[Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

[TheQuestionMan]

Greetings Herophiles, as a GM I have been feeling uninspired lately. I have ideas aplenty, numberous NPCs, and even Maps, but for some reason I do not feel excited about it.

 

I prepare before sessions less and less. I improve alot because my PCs despite having known them for a while are unpredictable and I do not want to railroad them to follow my plot, because its everybodies story.

 

I used to plan a week ahead and write down ideas that strike me out of he blue, but over the last year or so I just see where the Players and their Characters take things.

 

I occassionally feel inspired to run other Genres, other Settings, but my Players are happy with the way things are.

 

I admit that I have fun GMing, but now the Campaign Journal is the only thing I cross reference before a game.

 

My Champions Group is great for reading the Campaign Journal, but my long time GURPS Group has no interest. Unil recently I literally have binders full of Campaign and Character Notes, Plots and Sub Plots, Conspiracies and NPCs.

 

I recently had a friend of a friend sit in on one of our games and he remarked later that he could not believe the amount of information I was able to retain and produce on demand. I told him that GM Screen allows for a lot of improve and Sleight-of-Hand.

 

These Forums help most of the time, novels and tv shows do to, but I seem to get depressed before ever game session. Which is not fair to my Champions Group.

 

Tangenta in the GURPS Group are up too. A sign I take to mean there is little interest in the game, but even then when it is my turn to GM the Players do no want to leave my part of the Campaign.

 

Strangely my Champions Group is becoming my favourite despite our recent troubles getting together on a regular basis.

 

So perhaps I am not feeling unispired so much as frustrated with the GURPS Groups lack of interest in he WORLD I have been developing rather than the adventures they are running.

 

Am I missing the point? Are my expectations to high?

 

My GURPS Group spent over half the session in tangents, a quater trying to remember where we were, and a quarter gaming. ARRRRRRRRRGH!!!

 

I am going to email my Champions Group and bring up the topic of Tangents and try to reduce them.

 

 

Rambling ended!

 

QM

[austenandrews]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

When I used to run games, I'd get burnout too. I could always keep running anyway, but I realized that when the magic is gone, continuing to push through is mostly counterproductive. Best to switch genres or groups for awhile, or just take time off from gaming.

[csyphrett]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

QM, Are these tangents out of game stuff going on, or in game disgressions away from whatever is supposed to be going on.

 

Out of game stuff is something you are going to have to talk to them about like hey let's stay on track tonight. That kind of thing.

 

If the tangents are in game, make them the focus of the adventure.

 

I'm sorry if that's not helpful but it seems to me your group likes your style, but are also happy just to socialize. If that's the case, there's not a lot you can do except try to keep on target.

CES

[Curufea]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

We kinda switch to board or card games for a while, then go back to roleplaying.

[tkdguy]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

Are you the only GM in your groups? Maybe other people can take over for a while until you're up to GMing again.

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

On GM burnout:

 

Yeah, I used to fall in love with the wonderful worlds I used to create, but unlike my players, I'm with it everyday as opposed to their once a week or less exposure. That's why I've learned to spend the bulk of my efforts on detailing the world and its primary characters rather than the scenarios. Most of my adventures are simply a well defined situation for the player characters to get involved rather than a tightly scripted plot. My players rarely pick up good plot hooks, so I just let the situation I want them in develop around them until they have no choice but to react to it.

 

QuestionMan, if you and your players are still having fun, then it's no problem that you aren't putting as much work into the game as you used to. It has taken me three decades to get used to the idea that I don't have to think about my campaign every single waking minute. Enjoy the fact that you can take some time to get away from the game and perhaps accidentally find that next great source of inspiration.

 

If you're not having fun, though, perhaps you need a break. I do on occasion, and surprisingly, my friends understand that I get burned out from time to time. It never hurts to bring your concerns and feelings to the table, either -- players are people, too, and are sure to understand. If the players are agreeable you might want to schedule in a "mask off" night (sometimes called 'blue booking') where the characters are developing their backgrounds and personal lives without a major baddie to fight. Even heroes need some down time -- one of my old champions campaigns included such sessions as part of the play, which gave me as a GM to add color and flavor to their four-color world, as well as show them what else was going on in the world.

 

Here's hoping you get out of the funk sooner rather than later,

 

Matt "Still-a-GM-after-all-these-years" Frisbee

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

QM, I go with some of the other posts here. Sounds like burn-out and you are best off taking a proper break before you actually start hating what you are doing. It is a rare gamer that doesn't have this happen one time or another

 

So, explain the situation to your Players, put your campaign on a temporary hold (couple of months, minimum) and do something different for a while. Have the rest of the group go through their game stashes for card or board games to try out, have somebody GM a totally different game for a while, watch DVDs instead of gaming, go to the movies, etc..

[UltraRob]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

GM burnout is my diagnosis, and my recommendation is 6 months to a year away from gaming. I've done it a few times, and it's worked wonders for me and my GMing. If you don't have to worry about the whole group falling apart it makes it easier, but even if they do, you're better off taking a rest. Gaming is supposed to be FUN.

 

Rob

[Nolgroth]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

Sounds to me like you are reacting to the players tangents by preparing less. Maybe even on a sub-conscious level. Not necessarily a bad thing, but for the fact that you are not excited by the game as much (or at all).

 

Do the players realize that going off on tangents is bothering you? Sometimes the players look at the GM as some sort of endless vault of ideas that only has fun catering to the needs of the group. I bet you each player has some sort of goal for his character. The setting you create (on the fly or ahead of time) is your character. I think it would be unnatural for any GM to not have at least an idea of what he would like to do.

 

So the issue becomes balance. What do the players want vs. the GM's (also a player in fact) wants. The hardest part is striking that balance, but that can't happen without communication. I see you e-mailed or will e-mail your Champions group, but from what I'm reading, your problem lies with your GURPS group. Maybe you should have a little sit-down with them and explain to them what you just did to us.

 

I think there may be some burnout on your part, but I think it isn't the "Oh God, I'm gonna toss these damn books into the incinerator" kind of burnout. I think it comes from being ultra-patient with your group, even though your needs aren't being met. It is everyones' storyline, including yours.

 

Just my take.

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

I have had GM Burnout so bad that I gave away all my D&D, AD&D, Shadowrun, Twighlight 2000, Living Steel, Battletech, Heavy Gear, DC Heroes, Top Secret/Top Secret S.I., Palladium Books, and many more all at once.

 

The only ones I missed were a few of the Shadowrun Adventures and the Battletech House Books.

 

I have given away my GURPS Basic 3rd Edition Revised and GURPS Magic away to Gamers in my Gaming Group and then replaced them. I even bought Used copies to give to them because I hate loaning out my books. I own 6 extra Copies of Hero System SIDEKICK for Gaming Convention Handouts too.

 

I do enjoy gaming, but sometimes I find that my Gamers are more interested in Tangents, Banter, and Bad Jokes than gaming.

 

I know gaming is a social event, but I am finding that its like playing a board game and the person whos turn it is, is more interested in talking about the latest Computer News or latest Novel, or something funny on the internet and I am running out of patcience for them to go...

 

I do enjoy being with my friends and gaming, but its got to be one or the other. You cannot create drama is the PCs are going off on tangents.

 

I need to find a way to short circut them when I am not GMing too...

 

 

 

A frustrated

 

QM

[Nolgroth]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

I felt like that once or twice with my old group too. I tried and tried to get them to focus on the gaming part, especially since we were gaming via IRC because we were in different time zones. Eventually I just let the game die its natural death. They'd rather chat for three hours and then wonder where all the time for gaming went.

 

I wonder, since part of the reason that group failed was because of Real Life issues, if your players have burned out on playing or have their own issues. I wonder if your gaming group, one that has understandably built bonds of friendship, has become the outlet that they need just to unwind.

 

Ultimately none of my business, but your situation sounds painfully like mine was. I hope you find the answer and can recover your excitement about gaming.

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

QM,

 

Your books got lucky in comparison to a very ugly afternoon in October of 2001 that I put my gaming collection through. Understand, three months of failed attempts at maintaining a gaming group (people were moving too far away to game regularly at the time), the tragic death of one of my brothers over the summer, plus the constant drum beat of 9/11 over-exposure had put me in a particularly nasty frame of mind.

 

Up to that point I had collected most science-fiction and superhero games that had been on the market for the past two decades. On that afternoon, after being informed that the last two members of the former group would be moving out within a week, I proceeded to destroy them all by brute force. I cursed, I swore, I raged in frustration and the objects of twenty years' worth of passion were methodically shredded in my bare hands and hurled the length of my apartment hallway to the living room. Binders full of notes from previous campaigns were unceremoniously pulverized and hurled into a growing heap of cellulose. Dice fell victim to a claw hammer, their shards becoming projectiles as I hurled them away from me (one piece actually stuck into the wall -- yeah, I was seriously unhinged that day). When I had finished with the gaming shelves, I invaded the closet and systematically dismantled the miniatures I kept there. After I finished there, I charged through the rest of the apartment tearing down posters and campaign maps and finally busting up the 8' x 4' plywood handipanel that had been my gaming table for years.

 

I spent the rest of the afternoon scooping up the detris and chucking it all into the dumpster. I only just fought down the urge to buy a gallon of gasoline and put it all to the torch. After that was done, I went back upstairs and threw up. The rest of the day was spent staring at the walls inbetween several bouts of very unmanly sobbing. I was depressed, frustrated, angry, grieving and just plain sad -- at that moment, living as I was in a small town, I thought that all my gaming days were done. Thankfully, I was wrong, but six months went by before I purchased another gaming book.

 

And that first replacement was the Core Rules for 4th Edition Hero System.

 

So, QM, at least your collection will get some use in other hands. My former collection (including the irreplacable collection of Digest Group Publications supplements for MegaTraveller and the entire run of Traveller's Digest which contained my first and so far only professionally written articles) is gone now, rotting in some landfill west of town.

 

If you are getting seriously burned out, by all means take a break, otherwise you might do something seriously stupid like I did.

 

Matt "I-got-better-eventually" Frisbee

[Spidey88]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

Have you talked to your players about the unneccessary tangents?

 

It sounds like serious frustration, considering the work you seem to put in GM-ing. Hopefully you can send them the message, politely but firmly, and they get the idea to SHADDAP! I know when I'm the GM, it makes a world of difference getting the effort and enthusiasm I put into the game fed back to me - it's really disheartening when you bust your butt and they don't give a hoot. Take a bit of stand if you have to - you don't have to hurt their feelings, but you should let them know they're stepping on yours a bit!

 

If you can't wake them up to your frustration, then maybe it's a case of your players having different expectations and wants when it comes to the game. It's happened to me before, on both sides of the player/gm equation - and it sneaks up you sometimes. You start out with a great group where everyone in on the same page, but after a while, people drift in different directions. Sometimes a break helps, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes starting a new campaign with a different feel helps. Ultimately, it may take finding a new group to revitalize things. I've had to do all of the above in the past, and I'm still gaming - hopefully you find some way to keep things fun, and try to think positive!

 

And, if you just need to put the dice away indefinitely, that's fine too. Don't feel like roelplaying is something you have to keep doing - hobbies are supposed to be fun!

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

My consolation prize is the fact that my Champioons of Vancouver gaming group is interested in the campaign and the world setting. It make life easier. It is funny to see experienced Hero Gamers make noobie mistakes and sometimes leaving me gobsmacked by their creativity.

 

 

 

I am giving a break a serious thought.

 

QM

 

P.S.: But only from my GURPS Gaming Group

[TheRavenIs]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

QM, sometimes you have to take those breaks in order to stay sane. My last break wasn't planned, I was out of RP for a bit over three years.

 

Now back into it and figured that all I will GM will be HERO something. I mean to be HERO is the best system for everything.

[Pentoth]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

QM I think all GM's run into the same scenario that you are in now. When I burnt out and was tired of the tangents and bad jokes I just let my players know. They all took turns running a game and they realized how annoying the jokes etc were... Even though the group really wanted me to start running games for awhile I wouldn't. When I finally did again everyone was on the same page.

[Savinien]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

How about giving your GURPs group another method of chatting? Perhaps an email board group or something. Then, when game time comes along, all the small talk will be complete and y'all can get straight to the gaming?

[Doc Democracy]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

Sometimes I think that the problem is that we look at gaming and gamers as homogenous groups (one way of doing things).

 

I find that there are any number of ways that people expect to game.

 

For many there is a general agreement to get together and play the game. It is nice to go through the motions of putting characters together and explore the adventures prepared by the GM in the presence of munchies and good friends. Very pleasant evenings all round.

 

For many others there is a real desire to gain more immersion in the game, often requiring real effort to be made to avoid distracting conversations and actions (constantly rolling dice etc). This can be intense and far more rewarding (in gaming terms) than the previous version but more effort and more consistency are required from both players and GMs.

 

There is a spectrum of gamers between and beyond these situations and when you get a mix of expectations it is possible for frustration to set in on all sides.

 

The people that want to socialise round an enjoyable game get frustrated with people constantly telling them to shut up and those that want the deeper game experience get frustrated as they are constantly jolted out of character.

 

If you see a disconnect you can adjust your expectations or adjust your gaming group. Sometimes (if you can find the time) do both: adjust your expectations of one group and relax into a game themed social evening while gathering more like-minded gamers for evenings of more intense roleplay that maximises the work and effort put into the games.

 

 

Doc

[The Doctor]

Re: [Warming Rant] GM feeling uninspired

 

I went through a similar ordeal when I was still living in Chicago. I resolved it by picking key pc's in my campaign and running a couple Limited Edition solo comic episodes for their characters and it helped to draw the pc into the subtle pull of my worlds dark side. The point is: If you want people to respect and understand the beauty that is your creation you have to but it in a venue they can digest. QM I have no doubt in my mind that your world is a marvel and triumph, but you have to break it down for the leaders and there interest and knowledge will become infectious.

 

Doctor Diagnosis: I don't believe you suffer at all from anything more than a way to reach people on a different level, because if you could the excessive chatter would take care of itself.

 

The Doctor