When do you retire your pc's?

[SuperFlyTNT]

Im just curious my players have gone from lvl3 to 9 and Im kinda getting bored of the campaign Id like to start a new one but they really like their charecters Im also thinking of killing them off one by one but I just wondered when you make them retire.

 

[Sejs]

(Edit: I retire a character of mine when...)
When they've no longer got motivation to adventure: big plot or threat being resolved, settling down, having something happen to make them rethink their lifestyle -dying and being raised for instance. Having something that isn't worth risking.

Retirement usually suggests itself when the time is right.

(My advice to you as a DM is...)
As for the campaign you're doing - just be frank with your players. Tell them that this game isn't really doing it for you any more and you'd like to retire the characters after this plot arc is resolved and try something new. Then resolve the plot arc in a satisfactory but expediant manner and move on to other things.


Edit: clairification

 

[Crothian]

If you are getting tired of the campiagn, talk to them. It gets obvious when the SM just isn't into it anymore, and killing them off slowly just becasue you want to end the game is not going to be populiar.

When do we retire characters? When it makes sense for the character. Sometimes they accomplish their goals and feel like it's time to retire. Sometimes they just get a lot of money and don't feel the nned to adventure. Sometimes the character falls in love and wants to start a family. It can happen at the end of a campiang or in the middle of it.

 

[Black Omega]

I agree, talk to the players. If they are having fun, better to do that than to leave bad memories of a game they had previously really enjoyed.

 

[Telperion]

I have similiar problem with a Demon: The Fallen campaign that I'm running once every two weeks. The whole setting has gone to ****, so I really don't like it anymore.

What I did was cut a whole Story out of the campaign. So, now instead of having to come up with about half a year more material that I know I will hate I'm going to play with them for a little while longer, and then present them with a BBEG that will slay the whole party. Well, the characters may succeed in taking the BBEG down with them, but that's the best I will offer them.

They will be upset, but I'm done with the campaign. A wrote a good campaign, but after I started running it I just lost the point of why I'm doing this?

So, if you feel like retiring your campaign, then I would suggest giving it some kind of a (at least partially) satisfying conclusion. Less people are going to hate you for it, and some might even respect you for hanging in there until the end. Even if it came a little early for their taste.

 

[Altalazar]

You don't necessarily have to retire them permanently. If you are getting bored, you could always just set aside that campaign and start a fresh party and play that for a while. Then you could go back to the first campaign at a later date, if you wanted. Sometimes just a change of pace can make all of the difference.

You could even have overlapping storylines after a while, allowing the "fresh life" of the "new" group to breathe some life into the old.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Be honest with your players. Most of them should understand and encourage you to run whatever you want to run. DM's who are forced to continue a campaign they are no longer interested tend to run boring games and lack the "fire" that a DM who is excited about their campaign has.