Help a burned out DM rekindle his spark

[Cerubus Dark]

It happened, I after 10 years of being DM, I lost the spark needed to create my games with. I don't know been so depressed lately haven't had the energy to plan or play in any games.

Where can a burned out husk go for insperation to get back into the game?

 

[Turanil]

Change something.

I have been burnt out of DMing D&D last year. I needed to do something else. I have gone into d20 Future and Grim Tales, leaving out all that Tolkien stuff of elves, dwarves, wizards, monks, halflings, and what not. New races, new rules (Grim tales), new setting (sci-fi, different heroic fantasy more low-magic), etc. I couldn't go anymore into D&D. Right now, I have gone again to D&D, but only as a player. Yet, i don't want to play elves, gnomes, and the like anymore. I am tired of them!

So my advice is to maybe play rather than DM. Then you can change setting, go for a very specific ambiance instead of everything-and-its-brother-together that is often D&D. Lastly you can change of game: there are many other d20 games (Conan d20, Black Company, Grim Tales, d20 Modern, d20 Future, Blue Rose, CoC d20, etc.), and also other non-d20 games.

 

[Mark]

Cerubus Dark - I think it would help to hear more of your situation to get a better handle on how to shift things for you.

 

[Crothian]

start at the beginning....I find that simplifying the game and just havign some less serious low level adventures can help out

 

[Cerubus Dark]

Mark to answer your question
I started DMing for a small group of friends when I was 14, I am now 27 (so it has been more than 10 years behind my DM shield). I have tried to be a player but I tend to get bored quickly with it as I am a story-teller / winger style DM and the only other DM's in my area are lead the party by the nose or else types and I can't play in that kind of game since I get bored with not being able to change the story as a hero. I could never see the point of playing if there was no larger picture to mess with.

My small group of players (8 - 10 players) has been bugging me to restart my campaign since the last game was nearly 3 months ago. I recently ended a long running homebrew campaign setting with the destruction of the whole world. The players deceided to help the villains along this path, although they did not know it but should have seen the major clues that would have been smacked across their faces. (my favorite a PC was a cleric of Heriunous(SP) and the NPC Cleric was a worshiper of Hextor who did not hide that fact, yet they traded and gave each other items.) Don't get me wrong it has been fun, but a long and painful road.

I don't really want to change systems as I like the fantasy setting of D&D (tend to not allow much from books I don't own / approve of), Not certain what else there is you might want to know

 

[Evilhalfling]

Try playing for a while, and reading some literature that is outside your usual stuff. I found Claudius the God (roman history) inspired me to create a whole culture based on charriot warfare and turned what was supposed to be a random encounter into 3 great, well loved sessions. History is great insperation, allowing the creation of very realistic and believable societies and senerios with very little work.

 

[Nightcloak]

I know how you feel. I burned out earlier this year after DMing for years. Between two campaigns and RL it just became no fun and was showing in the game.

So I informed everyone I was taking some time off.

I thought they would be upset, but they were great about it. They understood completely and started a rotating DM schedule amongst themselves and just told me to sit back and run a PC for a while.

The time off was relaxing and the game become fun again, and when the game became fun again the spark you mentioned came back. Now I'm rebuilding my homebrew (at my leisure) and will be back at it soon full force.

My advice to you is take time off. Play a character for a while. And enjoy reading all the great d20 products out there without the deadline of a game to focus on. It'll comeback naturally when you are ready.

Good luck!

 

[JoeGKushner]

You have several options.

1. Go with something different but the same engine. d20 Modern or Grim Tales.

2. Go with something similiar but different like Conan or Black Company.

3. Go with something different with OGL and similiar engine like Mutants & Masterminds.

4. Take a break and refresh yourself on some good fantasy fiction and movies. The game will still be there afterwards.

5. Game with new people. New gamers are a boon. I love it when a person shows me something fun about the game that I've missed.

6. Start a new campiagn. Find all the old elements you enjoyed from the previous one and put them into a new context. Perhaps the end of the world merely shattered the old world into different factions across the plane that have to be restored, or someone from Sigil needs a group of adventuerers to tamper with temporal magic, etc...

7. Let someone else GM. You may feel the part of storyteller is yours but if you're burnt out, there's few joys equal to seeing how someone else handles the game.

8. Co-GM. Pick some plot elements you want to handle and go over them with your fellow GM and see how it works.

The truth is you have to figure out why you enjoy playing and what made you stop. Burn out for me is usually because I'm bored of the current situation and don't want to hurt my player's feelings as many of them are friends and it's often easier to move onto a differetn game or let someone else GM.

 

[Harmon]

Depression is a disease, and its cure-able. Check out a book called the Ultimate Healing System by Donald Lepore.

Don't bother with the doctor's treatments- they only hide the problem and you feel all foggy and stuff.

My wife and I both battled depression during a serious injury/recovery time for me. I was pretty lucky to have access to a family that was into healing through natural methods, though I tried the drugs previously (they have nasty side effects).

If you can and if you have access to- get a close friend and talk to them, let everything and anything that you can just pour from your mouth, warn them that you need to get somethings off your chest. I suggest a shadowed room and a lot of time. Do not fear the out pouring of emotions, it helps.

With regards to the burn out- ask one of your players or all of them to GM for you, help they design campaigns and such, even if they never run the game it will keep you in touch with them, get their understanding of what you do kindled and they might come away with some respect for the GM (hasn't worked for me, but it might for you).

Worry not for the GMing, just get yourself feeling better and the GMing will come back.

Best of wishes and have a good New Years.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Do you read story hours on this site? I have found some of them to be very inspiring to my DMing.