D&D General DM Pause?

[atanakar]

How any times in a year do you take as step back from the DM chair to recharge your batteries and play instead? I'm taking the month of June off. My campaign is starting to get on my nerves. Best to take a step back and return to it later.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

How any times in a year do you take as step back from the DM chair to recharge your batteries and play instead? I'm taking the month of June off. My campaign is starting to get on my nerves. Best to take a step back and come back to it later.

I cant say ''per year'', but a least a month or two per campaign, when I'm getting bored with the adventure (as a DM, I already know the ending, and I my monsters keep losing their battles! ). After that time we usually go back or start something new if my players lost their motivation for that campaign.

 

[jgsugden]

That is often a factor of a lot of things - some of which have nothing to do with the game. I ran one campaign weekly for 4 years and never missed a week. Others, I ran for 4 sessions before I needed a break (from the players, primarily, that time).

I've found that if I find myself needing a break, it is a good time to reflect why and ask if there needs to be changes to make the situation better.

 

[iserith]

I DM my regular game every three weeks with two other DMs in our regular group running games in between. Then I run or play in one-shots whenever I feel like it with pickup groups. So I never really take any dedicated time off.

 

[prabe]

The two campaigns I'm DMing are every-other week, Saturdays and the following Wednesdays, and the time between sessions have given me time to unwind some and to prep--and for my wife to type up her notes. So far, I haven't needed to specifically miss any sessions (other than dates that interfere with holidays or something).

 

[Odysseus]

About once every five years. And it never lasts long, before I want to start running something.

 

[touc]

Roughly every 2-3 months, we do a board game day, something non-D&D. Refreshes both me and players. When I finish a campaign, I always need a break of 2 sessions or so to again refresh me and players.

 

[Legatus Legionis]

.

 

[Blue]

I run 4-7 year campaigns, take 1-2 years off between them. I play with groups besides that which I run for, so I am not the "forever DM", and get to experience the player side of our hobby often.

 

[jasper]

Do you count when we fall off the wagon? I generally don't take a pause. But between wife and other family activities I do get some down weekends. Some times I play a pc. Most of the time I too busy to even move the game stuff out the den.