing, ‘Oh this can be done,’” Joshua explained. “It wasn’t just me who grabbed this opportunity.”
He learned he should increase his rates. “I realized at that point, ‘Huh, I’m a very niche market, this is a very niche market, I’m not charging enough for my services,’” Joshua explained. “And it’s hard, because I’m asking people to come back over and over and over again, and I’m asking an audience and it’s mostly kids. But I did wind up raising my rates, which got very little resistance. Everyone was very supportive, especially when I said why.”
As of January 2020, he’ll be working with the tabletop game full-time, having doubled his groups since the summer of 2018. Joshua now manages nine groups with 42 students, ranging in age from 7 to 21 years old. “That’s absolutely absurd to me,” Joshua said. “It was [the majority of my income]. I was making more from D&D than from anything else. It’s December now, when we’re filming this, starting in January, it will be the entirety of my income.”
The average group consists of four students, while each group varies from two to six. His minimum price is $20 per student with a group minimum of $60. “It’s about the social aspect, so the more, the merrier,” Joshua explained. “Four really is the ideal size. It doesn’t take away from anyone’s screen time. Everyone gets plenty of time to interact and play, but there’s never so much pressure on one person that they have to carry the whole group. With a group of six, it can get a bit wild trying to get everyone a say in what’s going on. With a group of two, it can be a lot of time to focus on one specific kid.”
Joshua is offering two primary storylines set in the same world. The first one he created takes about two years to complete and tells a full story that guides players on their quest to save the world. Each group can impact the adventure based on the choices that they make. “The purpose of these campaigns is still to tell a story from beginning to end,” Joshua shared. “If you tell the story in a different way, the story is still being told. I find ways to incorporate these side adventures into the main thing or shorten parts of the main adventure to evoke similar emotions or experiences that the side adventure already gave them.”
Because dungeon masters manage the world and provide consequences and options, the work Joshua needs to complete varies. Some players will level up their characters on their own as they progress through the adventure. Other players need time during the session.
Joshua stressed the importance of understanding a targeted audience when building a creative business. “Know your audience,” Joshua shared. “I could never have done this if I tried to break into the scene of just playing with only adults.”
He found that parents respond well to the points that D&D touches on: socialization, creativity, problem solving, and a lack of electronics. “It was knowing were to talk to, where to reach out to that got me involved in this,” Joshua said. “It was knowing, or happening upon the fact that, homeschool groups are a great choice for this because homeschool parents are often looking for alternative outlets for their kids, and D&D is a beautiful way to do that.”
Joshua also offers Skype sessions for those not in the southern New Jersey area, and will start teaching sessions on how to become a dungeon master. “Because, really, D&D, and all tabletops, aren’t that complicated,” Joshua said. ”There’s always more if you’re looking. D&D has roughly I think about a dozen published books that are huge and full of information that you just don’t need. It’s great resource material if you want it. I recommend it highly for people who would like that kind of thing and want to expand their knowledge, but to start playing D&D, you can do that in an afternoon. I’d be happy to teach anyone who wants to know and I’d be happy to answer any questions. Give it a shot. Even if it’s not through me, try some tabletop roleplaying. I think it’s good for everyone. Anyone can enjoy it if they’re open to it.”
As always, there’s a lot more in the podcast episode! Joshua also has his own podcast, Natural 19, because a roll of 19 is almost perfect but not quite. He’s taken a hiatus on his podcast, but you can still take a listen, especially to my episode, here: What Even is D&D Anyway? Follow Joshua on Instagram or Facebook. Visit his website here. Email him at dndforhire@gmail.com. Follow Aftershock Entertainment on Instagram or Facebook. Visit the theater company’s website here. Find more information about Annie with Downstage Dinner Theater in Cherry Hill here.