Do you regret the fact that you don't get to game as much as you would like?

[Olaf the Stout]

At the moment I am running a Freeport campaign but I would also like to run a Shackled City game, a "Necromancer" campaign (using adventures such as the Lost City of Barakus, the Grey Citadel, Tomb of Absothor, the Vault of Larin Karr, etc.), a Goodman Games DCC campaign, a Wilderlands campaign and a Dungeon magazine campaign (linking together some of the good adventures from the issues that I have collected over the past 5 years).

On top of all that I would also love to run a Feng Shui campaign and some Paranoia XP (as a mini-campaign or a series of one-shots). And that is just as a GM. I would also like to play in some D&D, Feng Shui and Paranoia XP campaigns.

The trouble is that unless I win the lottery and can retire I won't be doing most of these things anytime soon. Working full-time, being newly married, playing sport and landscaping our newly built house leaves little time for gaming. At the moment I GM the Freeport campaign once a fortnight on a weeknight running from about 6pm-11pm. That's it! I would like to game weekly but with everything else that I've got going on at the moment I don't think that it would be fair on my wife.

I imagine that a lot of people are in a similar position to myself. How do you deal with the situation? The thing that I find the most difficult about it all is staying focused on what I am running at the moment. With all the other things that I want to run or play in it is very easy to get sucked in to the "grass is always greener" mentality where I think that I could be playing something else and having an even better time than I'm having now (I would say that my Freeport game is good to very good at the moment).

Olaf the Stout

 

[lior_shapira]

Every few months I send my gaming group a list of the games I "really wanna play". Mostly though not a lot comes out of it, like you I'm newly wed. And between obligations to the wife, work and other hobbies its simply not possible to play Spycraft,Mutants&Masterminds,Arcana Evolved, Iron Heroes, Eberron and a nostalgic Planescape campaign

But I take it when I can, in the last few months a member of our group has been abroad, so we took a hiatus from the regular Eberron campaign and started running a mini Iron Heroes campaign, and soon we'll do a really mini Mutants&Masterminds campaign.

I do devote a lot of time to reading the books of the systems and campaign settings I don't get a chance to play (Exalted anyone?) and spend a lot of time on the boards, and at the end of the day I'm satisfied that I have a regular group to play with at all.

No real solutions, only sharing the problem

lior

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Thanks for sharing Lior.

Overall I'm not overly unhappy with my situation. I could game more if I gave up playing sport for example but I enjoy that too and don't really want to give it up either. If anything I would like to work less but that ain't going to happen for the next couple of decades!

Olaf the Stout

 

[Teflon Billy]

I game about as much as I'd like: once a week or so.

There are games I'd like to try, new stuff I'd like to run etc. But in the final analysis, if I did it more than once or, occasionally, twice a week I'd feel like I was overdoing it.

 

[Orcus]

I got my fix in. Once a week, every Wednesday night. I dont think I could do more

Clark

 

[Hussar]

I do wish I could game a bit more that I do. I would really like to be a player instead of a DM for a while. However, due to time constraints this isn't likely going to happen. Ah well, at least my little bit of free time is still spent doing stuff I really enjoy.

 

[Herobizkit]

I game maybe once a month, IF I'm lucky. I work overnights at a hotel and my players work during the day. While that technically frees up evenings for playing, I also have a significant other who works nights and only get to see her a few hours a day before I go back to work. This, combined with other life desires (like video gaming), makes for a tough time.

I would also like to play a number of different games/genres, but it's just not possible with my limited scope of players and interests.

 

[Fishbone]

Yes, yes, a billion times yes. Its not a matter of free time, I don't work on the weekends, but I can never find a game in my podunk town. Hackmaster, GURPS, or HERO without an internet connection simply isn't possible for me. Also, my town doesn't have many people in my age group, and fewer still who game and the nearest gaming store is a good 20 minute car ride away. Seriously, seriously sucks. Even getting in an internet game is just about impossible. I've never been able to DM online even though I've pimped the bejesus out of my games on multiple threads.

 

[Mr. Draco]

I do wish I could game more than I do right now, but then I remember why I don't game more than I do right now (too many other hobbies and too much work to do) and I remember that everything else is worth it too.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Do any of you get that grass is always greener feeling where you wonder if you are getting the best gaming experience that you possibly could?

I am really enjoying the game that I am running at the moment. The last session would have been in top 10 sessions that I have been a part of. I still wonder if I could be enjoying myself even more though. It's as though I don't have enough time to try out all the things that I want to so I feel like I'm missing out on something. Whether I am or not is another matter. At the rate I'm going 5th edition D&D will be out before I've got a chance to do half the things I want to try in 3E. This is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself but it could be an issue if I can't find a group to play 3E with because they're all playing the new 5E!

Olaf the Stout