Switching Around Systems Due to Burnout?

[Retreater]

I really hate it when players get invested in a new system and we drop it in a handful of sessions. Maybe their investment has been purchasing books, learning the system over a dozen hours, spending their free time to make a character, or even investing the enthusiasm to try something new. I've been GMing long enough to know that all of those efforts are in limited supply.
This is why I like to read a system, study, playtest, read/watch reviews, etc. I like knowing a game has a decent chance of being well received.
In truth, it seems like it's only D&D that lasts. Every other system for me has lasted a few sessions (maybe 4 months, tops).

 

[Blue]

I'm a bit different. First, not every group is interested in different games. I am a member of one group that is strictly 5e - they might try a one shot of something else, but it's a 5e group and that's all that will be played in campaign. We flip around DMs between campaigns (and sometimes alternate weeks between campaigns), but even if I run there, the table will want it to be 5e.

I run a separate game but the player overlap with the first group is rather heavy. However, when my current campaign finishes (probably over a year left) I think I could convince them to try something else if we were switching genres.

I have a group I started 20ish years back, that has been slowing gaining and losing players. They are willing to try other systems, but we're neck deep in one of the others running Call of Cthulhu with a well known mega-campaign that probably has a few years left in it.

I'm running a game for my kids, niece and nephew. We just put the 5e game on hiatus, whihc was intended a bit as a training game, and moved ovber to Masks: A New Generation. It's a PbtA specifically about teen superheros. Lots of mechanics about the teen drama and challenges, it's not meant as a generic superhero system but rather one to emulate Young Justice, Teen Titans, My Hero Academia and other teens-becoming-heroes media.

I've joined a new group online with no one I've gamed with, just to try out some new games. We were supposed to start at the beginning of January but due to both illness and player shifting we haven't yet.

I find that for the most part, if I want another system I need to run it, and that means at times I'm running systems I haven't ever played. Which I'll do, but my comfort zone is to have played before.

 

[payn]

I really hate it when players get invested in a new system and we drop it in a handful of sessions. Maybe their investment has been purchasing books, learning the system over a dozen hours, spending their free time to make a character, or even investing the enthusiasm to try something new. I've been GMing long enough to know that all of those efforts are in limited supply.
This is why I like to read a system, study, playtest, read/watch reviews, etc. I like knowing a game has a decent chance of being well received.
In truth, it seems like it's only D&D that lasts. Every other system for me has lasted a few sessions (maybe 4 months, tops).

Im a GM a lot of the time. I gotta put the time and energy into getting other systems on the table. If you love it, show it. I know it isnt easy, but if you are persistent it will pay off. Sometimes it helps to go where the players are. I mean, you can lead your friends to mt dew, but you cant always make them drink.

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

I officially have Chronicles of Darkness, Lancer, and Blades in the Dark all waiting for rainy days and for me to take a break from regular pf2e games, along with that Avatar RPG Magpie is still working on. I do think I could use a system break sometimes, but my burnout seems to generally be related to other factors.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Do you do something similar? Or do you predominantly stick with one game for its entire print run? Do your "flip-around" games last more than 2-3 sessions?

I used to play only D&D and then my group switched to Pathfinder after a relatively short stint with 4th edition. We played that for a while and I was almost always the GM and I definitey started to feel burnout.

5th Edition D&D kind of gave me a boost and my group played that, and we still do, but I rotate other games. I also have jumped into a couple other games as time has allowed, and that’s really helped.

Currently, my longstanding geoup is playing 5th edition weekly with rotating GMs. But I also play in a Blades in the Dark game, though that will likely be wrapping soon. Finally, a couple of my friends were eager to get back to face to face gaming, so I set up a bi-weekly game which I intend to rotate. Currently I’m running Spire for them. We’ve had about 8 sessions so far, and I expect probably about 6 to 8 more. Ehen that wraps, I’ll likely run The Between.

I find that not alwys GMing ans not sticking with only one game has eliminated burnout. I’d actually love to play more games with more people if I had the time.