DM Burnout or DM Frustration With His Players?

[+5 Keyboard!]

I need some help identifying what my issue is and how to handle it. I have a habit of reacting rashly to things frustrating me and for the sake of my game and not pissing off my friends/players I'd like to approach the situation objectively with a little help from you all.

I recently started up a new D&D campaign in which the players get to roleplay themselves in a low magic fantasy world based on a novel I've read many times, The Infinity Concerto by Greg Bear. I'm trying to run it similarly to the way the book unfolds, but I want to open it up and explore areas only hinted at or skimmed over n the subject world, which is dominated by Sidhe (elves), which are far more powerful than humans and despise our kind. In this way, I'm trying to avoid the railroading that comes of trying to recreate a story. So far it's gone pretty well. The players have all told me that they really enjoy it and it's the most fun they've ever had. Great, right? So what's the problem?

Well, I also keep a campaign journal over at the Paizo boards. Keeping a journal of this campaign (and I've written about my past ones as well) was at the request of my players. I told them that if I started one up they would need to maintain it since I have some pretty hefty writing assignments that need to be my focus right now.

Here's the problem, I've written some pretty detailed stuff in the journal, but after the initial week my players are basically not reading it or contributing to it and it's frustrating the hell out of me. I feel like they don't appreciate the time and effort I put into providing this cool journal for them, which is intended for them to keep up. That frustration has started a chain of tangential feelings that has me not wanting to put forth the effort of preparing a fun game for them (another thing that requires a lot of time and thought from me) and even thinking of just cancelling running a game altogether so I can focus on my current writing assignments and getting new ones.

So what do I do? How do I handle this situation other than the obvious "talk to your players about how you're feeling"? Is it DM burnout or is it just DM frustration?

 

[Crothian]

I would call it frustration. Basically it sounds like you are frustrated with the players not doing what they said they would do. Since you already know of the obvious talk to the players there are two other suggestions I have. You can lower your expectations of them or you can reward them for writing in the journal. Of course if rewards don't work you can punish them for not. The carrot and the stick method does have some uses.

 

[Chimera]

Been there, done that, ended gaming groups over it.

My last campaign, I told people that I would be sending an important e-mail and that I wanted everyone to read it and think about it before the next session. Then I sent the e-mail and in it, said that we would spend the first part of the session discussing it.

Not one player read it.

The most frustrating part was that, despite all the up-front notice and comments, the one person that I really expected to care said "I just figured that if it was really important, we'd cover it in-session". (Yeah, that would be why I said otherwise, eh?)

So then I read aloud the e-mail and opened the table for discussion. My players literally said "Ok" and moved on without ANY discussion.


I dunno what you can do about it. Players in most groups I've belonged to are infamous for ignoring anything that doesn't happen right in front of them. Heck, let me amend that. If you pay attention, you'll notice a significant portion barely interact or make decisions at the table. They're only along for the ride.


The only thing I can suggest is to put the game on haitus for a couple of weeks. Let your people know that you have assignments to work on and, at the same time, that you feel that the amount of work required for the game is going completely unappreciated.

Of course, if history is a judge, they won't get it. They'll just find another GM.

 

[+5 Keyboard!]

The only thing I can suggest is to put the game on haitus for a couple of weeks. Let your people know that you have assignments to work on and, at the same time, that you feel that the amount of work required for the game is going completely unappreciated.

Of course, if history is a judge, they won't get it. They'll just find another GM.

That is a depressingly accurate prediction of what would probably happen.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

So what do I do? How do I handle this situation other than the obvious "talk to your players about how you're feeling"? Is it DM burnout or is it just DM frustration?

I also have "been there, done that." My questions for you are:

Do you enjoy preparing the game?
Does the stress from the time it takes outweigh the fun you have?
Are the players still enjoying the game?
If you stopped working on the journal that the players are not reading or contributing to, would they actually miss it?

It seems the journal is the source of the problem. If they are not keeping up their end, then drop that aspect, focusing on your work first, then on preparing for the game. When you are prepping for the game, make sure you are doing it primarily because you are enjoying it, not because you feel you have to. If it means you have to cut back on your gaming schedule, do it and explain to your players that real life has to take priority over gaming.

It is frustrating when you feel like you are being taken for granted. Unfortunately you cannot make others appreciate what you are doing, so make sure you do it for yourself first, and hopefully they will come to appreciate you and your effort as a bonus.

 

[talien]

I feel for you man. I write a story hour summary of our sessions that provides important information. For every player who reads it (there are two), there are the rest who can't be bothered. At all. Ever.

There's been over 60 sessions at this point. That's a lot of information to cover. One of those people not reading any of the sessions was my own brother.

Because I often edit it in content that's relevant to future adventures, it's important that they read it. Given that their characters are the stars, you'd think they'd be a lot more interested. But they're not.

I've spoken with my brother about this in-depth, and the short of it was this: he does not like having to do a lot of work to learn about a fantasy world. Arcanis, apparently, was too "in-depth" for him. Having to figure out anything more than showing up to play was too much trouble.

So I retooled my expectations and I plan to launch a D20 Modern game, involving lots of shoot-outs with zombies, which is right up his alley. Or to put it another way, I enjoy narrative tales of adventure which great character development, and my brother enjoys action horror, with the hero cracking jokes as he blows away zombies.

The problem is that a GM's style of play that involves an immersive world is reliant upon other people to appreciate the world. Conversely, people who just like to kill stuff and have fun don't really care who is GMing. You need them more than they need you.

In my experience, this has ALWAYS been the case. The type of personality drawn to GMing is usually much more concerned about story and immersion. Players are basically your actors, and since you're not paying them, you'll need to find the game they want to play.

Or find new players.

 

[hexgrid]

I've had equally poor luck trying to get my players to participate in any out-of-game-session activities. And judging by what I've read on message boards, this is completely normal, and there's not much that can be done about it. Players just usually aren't as invested in the game as the DM.

My advice? The game is supposed to be fun. If the journal is causing you un-fun, scrap it and focus only on what you know everyone IS have fun with- the sessions themselves.

 

[Nebulous]

From one GM to another, players just don't get into the Behind-the-Scenes mechanics like a DM does. It's sad but true. I have one player that hasn't even taken some feats yet (and he's 6th level). Some of them don't read the adventure synopsis, some don't pay attention to written clues, etc. I think the trick is to know your group, and give them the minimal that you think they will be able to absorb. Anything else is unfortunately a waste of your time, unless you greatly enjoy writing long journal entries and get personal satisfaction out of it (even knowing that they will not)

 

[+5 Keyboard!]

Great observations so far. I think you guys nailed it for me. I pretty much need to let go of the journal. A good part of it is that I enjoy writing, but it's not ALL of it. The rest is creating something that others (mainly my players) will interact with. If they aren't interacting with it, well it's just not worth it.

I guess I need to focus on engaging the PCs with something that will excite them enough to want to write about it on a public forum. And if they still can't be bothered with it, well I guess I need to not let it bother me.

The players do enjoy the game. I mean, enough to tell me that it's the best time they've ever had. I guess I should focus on what's happening at the table and be content that they're happy there.

 

[Oryan77]

Players don't like to do homework. That's it...that's all I have for ya

Really though, they don't. The only discussion about your campaign that a player will ever really do outside of the game is character creation and after that, complaining about what they don't like about your game.

Think of it this way: sure, it sucks that players won't read about your campaign outside of the game, but...that just saves you from doing a lot of extra work.

I don't understand why you would quit DMing over this though. You already make time to DM when you're already busy writing papers. So if you no longer had to write a campaign journal, wouldn't this give you more time writing your papers and still have time to DM?

I run a Planescape game and there's Player's Guide books for every Outer Plane. It would be great if my players read them, but I don't think a single person has read any of the Player's Guide pdfs I've stuck on my website. So I just try to explain things in game. If anyone ever complains about not knowing more info, then I would tell them that they should learn it on their own in game or read the pdfs I provide.

But really, I don't think many players care about a campaign that much. They just want to play and have fun, and then go home.