I hate to DM

[boredgremlin]

I have been gaming for 11 years. I have been stuck being the DM for 8 of them.
I hate DMing. I find it boring as hell and almost dread each week of gaming. I try to handle things like a story, like sort of dramatic "whos line is it anyway" and my gamers love it.
for 8 years i have been stuck DMing because everytime i quit people beg me to start another game. One of my players is in his 40's and 2 others are in thier mid 30's. I am 23. These arent newbies who want to run a game. They are solid experianced gamers who want me to run a game for them.
Since i hate GMing i would rather not, but when people keep asking i feel guilty so i run games anyway for them. Within a few sessions i hit a point where i want them all to die so i can stop GMing. I dont gip them though and some of my players are honestly geniuses who are experianced with gaming so they win through, and i am stuck running another session.
I am looking for advice from GMs. I used to enjoy running games. Now i view it as a social obligation that i would rather be drinking then running a game. When other GM's get sick of doing what we do, how do other GM's find whatever it takes to enjoy our job again?

 

[Nightchilde-2]

In general, I'm just the opposite. I hate being a player, but I love GMing. 95% of my gaming career has been as a GM.

That said, it does occasionally overwhelm me and I begin to feel burned out. When that happens, I take a break. Sometimes I take a break from a system and run a different game.

Then there are times where I just completely need a break from gaming completely. During those times, I try to do something not RPG related. I find that after a couple of weeks, I'm ready to hop back in the captain's chair again.

Have you tried telling your group how you feel?

 

[MonsterMash]

Ok the best thing would be to explain to the players that you are getting burned out as a GM and you need a break, so either one of the players GMs for a while or you play other games that don't need a GM while you get a break.

 

[delericho]

I am looking for advice from GMs. I used to enjoy running games. Now i view it as a social obligation that i would rather be drinking then running a game. When other GM's get sick of doing what we do, how do other GM's find whatever it takes to enjoy our job again?

I know exactly how you feel. At times, I have wanted to do anything else than run one more game. The problem is that you run a really good game (probably far better than any of the other potential DMs), so they want you to run.

I can only recommend three things:

1) Try different games. Take a break from D&D, and even d20. Try some Exalted, or Shadowrun, or Serenity, or whatever takes your fancy. You could even spend a few months running mini-series in each, with a mini-series lasting only 6-8 sessions.

2) Run a low-prep campaign. When I last got sick of DMing, I ran a group through Shackled City, and we had a huge amount of fun. What's more, in the course of running the campaign I found I was looking forward to running a homebrew campaign again. (Shackled City is really great for this. My gut feeling is that Age of Worms is even better.)

3) Take a break. Tell the group you simply won't be running a game for 3 months/6 months/a year. Then stick to it. Maybe drop RPGs altogether for that time. Then, come back refreshed, and blow their minds with all the brilliant campaigns you've concocted in the meantime.

 

[dvvega]

What we do in our group is to cycle the DMing however we do it in large chunks. I've just stopped (last session) after a straight 6 months - I chose an appropriate "cliff hanger" point in the campaign and am going to take a break to play with another playing DM-ing.

I announced my nearing burn out and asked if someone could take over for a while. They were more than happy to do so. If you have no players willing to help you out in this regard then you seriously should look at recruiting a DM for the group at least for a while.

My longest running stint as a DM was 2 years straight, 1/week and by the end of it I was really burnt out and the because of it some of my later sessions sucked and then players complained about them. This is what I really found irritating. Learning from that lesson I try to get a break in every 6 months or so. It is a long enough period to develop plot lines and finish off adventures, but short enough not to burn out the brain.

6 months works for me simply because I also teach Game Design and so I have to use a lot of my mental faculties in preparing teaching resources etc.

 

[PieAndDragon]

Take a break!

Either play or find something else to do for a while. This is your free time we're talking about. At least spend it doing something you enjoy

 

[Spud]

Yeah take a break. Like yourself ive been DM'ing straight for about 8 years and recently was getting pretty burnt out. So i decided i wanted a break and for someone else to take over for a bit.
We finished the last, what was supposed to be a short campaign but somehow got talked into running Temple of Elemental Evil and then City of the Spider Queen (which I had fun to start with as i took no prisoners but at the end just wanted to quit), last week so im finally going to be a player again and im really looking forward to it.

As an aside this will be our first 3.5 campaign, on our first 2ed campaign 3 came out just after and when we finally started on the 3rd edition 3.5 came out not long after. Oh doom is upon us...

 

[Kapture]

Dude.

No means no.

 

[Deng]

Take a break!

Hey detomo that doesn't mean you'll be taking a break anytime soon I hope!!

Seriously though... if your players can't understand your need for a break (or quitting all together) and keep trying to force you then maybe you could just run less frequently... maybe once every two weeks (or more) and you could play other games in between.

 

[JoeGKushner]

1. DM something completely different. Different genre, time period, power level, game system, etc...

2. Have someone else GM. Even if none of your current group wants to, see if you can find someone even from outside the group.

3. Join a different group. A different set of dynamics can instantly change the whole thing.

4. Run a preplanned campaign or loose series of prewritten adventurers. Lots of 'em out there.