GM Meta-burnout

[atanakar]

Yeah, I pretty much have to be the DM or the group likely fades away. And getting groups of players who aren't bleeps in a town of under 4k isn't just hard, it's a process that takes years.

It seems unfair to you if they only come to play but never want to shoulder part of the effort, from time to time. It doesn't need to be a full campaign. The alternate GM can run just a short module or even one session. When I am tired I leave my seat for a session or two. The other GM makes us try a system we don't know.

If you burn out fully they loose everything. Is that what they want? Have you talked about this with the group?

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Can you drill down a little bit to identify in more detail exactly what is turning you off in the following scenario? Maybe a concrete example.

1. You like rules medium/heavy systems.
2. The rules in play are bogging you down.

Theoretically if a magic GM showed up and ran a rules medium/heavy game that wasn't a scripted campaign would that solve the issue?

I think I sort of identify with how you feel myself. My favorite game of all time is Torg and I am waiting on enough Torg:Eternity cosms to release before I launch my campaign. I feel like T:E is definitely a step or two above 5e in terms of complexity, and as I get older I enjoy complexity of a system less than I do the story behind the game. With that in mind I adjust running T:E one-shots by not sweating the details behind the scenes to the point of slowing the game down. Its easy enough to slide up or down a line or two on the result chart if you know there are some modifiers to the roll but you don't want to specifically count them all out to get an EXACT number.

What I have found that keeps me entertained now (as a player or GM) is team worldbuilding. I have no interested in saving the 100th princess or stopping the 32nd world ending plot. What I do find interesting is picking a town, or even just a keep in a town, and basing the campaign around that one area. In the best campaign I ever played in the party consisted of TWO clerics of Torm, one paladin of Torm, and a 4th character who was not related to Torm*. Much of the plot that everyone loved was centered around the politics of the Torm church and the trials and tribulations of running a temple in the cities politics. The change in focus, the player input on activities, and the relationships built up with different NPCs was so much more memorable than hunting down EvilAura BaneHate the cultist and stopping him from summoning zombies (or whatever weaker plots you can find in lots of prewritten adventures).

*Note: This campaign has zero focus on Torm when originally conceived. It just worked out that 3/4 of the players linked their characters to Torm on a lark and the focus of the campaign moved in that direction because of that character creation choice.

 

[pogre]

I wish I had a solution for you. Perhaps a roleplay style game like Gloomhaven or Descent?

The real reason I wanted to post is to agree with your sentiment of keeping the group together. As someone who has burned out on rpgs in the past and disbanded groups - I have regretted it every time.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Perhaps a different game like Dungeon World or Blades in the Dark might help? They’re both less technical than D&D and similar games, but they absolutely have rules and systems in place.

Blades in the Dark absolutely helped me with GM burnout. It shifts a lot of the narrative lifting to the players. Prep is more about general ideas for scenarios rather than a fully populated dungeon. The game is less like a pitcher/batter situation and more like a tennis match.

I know many folks have found Dungeon World to be a nice alternative to D&D while still using the same tropes. My experience with it is minimal, but I enjoyed it a lot. Other Powered by the Apocalypse games may also work.

 

[atanakar]

I wish I had a solution for you. Perhaps a roleplay style game like Gloomhaven or Descent?

The real reason I wanted to post is to agree with your sentiment of keeping the group together. As someone who has burned out on rpgs in the past and disbanded groups - I have regretted it every time.

Gloomheaven would work as a DMless system. Mage Knight is also good in the same regards.

 

[atanakar]

Look up Frostgrave. It's an easy to play wargame heavily influenced by D&D. It comes with rules to do multi-player campaigns. Small warbands of 5-8 models. You can use d&d miniatures to play. I've enjoyed it.

Frostgrave

Amidst the frozen ruins of an ancient city, wizards battle in the hopes of discovering the treasures of a fallen empire. In this fantasy skirmish wargame, each player takes on the role of a wizard from one of ten schools of magic, and builds his band of followers. The wizard's apprentice will...

ospreypublishing.com

 

[Imaculata]

Maybe switch to being a player for now? You can always continue to write adventures without being a DM.

 

[shawnhcorey]

From what you are saying, it sounds like you are bored or frustrated because the games are not technical enough. You enjoy the game until you solved all the technical problems, then you get bored. Perhaps you should look at more technical games like GURPS or Hârn.

But if you want to try less technical games, try FATE, FAE, or even Risus.

 

[MGibster]

A lot of your fellow DMs have been in similar situations. I ended up taking a two year hiatus from role playing games sticking with board games during that time. My tastes have also changed over the years and I tend to favor games that aren't complicated as I don't want to spend a lot of time trying to create opponents or looking up rules. D&D is about as complicated as I'm willing to get these days and even then I get annoyed when I have to track multiple opponents.

I also like to make my own adventures for the most part. However, whenever we can cease this social distancing, I'm going to run a Conan campaign for my group. The campaign involves all the characters chasing down a powerful sorceress who wronged them in the past but each session will be episodic. One week they might be the general of a vast army and the next they might not be able to scrounge enough gold to go carousing. For this I'm going to use a lot of published adventures and just adapt them to suit my needs.

 

[atanakar]

A lot of your fellow DMs have been in similar situations. I ended up taking a two year hiatus from role playing games sticking with board games during that time. My tastes have also changed over the years and I tend to favor games that aren't complicated as I don't want to spend a lot of time trying to create opponents or looking up rules. D&D is about as complicated as I'm willing to get these days and even then I get annoyed when I have to track multiple opponents.

I also like to make my own adventures for the most part. However, whenever we can cease this social distancing, I'm going to run a Conan campaign for my group. The campaign involves all the characters chasing down a powerful sorceress who wronged them in the past but each session will be episodic. One week they might be the general of a vast army and the next they might not be able to scrounge enough gold to go carousing. For this I'm going to use a lot of published adventures and just adapt them to suit my needs.

This is extremely similar to my path and tastes. My current 5e campaign is far more episodic than they used to be. I fast forward often and create a new situation for the PCs to face.