The campaign I was running for a while suffered from a meltdown over this summer. What I did was take a consensus on scrapping the thing or not (which we did) and then had each player write down what they liked about the D&D in general. Then, I went through their opinions and came up with a choice of two games I would be happy to DM and gave them a choice. They chose, I started writing adventures and we had a lot more fun.
No never had that problem; mostly my guys want me to gm all the time; some want me to gm several days a week if I could; all I have ever asked for was players who want to play and want to roleplay and will show up more or less ontime. The only gm's I have ever been dissappointed with was games where somebody had decided to run a module for a few weeks to give me a break; they have couple months to prepare; and then when they run the module it becomes quite obvious that they havent read through the thing and dont understand the story so it has no depth or dimension and is pretty much scaled down to a hack and slash. I guess this is sorta good cause when it is over everyone is really excited about getting me to run my campaign again.
I think some gms set themselves up for a fall as they never really get in touch with their players and their players needs and understand how the player wants to develop his character; these gms seem to do a lot of work on their campaigns at first but often start to feel a bit bitter even if their players enjoy the game, this lead to a kind of resentment and they stop doing the work that the campaign needs to have a good story line. To overcome this I have always suggested that players (as well as gms) keep a journal; my players call them write ups; as all of my players are serious players who really want to develop their characters; all but one give me write ups; some give me novels.
What I ask for in a write up is to list what actions and skills a person did that they thought was helpful or worthwhile and any conversations or plotline they have figured out. I use this to award exps; it is totally voluntary, but as a gm I find it very useful to enhance your game session and not betray your players; for example; if a players has been giving you a list each week of who he in the party trusts or distrusts and the same for npc's and why and his view of each of these relationships, if something as simple as a truth spell is placed on this character you will know if the character is telling the truth without asking him if he is; you can just say; that is the truth as he believe it; also, these write ups can give new life to your npc's and help you develop triggers and subplots.
just a some thoughts.
|
The campaign I was running for a while suffered from a meltdown over this summer. What I did was take a consensus on scrapping the thing or not (which we did) and then had each player write down what they liked about the D&D in general. Then, I went through their opinions and came up with a choice of two games I would be happy to DM and gave them a choice. They chose, I started writing adventures and we had a lot more fun.
This is gold.
And Valegrim, I like the "writeups" idea too.
The write-ups are indeed a good idea. Kudos, Valegrim! My problem that I had back in high school (meaning just at the start of this summer) was the very different approach I had to the game compared to my group. A lot of them had a more simplistic approach that went no farther than trying out strange mechanical concepts and light-hearted joking around. Unfortunately, I have a much more serious approach to the game and desire serious depth, so I always ended up burning out pretty fast when it was obvious that was not really forthcoming. Whenever I manage to construct a new group (hopefully soon), I'm looking forward to trying to make sure I get some people who are more in tune to my desires with the game.
I plan on using the campaign journal section of these boards as a place where they can post their character descriptions and backgrounds, and I can do my major plot expositions and campaign background, thus letting them read at their own pace, rather than risking the classic data overload that can occur at the start of a detailed campaign. It's also an excellent resource as a journal for the party.
Our game group has run out of steam in the past-- when it did, I turned to the local hobby store and found a game group. It was nothing special-- very formula, with lots of people dropping in and out-- but it got me through the rough stretch.
In your case, have you voulenteered to GM? Give your GM the gift of getting to play for a while. Our GM had really enjoyed playing a rogue for a couple of one-shots, and comes back rejuvenated and ready to GM. GMing a longer stretch-- especially in a different system that lets him stretch different mental muscles-- might have him back GMing before you know it.
(I've found that when a game is going well, there are lots of people who are eager to step in and run a game. If it's going badly, everyone gets turned off of roleplaying, and doesn't want to waste the effort it takes to GM. If your game goes well, you'll soon find him chomping at the bit to GM again.)