Fighting DM Burn-Out
- Thread starter maggot
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Catavarie
First Post
I avioud DM burnout by simply switching up the games, I'll run D&D for about a month and Then turn around and run somethin else for a month, usually RIFTS. Then cycle back to D&D for a month, and then back to the other game for a month, and so on and so on. I find it good to switch things up like this between 2 compleltely different genres of games so that 1) I can write up a months worth of material in about a week, then while one game is running I have more than enough time to get ideas for the other game set-up and fleshed out. I usually have a week or two off from planing for the next session a month and that extra bit of time away from the books really helps me recharge myself and keeps the ideas flowing. And if all else fails I work on my novels that I'm writing a bit and that always gets things moving for me. 
The_Universe
First Post
That's what happened to me.Lasher Dragon said:Play a few games with a piss-poor DM... works for me
I had GMed D6 Star Wars continuously for about 5.5 years, and then just sort of let a game die mid-campaign. I was the only one willing to GM, so I just quit - I had told all the stories I wanted to tell. One of the players started up a D&D campaign and invited me to play - right as D&D 3E was coming out. He couldn't quite let go of some of the 2E sacred cows, and so multiclassing was a total mess, elves were ridiculous, and (in particular) my character kept getting shat upon by the DM. I'd follow his advice on character creation/equipment to the letter (assuming that he had some plan behind it) and then I'd just get shat upon while the spotlight focused on the other players - the ones that had been playing continuously for the last 5 years.
After the story degenerated and eventually died completely and he forced us into an apparently unmotivated "dungeon crawl" through the abyss itself, I gave up.
I thought, "I could run something better than this without even TRYING."
And so I did.
Playing is great...but I know I'm a GM/DM at heart.
Henry
Autoexreginated
How to fight DM burnout?
Play for a while instead of DMing (SOMEBODY else at the table needs to be able to DM for every group!) and if no one wants to DM, take a break. Play board games with the group, go to movies, just hang out, whatever. You will either get your mojo back when it's ready, or someone else will want to play badly enough that they'll DM.
Play for a while instead of DMing (SOMEBODY else at the table needs to be able to DM for every group!) and if no one wants to DM, take a break. Play board games with the group, go to movies, just hang out, whatever. You will either get your mojo back when it's ready, or someone else will want to play badly enough that they'll DM.
Some times walking away is the only way, see something different, do something different.
Other ways:
Other ways:
Increase down time between games - just a little more time to do things
Move work to players - you do not have to do all the work yourself, the players can do some too
Switch games
Stop over thinking/devoloping the game - some DMs put too much detail into plots, BBGs, locations, you don't need them; sterotype things
Move work to players - you do not have to do all the work yourself, the players can do some too
Switch games
Stop over thinking/devoloping the game - some DMs put too much detail into plots, BBGs, locations, you don't need them; sterotype things
Round Robbin DM
I ran into DM burnout about a year ago...
I had just about 4 years worth of campaigns as well as having a few stressful changes in my life (Got married, had a kid, changed jobs... The whole nine yards) and I was just exhausted from the weekly grind of having to get ready for the weeks game session.
So I went to my players and told them I needed a break. We all talked about it and decided that we would try something. We all decided to try Round Robin DMing. What's that you ask? One of us took it on himself to design One little portion of a world, and dropped the rest of our characters into the world for a short (3-5 session) adventure. Then he was done and the next one of us took over and ran the characters for another 3 to 4 session adventure that built on what the first guy had done. It then switched to a third person who picked up the plot threads from the first two DMs and continued the story.... This continued until it got back to the original DM who then built on to what others had done.
We did have a few rules:
1) Once you are done with your session, all NPCs groups and locations get turned over to the Note pool and any DM can do what they will with them.
2) You must leave at least one plot thread open for the next guy to work on.
3) Each person has a character... If it's your turn to DM it's up to you to either write your character out of the story OR to run him as an NPC. (characters written out of the story go off and do something else that gains them about the same amount of xp and treasure as the rest of the group.)
4) You may hint at some deep dark secret plot, anything not revealed to the group by the end of your session is free for others to work with. So for example: The players may discover during my session that one of thieves guilds in the kingdom's capital city has quietly been assassinating low level nobles in the city. Even if I planned on saying that the assignations where an attempt by the rival assassins guild to frame the thieves guild, if the players don't discover that fact, the next DM can use that thread any way he wants.
How did it turn out? We all love it. It gives each of us a chance to play as well as DM and nobody really knows where the story is going to end.
The group is five people, three of us are good experienced DMs and two are players who are just learning how to DM. The short sessions are a good chance for the new players to learn how to DM, and the more experienced DMs are having fun experimenting with new things.
It's also been very interesting to watch week by week the differences in DMing styles. One of the new DMs tried his first dungeon a few months ago, and it turned into a two week hack and slash dungeon crawl... While I normally lose interest in that kind of thing very quickly, after spending the previously four weeks in heavy role-playing and almost no combat, it was a very nice change of pace. And then we were off onto my section where I decided to experiment with some of of the concepts from Librum Mortus.
If you have a couple good DMs in your group and want to try something different, I highly recomend trying this... I was supprised how much everyone is enjoying this format.
I ran into DM burnout about a year ago...
I had just about 4 years worth of campaigns as well as having a few stressful changes in my life (Got married, had a kid, changed jobs... The whole nine yards) and I was just exhausted from the weekly grind of having to get ready for the weeks game session.
So I went to my players and told them I needed a break. We all talked about it and decided that we would try something. We all decided to try Round Robin DMing. What's that you ask? One of us took it on himself to design One little portion of a world, and dropped the rest of our characters into the world for a short (3-5 session) adventure. Then he was done and the next one of us took over and ran the characters for another 3 to 4 session adventure that built on what the first guy had done. It then switched to a third person who picked up the plot threads from the first two DMs and continued the story.... This continued until it got back to the original DM who then built on to what others had done.
We did have a few rules:
1) Once you are done with your session, all NPCs groups and locations get turned over to the Note pool and any DM can do what they will with them.
2) You must leave at least one plot thread open for the next guy to work on.
3) Each person has a character... If it's your turn to DM it's up to you to either write your character out of the story OR to run him as an NPC. (characters written out of the story go off and do something else that gains them about the same amount of xp and treasure as the rest of the group.)
4) You may hint at some deep dark secret plot, anything not revealed to the group by the end of your session is free for others to work with. So for example: The players may discover during my session that one of thieves guilds in the kingdom's capital city has quietly been assassinating low level nobles in the city. Even if I planned on saying that the assignations where an attempt by the rival assassins guild to frame the thieves guild, if the players don't discover that fact, the next DM can use that thread any way he wants.
How did it turn out? We all love it. It gives each of us a chance to play as well as DM and nobody really knows where the story is going to end.
The group is five people, three of us are good experienced DMs and two are players who are just learning how to DM. The short sessions are a good chance for the new players to learn how to DM, and the more experienced DMs are having fun experimenting with new things.
It's also been very interesting to watch week by week the differences in DMing styles. One of the new DMs tried his first dungeon a few months ago, and it turned into a two week hack and slash dungeon crawl... While I normally lose interest in that kind of thing very quickly, after spending the previously four weeks in heavy role-playing and almost no combat, it was a very nice change of pace. And then we were off onto my section where I decided to experiment with some of of the concepts from Librum Mortus.
If you have a couple good DMs in your group and want to try something different, I highly recomend trying this... I was supprised how much everyone is enjoying this format.
BiggusGeekus
That's Latin for "cool"
Play Paranoia XP. Your players will start buying modules for you as long as you promise to switch back to D&D. Also, you'll have a hysterical book on your hands.
Well, I've been DMing continuously for about 10 years or so. I did "burn out" back around 1995, and stopped for about a year and a half in University, then got back into it. I stopped for about 8 months back in 2001 when I met my girlfriend, but otherwise it's been continuous.
I've tried playing, but in my area, I've developed a bit of a rep....none of my players want to run a game so I can be a player....they keep bringing friends from other groups over, and asking if they can join mine as players.
So, since it seems I'm stuck DMing, I switch up games. I'll run one campaign for 6-12 months, then switch to a different one....or even run two campaigns simultaneously....do 4-5 sessions in one, then 4-5 in the other. I find by doing this, when I switch, I get all excited with ideas I haven't been able to implement in the first game, and bring them into the second.
Right now, I'm kind of jumping back and forth between Planescape and Swashbuckling Adventures...before that, it was Planescape and Wheel of Time. I find when I switch over, my energy level is way up for a while. Then, I get the itch to switch, and we go back to one of the other campaigns.
This may or may not work for others. Seems to do the trick for me.
Banshee
I've tried playing, but in my area, I've developed a bit of a rep....none of my players want to run a game so I can be a player....they keep bringing friends from other groups over, and asking if they can join mine as players.
So, since it seems I'm stuck DMing, I switch up games. I'll run one campaign for 6-12 months, then switch to a different one....or even run two campaigns simultaneously....do 4-5 sessions in one, then 4-5 in the other. I find by doing this, when I switch, I get all excited with ideas I haven't been able to implement in the first game, and bring them into the second.
Right now, I'm kind of jumping back and forth between Planescape and Swashbuckling Adventures...before that, it was Planescape and Wheel of Time. I find when I switch over, my energy level is way up for a while. Then, I get the itch to switch, and we go back to one of the other campaigns.
This may or may not work for others. Seems to do the trick for me.
Banshee
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