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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 8964698" data-attributes="member: 6777737">Yeah, the endless repetition of the same character optimizations get tiresome. System mastery is not particularly entertaining the sixth time around.Honestly, I think it's time for a discussion with your play group. Tell them you're burning out on 5e D&D. Tell them that while you could continue to run the game, you're not really excited to do so. Ideally, at the same time you should have a pitch ready for a new campaign under a different system, but realistically you might want to offer the reins to someone else for awhile. I genuinely don't understand how your entire group can just stonewall you on doing literally anything different. "I'm not enjoying this, but I'd really like to try this other game." "No." "Well, can we at least change these things that are making my life so miserable?" "No." I mean, what? If someone's response to, "I'm not having fun," is, "Yeah whatever," then, like, I'm not sure why I want to play with these people at all. That level of disrespect is just unreasonable.I would just say, "I've run several 5e D&D campaigns without enjoying it. I've expressed disinterest and a desire to change things, but I relented when you insisted we play 5e D&D the way we have been. However, I'm burned out. I'm not having fun. I hate it. I don't want to run Curse of Strahd because I don't think it will work, so I'm not going to. Someone else is welcome to take the helm if they wish to run Curse of Strahd or 5e D&D and I'll join as a player. If not, I'm willing to run <campaign pitch for the system I'm excited about>. Anybody who is interested in that is welcome. You're all invited to that campaign if you want, but I'm not running 5e D&D for the foreseeable future. I have played 5e D&D with you guys for quite awhile without it being what I wanted to play. I think it's fair that I get to play what I want, too."If they don't want to play your system and they don't want to DM themselves, then just don't play D&D. Find another group, or play Gloomhaven or Twilight Imperium or Blood Bowl or some other board game.If you still run 5e D&D -- and I strongly encourage you not to because you're already harboring resentment -- then there's not a lot you can really do. Your table has denied you the options you want. The problems with the game are pretty challenging to overcome if you handcuff yourself into not changing character options. Multiclassing, feats, and numerous unbalanced spells are very difficult just to work around if your players insist on power gaming.The only options I can really offer:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Try the monsters from Kobold Press's books, or the MCDM Kickstarter for Flee Mortals! They're all more interesting than WotC's fare, and they tend to scale better at higher levels.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">You list OP magic items as a complaint. I don't understand how your players are getting them. In our games, it's rare for someone to have more than one item that's +1 or maybe +2 at high level.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">End the campaigns around level 12. The game gets really dumb really fast after about that point, which is why so many of the official modules end shortly after that point.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Try including the OneDND playtest rules. They nerfed a lot of the most egregious offenders.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Don't run WotC modules. That's a waste of your time, IMO. Run stuff like Frog God Games' 5e Rappan Athuk. If your players will be power gamers, run them in campaigns built for power gaming. Get the adventures from Goodman Games or even convert the adventures from OSE's Necrotic Gnome. Having stuff to convert is a bit more engaging, especially if you have to do it on the fly. I don't know if you'd enjoy running this kind of game, but it's a lot less effort to run modules that are built towards the kind of play your players are engaging in than it is to run power gamers in the relatively easy and often poorly structured WotC modules.</li> </ol></blockquote>

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