Gamer Burn out

[alsih2o]

I tend to fall in the "wish I could find a game" camp.

I own maybe 9 books, 6 of them were given to me. I am currently in a great game.

I can see burnout happening, but I am usually in the other camp.

 

[Gothmog]

Have you ever run or played a game where the DM kept all of the player stats and advanced them based on what they actually tried to do in-game?

The players kept only their name, description and background information, as well as keeping a written journal of their deeds and thoughts (allowing the DM some insight into how the characters would "like" to advance beyond the things they merely tried).

Nothing at the table is allowed in meta-game terms, only as descriptive prose in terms of action and setting. The DM determines what rules to apply to any situation or description. All dice rolling is handled by the DM.

Quite a challenge for a DM, though easier if the DM knows the rules very well.

Difficult to grasp for the players, if they are used to meta-gaming most of their decisions, but very rewarding as a gaming experience once they have invested in the process.

For extra fun, keep a quarter jar for when someone falls back into meta-speak, and anyone who is called on it (even the DM) has to drop $0.25 in when they slip back into the old habits. The money can be put toward snacks or game books, etc.

Give that a try for a session or two...

Mark, this is exactly what I was going to suggest. Back in 1992, the 2E AD&D group I gamed with was getting WAY into the rules and powergaming. I was running a weekly game, and I started to get really burned out with all the rules discussion. Finally I got to the point I couldn't take it anymore, and we took a break from gaming over the summer between high school and college. We decided we'd start gaming again in August, and I'd run a new campaign world I would make over the summer. I'd been working on my homebrew world, which was a rare-magic dark fantasy medieval mirror world with strong Lovecraftian and horror elements. I was getting excited about running it, but not if I had to put up with the rules lawyering.

As I sat and thought about it, I realized what had made the game tedious for me was the players obsessing over every little rule detail, and trying to twink out their characters (we were using the Complete Handbook series if I remember correctly). So two weeks before the game was to start, everyone came over to make characters, and I told them this crazy idea I had- that the players wouldn't have access to numerical data about their character other than the prime ability scores (since they had to generate them) and their level. No AC, no HP, no THAC0, nothing. While there was some protesting at first, they eventually accepted to try it for five sessions, and then we'd re-evaluate to see how everyone liked it. Those first five adventures were incredible! The former rules-layers and powergamers actually GOT INTO CHARACTER, role-played, and had the times of their lives. They unanimously decided to keep the numerical values secret (I took care of all the calculations, hp, AC, etc) since they felt it added so much more to the game to be able to identify with their characters as people rather than as stat blocks to be optimized. I still let them roll their dice, but I figured in any damage mods, etc. It sounds like a lot of work, but after the first session or two, I found I had memorized all the combat data for each character, and what I didn't memorize I had on an Excel spreadsheet in front of me. Twelve years later I'm still running the same campaign, with many of the same characters, and its still a blast (although we only get to play a few times a year now). Definitely give the secret stat method a try BelenUmeria, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Definitely give the secret stat method a try BelenUmeria, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

That sounds really cool!

How did/do you handle level ups?

 

[Hand of Evil]

Hello and welcome to the Collectors

I have been a DM and I have been burned out for years. I like to think of myself as the DM Mentor as I seem to give ideas and views to budding DM to improve their games. How I love buying settings and monster books.

DMing is a giving habit, there is a lot of work a DM has to do to get ready for gaming and as many things, it can cause stress and fatigue. You just need to cut back or walk away and recharge.

Now as a side note, stress and fatigue can be the result of a lot of things, if there are other things you feel the same way about then gaming is not the cause.

 

[Belen]

Definitely give the secret stat method a try BelenUmeria, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

That would be an impossible sell to my group members. Too many of them enjoy stating out their characters and making them as uber as possible. They would never go for a game like that.

 

[Belen]

Hello and welcome to the Collectors

I have been a DM and I have been burned out for years. I like to think of myself as the DM Mentor as I seem to give ideas and views to budding DM to improve their games. How I love buying settings and monster books.

DMing is a giving habit, there is a lot of work a DM has to do to get ready for gaming and as many things, it can cause stress and fatigue. You just need to cut back or walk away and recharge.

Now as a side note, stress and fatigue can be the result of a lot of things, if there are other things you feel the same way about then gaming is not the cause.

Well, I have been a GM for 7 years, so I am not sure how budding I am. I am jealous of a lot of groups highlighted o EnWorld though and I wonder if that has not been a cause of discomfort. Sometimes I wish my games could resemble some of the games I read about on the boards.

I do recognize a need for change, or maybe a wider social group. NC EnWorld game III day rocked! I had a blast (and I ran a d20 Modern game for it).

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Gaming is really my ONLY social activity left and it just is not enough, if that makes sense...

Makes perfect sense to me. I suggest finding some other social activity if you can, with some different people. I started playing tennis with some people I work with. It's only an hour or so a week, and we occasionally will get drinks or dinner after, but it has made a world of difference.

 

[Turanil]

As far as I am concerned, I am burnt out of D&D, especially of DMing it. I have taken a long break of not mastering D&D anymore for at least a year or two! Playing ok, but no more DMing, I am sick to death about elves, dwarves, and the basic classes. Fortunately, there are other d20 games, and I am looking forward DMing d20 future or Grim Tales for my next campaign. However, a new game system won't make it all, but I will have to succeed into storytelling different sort of adventures and plots, inducing a different mood, ambiance. Well, that perspective renews my interest in the game indeed!

 

[Henry]

I say take advantage of both your burned-out state, and the rules-heavy desires of your players:

Run nothing but pre-packaged modules, with the barest, flimsiest of plots. Spend just enough energy to come up with a couple of exotic locales to run combats in, with the occasional new rule to make things challenging. Make it so over the top high action that even the players can't believe it.

In other words, turn D&D into a Feng Shui Session.

Eventually, they will want something with more substance, and so will you.

Whatever your solution, good luck in it. It may be as simple as just giving up and vegetating a while.


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I've been missing something from my game sessions, too, lately, though I'm not sure what to do about it:

-Until a year ago, my group and I used to game from say 3pm until 11pm or midnight. We'd game until 6:30 or 7, then we'd break for dinner, eat at an inexpensive restaurant, and "shoot the bull" for an hour or so. We'd go back to gaming, game until 11 pmm or midnight, and break for home. Then, at several players' request, we rolled it to 12 noon to 6pm, and then break for the day. In some ways, I miss those bull sessions, because we got to know each other in more than just our esoteric game knowledge; we'd discuss politics, religion, philosophy, current events, etc.

Our schedules only permit us time to get together once a week, and we don't want to miss our gaming time, which is still going strong, but in some ways I miss that B.S. time in between the gaming.

Heck, at the ENworld Gamedays, the dinners are half the fun, for the same reason - you're more than a screenname and a character.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

I hope, really hope, that Troll Lords OGL Lite book will breath some new life into the game for those who are more interested in playing than rolling.

My Google-fu appears to be weak, young master, tell me of this mystery of which you speak.