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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Linus Lennox" data-source="post: 3109818" data-attributes="member: 45855">I did.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />   And now I'm back.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> 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"  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />  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  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> ) 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</blockquote>

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