30 years for what?

[Morrus]

I don't think that's all that uncommon, especially as we get older. And especially as we come to value the time spent doing something fun with our friends over the edition of that activity itself; new editions start to feel like a burden rather than an exciting opportunity. And rules-lite systems with innovative mechanics start to appeal more as the idea of learning new systems just takes too much time.

We haven't played D&D in two years; we played Pathfinder for about a year, Traveller for a few months, a bunch of board games, and we're now playing a 1986 Star Trek RPG. And I run a site that started as a D&D fan site, so I surprise even myself with that!

 

[Warbringer]

Take a step away, spend time just story-telling with friends, you'll find a desire to start having those shared stories turn into gaming sessions. That may not be any current edition of DND, or any edition period, but it will happen.

It feels like burn out, but the passion is just choked by clutter. It will come back. It did for me

 

[DEFCON 1]

I have a hard time comprehending people who actually DO play the same exact system for years on end and never play other games. I don't know how they can stand it, quite honestly.

 

[JeffB]

Been there,.done that. Play some.different games, try some old school D&D.

When games become work, it is time to make some changes.

 

[Stormonu]

This may be a stupid question, but: why not just play nWoD or Savage Worlds? I'm sure one or both of them must have some sort of fantasy toolkit available (perhaps not 'officially', but is that truly a barrier?)

That's the thing; right now I feel so burnt out, I don't even want to play the systems I normally like. I've hit a point that I'm not even sure I really like RPGs. Grabbing any RPG off my shelf makes me sigh and ask myself, "is this really how I want to spend my time?"

Oddly enough, I've been spending more time of late playing board games (pandemic, BSG, The Adventurers and others), reading graphic novels and an occasional game of 40K.

I don't know what's spawned my RPG apathy of late, but I almost feel as if I have an aversion to them right now, and it somewhat bothers me - having devoted so much of my life to them in the past.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

Burnout happens. Take some time away. Play board and card games. Indulge in a drinking problem... I mean a craft beer exploration. You'll want to come back to RPGs eventually.

 

[Li Shenron]

I have a hard time comprehending people who actually DO play the same exact system for years on end and never play other games. I don't know how they can stand it, quite honestly.

I think there are at least 2 possible ways for that to happen:

1) they really enjoy system mastery (e.g. think of those who play chess or bridge all their lives, constantly get better and better, and never stop playing the same game!) which means that they don't want changing the rules even a bit because that would require to reset what they've learned instead they want to get indefinitely better

2) they really don't care about the rules so they might as well use what they have, no need to change, because anyway they are totally focused on the story, the characters, and the roleplay

I think both are quite rare, to be honest, but the first one probably even more.

 

[Li Shenron]

That's the thing; right now I feel so burnt out, I don't even want to play the systems I normally like. I've hit a point that I'm not even sure I really like RPGs. Grabbing any RPG off my shelf makes me sigh and ask myself, "is this really how I want to spend my time?"

Oddly enough, I've been spending more time of late playing board games (pandemic, BSG, The Adventurers and others), reading graphic novels and an occasional game of 40K.

I don't know what's spawned my RPG apathy of late, but I almost feel as if I have an aversion to them right now, and it somewhat bothers me - having devoted so much of my life to them in the past.

Thinking about it, you really shouldn't worry... what is there to worry? You don't have to do anything, you're supposed to play RPG because you like doing so, if right now you don't enjoy this, do something else Maybe after taking a break for a few months or years you'll feel like playing again. Maybe you'll find a new hobby you like just as much. You can always come back anytime anyway

 

[Umbran]

And then it really hit me. D&D had become a beast.

With respect, it has been a beast at least since 1e, and possibly before. Maybe things were not this way for you personally, but speaking broadly: Rules-lawyering arguments and taking a ton of time to get through a combat were there from the start. Nor are such issues a D&D thing - let yourself settle into that nWoD for a while, and you'll find it has lots of room for the same detailed min-maxing as you see in D&D.

Maybe your memories of the individual minutes are crystal clear, but I think most of us forget that way-back-when our play had all the same issues. 30 years ago, we were arguing over rules, and getting annoyed at each other because that other dude was acting like a jerk and killed our characters, and played favorites among the folks in the group, and... simply put, everything that could have been bad in a game happened back then, too. 30 years ago was not some glory day when games were prefect, I'm afraid.

Now, we have a more sophisticated view of our activity. We have names for "spotlight time" and "rules-lawyering" and "social contracts" and such. Having that framework changes our perceptions of games we play today, but doesn't really touch on our distant memories.

On top of that, simply put, nobody is the same person now as they were 30 years ago. People change. This is natural. It is thus natural that what we want changes. The things we were quite willing to spend oodles of time on quite happily back then are anathema to us now. It is like... developing an allergy after long exposure. And human memory is not as exact as we'd want it to be. If we are not careful, we don't take the perspective changes into account in our remembrances. We don't recall thing X bothering us, so it must not have existed! It is more that we have forgotten, or even kind of enjoyed X at the time.

Which is not to say that you can play D&D today and like it just as much. I'm more saying that maybe you're pointing the finger at the wrong root cause. Your burnout may not be because the game has changed and become a bad thing. But *you* have changed, and now no longer fit the same game and playstyle. You should be changing up your game like you change up your wardrobe, man! Are you wearing the same clothes you did 30 years ago?

 

[Celebrim]

The memories: what else?