It sounds to me that you just need a break for a while. Run one of the pre-written modules, Hoarde of the Drogon Queen or Out of the Abyss. See how you feel after all that is done, i'm sure you'll get your mojo back. I'm currently running my group through Ravenloft 5e conversions and I'm loving it.
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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
D&D 5E I don't want to homebrew anymore...
- Thread starter Remathilis
- Start date
I have some of those concerns but for different reasons. I always looked forward to the next thing in regards to D&D, but when WOTC decided to re-hash the forgotten realms, and go back to some of the old truisms like the simple fighter for 5E. Which also included going back on the decision to make maneuvers universal for martial classes. It lets the air out of the sails. And when I looked at recent adventures like OoTA which is basically a big sandbox, I could do the same thing if they released a book of NPCs, or monsters, and just included a short synopsis with it and a map. The rest of the work is on the DM.
And the bottom line, is if you are not into it, then the campaign will suffer regardless if it is your own setting or pre-generated. So I would advise taking a break from being a DM. Look for new inspiration in any form. And if that means trying a new system and/or world then go for it. After you play in a fantasy setting for 10+ years, things will start to be the same old same old.
And the bottom line, is if you are not into it, then the campaign will suffer regardless if it is your own setting or pre-generated. So I would advise taking a break from being a DM. Look for new inspiration in any form. And if that means trying a new system and/or world then go for it. After you play in a fantasy setting for 10+ years, things will start to be the same old same old.
ExploderWizard
Hero
Don't create material only for others to enjoy. If creating things doesn't make you happy then you shouldn't do it. I'm the same way with miniatures. I love painting them and playing with them. We would have just as much fun at the gaming sessions with pre-painted plastic minis. I don't keep painting because having the minis makes the games MORE fun. I keep painting the minis because I enjoy it even if they just sat in the display case.
Creating worlds & scenarios is no different. Do it because you love it or don't do it at all. That is the secret to not having game prep feel like work.
GameDoc
Explorer
In my last turn as DM, I incorporated some principles from FATE, even though we were playing 5e. I made a generic local setting (city with surrounding farm lands and forests) and had the players due the "phase trio" so that there was an established backstory as to how they knew each other as well as a handful of established allies and enemies. From there things sort of took shape organically by just codifying anything I had to make up on the fly to respond to their questions and character's actions.
I would just write these on note cards when they came up and then use them for ideas for the next gaming session.
The best one that popped up was when they found a locket in a treasure horde (randomly rolled) and asked if there was a picture in it. I just said there was a picture of a pretty girl. Out of character, someone jokingly said "It's probably just a picture of a model that came with it." Later, at the temple they encountered an acolyte and on a whim I decided to make it a female that looked like the picture in the locket. When they asked if the locket belonged to her or someone she knew she said "No, my cousin is a finesmith and he asked if he could use a picture of me in lockets and frames and such for display in his shop". So she really was the model that came with the frame. Good times.
- "My dwarf outlander comes from a clan of mercenaries" - BAM! Somewhere in the distant mountains is a clan of dwarf mercenaries.
- "My character is a paladin because his father was. He's going to take the oath of vengeance because orcs destroyed the chapter house and killed his father and all the other members of the order." - BAM! There's an orc tribe that when encountered has to have sufficient strength to defeat a house full of paladins. Also, this character might encounter NPCs who knew and respected his father.
- "My wizard was kicked out of the university for studying forbidden lore." BAM! There is a university in the city and for some reason there are things no one is supposed to know.
I would just write these on note cards when they came up and then use them for ideas for the next gaming session.
The best one that popped up was when they found a locket in a treasure horde (randomly rolled) and asked if there was a picture in it. I just said there was a picture of a pretty girl. Out of character, someone jokingly said "It's probably just a picture of a model that came with it." Later, at the temple they encountered an acolyte and on a whim I decided to make it a female that looked like the picture in the locket. When they asked if the locket belonged to her or someone she knew she said "No, my cousin is a finesmith and he asked if he could use a picture of me in lockets and frames and such for display in his shop". So she really was the model that came with the frame. Good times.
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Jester David
Hero
Quit.
Give up.
No seriously, quit.
Okay, D&D is a hobby of love. If you're not super into what you're doing, if you're not feeling it, then your apathy will show. It's like writing a novel or making a movie: unless you have a burning passion to make the project, it'll always just be something you're doing for the paycheque. Because you have to.
Take a break. Let another player run through the game for a while. Recharge your DM batteries. Find a story that you want to tell. Find something that excites you. Then take over again.
Read some different books. Watch some diffenent films. Look at Monster Manual entries for creatures you've never used before and ask yourself how you could spin those into an adventure or campaign.
Give up.
No seriously, quit.
Okay, D&D is a hobby of love. If you're not super into what you're doing, if you're not feeling it, then your apathy will show. It's like writing a novel or making a movie: unless you have a burning passion to make the project, it'll always just be something you're doing for the paycheque. Because you have to.
Take a break. Let another player run through the game for a while. Recharge your DM batteries. Find a story that you want to tell. Find something that excites you. Then take over again.
Read some different books. Watch some diffenent films. Look at Monster Manual entries for creatures you've never used before and ask yourself how you could spin those into an adventure or campaign.
I've found AP's take just as much prep work, if not more, than just writing your own story. The 5e rules are great, but the supported material so far has been really poorly-designed, IMO.
Hoard made sense because it was written before the rules were finalized, so balance issues were expected. Prince just felt bland, kind of like an HD release of a last-gen game. Abyss is incredibly narrow in focus, and takes an absolute ton of time to prep for, if you want to make it interesting. It also requires a *very* skilled GM; not skilled as in knowledge of rules, but skilled as in making the setting come off as more than just a really big underground cave where each new location is the same as the last except for one or two visuals.
Hoard made sense because it was written before the rules were finalized, so balance issues were expected. Prince just felt bland, kind of like an HD release of a last-gen game. Abyss is incredibly narrow in focus, and takes an absolute ton of time to prep for, if you want to make it interesting. It also requires a *very* skilled GM; not skilled as in knowledge of rules, but skilled as in making the setting come off as more than just a really big underground cave where each new location is the same as the last except for one or two visuals.
Bupp
Adventurer
This is an idea I read about on one of these message boards for a campaign that I'm keeping in my back pocket for the next time I'm experiencing DM burnout...
The characters are all agents of a high level wizard who dwells in a tower on a demi-plane. This wizard sponsor either wants items retrieved from dungeons or wants specific evils eliminated and does so by teleporting or gating the party to the adventure location.
These locations can be anywhere. The Realms, Greyhawk, Outer Planes, your homebrew world from 15 years ago, Gamma World, medieval England, modern Chicago, wherever.
None of the adventures themselves really seem to be connected in any way, and they don't have to be. Just pick up a pile of old adventures that look like fun running. One page dungeon contest winners. Old issues of Dungeon Magazine. En5ider adventures. Classic AD&D modules. That homebrew module you ran back in '03.
Pick your adventure and have your wizard teleport them right to the dungeon entrance. Screw the world building. He can even outfit them with a stockpile of mundane equipment and a supply of henchmen NPC's.
Want to do a little cross-country? Maybe have his calculations be off and he gates them to the wrong place. "Dimensional forces" his magic can't penetrate require him to drop you in over here...
Just play and have fun, no world required.
The characters are all agents of a high level wizard who dwells in a tower on a demi-plane. This wizard sponsor either wants items retrieved from dungeons or wants specific evils eliminated and does so by teleporting or gating the party to the adventure location.
These locations can be anywhere. The Realms, Greyhawk, Outer Planes, your homebrew world from 15 years ago, Gamma World, medieval England, modern Chicago, wherever.
None of the adventures themselves really seem to be connected in any way, and they don't have to be. Just pick up a pile of old adventures that look like fun running. One page dungeon contest winners. Old issues of Dungeon Magazine. En5ider adventures. Classic AD&D modules. That homebrew module you ran back in '03.
Pick your adventure and have your wizard teleport them right to the dungeon entrance. Screw the world building. He can even outfit them with a stockpile of mundane equipment and a supply of henchmen NPC's.
Want to do a little cross-country? Maybe have his calculations be off and he gates them to the wrong place. "Dimensional forces" his magic can't penetrate require him to drop you in over here...
Just play and have fun, no world required.
Rhenny
Adventurer
I really like what you are getting at here. I think a lot of the time, the burden to continually build a campaign and keep threads weaving through each session can become overwhelming. A good campaign is a labor of love, and even then, it can begin to get bogged down. The freedom of just hopping from adventure to adventure without too many threads weaving through them all might be a great way to just have fun.
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
One of my favorite tricks to re-start the ol' engines is to have the party whip up characters before I come up with any adventure.
And then base the antagonists or enemies off of what the PC's create.
So say you have a Super Cliche party with a halfling rogue, a dwarven cleric, an elf wizard, and a human fighter.
Our Halfling Rogue might be wanted for a crime in her idyllic homeland. Our dwarven cleric has a predisposition to fighting demons and undead. The elven wizard can be searching for lost lore. The human fighter maybe is a Folk Hero fresh off the turnip truck.
That's enough plotline to go for miles, and it already includes hooks that make the players interested. There's a slight risk of Generic-ness, but that's pretty easy to avoid - invert an expectation, or smush two plot lines together. Maybe it turns out the halfling village is trying to get help from the human village to help apprehend the little bugger - will the Human Fighter betray the people who laud him as a hero, or will he betray his party member? Maybe you smush the demons and undead together to create demonic undead (Orcus!), and the lost lore that was once protected by the living.
The things you can add to this might include items - especially intelligent items, or otherwise "not your normal +1 swords." It might also include prestige classes - perhaps your dwarven cleric becomes a Demon-Slayer. Interesting NPC's and patrons could be coming out of the woodwork here.
Let the players take some of the stress of plot-creation off your shoulders - let them have goals and desires, either independent or embedded in their class, race, background, etc. Cram a few together and see what shakes out. Spice with mechanics they can discover in play as necessary.
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