Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Teataine" data-source="post: 5776461" data-attributes="member: 6678036">Hey, terrya.As others have said, burnout is something that happens, especially if you've been playing together for a very long time. There are some things that you can usually do to refresh your gaming:-find new players to add to the group (you say this is very hard, but I'm still mentioning it)-shuffle the GM role around - is there anyone in your group who hasn't been a GM before and might take up the mantle, at least for a while?-change the game(system) - if I read your post correctly you guys have been playing D&D in some form or another for 13 years, you've switched editions, but it's still D&D. Have you considered giving another system or genre a go? And it's not necessarily even an investment, there are plenty of free RPGs online.-playing other games, non-RPGs. You say boardgames are a bad idea because you're competitive. Our group has had great success with collaborative boargames! Have you tried any? There's stuff like Arkham Horror or the new D&D boardgames (Wrath of Ashardalon, Castle Ravenloft and Legend of Drizzt) and the Battlestar Galactica boardgame (although that one has a "traitor" player). In these games the players play against the game, no room for arguments.Any of the above might help you inject new energy into your gaming.However, based on my experience with my own group, your problem might run a little deeper. I was in a similar situation years ago, and the problem was that I wanted something from the game that simply wasn't there and I didn't know how to get it. It took a long time for me to figure out why my gaming wasn't satisfying, which games worked for me, which didn't and on which levels. Also how these games worked for my friends. It looks like you and your friends have different priorities about play. You all agree that verisimilitude is important, but there are other, potentially conflicting goals.I find that simply asking others "what do you want to play?" is often not very productive. People will either suggest wildly different things or say "I don't care." or be afraid to voice their opinion because they don't want to infringe on others. Something like the <a href="http://bankuei.wordpress.com/2010/03/27/the-same-page-tool/" target="_blank">"Same Page Tool"</a> might work better, but I don't find it ideal - perhaps even the opposite. The value of something like the "same page tool" is recognizing that there are different priorities and approaches to play and burnout often happens when you're trying to juggle between them. It can be beneficial to clarify what you want, focus your game and develop or learn techniques that optimize that sort of play. I know you have been playing for 13 years (I've been playing for 11), and you already know very well "how to play" but maybe it's like knowing how to play the piano really well but you actually want to play the guitar, if you know what I mean.So when you ask in the original post for advice on "what I'm doing wrong" then I need to ask "doing wrong for what purpose?". There is no universal "doing wrong", only relative to your goals and objectives. ("Keeping the group together." and "Revitalizing play." are too broad and general objectives.)P.S.: You say the "best D&D" was still with your father. Did your father actively teach you how to DM? Instruct you in the techniques he was using? Really show you how he ran the game? You know, the principles, tacit rules, guidelines and procedures he was using? There's a lot of unspoken stuff in the books that's very hard to learn on your own.</blockquote>

Verification