Does your wife play? If she isn't too familiar with the rules maybe have her co-GM with you. That would take some of the pressure off of you. Maybe have her run the monsters.
Having been the DM/GM for over 90% of the years I've been gaming, I can certainly relate. No one in my group hardly ever wants to run games, though the last couple of years has seen that change to a small degree. I get to be a player 3, maybe 5 times a year, and even that small amount helps immensely. I'm about to start playing in a PbP game and I'm really excited by the idea. I have no doubt that my periods of burnout will be made easier to deal with by getting to be a player.
I think I rambled. I hope I made some sense.
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Having been the DM/GM for over 90% of the years I've been gaming, I can certainly relate. No one in my group hardly ever wants to run games, though the last couple of years has seen that change to a small degree. I get to be a player 3, maybe 5 times a year, and even that small amount helps immensely. I'm about to start playing in a PbP game and I'm really excited by the idea. I have no doubt that my periods of burnout will be made easier to deal with by getting to be a player.
I think I rambled. I hope I made some sense.
I'm in the same boat. The issue I have is that even when I manage to get a player to take over for a few months or I find a group away from my home game; no one runs the kinds of games I want to play in :(
So that itch is never fully scratched.
Strong sympathy with you here, mathpro18. I've found that I *need* to be a player semi-regularly. Doing so helps me keep perspective as a GM - when I lose that perspective, I backslide into 'Killer GM Mode'.
For example, I've not only become a player starting this weekend, I've added a physical activity on a daily basis. The combination has been quite refreshing.
The best of luck to you!
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Has anyone gone through a period of time where there interest in running games is near zero. Every time I start a campaign either here on the boards or in real life its like pulling teeth to get my self interested in running it. I find my self wanting to do anything else but sit at the gaming table during sessions. I'm starting up a new group and I'm hoping a change of players will help...
Any advice?
I am currently recovering from one myself. You have all my sympathies.
My best advice is tell the players that you need a long break from DMing, and ask them to DM you instead. Also, get some rest, and try other activities.Tell them, it's not them, it's you. And also, this is temporary.
It's been some six months since I stopped, and I am feeling infinitely better.
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I have suffered huge burnout as a GM for home games. I finally just refused to GM for long periods of time so I could recharge the batteries. Currently the only GMing I do is for Society play because I've lucked into a plethora of home games I can play in. Maybe in a few more years I'll rebuild my home campaign, but for now I much prefer to be a player at home.
And yet I keep buying all the stuff I need to GM. Cause world building is its own fun.
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Thankfully my burnout periods have been no more than an evening or two, then I feel ready to go again. I've been taking care to schedule a few days off in-between gamedays, but it is hard to beat that fatigue, especially in an organized play environment. I recommend finding a secondary hobby to distract you while you are away from the game. It helps if you just don't think about the things you do as a GM for a little while. I've picked up the Adventure Card Game as well as some novels to fit that bill. The card game is a very different experience that works different parts of the brain than game mastering, and helps me refocus my energy.
I'm like TriOmegaZero above - I do get burned out, but it doesn't last long.
And like BigDTBone, my group seldom runs the kinds of games I'm interested in playing as a player. So I'm trying to find a group I can just be a player in, and alternate that with the group I GM.
I haven't had much luck, however. I've posted on the Gamer Connection forum, but no leads. And I haven't pursued PFS, which - since I live in the Los Angeles area - must have groups aplenty. But I suspect that the strict rules nature of Society play isn't for me. (I'd like some small accommodation on things, like: allowing an Elf or Half-elf to take racial archetypes that belong to one or the other. I've mocked up a Poison Ivy-esque character in Hero Lab that uses the Tree Singer druid archetype (elf) and the Bramble Brewer alchemist (half-elf) archetype. Per the rules, this isn't legal. I don't think it's OP in any way, but it still wouldn't be allowed by the PFS rules.)
So I spend time with my Skyrim and get my rp fix that way. (Not the same, though, as live, interactive roleplay.)
Weird, I figure any racial archetype/favored class bonus that matches up to either "half" is accessible. So humans (to me) should be able to select any half-human or human archetypes and favored class options. Half-elves should be any elf or half-elf or human. Half-orcs any orc, half-orc or human. And so on.
*Shrugs*
Weird, I figure any racial archetype/favored class bonus that matches up to either "half" is accessible. So humans (to me) should be able to select any half-human or human archetypes and favored class options. Half-elves should be any elf or half-elf or human. Half-orcs any orc, half-orc or human. And so on.
*Shrugs*
There's a FAQ somewhere on this, though I can never find these things on the FAQ page. I guess it diminishes the "special nature" of a racial archetype if you allow elves to take half-even (only) racial archetypes, or vice versa. It would allow too many races to take too many "racial" archetypes from other races than their own.
*Shrugs*
Weird, I figure any racial archetype/favored class bonus that matches up to either "half" is accessible. So humans (to me) should be able to select any half-human or human archetypes and favored class options. Half-elves should be any elf or half-elf or human. Half-orcs any orc, half-orc or human. And so on.
*Shrugs*
There's a FAQ somewhere on this, though I can never find these things on the FAQ page. I guess it diminishes the "special nature" of a racial archetype if you allow elves to take half-even (only) racial archetypes, or vice versa. It would allow too many races to take too many "racial" archetypes from other races than their own.
*Shrugs*
Pffft, papoy. FAQs raining on all of the parades. ;)
This really only covers a few of the races, there are plenty who can't do so without taking Racial Heritage, an expensive price tag depending on what that is.