D&D General "I have had a 'D&D Hangover'" (a poll)

[overgeeked]

True. On the regular. Especially after marathon 6-8 hour sessions. I'm utterly wrecked the next day and get nothing done.

 

[WarDriveWorley]

I've been playing almost non-stop since 90 (or so), including running games at a local game store and also managing their gaming inventory/TT employees for a time. Almost all of that gaming was as a DM. At one point in 2003 through 2004 (not long after leaving that position) I took a step back from gaming for a few months because I was a bit burned out. Not so much from games themselves, but from dealing with the same gamers (at that point it was a bit harder to find local gamers so we often played with who was available) and also constantly creating adventures. Still hung out with the real friends I made gaming and occasionally dropped in for a one shot, but went from approximately 6 games a week to none during that time.

 

[el-remmen]

I meant to include in the OP that this is distinct from "burnout" (see previous poll), which I see as long term, while this is a temporary one day at most kind of thing.

but not feeling like the games themselves were disappointing.

As I said in the post, it is not necessarily that the session was bad or a let-down, but as @Ruin Explorer suggested, that it could have been so great that everything else feels like kind of a let-down.

But calling it a "hangover" might give folks the impression that it's a Bad Thing,

I certainly did not mean it was "bad." I had plenty of actual hangovers in my younger days and that never stopped me from drinking and having a good time (though as I got older the balanced shifted where the degree of hangover was way out of whack with the amount of drinking and fun, so I had to learn to pace myself and not do it as often). Gaming can also be like that, where some of us as we get older, game for shorter sessions or for fewer people, or only at certain times, etc. . . Doesn't mean we like the games any less or that the potential drained feeling afterwards is wholly negative.

 

[Umbran]

I am calling this feeling "a D&D hangover."

This, of course, is not limited to D&D. Any similarly intense event can do the trick - so this is also referred to as "con crach" (not to be confused with "con crud", where you actually get sick), "larp crash", and "larp hangover" in their respective circles.

 

[Dioltach]

Sore neck and headache after an afternoon and evening of DM'ing. That's one reason I switched to boardgames during the two years before the pandemic. Since we've started playing D&D again (first online, then in person) I've been careful to vary the games, switch DMs and keep things much simpler than before.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I'm lucky to mostly leave my gaming sessions excited as heck. For my session that finishes up at 8:30pm, sometimes so much so that sleep takes a while to show up.

A truly bad session, though, that will take me a day or two to pull out of that funk. Everything seems a little duller for a bit.

But then I rally and start thinking about what went wrong, and how to do better the next time. And then it's onto the next gaming session.

 

[Horwath]

We usually have 5-6hrs session so it's never too much, however, yesterday we had almost 10hr game of Twilight imperium4, that was little draining...

 

[TwoSix]

I’ve definitely had some lethargic Saturdays after a good Friday gaming session.

 

[Shiroiken]

I've needed some recovery days after a marathon session. Playing 24-36 hrs straight really drains you, even when doped up on candy & Mt Dew...

 

[Stormonu]

I've gotten Con crud before, but never had a D&D hangover.