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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cergorach" data-source="post: 9639870" data-attributes="member: 725">Within our group we rotate DMs, just for this reason, to avoid burnout and keep things fresh within the group. We've been doing that for 35+ years now. I've taken my own complete break (months) from D&D due to pressures outside of my gaming, I just didn't become a very nice person to game with.I'm also seeing a TON of work being put into a campaign/adventure. But I also get the impression that it's being done for some payout, which doesn't show up, time and again. This sometimes happens, but with you it seems like the rule rather then the exception. If you make something, do that for yourself, making sure that you're alright if people don't play in it. Don't front load your campaign with a TON of work that you might never get to.I'm currently preparing a campaign that's been in my mind for a years. Initially I was thinking of making my own mega dungeon, but that is way more work than it needs to be, so I thought it would be acceptable to use Rappan Athuk, looked at a few others, but eventually settled on Undermountain. The reasons for that is that there's almost 35 years of content available for that, both official and unofficial. I'm using that as a basis, I want to do my own maps in a certain asset style (Crosshead), but am fine with using something good initially made by someone else (Cyrens Maps), that allows me to make them when I want to and not pushing against some deadline. The same goes for filling out the core of the dungeon, using Mad Mage as the basis for it, which allows for TONs of customization. This allows me time to get it up to a 'level' I want and spend time on getting a good player experience, while also allowing me to flesh out locations/encounters dramatically (like the Yawning Portal inn), and working further on the core gimmick for the campaign (yeah, I stacked something atop exploring Undermountain).The only advice I can think of to give is to get more balance in everything. The amount of work you put into it, the amount of emotional investment you put in it, what you want, what the players want, etc. The players are not there for your satisfaction, but neither are you there for just the players satisfaction. Everyone needs to have fun/satisfaction at the table! Maybe not always all the time, but that should be the general way of things. But also realize that you might have to change and your players might need to change to make it fun for everyone.Playing a published adventure isn't shameful or needs to be a straitjacket, it's just a bunch of work you don't have to do. The advantage of using a published (or fan produced) adventure/campaign is that when players want to skip something you can without pain in your heart. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> I once ran the fan Northern Journey campaign/adventure for 3e back when it was just all collected rumours on Eric Noah's site. I had the entire adventure printed in a big binder, and after many hints given (and received) they kept going the 'wrong' way and I just grabbed more then half that binder "Looks like we're skipping this!" and turned it all over. The player's eyes went big "Oh!", because they had never seen that. They wanted to go back, but "Too late!" and that is still talked about today after more then 25 years. If that was my own written adventure, I might have collapsed right there! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />#1 talk to your wife, what she wants out of the experience, talk about what you want out of the experience. When your wife plays in your party, that's the most important relationship to keep as healthy as possible. With that in your and your wife's mind, talk to the rest of the group with everyone. If you can reach a middle ground where everyone is happy, go looking for a published (or fan) adventure that fits what everyone's happy with, it might need some slight alteration to work, but there's quite a bit for Eberron or even things that aren't made for Eberron that could easily work with it.Less work means less frustration, so keep it as simple as possible. But even then if you don't talk it out with the other people, resentment will build and that will eventually lead to burnout. Maybe also talk about others DMing and find out if that's a possibility.</blockquote>

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