I'm back. And this time, D&D 3.5 will not kill me.

[Linus Lennox]

Dear Enworld Dudes:

Long time lurker, but this is my first post. I'm deeply impressed with the supportive/encouraging atmosphere of this place, and so I figured you could help me.

Read on.

****
It almost killed me.

Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but it certainly burned me out. Without wasting your time with my entire life story, I’ll say that I started playing RPGs at age nine in 1980 with the Tom Moldvay D&D Basic boxed set, and played sporadically until I returned for real in 2002 at the ripe old age of 31. What drew me back, as apparently happened to many of us, was D&D, third edition (not yet rechristened “3.0”).

Three years of intense playing and Dming followed, in which I found myself immersed in not only D&D 3.0/3.5, but d20 Modern, GURPS third and fourth edition, and a wealth of others. I even went through a retro phase of sorts, digging out the AD&D 1e and 2e books, dusting off the Rules Cyclopedia, you name it. But through it all, D&D 3.5 kept calling, and I kept answering. Or at least trying to.

But something went wrong, terribly wrong. I burned out, if you’ll excuse the cliché. I found myself lying in bed at night studying my Player’s Handbook as if I were a third year medical student with a massive textbook, cramming, without joy, for an endless series of exams. I found myself tormented by an endless stream of statistics and terminology that paraded through my head like ghosts at the oddest times. Looking at my daughter I heard the words, “Size, Small. Race, Human. Class, Commoner. She can run 20 feet per round. She—“ You get the idea. I stopped enjoying playing the game (in spite of being in a great group) and I enjoyed running it even less. It became work; I dreaded Dming the way a person will dread public speaking or a job interview. At a certain point in time I woke up realizing two things: (1) D&D 3.5 (and, by extension, all RPGs) are not fun. (2) D&D 3.5 and other RPGs have no potential to ever be fun (for me).

I thought I was finished. I sold off a lot of my books and, with the proceeds, bought a PlayStation 2 with a good set of games (I’ve also been a videogamer since the early days of the Atari 2600). This past summer was supposed to be the final nail in the coffin of my RPG career, as I had planned to sell off my remaining books: D&D 3.5 core books, Ravenloft and Planescape boxed sets (2e), a stack of DUNGEON back issues—you get the idea.

But then something funny happened in August.

I started to think about D&D again. Suddenly all of those people who told me “Don’t sell off your books, bro—you’ll regret it!” didn’t seem quite so out of touch. The familiar stirrings began within me.

Next thing you know, I’m combing through back issues of DUNGEON, scribbling up stats for a fighter/illusionist, and emailing my gaming group to tell them, in no uncertain terms, that I’m back. As a player, anyway (I’m going to need about six months before I feel ready to DM again).

In some ways this will be a test of whether or not D&D 3.5 (and RPGing in general) really is for me or not. But I have a few ideas about how to do things differently this time, which I’ll summarize in my next post (I'm still typing up a list of ideas).

Linus

 

[Allandaros]

Good luck, friend.

A suggestion - if you're worried about zeroing in on one game, try to make sure you're playing several systems. I'd recommend Paranoia, just because it prevents you from taking it seriously.

...on the other hand, I'd recommend Paranoia to ANYONE, so don't neccessarily listen to me.

Anyways, good luck. And welcome back to the ranks of d10-rollers.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

If you are worried about getting into cycles where you can't let the rules go ... get into a heavy RP game. In fact, get into a very combat-lite game. The less combat there is in a game, the less rules you care about. I know it sounds dilly, but I tried it and haven't been the same since. Character development is richer, RP is better, character generation is easier (but longer on account of taking the background seriously).

Also remember as a DM sometimes it is better for you to not know all the rules and have an understanding with your players that there is a "3 minute review" rule (A la professional football's 90 second under the hood). If nobody in the group can find the rule in 3 minutes the DM has the priviledge to ad hoc a ruling and the game moves on - no questions asked. I find when I DM this helps because it means that the game flow is smooth, less dependant on my ability to cram, and it involves the players in helping rule adjudicating because they want to make sure the ruling goes the way they want it to!

But, good luck.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Roleplaying comes and goes for me too. I spent the last year and a half immersed in World of Warcraft. I got bored of it so I got back into roleplaying again.

 

[Razz]

I know how you feel. I think I am falling into that stage right now. I would never quit nor sell my books, of course, but I've been DMing for over 10 years and would like to sit in the Player's seat for awhile. Problem is, none of my other friends in our group are able to DM properly (because they refuse to even read or memorize at LEAST the Player's Handbook rules) except for one and he's way too busy.

I used to make up quests, good ones, with lots of RP and interesting combat scenarios and villains but now it is becoming harder and harder to do such things. I thought at first it was all the new stuff, the myriad of combinations that run through my mind, and all the ideas coming and going like dust particles in the wind and wanting to catch one and hold onto it long enough for it to evolve into a masterpiece.

That wasn't it. I think I'm burnt out myself a little. My creative juices will flow again once more, as did yours, and things will be right once again.

 

[Dracorat]

You shouldn't study a game like its a test. Once you get there, thats a sign you need a break. Take one =)

 

[Linus Lennox]

You shouldn't study a game like its a test. Once you get there, thats a sign you need a break. Take one =)

I did. And now I'm back.

Here's my first few ideas. (By the way, please feel free to add to this list!)

WAYS TO PREVENT D&D 3.5 FROM GETTING OUT OF CONTROL

or,

How to tame the great dragon that is D&D 3.5

1. For the next several months, I am only focusing on D&D 3.5. No GURPS, no nWoD, no d20 Modern, no Call of Cthulhu, you get the idea. I want to focus on ONE game, the only game I truly love (or at least, truly want to love). For various reasons that are beyond the scope of this post (but perhaps might make an interesting future thread), I've never found that horror or science-fiction work for me as RPG genres (though I love them in fiction, movies, etc.).

2. I am not even going to crack open my DMG until I've thoroughly re-acquainted myself with the PHB. I'll browse the MM1 and 2, but my focus on rules-reading will be the PHB.

3. Yes, I will DM again . . . but not until January, at the earliest. I need time to relax and enjoy the game as a player; our new campaign is starting in November. Depending how that (and real life, of course) progresses, I may not begin my own campaign until March or April. But the point is, I'm not putting any pressure on myself to dive right back into DMing.

4. I will stop comparing myself to the uber-geeks. On this and many other online forums, one encounters many people whose entire lives revolve (or at least appear to revolve) around D&D. They have every supplement, they can quote chapter and verse from obscure articles in DUNGEON or DRAGON, and they simultaneously participate in four campaigns, playing several nights per week. If you ask them about a 14th level monk's chances in combat against a 14th level paladin, they will immediately respond with a multi-page analysis of said combat in mathematical detail that would put an IRS auditor to shame.

I can't compete with these people.

I love D&D 3.5, but it isn't my life. Nor do I want it to be. I have many other things to which I want to devote my time and energies: my wife and daughter, my religious faith, my career (which I love), my pleasure reading, my writing, my video gaming, my films (I love cinema) . . . hell, even boardgames (Settlers of Cataan and Arkham Horror both rock on toast).

You see, I think one thing that burned me out last time was that I would feel pretty satisfied with my progress in D&D 3.5 rules-mastery/DMing, but then I would come on a group like this one and read some of the posts of these "D&D Idiot Savants" and come away feeling "What's the point? Why even try? This game is too complex for me!" It's as if I was constantly comparing my horror writing to Anne Rice, Stephen King, H. P. Lovecraft, and Richard Matheson.

So, to all of you uber-geeks (I say the term with admiration, not scorn ) I say this: I admire your mastery of the game, and I would love to spend a few hours looking at all your books, miniatures, and exotic dice. Your posts on ENworld are intriguing, and I am glad you guys are here as a resource. I would love to play a campaign with you. But I am not aspiring to be like you. I can't compete.

If you guys are the United States or China, the great world powers, I am Switzerland. And this time I'm not going to destroy myself trying to turn Switzerland into a nuclear and economic powerhouse; instead, I'm just going to enjoy being Switzerland.

***

Holy crap, this is therapeutic. Thanks for reading and commenting. More later.

Linus

 

[Odhanan]

Sounds to me like you were way too hard on yourself, Linus. Make sure that this time, you have fun. Let it be casual gaming. Just enjoy the game: don't try to master it. Things will just go along from there.

Welcome back, man.

 

[Mitchbones]

First off, Props for getting your life back. I lost 2 years of my life a little MMO some call WoW, someting just clicks one day in your head that you don't enjoy the hobby anymore.

Like the others said, take the game easy and just have fun with it. Heck, run a 1on1 game with your daughter (making the game more childish and simple, this may not work if she is younger than I suspect)

 

[Nyaricus]

I think D&D is like anythign else in life (it goes in cycles), and personally, I've found my interest in it has kinda cycled through in my life. I get moreso interesting in stuff like writing songs and working out, and then back into D&D again. I went through a bad burnout (which was really due to the immenent break-up of myself and my girlfriend at the time) and had to give it a rest. Then, at the end of this summer, I found a new group, and things are looking pretty sweet, all-in-all I have a new group with some good people in it which can roleplay and rollplay (both are key aspects of D&D, but YMMV [your mileage may vary]) and who I can call friends of mine.

Honestly, I'm happy to hear that you're getting back into somethign which you know you truely love, and that you are in turn likely realising something about yourself (and willhopefully put that to good use). D&D has that effect on people, in my opinion; at least the ones whoa re hooked on it like yourself and me

In any case, hope things go well from here, and heopfully you'll get comfy in a PCs chair for a bit longer before steping into a DMs chair (honestly can't stress that enough ) Hope your fighter/illusionist lives an exciting (and hopefully not too life-threatening) career

cheers,
--N

Oh, and also welcome to EN World Linus Lennox - I hope to hear more from you arounf here - you seem like a good guy, and have honestly contributed something positive to EN World in merely two posts