How do you convice your players to take a turn behind the DM screen?


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At Gunpoint ? ;)

Seriously though I had to go look for a new group. When I found them I stated I only wanted to play since I had only DMed up to that point.

They agreed and it has worked great. Now the two groups have meshed together and two of us take turns DM different games based on which people show up.
 



Punkorange, hong's got it right; you can't make someone DM; but you can be up-front with your players, and say, "guys (or ladies and gents), I'm feeling a bit burned out with DM'ing, since I've been doing it for a while now. If no one else feels ready to run something, I'm going to suggest some other games to play - Uno, Risk, Magic the Gathering, etc.etc.etc."

And then DO it. Don't game, just veg out a while, or play Uno if they're game (or whatever group game you're into). Don't back out and start something else you just half-heartedly want to run, because (A) they'll subconsciously assume you'll DM no matter what, and (B) the game will suck because you have little to no drive for it. Playing an RPG after that point is up to the group, not just you.

You mentioned another player wanting to run Babylon 5. Good for you! Jump in , even if you'd rather be playing D&D, because you never can tell what will unexpectedly recharge your juices. Unless you hate B5, in which case just find another activity. You may not be able to win 'em all, but lagging onward in a situation you hate being in is FAR worse.

Good luck.
 



And, to stay on topic, not everyone has the talent for DMing. And I truly believe it is a talent. I would love to give it a try, but I'm pretty certain I would be the most boring DM ever. It's taken me 20 years, but I finally figgered out the better part of a DMs job is effective story-telling and coming up with interesting and memorable characters. That's simply not me. If I didn't have access to the wonderous www. my current pc's mount woulda been called Bob.
 

punkorange said:
I DM full time in our group, and as much as I enjoy it I need a break every now and then. I don't want a break from gaming, just DMing. I would like to play occasionally but none in my group seem up for the idea of DMing. One of my players is going to run babylon 5, and it's cool that I will get to play something, but I would really like to get a game going on. There is stuff I would like to try, such as Iron Kingdoms, but do not feel like DMing. Do any of you have any tricks to convince your players to give DMing a try?

I don't have that problem as there are 4(out of 7)of us champing at the bit to DM

IfI did however I would wait the end of a campaign and say "Ok guys I need a break and a chance to play not DM. Who is next to run." If they protest lay down the truth -- "Dudes/Dudetts I am burned out somebody but me hasto run a good D&D game--howabout some Iron Kingdoms ?" After a pause "I want to play X" and go from there --
 

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