anyone else burned-out with D&D?

[GlassJaw]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ranger REG
If you think are you're about to suffer a burn-out, suggest a change of game.

Suggesting is very easy. Getting them to actually do it is very hard.

So true. I'm in two groups right now. One is very high-level (15-16th level), high-power with emphasis on combat. The other is 1st level with a couple of n00bs. Some also still play 2ed which I find VERY frustrating because they are trying to relate 3ed rules to 2ed. I'm also on the fence about trying to explain the rules to them in-game versus keeping the pace moving. I just have a hard time "allowing" incorrect rulings.

Anyway, in both cases, all the players are very into D&D and aren't really interested in other games. Some of the players are weekend warriors/D&D'er. Some are rookies who are enthralled by D&D. Talking about games like Mutants & Masterminds and Shadowrun falls on deaf ears.

So I'm really torn. The high-level campaign has been going strong for 2+ years. My cousin and best friend (who I first played D&D with) is the other group after being away from gaming for many years. It really pains me to say it but I find myself becoming bored while I'm at the gaming table. I have such a "been there, done that" attitude right now and it kind of makes me nervous. I SO want to get away from D&D but I feel like I'll be letting a lot of people down. I concerned that some of my friends wouldn't be really happy with me.

Anyway, I'm glad to see Shadowrun and M&M getting a lot of love in here. If only I lived closer to some of my fellow EN World'ers!!

Great thread so far guys. I think I realize I'm not alone. :\

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Talking about games like Mutants & Masterminds and Shadowrun falls on deaf ears.

Oh yeah. I so know that reaction. I may get one, possibly two interested people, but mostly I just get a desire to get back to their D&D game from them.

It really pains me to say it but I find myself becoming bored while I'm at the gaming table. I have such a "been there, done that" attitude right now and it kind of makes me nervous. I SO want to get away from D&D but I feel like I'll be letting a lot of people down. I concerned that some of my friends wouldn't be really happy with me.

You sure you're not me? I was becoming increasingly bored at sessions, to the point where I was working out plots for other systems that I'd never run while the game was going.

It took me a while and a couple of halted attempts before I took this current break. Whenever I said I needed a break, it seemed the DM would do his best to pull me back to the table. Like, suddenly, my character became very important to the current plot or the adventures sure would have been a lot easier if my character had been there. Course, it didn't help that they played at my apartment (which was the only available space large enough for all of them). I'd be asked "You sure you don't want to play?" about six or seven times each night by the DM. I usually caved after a week or two to make the questions stop. I continually felt like I was letting them down by my not being there

But now, they're not playing in my apartment anymore (they're in my apartment complex's clubhouse). It made my taking a break a lot easier, since I don't regularly see them away from the game night anyway, I'm not getting repeatedly asked about why I'm not gaming. I told myself they will do just fine without me. My character's duties can be carried out more easily and more efficiently by other members of the party.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I find that I can't stop thinking about new campaign types and styles.

I know it drives my players batty but now I want to put together a D&D variant that eschews some of the D&D staples: XP by CR; magic item dependence; huge variety of character options; instant healing; multiple combats; prolific amounts of wealth...

I want to include a few more options such as: steel qualities; armour as DR; hp & vitality; defence bonus; healing salves; all classes cast spontaneously; open class lists; superior qualities for weapons/armour/healing salves/poisons depending on the relevant skill; character story advancement for XP; max hp and 50pt characters; class availability by region; by region human "racial" bonuses; sanity...

We've got 2 campaigns already of markedly different flavour (hack and role) going so I guess it is just a creative urge.

 

[Alnag]

Burn-out? Yes! By DnD? I don't know. At first DnD 3e returned me to playing RPG extensively, it was almost as nice feeling as my first RPG steps 10 years ago. And than something just break. I don´t know wheather it was the books filled with feats, equipment, spells, magic items and monsters which didn´t interest me much or still the same group playing in still the same manners. We´ve tired whatever was possible - changing DMs, settings, systems. We still play but the charming spell of playing is no longer there. I feel depressed and I don´t know why...

 

[Kae'Yoss]

No burnout here. I sometimes get tired of a character, but that usually is because he doesn't fit into the party (like one time, where "non-good characters" were to be made, but it ended up with really evil guys except my CN) or I have been seduced by the Dark Side of Roleplaying (playing a power concept I can't really relate to). Such a thing can be fixed by dumping the character and playing another. (OK, I'm infamous for doing that, since there are still so many classes and concepts I want to try...)

To help you against burning out, try a change of pace. The most extreme thing would be changing to another RPG, giving D&D a rest. But you don't have to do that.

You can rotate DM's. Other people might have other gaming styles, and that will help.

Change the gaming style: Combat-oriented to story-oriented (or mixing it differently).

Other alignment: Instead of playing do-gooders, play ne'er-do-wells. Instead of heroes who fight villains, be the villains. Or dump the moral axis and make a law versus chaos campaign (works good in a planar campaign)

Change the d20 Game: Get away from D&D and do a little d20 Modern, d20 Future, or maybe Urban Arcana (that one still has magic, but it's much weaker there. Besides, having drow in the Bronx, watching a rapper and wondering why he chants something about him "getting real", while his hands keep saying "my moon is a fat green hippo" in drow sign, over and over, is something you have to see with your own eyes ;-)). Or use one of the licensed games, like StarWars, StarGate, Cthulhu or Babylon 5. Conan.....

Change the campaign theme. Always playing in the Dalelands of the Forgotten realms will get bland sooner or later. A change of Campaign Setting will help you (and sometimes it even helps to change the area). Do a Dark campaign with Midnight, horror with Ravenloft, or something weird with planescape or spelljammer.

Get Unearthed Arcana and try out some of the rules variants. Using VP/WP, a class bonus to defense and Armor as DR instead of AC might be what you need. Or maybe Gestalt characters in a game where there are almost no magic items and very little loot (we do that in a Ravenloft campaign, and it seems to work). Gestalt can also work well if you stipulate one of the classes (all wizard-something characters) or have them all play a monster race and have the other slot free for a regular class (level adjustment in monster classes are for both gestalt-choices, not just for one, though you might half it for you lose two classes for every adjustment. Another modifier than 0.5 might work, too) Have honor instead of alignment, or introduce sanity checks.

The D&D you play might no longer be interesting to you, but you can play another flavour.

 

[diaglo]

Nope. Not burned out at all.

Ghost quote: "Ditto."

i'm not burned out on D&D.

i am burned out like a grasshut after a swift boat raid on d02.

my hat of d02 knows no limits.

 

[Desdichado]

at first i thought i was burned out on fantasy and magic in general, but the more i think about it, i think it's just D&D's style that doesn't agree with me any more.

low-level D&D is fun, but when it moves into the mid-levels (around 8 or 9) i really begin to lose interest. i don't like the way magic and magic items dominate play after that point. (i'm more of a low-magic kinda guy.)

Yeah, I got that angle covered as well. Luckily for me, the game I'm running removes most of the D&D style. Other than that, I'm playing in a Cthulhu campaign that's been plagued by scheduling problems, and I've done some d20 Modern with an X-files/Dark•Matter feel to it, and I've come close to doing some Star Wars and Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed.

So, I'm very happy with d20, I suppose, but not so much with D&D per se, at the moment.

 

[Turanil]

Anyway, just wanted to vent a bit and see if anyone else has gone through something similar. Any comments/thoughts/advice/flames?

I am currently burnt out of D&D. However, it may not exactly be D&D per se. I am more tired of the actual WotC art style for D&D; it has something vaguely punkish and totally bland I cannot bear anymore. I am an old player, and prefer typical old medieval ambiance and illustrations. Something that apparently is going to come back with Castles & Crusades, about which I am enthusiast for this reason (which goes along with nostalgia).

Anyway, my next campaign will use Grim Tales rules and new homebrew races, so I will be away form punkish D&D for a while. I would also like to run - play something d20 modern / d20 future.

In fact I am not burnt out of D&D as I am burnt out of the punkish Tolkien genre (I still want to scream that Eberron should not include darves, elves, and halflings! Only new races and classes!).

 

[Mystery Man]

Nope.

 

[WizarDru]

So, I'm very happy with d20, I suppose, but not so much with D&D per se, at the moment.

At the moment? Dude, don't you tinker with D&D so much that it could reasonably be called Dyal20?

Not burned out, personally. Hit some burn-out earlier this year with DM burnout, and we took a break and played other things, for a while, and had someone else DM. Now we're back and kicking butt.