[Rant] I burned out last night...

[ColonelHardisson]

I'm tired of idiots asking me how something works when they have played the game for two damn years! I'm tired of players who have played the damn game for that long not knowing half their damn abilities and where anything is on the character sheets.

That does, indeed, get extremely old. I know the game shouldn't be a career, but it's amazing how much worthless info players can retain about everything but the game, or even about games other than the one being played at the moment.

Nobody buys ANYTHING for the game, well one of the group bought a PHB...I'm trying to describe a critical point in the adventure, and one guy keeps saying, "lets keep goign until we find something to kill". I wanted to kill his PC right there and started thinking of just killing them all and closing the book and saying, "GAME OVER".

You need to get hold of HackMaster's "Smartass Smackdown" table, and make use of HM's "grudge monsters" to bring those players in line Anyway, the thing about them not buying even the PHB just wouldn't fly in a game I ran. I ran a two month campaign using Decipher's Lord of the Rings RPG, and nobody had the book but me. Having to pass it around constantly began to grate on my nerves. The reason they wouldn't buy the book is that it wasn't going to be a long campaign, so I accepted it. However, if I was running D&D (which is the group's normal game of choice), and the campaign was going to go as long as the one you've been running - they'd either get PHB's or I wouldn't run the game. It's not like they wouldn't have gotten their money's worth out of the book after that long a campaign!

Take a break, and make sure when you run a game next time that the players know they have to have a copy of the PHB.

 

[Voadam]

I got burned out after years of DMing about a year after 3e came out and I've been playing in games and loving it since then.

Being a DM can be stressful and it can be necessary to stop taking on that stress when it is no longe rewarding.

My group shifts around DM roles a bunch so we shifted with few problems (although they all still wish I was DMing that campaign).

Good luck.

 

[ForceUser]

Well, now I get it. For quite a while I've thought it was 3rd edition you were bitter about, but it's not the game system, it's your players! That sucks, man, can't blame you. I think you've got the right idea - go to a con, meet some new people, find a different group. It's obvious these guys don't appreciate what you're trying to do.

 

[Henry]

Flexor,

A few suggestions:

1) Check message boards posting for players local to your area. Have you already tried the "Gamers seeking Gamers" forum? It could be helpful to find a local group who would be willing to have you over for a few games so you can get some of that energy back.

2) Another alternative is to find a local convention (as you mentioned) and playing several games, different ones than 3E, such as original D&D again, or Savage Worlds, etc. - anything to get that new perspective back.

But in general, a break from gaming, or at least a break from gaming with your friends, may be what you need.

My friends and I do not game every week; we'll play card games, we'll go to movies together, we'll go out for dinner and chat up geek conversation to the high heavens, and do different things.

It could be that 3E is just not this group's cup of tea - something more rules-light like Sav. Worlds or Lejendary Adventures, or something else, might give you the gaming fix, but they can get a better fix on the rules.

But I do agree with you that you need a break from gaming with them a while.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I've tried posting stuff on various BB's saying I'm looking for a group, BD&D, GURPS, LA, WFRP, 1e, or 3e would do.

And it's not that I hate running 3e, I do admit it's a lot more work for me to do so, but it's just that I can't take anymore slacker players who are only playing to have something to do that night. While a rules lite system would get rid of some of my issues and a few of the problems it's much deeper than that. I think I've finally hit the point where I've realized that it's more important to game with people that are into the game, than to game with people just becuase you are close friends with them. Granted I'm not a super-dm but man a little effort out of my players to get into the game would be so appreciated. The group has been in the same nation for two years of real time. I don't think a single one could name it. They have been battling Tharizdun's cult for quite a while but half the time they don't know what his name is and what he stands for.


We play Foozeball all the time and hangout a lot when we aren't gaming so if I tell them I'm not playing anymore we will still see each other a few times a week.

 

[Belen]

Flexor,

Where are you located? I could use a player like you in my group.

Dave

 

[Nightfall]

I'm not sure what's causing it, but their seems to be a dramatic climb in the number of burned out DMs of late.

I know.... I think I'm one of them.

I think my problem is more with my group, or lack there of, than anything else. I've got one dedicated player....

The status of my new Midnight campaign is looking bleak and it really makes me sad because I've finally found a world thats got me excited.

Make you a deal Ash. You play in one of my online SL campaigns, you get a player in me.

 

[BSF]

DM Burnout! Yech! (Is it a surprise that many people are having this happen around the same time? Most of us started 3E around the same time - right?)

A couple of things.

These are good friends. This isn't quite the same situation as if it were just a bunch of people you game with.

Do something else - at least for a while. It doesn't matter what it is, so long as you are enjoying it. These are your friends, maybe the game time to them is much more about hanging out with you than playing the game.

* Pick up a copy of Critter Commandos (from Team Frog - and Paul is a cool guy) from rpgnow.com. Basic wargaming rules. Make a unit of dawgs, have your friends make penguins and bunnies. Tell them to buy the rules and make their own dang units so you don't have to do the work! (Heck, it is on sale for $3.97 right now.) Break out your terrain and beat them up!

* Card games - Any of them really.

* Console games - Especially the competitive ones. Have a round-robin pizza tournament and see who wins.

* Get outside and play some basketball, or football, or hacky-sack, or whatever.

* Anything else that you all enjoy doing together. Rent movies, go to the local arcade, whatever.

The point is to get out of the adversarial role and make sure the players understand that you are still friends. After a while, see if you can find out why they keep coming back to play the game. Is it the game, or is it to hang out?

If you are feeling like a player at this point, find a group to play in. Let your creative energies rejuvenate. In time, you will get the itch to run a game again. Then you can put together a new group and have at it.

I'm not sure where you live, but if it is in my area, let me know.

 

[BSF]

I see a few posts came in while I was crafting mine.

It really seems to me that you are having issues with differing expectations in the game.

When I first started playing, it was enough to wander through the dungeon and beat up on bad guys. (Go kill things!!) After a while, I wanted to run a world that was more dynamic. More like the books I read where a hero emerges and saves the kingdom, or the world, or whatever! Problem is, not all of my players were interested in that. Some were, but not all. It would get frustrating to build up storylines (I didn't figure out story arcs until later) and have no interest from the players.

In fact, that is still a problem at times. I have good players, but they aren't always interested in more depth than the go kill the bad guys mentality. Of course, they can also be brought in with a story. I have probably not been completely successful, but I get better over time.

But, your players have a different idea of what is fun than you do. Take a break from them and game with somebody else. You will be much happier.

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

I was a burned-out DM, and here's two things I've done to help myself.

Change things up. This is the biggest, I think. Try some new types of campaigns, and start them as PbPs if you have to. You'll probably get better players that way. Another thing, I've replaced magic with psionics in my homebrew for the most part, and upgraded it to steam-level tech. To help me out with that, I'm replaying Arcanum. I've also begun another ambition, starting a PDF company (which may or may not materialize; I'm starting the very outside edges of writing stuff).

Immerse yourself in things you love. Right now, I'm immersing myself in Three Kingdoms, in all manifestations - the book, Dynasty Warriors, and now Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8. Anything (particularly history, in my case, anyway) that would bring back that "wow" factor. Things that make you say 'If only my character could do that...'

All these things are really getting the juices flowing again. Don't know if it's a help, but it's what worked for me.