How to deal with GM burn-out?

[Olaf the Stout]

For the last few months I’ve had a bit of GM burn-out and am looking for advice on how to deal with it.

To help, here is a bit of a background about me:

- I’m in my early 30’s and have been gaming since 1994.
- Excluding a couple of sessions that I GM’d, I was exclusively a player from 1994-2001, playing once a fortnight (with a couple of years break in 1998-99 while I completed high school/started university)
- I’ve been GM’ing exclusively (apart from about 3 sessions as a player) once a fortnight since 2005.
- The vast majority of my GM experience has been with the D&D 3.5E rules, but I have ran one-shots of other games such as Call of Cthulhu, Feng Shui, Paranoia and Gamma World.

Here’s my GM’ing history

- GM’d my first campaign in 2005 using D&D 3.5E rules (I’d ran a few sessions in years previous, but nothing more than a couple of sessions). Group dissolved a few months in due to a dispute between me and a player over his Paladin PC losing his powers.
- GM’d my second campaign in mid-2006 using D&D 3.5E rules. We played fortnightly until the end of 2007 when a couple of players left the group and the campaign ended. PC’s were around 10th-12th level when it ended.
- GM’d my third campaign (Shackled City AP) using D&D 3.5E rules from 2008 to 2011. We played fortnightly with a 6 month break in 2009 after the birth of my second child. Before resuming the D&D campaign after the “baby break” I ran some Call of Cthulhu, Gamma World, X-Crawl and Feng Shui one-shots. This campaign successfully ran to its intended conclusion, with the PC’s around 17th-19th level at the end.
- GM’d a few one-shots using different systems after the end of the third campaign including X-Crawl, Gamma World and a session of Paranoia (which was a horrible failure).
- Started GM’ing my fourth campaign (Age of Worms AP) using D&D 3.5E rules from March 2012 until present. We play fortnightly and have nearly finished the 7th adventure out of 12. PC’s are around 12th-13th level


I had a great time GM’ing the Shackled City AP. The storyline was awesome and I made a lot of use of the material others had come up with on the Paizo boards to make the campaign even better than originally written. However, I did discover that running a high-level D&D 3.5E game wasn’t as much fun as I thought it would be.

Once the game gets above 11th-12th level most monsters normally have a host of different abilities and rules related to them. Similarly NPC spellcasters have a long list of spells that they can cast. I found prepping for combats became a lot of effort, even with the fact that I was running a pre-written adventure. Just figuring out what ability to use each round took a fair amount of time and each combat normally meant looking through a completely different long list of abilities to use. However, I really enjoyed the storyline. I read the adventures when they first came out and was excited to finally get a chance to run a group through it.

With the Age of Worms I’ve found the going a little tougher and have definitely been suffering from GM burn-out for some, if not all of the campaign. I still enjoy gaming, but I’ve now gotten to the point where something as simple as reading the next adventure is a bit of a chore.

So, given that I don’t want to stop gaming, what advice do people have for dealing with burn-out?

My wife and I are expecting baby number 3 in February next year. At which point I’ll take a few months off from gaming. When we start back up again one of my players has offered to run a Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign. This will allow me to duck off mid-session to help put children to bed, etc. without the game coming to a halt (we play at my house) as other players can run my PC for me.

I think that playing, rather than GM’ing will definitely help my burn-out. However, that’s still a few months away. Any ideas as to what I can do until then?

 

[MichaelSomething]

DM a different game. 3.5 is a very rule intensive system, especially at higher levels. A rule lighter game should do the trick

 

[Stormonu]

I've been through several recent periods of GM burnout. I've been playing D&D in one form or another since around '79, about 90% more of the time as a DM. Right now, my D&D books are taking a hiatus on the shelf while I run a Star Wars D6 campaign for my kids (and one of their friends).

I agree that higher level D&D games (anything in the double-digits) will burn a DM out fast. Personally, I've come to see, for me, it's not worth the headache of running games much past 8th level. I generally wrap up major plot points around that time and the game comes to a natural end generally no later than 12th level.

A couple of other things that I have found work for me

- Let someone else run for a bit. There is a huge amount of relief that helps to rejuvenate by taking a lot of the preparation and rule adjudication off your hands. Also, letting someone else run a game can introduce you to new ways of doing things or new stories you might not have otherwise encountered, which might help juice you back up about your own game.

- Play another game for a bit. D&D, especially 3.5, is rules heavy and it can induce a level of stress not inherit in other games. It can also help to broaden your mind and stretch your imagination for a bit by getting away from D&Disms for a bit. It doesn't have to be RPGs either. I've interjected a semi-regular board game night into my schedule to get away from some of the stress of RPGs. Video game nights can also be fun, if you're into that sort of thing.

- Walk away. Taking a few months away from the hobby is something that frankly, just sometimes need to be done. We often have other projects that get neglected because we're spending time with something else that is sucking up our time (in this case, RPGs). Consider taking a breather, tending to those other neglected hobbies/projects and coming back to the game when you don't dread it anymore. (With a baby on the way, this might not be a bad idea - for me and my wife, it was about a year before we got back to any semblance of a regular sleep schedule and the 3-6 months away from RPGs allowed to avoid a lot of extra stress and frustration we might have taken out on our gaming friends).

- Use more premade stuff. Sounds like you're already using AP's, so that can help alleviate some of the stress from making your own stuff. Look for shortcuts and time-savers so you can maximize your time with the stuff you enjoy about RPGs, and minimize the preparation stuff that sucks away the fun of actually playing.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Yeah, I think 5E is coming along at a really good time for me. I didn’t buy 4E because at the time it came out I was quite happy with the 3.5E system and hadn’t felt like I’d got a good enough return on investment for all the 3.XE books I owned (I’ve got several shelves full of 3.XE books).

Several years down the track and I can definitely see the cracks in the 3.5E system, I feel like I’ve got pretty good use out of my 3.XE books (and many will be usable in D&D game really) and I’m definitely ready for a system with a little less crunch. I haven’t played D&D Next as yet, but from what I’ve read about it, it definitely seems like it could be what I’m looking for. We shall see.

 

[delericho]

My suggestion: take a break, do lots of reading (and not just genre stuff), and when you come back do something very different from what has gone before.

Also, I find that any time I play a game, I immediately want to get back behind the screen!

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Do you experience creative burn out like in "I don't know how to make the next session fun" or more a motivational on like "I really don't want to spend today's evening prepping alle the stuff"?

In the first case you might want to some time off GMing and spend your time with other pursuits to recharge the batteries.

In the second case you might want to run an ancillary adventure or two. Based on the situation your camapign is in let the player create secondary low-level characters and run them through scenarios loosely related to the main plot.

In both cases it helps, of course, to be upfront to the players and explain your situation and feelings to them.

Good luck!

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Definitely motivation is lacking, in that I lack the motivation to put the effort in to prepping for sessions.

 

[dd.stevenson]

Definitely motivation is lacking, in that I lack the motivation to put the effort in to prepping for sessions.

Running a high-level 3.x adventure path is enough to sap anyone's motivation, especially if they have other things on their mind. (Adventure paths, high-level 3.x, and major life events are all things that push toward GM burnout, so you're in triple jeopardy so to speak.)

I guess the only answer is: you have to choose whether to power through these last months, or bring things to an early close. It's a personal decision and nothing anyone can say will change that.

 

[Teataine]

First a preface: I would agree with the other posters saying that 3.x (especially high level 3.x) is extremely taxing and tiresome.

All activities, no matter how much you love them, can get "old" after a while. In that spirit taking a break, consuming some passive media, getting inspired and hyped to play again would be my first and most important advice. Just let gaming lie for a while and do other stuff.

But beyond that I'd argue that "GM burnout" is almost exclusively a 3.x problem. I rarely if ever see it come up in relation to other games. I myself have been an on/off 3.x DM since it came out (3E->3.5E->Pathfinder) and I can't tell you how frustrated I now become when I have to dig into it again. I have devised countless tricks and techniques to help me with the workload and make DMing easier, but even so it's much more tiresome that a host of other great games out there.

That said, with your specific situation, there are no easy solutions. Switching systems mid-campaign is frustrating at best. Would it be terrible if you told your players you want a couple of weeks off? Definitely go easy on the prep, do only the most necessary stuff, organize your notes in a casual, pick-up manner. Prune the numbers down to the bare essentials and generally take a more free-wheeling, improvisational approach to the game. Read the adventure only for inspiration, and don't feel shackled to it.

If continuity and story-arc mysteries aren't a problem, could you perhaps ask someone else to run the next adventure path, and be a player for the finale of your campaign? It's great to pass the reins for a while either way.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Definitely motivation is lacking, in that I lack the motivation to put the effort in to prepping for sessions.

Having gone through multiple 'burnouts' over the years this is the hardest cause for me to overcome. If I'm not motivated to run the game I put zero effort into it and just 'wing it' with predictable results.

I have often found even taking a break from GMing won't help in this case as you are only treating the 'symptoms' not the real problem. You really have to break down what, exactly, is the cause of the loss of motivation. A few examples might be

Long prep time? Find a pre written adventure that can be run 'as is' with no modification at all (use pre made PCs too if you players are willing - they are usually tailored to fit with the power level of the adventure)
Long/Boring/Overwhelming Combat options (I think you mentioned this earlier) - find a true 'rules light' system with minimal combat. Or run multiple sessions without actual combat (use lots of skill checks instead - even feats of strength). Make the adventure all about the PCs and their motivations and personalities. One of the single best examples of this kind of adventure I have ever found was called 'A Rough Night at the Three Feathers' for the old 1e Warhammer Fantasy RPG. It centered around an in called The Three Feathers and all of the bizarre patrons who showed up one night (including the PCs). It spanned 3 sessions in my weekly WFRP game (keep in mind we played for 6-8 hours per session and this adventure was supposed to take place over the course of a single evening!) as the PCs tried to figure out who was involved in what shenanigans in the inn. One actual fight during that whole time, although they did get into arm wrestling for cash and even target shooting at one point. That was nearly 20 years ago and we still remember it fondly.
Getting sidetracked? - by this I mean - are you spending too much time on your encounter preps and not enough on your story development? I found this one was huge for me. I would spend hours creating NPCs with elaborate backstories then realize the PCs had no way of ever finding it all out or even any motivation to look. Or spell lists. Oh god spell lists!!! Any spell slinger over 5th level started to become a nightmare as I would have to pick all of their spells (including those in their spell books if any)and most of them died after casting 3-5 spells anyways. I made a rule for myself as DM that I would only pick 6 spells that would be cast for certain (assuming the NPC lived that long) and these would usually be the highest level spells the NPC could cast normally. If they really, really needed some low level spell cast to save themselves or their buddies they would just have it. I did something similar to skills and had a list of the best/most important skills each class should have and gave the NPC in question max ranks in the those skills only. If they suddenly needed to know Rope Use (ha!) they had 1/2 ranks. Gear & ability scores were also done by this 'package' method. By the end of my 3E DMing career I could stat up nearly any type of NPC of any core class in about 5-15 minutes. Then 4E came along and had all of this stuff hardwired into the game rules already. Really a time-strapped DMs dream come true.


Good luck Olaf! Hope you will overcome this bout of burnout quickly (and it will pass - most of mine lasted 3-9 months but I did have one stretch of 5 years)