Gamer Guilt Over Potential Gaming Shift

[Jared Rascher]

I'll preface this by saying if this does happen, its months in the future, barring something else going wrong. I'm committed to finishing up my current campaign before I move on from the rules system I'm using, because it just wouldn't be fair otherwise to my players.

So, here's the quick version. I'm burned out on d20 Fantasy games as a GM.

I'm seriously looking at moving on to Savage Worlds, using the Fantasy Companion for my own setting or the Hellfrost setting for my campaign.

Currently I'm running a Pathfinder Council of Thieves adventure path game at the FLGS. We're having a good time of it, but I'm getting a little worn out as we get higher level with the APG tricks the players are throwing at me, let alone any releases beyond that.

I know that a few of my players are in it to play Pathfinder. I also know that if I shift campaigns, I've got enough people to fill the table if I have people leave. So that isn't a problem.

However, I do feel responsible for some of the players. Some of them followed me to my Star Wars Saga game and picked up those rules. Some of them picked up the Pathfinder rules because I was running a game and they wanted in. I feel like I almost owe them as many sessions as I can squeeze out to repay their trust in me. However, I really don't think I have another Pathfinder campaign in me at this time.

I thought briefly that I could hand over the reins to another player if they wanted to GM, but I only have a limited number of gaming nights, and I really don't want to give up my "GM" slot for the night because I don't know when I'd have a chance to run an epic fantasy game again.

So I'm kind of mulling over what I should do. I've got easily a few months before I have to really worry about this, but I'd rather be thoughtful about this than to pull the trigger on the fly.

 

[Glade Riven]

I suggest taking a break from GMing all together for a while. It sounds like you need it.

 

[DumbPaladin]

I'm not sure I really have enough information to advise you, but I do have questions:

-- If you were to start all the players at level 1 and run Pathfinder again, but restrict all things you disliked in the APG and disallow all further books (or at least, not allow anything with your approval), would that make you interested in being a DM?

-- Would it be all right with you if a few of the people left to find a Pathfinder group? Is there really anything wrong with that happening? Not everyone in your group may be interested in the next system you choose.

-- You say the players are throwing "tricks" at you from Paizo books, but what does this mean? Are you suggesting they are cheating? Or do you just find their ingenuity frustrating? Do you not have a good time unless you, as DM/GM, are able to "put one over" on the players? That's kind of what that sounded like to me -- a "DM vs. players" scenario.

 

[Jared Rascher]

I suggest taking a break from GMing all together for a while. It sounds like you need it.

I don't think I'm burned out as a GM, given that I'm pretty energized when it comes to the DC Adventures game that I'm running on alternating Tuesdays.

 

[Jared Rascher]

-- If you were to start all the players at level 1 and run Pathfinder again, but restrict all things you disliked in the APG and disallow all further books (or at least, not allow anything with your approval), would that make you interested in being a DM?

Not really, because I don't really want to sift through rules to find things that are problematic. And I'm not really not wanting to be a GM, I'm just getting this kind of mental static when it comes to people discussing options and new books and the like (and not all of them want to use them, but the discussion in general is what's causing the static).

-- Would it be all right with you if a few of the people left to find a Pathfinder group? Is there really anything wrong with that happening? Not everyone in your group may be interested in the next system you choose.

I'd be fine with it, although I would miss playing with some of them. Some of them are like me and have a limited number of nights to game, and as such I likely wouldn't have a game in common with them for a while.

-- You say the players are throwing "tricks" at you from Paizo books, but what does this mean? Are you suggesting they are cheating? Or do you just find their ingenuity frustrating? Do you not have a good time unless you, as DM/GM, are able to "put one over" on the players? That's kind of what that sounded like to me -- a "DM vs. players" scenario.

It wasn't intended to imply any kind of shenanigans on my player's part. Its more a matter of doing things like compensating for having six players in the party and making rooms larger to accommodate encounters, then having pit spells take up 10 x 10 sections of the room and putting bad guys out of reach of other players because of the drop off, and cutting the encounter area back down after I modified the map to accommodate the larger party.

 

[catsclaw227]

-- You say the players are throwing "tricks" at you from Paizo books, but what does this mean? Are you suggesting they are cheating? Or do you just find their ingenuity frustrating? Do you not have a good time unless you, as DM/GM, are able to "put one over" on the players? That's kind of what that sounded like to me -- a "DM vs. players" scenario.

I didn't get this at all.

Sounds to me like he is tired of rules bloat, and as a GM, it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff - just because it's in a book doesn't mean it's balanced. And power creep is difficult to balance as a DM.

And, quite frankly, I burned out on 3.x when it got to level 14 or so and beyond. It presented the kinds of challenges as a DM that I wasn't interested in facing. I like RP challenges, in-game conflicts, etc. Not the challenge of balancing a normal player PC and the Char-Op boards player PC.

 

[Jared Rascher]

I didn't get this at all.

Sounds to me like he is tired of rules bloat, and as a GM, it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff - just because it's in a book doesn't mean it's balanced. And power creep is difficult to balance as a DM.

And, quite frankly, I burned out on 3.x when it got to level 14 or so and beyond. It presented the kinds of challenges as a DM that I wasn't interested in facing. I like RP challenges, in-game conflicts, etc. Not the challenge of balancing a normal player PC and the Char-Op boards player PC.

Yes, this is more along the lines of what I'm thinking. I'm already spending time modifying the published adventure to make it appropriate for six characters, but the published adventure is behind in the "arms race" because was written assuming the core rules.

 

[DumbPaladin]

I apologize if I got the wrong impression from your statement.

What I can tell you is that you will not be happy if you continue to run a game in ANY system if you are doing it out of a sense of obligation. You certainly won't enjoy it if you are running a system you no longer wish to run.

If you've already made your decision to switch to a new system, I would highly recommend you notify your players ASAP, so that they will know the end is coming. If they want to find a new group to play Pathfinder it, they could use the time to do so. Or, they may end up using the time to become interested in the new system you are proposing to use.

But tell them now, if you know now.

If you haven't made your decision, decide as soon as possible, so your players can be notified that their Pathfinder days with you are over.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Take a break. Sometimes, that's what it takes.

The last long D&D campaign I ran ended poorly in part because I was burned out on being a FRPG GM and didn't recognize it. I was tapping a dry well. I've recharged a bit since then, but the campaign idea I have been working on would require more work than my current group wants to go through...including potentially learning a new system.

But even if it means no RPG gaming for a while because nobody else steps up, take. A. Break. It really hurt me when I realized what a crappy job I'd done behind the screen, and it damaged my credibility as a GM.

 

[S'mon]

You're not doing anything wrong. It wouldn't be reasonable for a player to expect multiple Pathfinder campaigns out of you because you asked them to buy the Pathfinder rules for your current campaign - cancelling the campaign after a few sessions would be questionable behaviour, but running the full campaign is all they could possibly ask for. Personally I'd not think I 'owed' them any more than to complete the current adventure, 4-6 sessions.