Burnout

[NostraDomus]

I can commiserate a little. I'm new to the site and haven't done any PbP since an old Google Plus game I was in. However, one of the irl groups I run definetly ran me down.

It was for a group of friends. My wife was talking about an old GURPS game I ran with her and a couple of friends and how fun it was and one of our friends in the group said she always wanted to play D&D. Another friend of our, who also used to DM, said he'd love to play if we got a group together. And as these things go, the spouses were invited.

Now, in the room, when we were all together, everything was great and everyone was really into it. Some people just didn't want to learn the rules (but I think that's universal for these sorts of games) but they did what they were told quickly. And everyone was all in on the story telling and adventure. However, the tough part was getting everyone together. Between all of us having adult lives and after work responsibilities. My wife and I having a new born, someone else getting pregnant, shifting work schedules it was hard to get us back together. On top of all of that, half the group woulddn;t respond in the chat or commit to anything before hand or if they did responed there was no enthusiasm, so planning was that much harder.


We'd met about 3 times and it's been about 5 months since this group last met. And they individually keep asking me when we will meet again and I keep saying "As soon as someone puts something in the chat and gets the ball rolling. I'm ready to go, I just need someone else to show some enthusiam for it".

All of that is to the say that playing with the right people, people who want to be there as much as you do, helps.

[BlackDragon0]

Originally Posted by BlackDragon0

burnt out on gaming no but with writing and drawing yes. As for gaming I find it very hard to find a game that goes even as far as lv 3. on here I've played 3 games to completion no chs above lv 2. Most the time those never get a game. I'm in several games atm 1 dead. and 2 on hiatus and a few unknown status. I'm burn out on creating things that don't get used I have deleted 6 cha here and still have 3 that have never gotten a game.

also expierancing lots of players dissappearing even dms. kinda kills the mood for playing online.

Up date have tried to keep up with creating new customers for games including non dnd have deleted over 300 now.
Have 1 pf1e, and 2 mm3e games that seem ok slow but there. Of over 200 dnd chs deleted only 1 was in a game but as I mentioned died at lv2. I am way beyond burnt-out on creating new anything that I never play.

[MoonZar]

Originally Posted by Aelius

Having all of my friends give up on the hobby with getting older, I had to resort to play online with strangers to have my weekly fix (roll20, Fantasy Grounds). The experience has been excruciating for me as a DM: lot of work and pressure, having to constantly mediate dramas, prevent people from disappearing, little to no recognition, and an overall mediocre in game experience. It reached a point where just thinking about anything D&D gave me serious anxiety, I felt depleted physically and morally. I learnt my lesson that pushing it isn't worth the trouble, better to feel frustrated than burnt out. So now I'm slowly rekindling my passion for the game as a player.

Are there any other DMs and/or players that have suffered from a burnout ? How has you experience been ? How did you recover ?

What's you're experience been with playing online overall ?

Hummm... well, i definitely burn out several times between those great games i ran here.

And yes, if you doing DMing for some kind of recognition you are not in the right line of work.

EDIT: Hummm... sorry it was a old thread it seems.

Not sure what you asking or what kind of help you need?

[RedMoney]

One of the most refreshing things I have done to restore my love and passion for roleplaying is DMing for a group of kids age 11-13. A friend of my wife's daughter and daughter's school friends (a group of 4) wanted to get into playing DnD but couldn't find anyone to teach them, so I was recruited. I was reluctant at first, but found some pre-made beginner friendly modules online and hosted 3 sessions for them (so far).

It's a complete and utter blast to roleplay with these kids. They are 100% pure creative energy without being burdened with all the muck of things like rules and systems and min-maxing. They are just raw, unchecked imagination and it has been very invigorating to seem them go from being completely unhinged to incredibly serious. They are fully invested in the characters and the narrative, to the point they naturally accept flaws and odd situations and work it into their roleplay (like the dragonborn character who is 8' tall not fitting in carriages, scaring dogs by passing by and rolling to see if they hit their head on doors randomly just for the laughs).

Their energy is addictive and easy to feed off of, and there is so little social pressure involved compared to playing with adults that some of my best NPC work has happened in this game. They are so easily entertained that I don't worry about trying something off the top of my head and just rolling with it, they just inherently like and reciprocate whatever I've thrown at them.

So, my recommendation, run a kid's table DnD group.

[lostcheerio]

Absolutely second that advice. DMing kids is a riot.

[Rasgorn]

I DM for my daughters and two of their friends when they were small and had some of the best, goofiest, silliest gaming of my life. Later on I helped out at the local library helping kids with games and DM'd a group of nine and ten year old's. We had so much fun and like RedMoney said, the kids brought so much energy and unchecked imagination to the games, I couldn't wait to prepare more. Playing with them was always so invigorating. And unexpectedly fun.
I had one group in a game that didn't kill a single thing, but they negotiate a treaty with an orc band that the local villagers would pay them tribute in the form of Ice cream!