D&D General DMing Hard Stop

[GwaihirAgain]

Have you ever had a moment at your table, where almost like a light switch, You decide, Im Ok with not DMing anymore.

Playing a long time campaign last night, adventurers on a B plot where they are trying to recover a necromantic crown from a tomb. Circumstances i.e traps, separate the mage from the party, he enters the tomb, loots the crown. Then helps to free the rest of the party from a couple traps and tells them he doesnt have the Crown. Much tense roleplaying and interpersonal chaos ensues. Finally the party snags the backpack from the mage, who has been acting suspiciously, and he misty steps away and says " I'm done with this party"

Player has been had a long time independent streak and there have been many real world frayed feelings over the years.

Anyway, I'm sure Ill pull it together in a while and keep DMing this campaign, but currently lacking any excitement or initiative.

G

 

[JAMUMU]

I used to think I could burn out on GMing, but that wasn't true. What was actually happening was I was burning out on the players I GMd for.

 

[overgeeked]

Have you ever had a moment at your table, where almost like a light switch, You decide, Im Ok with not DMing anymore.

Playing a long time campaign last night, adventurers on a B plot where they are trying to recover a necromantic crown from a tomb. Circumstances i.e traps, separate the mage from the party, he enters the tomb, loots the crown. Then helps to free the rest of the party from a couple traps and tells them he doesnt have the Crown. Much tense roleplaying and interpersonal chaos ensues. Finally the party snags the backpack from the mage, who has been acting suspiciously, and he misty steps away and says " I'm done with this party"

Player has been had a long time independent streak and there have been many real world frayed feelings over the years.

Anyway, I'm sure Ill pull it together in a while and keep DMing this campaign, but currently lacking any excitement or initiative.

G

Sounds like you need to have a chat with that player about their disruptive behavior.

 

[iserith]

I agree with JAMUMU - it's not the game that will burn you out in my experience, it's managing the people at the table. I would frankly never go back to DMing with my last in-person group prior to moving overseas. It's not that they were terrible people or that I was ever at risk of burning out from DMing for them at the time, but once you've gamed with top tier players, you really just don't want to go back. Being able to game easily online now means I never have to settle for players in my immediate vicinity, nor risk getting fed up DMing due to problematic group dynamics.

 

[Oofta]

There are times you just need to sit down with a player and explain that what they are doing is not fun for you or the group. Try to stay calm, don't make accusations but also don't back down.

You may want to chat with the other players first, you may want to message the disruptive player. Heck, you may want to write down what you're thinking ahead of time.

Try to avoid starting with things like "you always" and instead give very specific example and why it was problematic. Let them know what they did wrong, but also what they did right. They may not realize it's an issue.

The player may just not be a good match for you or the group, I accepted long ago that I can't be the right DM for everyone.

Good luck.

 

[Dausuul]

I've experienced DM burnout many a time, but it never hits me the way you describe. For me, at least, it comes as a slow draining away of enthusiasm and commitment. I agree with the other posters that this sounds like being fed up with a specific player's crap, rather than burnout in the usual sense.

What you're describing is a perfect example of why a lot of tables ban PvP. I'd go with one of two options:

1) Sit them down for a talk about how this is causing problems.
2) Boot them.

I'd lean toward option #1 for longtime friends, and #2 for a stranger in their first couple of sessions with our group. Of course, if #1 fails, you may have to go with #2 anyway.

 

[Glade Riven]

I've killed campaigns where I wasn't having fun being the DM. Particularly a Star Wars one. My players knew too much about Star Wars and while they were all having fun, I was having a problem surprising them.

 

[Blue]

Playing a long time campaign last night, adventurers on a B plot where they are trying to recover a necromantic crown from a tomb. Circumstances i.e traps, separate the mage from the party, he enters the tomb, loots the crown. Then helps to free the rest of the party from a couple traps and tells them he doesnt have the Crown. Much tense roleplaying and interpersonal chaos ensues. Finally the party snags the backpack from the mage, who has been acting suspiciously, and he misty steps away and says " I'm done with this party"

Player has been had a long time independent streak and there have been many real world frayed feelings over the years.

This sucks big time. In the groups I play with and run this would fail the social contract big time. We make sure to discuss PvP type behavior in Session 0. It might be a good idea to reserve a little time at the beginning of next session and get everyone on the same page. Perhaps the independant player can handle it and just needs to be aligned with the rest of the group. But if one player is looking for things from the game that reduce fun for other players at the table, it's better to play without them.

 

[JAMUMU]

I've killed campaigns where I wasn't having fun being the DM. Particularly a Star Wars one. My players knew too much about Star Wars and while they were all having fun, I was having a problem surprising them.

I feel you on this one. This sort of thing is why I have a strong preference for running [X]-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off settings. We all know what vibe we're going for, but retain the capacity for surprise and a sense of the new (i.e. nicking stuff from other IPs).

 

[Blue]

I've experienced DM burnout many a time, but it never hits me the way you describe. For me, at least, it comes as a slow draining away of enthusiasm and commitment. I agree with the other posters that this sounds like being fed up with a specific player's crap, rather than burnout in the usual sense.

This describes DM burnout for me as well. When I don't want to put effort into prepping for sessions anymore, I need a break. When I start to look for reasons to cancel a session, I really need a break.

I'm getting close to that right now with a campaign close to it's 3rd year. But two sessions ago we had about an hour long talk during the session about what we want to accomplish for the end of the campaign (all homebrew and very player-interest directed) and having set goals that are of a reasonable length has helped rejuvenate me.