I've been GMing the Shackles adventure path for close to a year and a half now. This morning, as I remembered that we are scheduled to have another session this weekend, I was filled with disappointment, not excitement. It's gone from the simple four person party to now six players - one of whom has to Skype in every time - and while I feel like I can manage that many players, I also feel like the game is spiraling out of control. Despite my best efforts, it doesn't feel exciting anymore.
I've thought about ending the campaign. Quite a lot, really. But I feel like I owe it to my players who haven't had the chance to finish their character backstory quests. Then again, there seems to be no appreciation for the hours of work I put into setting up each session, except from my wife - who, by the way, is also not enjoying the campaign because of the way I've been feeling.
I'm GMing Carrion Crown also, and it's a blast. My party is involved in the goings-on within the first book and they show a real interest in immersing themselves in the world. I'm involved as a PC in a 5E homebrew campaign, and soon I'll be joining a 5E Tyranny of Dragons campaign in the beginning of book 2.
I want to keep this thing going, finish the Shackles adventure, but I feel so worn out at this point.
Are there other GMs or players who have experienced this same sort of feeling, of sadness and disappointment, toward their players or campaign?
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I was in a similar situation two months ago. I was also running Skull and Shackles for my regular online group and ultimately chose to stop and end the game.
TLDR: Burnout and DM mistakes.
There were a few reasons...
1.) I didn't want the characters to succeed. I knew that if we continued I would get to a point where I would intentionally kill off a character (specifically the newly minted captain of the ship mentioned further down below).
2.) I was spread too thin over running two games and playing in two others. I really enjoyed prepping games (especially for Roll 20) but I just couldn't take it anymore.
3.) I allowed too much race variation and at least one play took the opportunity to create a broken character who eventually side-stepped my ruling about trying to avoid being loathesomely evil. I got to the point that I absolutely hated this character and when he became the captain I didn't want him to be the Hurricane King in my story.
b.) A player who jury-rigged the system to get a +36 to profession sailor by level 8.
4.) Trying to compensate for 6 players I added far too much loot. By level eight they had the WBL of tenth level characters.
Giving up the game was a huge struggle and I wanted to try and finish it for the players (many of whom I considered friends) but I was getting to the point that the game made me sick to start every week.
I would definitely suggest taking a break and perhaps letting another player run something for a while and seeing if you can stomach going back.
I didn't and I regret it somewhat.
Right now, we've gone through several sessions of just combat. Very little roleplaying has occurred as a result, and that's the part I enjoy the most. Because one of my players expressed boredom in the mundane, I mixed things up and made new encounters for them to face, and he exhibited no appreciation for what I had done for him.
Another of the players has become irritating to play with because I've noticed a trend with every character she creates her husband creates for her (he's the one mentioned above): she has this powerful character with serious backstory, things that should leave a pretty strong mark on her, but she plays every character with this over-the-top cuteness that doesn't match the character at all.
It's really these two that I don't enjoy playing with anymore.
As far as breaks go, we don't play all the campaigns often. Carrion Crown hasn't happened since the beginning of July, the 5E homebrew has happened maybe twice this month, and Shackles has also happened only twice.
rkotitan, I feel very much like you did. I allowed game-breaking character builds, didn't encourage RP during the earlier books, and have gone far off the beaten path that I wanted to travel. I have grown to loathe the captain of our crew - because I dislike his character and I feel like he has done a poor job of being captain - and want to kill off his character. I realize this isn't fair or right as a GM, especially since I consider all these people friends (though this friendship with the captain and his wife is being tested through this campaign).
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it seems simple to me.
I'd let your players read this, then decide together what you want to do going forward.
talk to each other like grown up adults and get all your feelings on the table.
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If a game is threatening to destroy real life friendships stop the game immediately. Don't pass go and don't collect $200.
If it hadn't gotten to that point, there are some things you can do sometimes to reduce your feeling of burnout, such as taking a break, consciously trying to reduce your need to control things and enjoying the players success even if they don't always do things the way you would have, and probably just relaxing about the whole thing in general. At this point though, with this campaign, I would say just stop.
I will point out in general that if you require validation and thanks for being a GM you probably won't get it a whole lot. Not that the players are going to necessarily be jerks, but often they won't think to thank you and almost certainly they won't realize or notice 'special' things you have done to increase their enjoyment. Hopefully they will enjoy it, and you will largely have to just get your satisfaction from that, rather than any outward expressions of gratitude.
Sounds like far too many games going on at once to me (though to each their own.)
Personally, I've been through these slumps in the past - much like a new relationship, new campaigns can be extremely exciting at first: the party meeting, players trying new builds, getting to know new characters, excitement over trying out a new story. For some, once the newness wears off, there can be periods of every campaign that just feel like a grind.
Our group used to hit those points, call it quits, and start something new. We made a lot of great characters over the years, had a lot of adventures... and never finished anything.
Now that we're older, we look back at our dozens of abandoned characters with pangs of regret that they never got to really see what they were made of. Sometimes we'll dust one off, and reboot them so that they can have a proper story in a new campaign.
Because these days, when we hit those grinds, we just grind on through them, and invariably, at some point things pick up steam on the other side of the grind.
One of the worst of those moments for our gaming group was probably going through Runeforge in Rise of the Runelords.
We *still* talk about how terrible Runeforge is - it's the running joke of our gaming group. But we're all glad that we finished RotR, because the rest of the campaign - and the sense of collective accomplishment afterwards - was worth it.
We can't tell you how to play your game, but my advice in these situations is - if you're stuck in a rut, or if part of an AP has turned into a grind that no one is enjoying - skip ahead a bit. Change things up. Don't feel like you have to slavishly follow something that nobody likes. But ultimately, talk with your group.
It's hard running two games a week. Just drop the one you're not happy with and focus on the second. Find a good stopping point and let your players know that you want to wrap it up.
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b.) A player who jury-rigged the system to get a +36 to profession sailor by level 8.
That's impressive.
Off the top of my head, Samsaran Alchemist 8; Profession (sailor) +30 normally, +34 when buffed.
(+8 ranks, +3 class skill, +2 racial, +5 feats, +1 trait, +6 wisdom, +5 skill boosting item; would normally get a further +2 cognatagen and potentially +2 owl's wisdom)
Depending on your point of view, a Samsaran is either way too cheesy or a fantastic role-playing opportunity to channel the spirit of a legendary pirate captain from the past.
And some people only allow skill boosting items if they appeared in Lord of the Rings.
Other than that, I wouldn't have thought there was anything too untoward about the character above.
However, it does go to show the importance of ensuring everyone in the group has the same expectations about how to play the game.
If you said to me "It's going to be a nautical game about pirates, with lots of sailing around and ship-to-ship combat, please try to have a character who works in that environment" then I'd probably jump at the chance to have a Profession (Sailor) focused character, because how often do you get to play one of those?
But how much is too much?
Right now, we've gone through several sessions of just combat. Very little roleplaying has occurred as a result, and that's the part I enjoy the most. Because one of my players expressed boredom in the mundane, I mixed things up and made new encounters for them to face, and he exhibited no appreciation for what I had done for him.
Do they know that? Do they have an idea of how much effort it took for you to do that?
I feel like sometimes GMs play their cards a bit too close to their chest. When they do, there is a total loss of perspective for the players. All they see is the movie screen and not the projector operator, the floor sweepers, the concession employees, and so on.
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Given that there seems to be a significant amount of space between your games I would echo the suggestion to maybe just table Skull and Shackles and either focus completely on Carrion Crown (Getting in twice as many games) or do something else.
As for the amount of work you have put in I feel your pain. There have been games where my friends have flippantly declared that they want to play something else or refused to take seriously something I worked months on.
It really burned me up. Finally, I decided that when it came to my extra writing and modified encounters I was doing it for me.
As long as they appear to be having fun all of that extra stuff is for me and if they happen to enjoy it... good for them.
I think I figured it out. I really think that this guy was in for a bit of a shock once he smoked the Free Captain's Regatta and then profession sailor checks became progressively less important.
Human Skald
Racial: Mixed Heritage
HotS: 2
HotF: 2
Class Skill: 3
Rank: 8
Stat: 6
Skill Focus: 3
Traits (with Disadvantage)
Besmaras Bless: 1 (Reroll)
Riverfolk: 2
Belem Pirate: 1
Ship
Broad Rudder: 1
I couldn't find the skill boosting items but a +5 would indeed put him at a 34 (Which is the actual number. Sorry forgot :) ).
Anyway, the discussion got me interested in trying to recreate it and there it is.
Sorry for the derail.
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The mixed heritage racial trait allows you to take two 'heart of' traits.
You are right about the trait bonus' stacking though. I guess my players juked me. I know that's one of the tricks they tried since I heard them discussing it during his character creation.
Ah well, I guess I'll know for next time. :)
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** spoiler omitted **Unless I am missing something, the trait bonuses don't stack, and presumably the two "Heart of" racial abilities don't stack with each other either (they both give racial bonuses).
Surprise! Racial bonuses stack.
Bonus Types: Usually, a bonus has a type that indicates how the spell grants the bonus. The important aspect of bonus types is that two bonuses of the same type don't generally stack. With the exception of dodge bonuses, most circumstance bonuses, and racial bonuses, only the better bonus of a given type works (see Combining Magical Effects). The same principle applies to penalties—a character taking two or more penalties of the same type applies only the worst one, although most penalties have no type and thus always stack. Bonuses without a type always stack, unless they are from the same source.
Emphasis added. Source
I only run homebrew settings, and for 20+ years it all revolved around one major city and the cities and nations that surrounded it. Lots of wilderness and dungeon stuff. But the players wanted a new city to explore and delve and do political intrigue in, so I had to create a whole new campaign setting (same world, different place). I've had a love/hate relationship with the new one, as I just haven't fallen in love with it the way I did the older campaign city. But my players have really taken to it and that's what keeps me going. Many times I've wanted to chuck it and and have even tried various means of getting them to move to the original setting but they tenaciously hang on to the current one. So when I find myself getting tired of the games I'm running I remember the players are enjoying them despite everything I feel, and that fuels me to keep going.