I feel like it is fairly common for folks to decide they are "done with D&D" at some point (or multiple points!) and to leave for other games. It is also fairly common IMO for those same people to eventually come back to D&D.
So this thread is a place to talk about our experiences leaving D&D and returning it. This is not meant to just talk about now, but any time that it has happened to you and your group.
A note: the goal here is not to start edition wars or otherwise wallow in negativity. I am more interested in the kinds of circumstances and preferences that drive people to move out of and back into the active D&D playing community. Let's be honest and respectful and supportive.
Throughout my gaming career, the driving force that has pushed me out of D&D every few years has just been a frustration and exhaustion with D&Disms by and large -- the tropes, the expectations, the limitations and the rigidity of it all. I always seem to eventually get tired of dealing with D&D (in whatever form it is at the time) and try and find other games to run.
What usually brings me back is simply that it is a lot easier to find players. Eventually, those attempts to run other stuff often fail or collapse and I am stuck without a game to run. I get antsy to GM and after some failed attempts to get folks to commit to a non-D&D, I usually end up deciding to run D&D so I can fill a table. And it works every time.
What's extra frustrating is that I don't have any problems filling a non-D&D table at a con, but doing so for a regular game sometimes feels impossible.
Tell us about your journey in and out of D&D.
So this thread is a place to talk about our experiences leaving D&D and returning it. This is not meant to just talk about now, but any time that it has happened to you and your group.
A note: the goal here is not to start edition wars or otherwise wallow in negativity. I am more interested in the kinds of circumstances and preferences that drive people to move out of and back into the active D&D playing community. Let's be honest and respectful and supportive.
Throughout my gaming career, the driving force that has pushed me out of D&D every few years has just been a frustration and exhaustion with D&Disms by and large -- the tropes, the expectations, the limitations and the rigidity of it all. I always seem to eventually get tired of dealing with D&D (in whatever form it is at the time) and try and find other games to run.
What usually brings me back is simply that it is a lot easier to find players. Eventually, those attempts to run other stuff often fail or collapse and I am stuck without a game to run. I get antsy to GM and after some failed attempts to get folks to commit to a non-D&D, I usually end up deciding to run D&D so I can fill a table. And it works every time.
What's extra frustrating is that I don't have any problems filling a non-D&D table at a con, but doing so for a regular game sometimes feels impossible.
Tell us about your journey in and out of D&D.