I think all GMs inevitably go through this, but I’m currently undergoing GM burnout. I just don’t feel like being at the head of the table anymore.
Don’t worry, I’m still very much a Chatty DM… This is not the first time it happened to me. Its just that I need to recharge my batteries.
There’s no one reason for it. Its a ton of little things:
- Switching to a new system (Change Management theory says that you invariably hit a wall at a certain point).
- Having an erratic play schedule (X-mas office parties are bad this year!)
- Seasonal Blues
- etc…
Suffice it to say that when I started feeling it, we completed the campaign and we decided to stop playing until January. Thus, over the next few weeks, the itch to play will re-instate itself and the bug will return… as it always does.
I’m also trying to read all adventures I can lay my hands on to get immersed in ideas and possibilities (plus it’s research for my own freelance adventure I need to write over the next month).
Finally I’m seriously thinking about giving another RPG a spin for a one shot session. Currently on my list is Mutants & Masterminds (yes Greywulf, I’m still reading it), Dread (The Jenga Horror Game) and Primetime Adventures (I’m a Troper, how can that game not work for me).
So my questions to you are thus:
- Have you ever experienced DM burnout and how did you deal with it?
- Do you have tricks and tips to prevent the onset of such condition?
Peace out friends… See you over the weekend.
P.S. If I ever end up posting less (see what I do here, I don’t say I will), its because I’m working on my D&D 4e adventure. Feel free to catch me on Gtalk (phil.a.menard) if you want to know what’s up with me… I’m still up for some GM coaching!
I run into it from time to time. Usually the erratic play schedule has a lot to do with it, at least in my case. I like to play a completely different system, or talk someone into running a game or two in my place while I run a PC. Also I will look at the books I’ve been reading and movies I’ve been watching and switch it up. If I am reading fantasy I switch to sci-fi, or horror, etc…
Geek Gazettes last blog post..RPGBloggers NaNoWriMo – Short Story (Part 2)
I run into a lot. I have so, so many ideas. Every day I get a new idea, sometimes I decide to write short stories, but sometimes it’s an idea that I don’t want to write and experience on my own. I want to run it! But I’m only one guy. So it ends up that I’ve got this head full of new and fresh ideas that just make my old ideas lose their spark. Often they go away on their own, but sometimes I fall into a rut, banging my head and thinking “If I’d just waited a few more days, I could’ve ran THIS instead!”
I don’t really have a cure for it though. Just have to plod along and hope it goes away on its own, or try to incorporate it into the existing game (it rarely ever works right though, often it just messes things up.)
Wyatts last blog post..Happy Thanksgiving + Update
I’ve got a problem similar to yours Wyatt. I tend to get different ideas for different genre’s, usually when I’m trying to put something together for a completely different game and things just fall apart.
Today, for example, I was suppose to put together details for a one off session of 4e (I’ve hung up the screen for a bit normally due to school) but instead got hooked into reading superhero comics.
Unfortunately, this is a problem I’ve yet to find a definitive solution to.
I experienced burnout at the end of last year. In my case, not just from GMing but from playing at all. I started out letting my players GM and me play but I found that I was just really, really bored and didn’t want to be there. I decided to take myself completely out of the RPG world for a while.
Seven months later, my group told me they had been playing the Keep on the Shadowfell and were having a great time. I decided to give it a shot and found that I was had a lot of fun with 4E. I decided to dive back in not just to playing but in to the whole RPG scene. I started up my blog, started playing 4E, and just let it go from there.
So, basically, I took a seven month sabbatical from the whole genre and came back with a full head of steam. 🙂
Tony Laws last blog post..How to play RPGs
@Wyatt and Bob – I know exactly what y’all mean. A little while ago, the doctor diagnosed me with ADD and……
HEY LET’S GO RIDE BIKES!
Tony Laws last blog post..Cruel World – The Kobold Song
Coupla things.
1. Accept the burn. Your brain knows you better than you know yourself. Burnout is /not/ a mark of failure or something to be fought – it’s just your mind telling you it want to change gear for a while. So let it; sit back and enjoy the ride.
2. That doesn’t mean sit on your ass all day ‘n think it’s going to go away though; accept it, then /use/ it. Change your reading habits. Raymond Chandler usually works for me (or something Chandleresque), a hefty history book or…. well, anything that’s not in the same genre that I usually game. But then, you should be reading outside your genre anyhow – it’s the mark of a healthy imagination, and therefore breeding ground for great GMery.
3. Certainly a change of system helps, if your able to convince players to join in the fun. Even if not, just reading them, generating characters and letting your imagination look on different vistas is sometimes enough. Again, try for different genres. M&M, Dread and Primetime are all excellent choices. Me, I’d want to mix them up into a weird-as-heck scenario where the Jenga Tower represented a skyscraper which might collapse unless the TV-show syndicated superheroes rescued the occupants in time. But they, that’s just me.
4. If you’re not using something like the Q10 editor (know I’ve mentioned this before), Writeroom or something similar, give them a try. Daft as it might sound, nothing gets the words flowing better than a completely blank screen. Start free writing and the words quickly fill the page with none of that intrusive hand-shift-to-mouse gesture that breaks your micro-concentration. While writers’ block isn’t quite the same as burnout, they’re close cousins (and, in certain US States, date regularly), so working to overcome one can sometimes help out in the other area. Don’t know about you, but it’s my enthusiasm for words that keeps me gaming.
OK. I’ll shut up now 😀
Good luck, Phil.
greywulfs last blog post..I’m on a road to Gnollwere
Play for a bit.
This gives you,
Firstly, the player’s perspective, which helps you become a better GM, and knowing you can be better than before gives you motivation to do it again;
Secondly,
either the other GM does things better than you, in which case you can learn from them and get better and thus more enthused like the first point, or realise you’re a hopeless GM and should just play,
or the other GM is hopeless and you get so frustrated you mount a bloodless coup de jeu and take over 🙂
Plus it’s just a break, and you can return refreshed.
Kiashus last blog post..Anachronism
I’ll just echo some good points here–your brain does know what’s best in this case. Its better to recharge the batteries or play something else with your group for a session or two while you recharge. In the meantime, I do read and look over different systems, house rules, and the like, but I also like to try to do something totally new–attend a new museum, check out a concert, go somewhere I haven’t been–and I find that usually jolts me back into feeling a bit more well-rounded. That’s important for me, because I feel like when I get too “one-dimensional” into the game, I risk burnout.
But do take the time, especially with everything else you have going on.
You know what Phil? Why not go back to basics for a session? Something uncluttered, basic. Run Basic D&D, Labyrinth Lord, or Swords & Wizardry (I prefer Rules Cyclopedia D&D, but to each their own!). Run a no-attachments one-shot with plenty of potential death, dungeon crawling, and loot. Its a good way to put what you’re doing with your gaming now into perspective, and its a way to not have to worry too much about perhaps some of things you do now. Heck, if not, just read it–that can be great for the ideas and thoughts it puts in your head alone.
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Wow. Great ideas all! (And I hear ya all on the ADD thing… I change ideas about my campaign on a weekly basis!)
I long for the old school feel but my players are not interested. Nor am I certain that I am seeking anything more than Nostalgia.
As for changing my ideas… I’ve Portal and Half-Life 2.
My last idea would be to do a D&D 4e one shot dungeon Crawl sans battlemaps… just minis on the table and playing it old style…
That or Mutants & Masterminds… I’m really curious how that sucker plays.
Thanks for your responses!
Hah! I’ve had it a couple of times. It always catches you off guard. Like others are saying, just roll with it.
My personal view, and I don’t know about the others, but burn-outs make me emerge a little wiser at the end, and are actually pretty useful for sorting out all kinds of things.
I actually wish I had one now, since I divert time from my hobby to school and work, all the while looking forward to the next session, which we plan once a two months due to busy schedules all round…
Anyway, good luck man!
Greywulf has some *great* tips here!
Sometimes, its just that rest is needed… sometimes, its creativity that needs a boost.
To my creative friends, I like to recommend this book: “A What on the Side of the Head”. This books treats on creativity, how it “works” and how to stimulate it.
It’ll give you tons of tricks to get you out of creative rut when writing + tons of cool ideas to explore your kids creativity (as well as your own, but that’s a secret).
Had a good impact on my life, it did.
Check it out on amazon: http://www.amazon.ca/WHACK-SIDE-HEAD-More-Creative/dp/0446404667/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227846305&sr=1-5
Eric Maziades last blog post..Do you even like playing a warlock?
Burn is inevitable.
I won’t repeat ideas already mentioned – all great – but here’s one we used in the past that worked for our group:
We had the campaign switch DMs every couple of months (that meant every 5-6 gaming sessions in our case). The DM would become a player, and the player would use his character as a NPC while he ran the game. This allows the DM to “get the bug” again, and it also fuels creativity as you’re trying to work off the other DMs’ ideas and plot twists.
I miss that.
LeSombres last blog post..It all started with a simple sign
I had GM burnout this year. Luckily our group’s other GM has really stepped up to the plate to give me a break. In the mean time, I’ve really been looking around at other systems that I haven’t played before. I’m hoping that a different game system, or different game setting will rekindle the flame a little for me.
Samuel Van Der Walls last blog post..Themed Adventures
Whenever I have an issue with burnout I just start into a reading frenzy. Usually I try to put away a couple of hundred/thousand pages every week in this state, tear through a bunch of books and make some notes on things which interest me . . .
A lot more of my time is spent in the ‘research’ phase then in the gaming phase, so right now I have so many campaign nuggets wandering around with nothing to do with them that I’ve been handing them out as mini-writeups… hopefully I’ll be able to play some and finally get this latent PC energy out.
Slainte,
-Loonook.
Loonooks last blog post..Ostari Ways: Councilor Birds and the Grey Ways
I have a similar problem like Wyatt and Bob. I’ve just too many ideas in my head. I am always thinking about new games I can try out, new campaigns I could write, etc. Or I over-prepare everything which usually ends in a situation where I get nothing done…
I usually try to be player for some time to get a new perspective on things. Or I ask my gaming group to pick a game they would like to play and force myself to prepare a game for them. That usually gets me over the temporary burnout and usually these sessions are a blast.
Two tips:
– Keep a regular schedule. Try hard to play on a regular basis. I’ve found when we don’t play periodically, sooner or later both the players and GM lose interest.
– Keep focus. I’ve long lost faith in never-ending epic campaigns. Right now I usually plan more focused campaigns with a planned ending (even the Great Pendragon Campaign ended eventually).
Best regards,
Carlos
Carlos de la Cruzs last blog post..Tomb of the Bull King está casi aquí
Thanks for the excellent advice. I’ll surely apply some of it.
Right now our group is going to focus on playing some Magic the Gathering and some Boardgames.
I’m reading Thuderspire Labyrinth and I’ll peruse the latest issues of Dungeon to see what tickles my fancy.
Have a great weekend all!
Haha, you and I must be on the same wavelength. We thankfully completed our 4e adventure and now are on a holiday hiatus until one of my players gets his game ready to run and then I’ll be playing for a change for most of this year. In the meantime I’ve decided to run a one-shot game that will last 2-3 sessions of something other than D&D. I like to change gears every once in a while. Heck, I’m even going to try to run other games during D&D Experience this year. 🙂
Propagandroids last blog post..RPG Bloggers vs. RPG Industry: Week 13
I recommend spending some time exploring your alter-ego, Chatty D&D Player.
Jonathan Drains last blog post..Lou Zocchi and the Science of Dice
Here’s the thing guys… I really don’t enjoy playing RPGs as a PC all that much. I’ve tried many times and somehow it just doesn’t work for me anymore. I love GMing… I really do. The role comes naturally to me.
As a PC.. its a lot harder for me and I get impatient whenever I’m not having fun ‘right now’.
Some people told me I need to play more to enjoy it more… but so far I’d rather be at the head of the table.
So, you’d prefer being a player in a smaller group, then? 1-3 PCs?
Eric Maziades last blog post..Do you even like playing a warlock?
Phil, I suggest trying some shared-GM-style indie games. You may or may not like them, but trying one is worth the trouble. (I am not a great fan of those that share narration too much and kill player-character interaction.)
Normally if i start to experience DM burnout I take a break from the head of table and let one of my fellow gamers take charge, as the main DM sometimes you just need a break you know. Just you know play for awhile find out what you find cool to experience as a player character and then return to the DM scene fully refreshed and enlightened to what the players in your group like, this in fact will be happening in a couple of months for me as I can already feel myself burning out.
Another way you could solve this is by whenever you even just have a small idea even if it may not be workable, write it down and keep it in a folder this way when your coming to a DM burnout and dry spell you’ll have plenty of things to try out.
Hope that helps.
OMH
One Man Hordes last blog post..This Week On D&D Insider
I’m not much of a player either, to tell the truth. If I’m bored I try to make fun for myself by hamming it up or kickstarting some action…I admit it, I’m a terrible player. 🙂 I just get bored, and have a tough time getting involved with a single character. I wasn’t always this way, but certainly almost all my best gaming over the past decade has been as DM.
I find I can play at one-shot games at conventions because they’re usually wild and action packed, and gimmicks are encouraged that keep me interested and having fun. Even still sometimes I get restless…I’m just broken, I guess. 🙂
Propagandroids last blog post..RPG Bloggers vs. RPG Industry: Week 13
As Greywulf pointed out, burnout is a natural function of running down the same track past a certain point of cerebral overload. My Scion game is just coming back on line after about a month of 40K and one-shots of other games. Usually, I’ll take a 1-2 week (minimum!) break, and then pick up a supplement for the game I was running and thumb through it, to see if my brain wants to pick those themes up again or not.
In the Player vs. DM dichotomy, I think you’re hitting the nail on the head with the wanting to have fun “right now.” D&D and it’s many cousins tend to create pigeonholed classes (not a complaint – I love D&D to death, it’s just the nature of the beast). With the exception of an encounter or two, a lot of the game is going to fall to one or two players in each scene. Good pacing can offset this by keeping the focus moving, but rare is the game where someone doesn’t spend some time with very little to do.
When I burn out as a DM/GM, I just play for a bit as a player instead and it refreshes my desire to be in control 😉
tonys last blog post..What do you eat first?
Suck it up and play. Even experiencing impatience will give you useful insights when GMing next.
Play. It’s for your own good.
Kiashus last blog post..Anachronism
@Kiashu: Harsh-sounding, perhaps, but I feel compelled to agree. Seeing content interpreted by someone else *and* from another perspective is a good way to help boost creativity.
Though I have to say there’s nothing wrong with a break to recharge the batteries!
Eric Maziades last blog post..Do you even like playing a warlock?