I think it is time for a break.

[TiQuinn]

You’re a TTRPG expert on multiple levels. Well over the 10,000 hours. It would be a real shame for you to sever the tie completely.

Have you considered switching to just playing instead of DMing. Even if it’s with online groups?

I found that extremely refreshing.

It also sounds like it’s nearly if not fully a job. And I think everyone gets burnt if it feels like a job at times.

 

[Reynard]

And then you have a really good session like last night and don't know what to think.

 

[payn]

And then you have a really good session like last night and don't know what to think.

I've been there. I had a group I was running an AP for in PF1 era. I was putting a ton of work into bringing the AP to life. The players though? Yeah lots fo goofing off and all just dick and fart jokes. It was trying my patience and I was about to toss in the towel when we finished a good session. Pretty much all the players thanked me for all the effort and said it was like a top 5 RPG experience for them and I realized they just never had a GM that gave a crap before. It put some wind back in my sails for running that campaign which went to completion.

 

[Reynard]

I've been there. I had a group I was running an AP for in PF1 era. I was putting a ton of work into bringing the AP to life. The players though? Yeah lots fo goofing off and all just dick and fart jokes. It was trying my patience and I was about to toss in the towel when we finished a good session. Pretty much all the players thanked me for all the effort and said it was like a top 5 RPG experience for them and I realized they just never had a GM that gave a crap before. It put some wind back in my sails for running that campaign which went to completion.

I am beginning to think the mistake might have been trying to return to professional freelance for gaming. I don't need the money, and it is much more difficult to get motivated that I had expected it to be. And the work part might be draining the leisure part.

 

[payn]

I am beginning to think the mistake might have been trying to return to professional freelance for gaming. I don't need the money, and it is much more difficult to get motivated that I had expected it to be. And the work part might be draining the leisure part.

A buddy of mine is/was a musician the title is kinda iffy. For a time, he tried to make a career out of it but he found it made doing what he loves like a job and his enjoyment plummeted. These days he doesnt perform live anymore and just records stuff in his free time.

 

[Stalker0]

took a long break from DMing for a while (and I wasn't a player in any game so it was basically a break from gaming).

let me recharge, and then I was good to go again. Happens, no shame in it.

 

[thullgrim]

I am beginning to think the mistake might have been trying to return to professional freelance for gaming. I don't need the money, and it is much more difficult to get motivated that I had expected it to be. And the work part might be draining the leisure part.

Monetizing my hobbies drains all the joy. I’ve been asked to make a few furniture pieces but doing the commissions was never fun.

I’ve thought about setting up a paid game to run online. Mostly to run things my regular group isn’t to but I just keep feeling like I have a job. I don’t need another one.

Side hustle=part time job with no benefits. Of If I needed the cash I’d do it. Fortunately I do not at this time.

 

[Voadam]

After college when I moved to a new city for law school there was about a five year period from 1995-2000 where I did not have a regular group and my gaming was limited to occasional bachelor parties and gaming weekends of my childhood friends/gaming group who had scattered across the country. It was a period where I was in law school, got married, and started my law career.

I was still buying occasional D&D books and reading them for fun, and I got into the new OGL and 3e. The only dedicated gaming of any type I had then was one year in law school a weekly Magic the Gathering game with a friend.

I got back into active regular gaming starting with a 3e email group game with my brother and one of my childhood friends from my old gaming group, which then later expanded to more of our old group. I then started freelance writing some in the d20 era for fun. Never a lot, just enough to get my name in a half dozen books or so and my friends in one listed as playtesters.

 

[el-remmen]

None of my breaks (ranging from 6 months to a few years) have been intentional, but they all ended up being a needed re-charging.

 

[Piperken]

I have been gaming essentially continuously for 40 years. I have and am writing freelance for the industry. I run games at cons and at home. And I am just... I don't know, exhausted with it? Unable to find the joy in it? I don't know.

This sounds as if a break is warranted, what form that comes in though will vary quite a bit.

No one I don't think (?) has mentioned solo RPG games; I read more and more positive experiences by people who've tried this way of playing.

It has the benefit of being entirely done on your own time, and allows someone like you w/ your background to explore new games w/o the effort required to put together a group.