How do you stop a DM from starting NEW campaigns all the time?

[Keeper of Secrets]

It sounds like you have a DM with ADD or something. I would suggest a firm intervention, or firing him from being DM. I can't tell you how much this would frustrate me.

 

[Seeten]

We have quite the opposite. We have a player who loves making new characters. He gets bored easily of his characters, and just keeps making more. He doesnt generally want to play them more than 2 sessions, and the DM ends up starting and re-starting and making new campaigns all the time for his "New" characters.

 

[Turanil]

If the DM has grown tired with the campaign but the players haven't, do the players have a right to tell him they don't want to start a new campaign? Or, is the DM the creative genius and it's his ultimate decision if he/she wants to end/begin a campaign?

Okay, first sorry, but have not read the other answers...

My opinion: you can tell him you wish to run only one campaign from low level to epic. Always the same PC, not a new one every three gaming sessions. A suggestion: your DM could run a multiverse planar campaign. Every time he want to begin something new, it's just another plane. The PCs are planar travellers and regularly change of plane, but they still are the same PC campaigns after campaigns.

 

[Belen]

If you have a DM who starts new campaigns all the time because he/she gets "bored" of the current campaign how do you stop him/her?

I've got a DM who wants to start a new campaign but we've barely played the current one. When I roll up a PC I want to develop his character and play him to Epic levels. I don't want to have to fold him up and put him on the shelf with all the other short-lived PCs I have in the wings. I find it very frustrating as a player if I am denied developing my PC.

If the DM has grown tired with the campaign but the players haven't, do the players have a right to tell him they don't want to start a new campaign? Or, is the DM the creative genius and it's his ultimate decision if he/she wants to end/begin a campaign?

Thanks.

Maybe you should ask him why he gets bored. Is there something that the players do to cause a loss of fun on the GM's part? If not, then does the GM ever get to play?

As a GM, I get tired of the games sometimes, especially when I get a new idea for another game. Somtimes, you just want a change. Maybe you could suggest that the GM run his new idea as a one shot or short story arc and then you can get back to the original game.

If no one else is willing to GM, then maybe the GM needs a break of change of venue to keep the fun alive.

In the end, you would probably not enjoy playing in a game where the GM is not having fun.

 

[Gwaihir]

I feel like I need to weigh in on this, since I am a DM that has this propensity. Though I have run long (2-3 years) campaigns. I have also played in another long campaign (3 years) and that DM felt as I do.
We got more reward from world creation than from weekly play sessions. And while some of this can be accomplished in a current campaign, there is just something about starting from scratch.
On the other hand, from a players perspective this pretty much stinks...

 

[der_kluge]

Ritalan can help.

Yea, Planescape can work well for this. Another idea you can consider is to swap out DMs on a regular basis, so he doesn't get burnt out.

Another idea I've seen (as lame as it is, it might work). But some of the RPGA folk in Kansas City (where I used to live) had an idea of a city of portals, with portals to everyone's homebrew game. So, whoever was running the game, that was the portal they would go into, and then they'd be in his world. It was an easy explanation for why the same characters kept showing up in all these different worlds.

Well, it might work for you. Would also be an excuse as to why "Joe" keeps switching out characters all the time - the party decided to bring a different person along than last time, for example.

So, everyone is happy.

 

[Scotley]

Is it possible that the DM isn't confident in his ability to handle higher level games? A lot of people don't like to run higher level games. Many will restart every time a game approaches double digits. It is harder for the DM to deal with all possiblities that the player have. They can use powerful abilities that ruin poorly thought out plots. A few divination and teleport spells can reduce a poor DM to tears. Perhaps he needs to grow as a DM before he's ready for higher levels.

 

[iwatt]

I think the best way to stop GM doing this is to be very proactive in the existing campaign, coming up with lots of plans & goals for your PC and making it a PC-driven campaign rather than GM-driven. PC-driven campaigns are much easier to sustain over the long term. If the GM isn't interested in your PC's goals then he's probably not very good anyway. Be positive - make the GM _want_ to continue the campaign so he finds out what happens next!

Exactly. As a GM, I have a ton of dieas for different settings, ranging from pre-historic fantasy to star-wars, mechwarrior, etc... But what really interests me is the building of a story with interesting characetrs. If my players can get into the game, become personally invested in something more than getting the next feat or spell, I will stick to the campaign. But for this I need more player involvement (i.e backstory, relevant NPCs, goals, ambitions, etc..). If my players aren't giving me this, I rather get to exploer new options and settings for the next 6-8 months.
Part of the problem is that we just changed from College playing (8 hrs sessions, a lot of free time) to a more time-restricted schedule, so my players haven't adjusted to playing less time and less frequently. A good part of the session is spent rehashing were the PCs are, what they´re going to do, etc..., so the little time left we perfer to spend it with alot of action.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

I'm a DM. I try to create a campaign that will allow the PCs to get to high levels. I started Eberron a year ago. I explained that alignment is fuzzy. I asked if every character could find a connection to House Tharashk and that merchant house would serve as a patron. Everyone agree.

Everything worked until around 8th level. I DM for five characters. Suddenly, one would quit the campaign if his character had to work with House Tharashk anymore and he wanted to go off on a mad quest. Another wants to just make magic items. Another just wants to power attack and kill all evil. Another started as a member of House Tharashk but is now lost.

I put so much effort into this game. I wrote every adventure myself. I worked hard to keep the group together logically. My players, however, seem to be me, me, me. All of which surprises me because they are good guys and work well together at low levels.

I dislike the hostile, "fire the DM", threads in response to this post. I think people who post things like fire a DM who isn't doing what you want are exactly the people who contribute to DM burnout.

The best advice is, if you can do better than your DM go for it. I challenge long time players to DM even levels 10+ not to mention Epic levels. Creating adventures is work but fun. Trying to run five seperate mini campaigns for five players who won't work together is work and not fun.

The suggestion to give lots of ideas and plots to the DM is great. However, make sure those ideas and plots involve the group not just your PC. If you do that, and your DM stops the campaign, then I'd have a talk with him about it. Try to get him interested in your PCs and their stories again.

I'm willing to do the work to get a campaign to Epic levels (and it is a huge amount of work). But my players must give up some individual freedom and compromise both with me and each other for it to work.

If you're doing all the comprising you can and your DM won't listen then you'll have to DM yourself or find another DM. But usually it isn't all the DMs fault.

 

[Mr. Lobo]

I've seen a DM that had exactly that same problem. It seemed like each time he bought a new book, he either wanted to A) start over basing his campaign there or B) find some silly excuse to jump our group into that realm. All of this came after he declared the original campaign was going to last a long time and we should focus on developing our characters.

I'd recommend just talking to the DM and try to get them to commit to the story and stay focused on it.

Guilty as charged with the following modifications:

A) Didn't really start a new campaign per se but wanted to run a one-shot adventure with new characters that tied in with the current campaign (the idea was to run a "cut scene") in which

B) The original PC's gated over to the Forgotten Realms to find some information about a missing piece of the "Staff of Reunification". The focal points in the Realms were The Silver Marches and "The Heart of Nightfang Spire".

A difference could be that I explained my desires to the group before setting these up. If they strongly disagreed then I was willing to keep the current campaign in the original homebrewed world.