How do I recover from a DM burnout?

Mark Chance · Dec 16, 2009

Shades of Green said:
In the past, about a dozen years ago, I was able to prep for and DM three sessions of D&D (2E back then) per week, with at least two hours per session. Prep took me about an hour per session...

If not getting out of the DMing business is a good fix, you could try not prepping so much. A prep hours to session hours ratio of 1 to 2 seems awfully high to me, no matter what game system we're talking about.

Shoot for something more like a 1 to 4 ratio and then do something relaxing with the extra time. I like to read and drink whiskey, for example.

Prep one-page dungeons and just wing the rest.

Herschel · Dec 16, 2009

Wepwawet said:
D&D night is to play D&D. If not, then I have many other things I rather spend my time with ..... going out, dating.

Fess up, you're not a real gamer, are you.

TheAuldGrump · Dec 17, 2009

You are already doing one thing that I would recommend - running something different. I currently have three (!) games going (honestly, I was trying to cut back) - one Pathfinder (in theory every other week, in reality three out of four), one Spycraft set in the 1890s, and one Spycraft CSI: Arkham.

But since you are already alternating two streams of thought, and are still feeling burnt out....

What you may want to try is running a hack 'n' slash, kick open the door, kill the monster, grab the treasure, and run game, where the whole point is to have some beer 'n' pretzels fun. Where you don't have to worry about quality. Tell your players that your brain won some free tickets to Aruba, and will be back from vacation in a while. And that their minds are welcome to wander too.

Do this for a month or two, then see if you feel like running a more meat and potatoes game - odds are, you will feel much better about running your regular game, your brain having gone on vacation for a while.

Yes, I did this, about three or four years ago, it helped.

The Auld Grump

JediJake · Dec 17, 2009

This is all excellent advice upthread and I'd like to second or third some of it. I had a similar experience with burnout and my solutions where the same. Take a break, write a short story, play the game instead of run it(was a big one help to me), have a bunch of uh extracurricular activities instead of your prep time and run a game with no prep. Pulling a session out of my (then clothed) butt and having it be one of the more memorable sessions with the players being none the wiser was an excellent feeling.

Good gaming, Jake

Herobizkit · Dec 28, 2015

[MENTION=67338]GMforPowergamers[/MENTION] - if you happen to still peek in EnWorld, this old thread is full of great info for DM's who may be suffering burnout.