What do you want to do better as a GM?

[DammitVictor]

Continuity. I tend to fly by the seat of my pants, and I can play 11-dimensional chess in real time, blindfolded... but I'm terrible at remembering what I've made already up, and sometimes my continuity errors turn into massive plot holes.

 

[Zhaleskra]

I want to do something that's part sandbox and runs a little more organically. As I have suggested to another gamer: Here's 3-5 things that are going on, each of them has 3-5 people who know about it, and those people know 3-5 things about the event you're asking about, what do you do?

 

[delphonso]

I run road trips. A road trip has a destination but how they get there is up to the players. [snip]

This is pretty close to what I do. My games tend to be more mysteries and investigations rather than fights (just what my group prefers), but in general I do the same. I've also had that roadtrip hit stormy weather and go completely off to a different direction - which leads me to...

Continuity. [snip]

This is one of the biggest hurdle for my games. I tend to throw a lot of spaghetti at the wall and just take what sticks. I like the free, comedic form of my games - but boy I wish I had the energy to plan out entire towns, etc - rather than just planning the main characters and encounters.

I want to do something that's part sandbox and runs a little more organically. [snip]

I have been playing in a Lost Mine of Phandelver game and ran a bit of Horde of the Dragon Queen. One thing I really like about both is that they just drop about 10 things to do in a town. The PCs can pick them up, ignore them, or miss them and have plenty to do. I'd prefer if they had a bit more intersectionality - as many are unrelated, but it's given me ideas on planning out a whole town.

 

[Lanefan]

What I'd most like to improve on is describing detailed scenes and scenarios in which the relevant and irrelevant is equally included, but without taking what seems like half the night to do it.

As for the question, I'd like to be able to make weather figure more interestingly in establishing in-game situations.

I might be able to help you there. Feel free to PM me, so we don't clog up the thread.

 

[BrokenTwin]

I'd love to get better at running more social/political games. My ability to come up with a web of intrigue on the fly is sorely lacking, so I tend to stick to published stuff or exploration / dungeon crawls. As I get older I've gotten sick of combat as the first and only solution, but it's just so easy... and once your players are conditioned to attack first and (maybe) ask questions later, it's really hard to change things up. Part of why I'm really enjoying running games for new players, since their lack of expectations makes it a lot easier to demonstrate that combat isn't the only way to resolve things. For my more entrenched groups, I try to emphasize that combat may solve the immediate problem, but it's the riskiest way of doing so, and is usually detrimental to their long term goals.

 

[GreyLord]

The biggest obstacle I currently have is creative burnout.

I mean that after DMing a lot my brain just wants to shut down and not to keep being creative or acting creatively. It is happy to drone on, but droning is normally not all that exciting.

Perhaps it's DMing too much, but perhaps there is also a way to circumvent that and keep on going with the excitement rather than cut back.

 

[hawkeyefan]

The biggest obstacle I currently have is creative burnout.

I mean that after DMing a lot my brain just wants to shut down and not to keep being creative or acting creatively. It is happy to drone on, but droning is normally not all that exciting.

Perhaps it's DMing too much, but perhaps there is also a way to circumvent that and keep on going with the excitement rather than cut back.

I'd suggest trying a game that doesn't require as much intensive prep work on the part of the GM. Or maybe altering the way you play so that you don't have to prep as much ahead of time.

I took a break from D&D and GMed a lot of Blades in the Dark, and found it to be incredibly refreshing, and a nice change of pace. I think it's also likely to really help how I DM when I run D&D. I'll be returning to my longstanding D&D campaign soon, and I'm looking forward to it. I have some ideas on how to run things a little differently that I think will really improve the game.

 

[Retreater]

Keeping a long term game together. Incorporating more character backstory and motivations into the game. Slowing down the pace to allow better roleplaying and exploration opportunities. Presenting better combat balance (cakewalks vs. TPKs).

 

[Tony Vargas]

Just want to me-to a few points that have already been made:

• Make time to play and do non-gaming activities, rather than burning yourself out GMing constantly.
• Take in fiction that inspires you, be it books, movies/TV, or whatever
• Change-up who you game with. ( If only very occasionally, go to a convention or something, and game with strangers).
• Change-up which systems you run.

 

[Sadras]

The biggest obstacle I currently have is creative burnout.

I found that I haven't felt that way in years, mostly because I'm using an AP and numerous modules to run a sandbox. So far I have been fortunate because despite the number of 'outs' I have offered from the primary storyline the PCs want to see the AP through.