Do You Consider GMing to Be Hard Work?

[Randomthoughts]

I actually like running a game and look forward to it. Am I missing something? Do others think of it as a chore? Do players assume the GM isn't having fun?

I enjoy running a game. It's an improv performance that I find very enjoyable, depending on the group. I don't GM long if I didn't enjoy it. But preparation is involved.

@Umbran describes my view on preparation, except that it is often fun (not just sometimes). The amount depends on the game but for 5e - a system I'm learning "for real" - there is a solid amount of it.

So, I don't think "fun" and "work" are mutually exclusive, so I am not convinced if you're asking the question in as useful a form as you might..

For me:
Preparation is always work. It is sometimes fun.
Organizing people, getting things scheduled, and hosting a game is always work. It is rarely fun.
Running a session is usually not work. It is usually fun.

@BookTenTiger describes the other part of prep. Most of it is done either in my head or on my laptop using mapping and graphics software and the VTT. A lot of it isn't necessary. But when I have an idea in my head, I want to create it somehow (hence, I got into Dungeondraft and Hex Kit). I also enjoy researching direct or tangent topics, for mental background before running a session. Again, not necessary but enjoyable.

Preparing for the game I consider almost a separate hobby. It's very personal and independent, and what I do with my cup of coffee on a Saturday Morning instead of reading the news. Although a lot of my prep happens in my head on my bike ride to and from work as well!

 

[Campbell]

I pretty much put the same amount of energy and effort in regardless of which side of the screen I am on. That usually means quite a bit although it varies from game to game. I only do the bits that are fun to me though. I fully agree with Kevin Crawford's advice to only prep what is either needed like for the next session or what's fun. I find if I do what's fun there is usually not a lot that is needed.

 

[Randomthoughts]

Question for DMs: what part do you consider the hardest work?

For me, it's definitely finding, maintaining, and scheduling groups. I wish that part didn't fall so much under the purview of the DM, but it often feels like it's one person's job to manage the administrative side of the game.

Hmmm...that's a tough one b/c I don't consider prep to be "hard" at all (time consuming, perhaps, but not hard). But yeah, building a good game group where folks show up regularly and get along fairly well probably takes the longest to achieve (unless you're really lucky) and is the most frustrating until then.

Now that I think of it - learning a new VTT is probably up there with "hard", I guess, for a GM at least.

 

[tetrasodium]

I enjoy GM'ing for a lot of irrelevant reasons likely not too different from most gm's but have been doing it for many years. The first few sessions of GMing can feel like a terrifying herculean task to prepare for & keep rolling but the most important part of the why behind that is the fact that GM'ing is a skill that can take time before a gm can hone it to a point where they make it look effortless & strip away a lot of the stress that goes with it. If your a new gm feeling overwhelmed just keep at it because your players don't notice most of those things you think were horrible screwups on your part. If the party does the totally unexpected, try to throw on some fresh paint so f/ex the zombie tomb you planned look like the cultist church in the wilds & trust in the quantum ogre.

edit: I don't find it to be "work" hard or otherwise

 

[embee]

Some of us don't wait

I've got 2 books waiting in my car trunk that I picked up at lunch. I with I was reading them now, instead of signing.

 

[embee]

The various places I've lived, that's not the case. They come with a truck and dump it in a pile where you request it. Perhaps some will stack it for you if you pay extra, but it isn't a basic part of delivery.

It does not burn the same way if it is left in that pile, buried in snow, encased in ice, and wet.



Again - I've never heard anyone refer to harvest and prep as "chopping". You don't chop with a chainsaw. But whatever.

What is this wood delivery service of which you all speak? You mean you don't trudge out into your yard every week with an axe and chainsaw and cut up fallen trees?

Seriously, y'all... I have a fire going all day long and still have 4 cord left.

 

[Umbran]

You mean you don't trudge out into your yard every week with an axe and chainsaw and cut up fallen trees?

In major metropolitan areas, the amount of yard you have is what you probably would call severely limited.

 

[embee]

In major metropolitan areas, the amount of yard you have is what you probably would call severely limited.

I live in the DC suburbs. I've got about 2 acres, and about 1/2 acre of it is woods. Which keep falling onto my fence.

Death to all treants.

 

[MNblockhead]

Sure. But then the guys who deliver your wood leave it in a big pile, and you have to stack it so it stays dry and doesn't rot.

Nah, the good ones will stack it for you in your firewood racks.

But point taken. People will do the work to enjoy the result. Some people love sitting around a fire place and put up with all the rest so they can do that. Other enjoy the entire process. Preparing fire wood can be a satisfying process. I used to work with a friend to collect fallen trees after major storms. Had to cut it up with chainsaws, haul it back to my place, split it a powered log spliter, stack it, and wait until next year for it to dry out. Then their is the further splitting of split logs to make kindling. Going out in the freezing Minnesota winter to get more logs for the basement rack. Cleaning the ashes, glass, chimney. But it is rewarding to know you can lower your heating bill and stay warm in a power outage and it is fun to watch a fire.

But over time, I started buying wood and having it delivered and stacked. There is still a lot of wood-stove related chores, but I cut out the most time consuming and what had become the least enjoyable part of the process.

I enjoy the work that goes into preparing games for TTRPG. I used to spend a lot of time creating my own worlds and writing my own adventures. I created elaborate maps in Campaign Cartographer, Dungeonographer, Citiographer, and bunch of other tools. But I cut a lot of that out. Now I like to work with pre-created maps by people who are much better at making them than I'll ever be. I'll run adventures created by others in worlds created by other, but put my own mark on them. Instead of world building, I focus preparing for the next session based on what happened last session.

I do spend way too much time prepping maps and tweaking settings and testing modules in my VTT apps. I enjoy it, but would happily do away with it if there were options available for the games I want to run with the features I want. I'm guessing within two years, I'll spend much less time in VTT prep add the products continue to evolve and when I complete the massive mega dungeon I'm running that is pretty much all dungeon crawling, with hundreds of maps to prep.

 

[MNblockhead]

I always find it frustrating when you order a bunch of wood and then in the middle of the wood delivery someone completely derails a thread by arguing about wood delivery.

Question for DMs: what part do you consider the hardest work?

For me, it's definitely finding, maintaining, and scheduling groups. I wish that part didn't fall so much under the purview of the DM, but it often feels like it's one person's job to manage the administrative side of the game.

Sorry, I enjoy talking about wood... The kind that burns I mean... As in cut from a tree. Aaaaanyway,

I find the hardest work to be prepping things in the VTT. But that is largely due to the campaign I'm currently running, which is a dungeon crawl with lots and lots of maps.

Also, I'm using a VTT that doesn't have a fully mature and officially licensed D&D 5e game system. It is community developed and wonky. I keep playing with different settings and add-on to try different automations and keep breaking things. We mostly just use D&D Beyond for PCs. But when I get a fireball area of effect template to automate the saving throws and damage to 20 mooks in seconds, it keeps me excited about the possibility of automating things. I end up spending more time tinkering than I save in play, but time is much more precious in game. And I hate spending minutes rolling saving throws and applying damage every time an area of effect spell is cast.