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It's been a few months since I've been on the message boards and I have really missed this place.
I have felt awful these past months knowing I left behind several games. I am sure based on my last post in those games that the people playing them knew I had a mess of things going on in my life, but I still apologize to everyone for disappearing like I did. Things have very much mellowed out and my life is on a better track.
I hope to get back into the rhythm of playing PbP and maybe even try my hand at GMing a game on these boards for the first time. Has anyone else ever taken an extended leave of absence from the forums? How did you handle your own return?
Welcome back. I had to go for about a year and a half, departing after the a) arrival of my first child, b) spouse's change of work hours (significant increase), and c) feeling like work was taking up most of my creativity made continued quality attention to the boards pretty much impossible.
I've recently returned after my spouse's work calmed down again, and our child requires a little less direct attention. Work is winding down for me, too, so it's seemed like a safe-ish time to return. I am running a Pathfinder Society scenario that I'm familiar with, and while it doesn't have the same payoff as a full adventure path, I know that I need to build up some good will on the boards again before launching into that kind of multi-year commitment.
There's nothing I'd rather try my hand at again than running Kingmaker with some folks who are committed to both storytelling and kingdom building, or Serpent's Skull for a team that's ready to dive into the deep jungle, but I think that's a ways down the road.
Again, welcome back! Hope you have a few chances to find ways to get connected to a game here again soon.
As I have been on these boards for less than a year I haven't had any burnout yet (thank goodness), but I have experienced burnout on other websites. I used to write jokes for a page on Twitter for quite some time nearly every day. It was fun at first, but then it got to be pretty tiresome after I had used most of my good ideas, and severe writer's block was kicking in. I eventually took a leave of absence, and looking back it was a pretty good choice to do so in order to take a rest and refocus my creativity. Glad to see that you're finally back though! Btw, is your AVI and username a reference to Warcraft (the older strategy-based one)? If so, I loved the game and the reference.
It's been a few months since I've been on the message boards and I have really missed this place.
I have felt awful these past months knowing I left behind several games. I am sure based on my last post in those games that the people playing them knew I had a mess of things going on in my life, but I still apologize to everyone for disappearing like I did. Things have very much mellowed out and my life is on a better track.
I hope to get back into the rhythm of playing PbP and maybe even try my hand at GMing a game on these boards for the first time. Has anyone else ever taken an extended leave of absence from the forums? How did you handle your own return?
I got into PBP several years ago and loaded up too many games (four at once from memory). It worked fine for a while but I hit a kind of rough patch at work and found the creative effort just too much, so bailed on all of them.
I've recently returned after a three or four year absence (I think) and my current game has just passed it's thousand post mark. I managed to recruit a bunch of great players (in fact I had about a dozen applicants who I would have been happy to take) so overall I'd say the forums are pretty forgiving of burned out DMs returning.
I guess the only advice I'd give is to be honest and up front with what's going on. I don't think many people will hold a grudge if real life gets in the way providing they know that's what's happening. It's the silent departures that are more likely to be annoying, in my opinion.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It's been a few months since I've been on the message boards and I have really missed this place.
I have felt awful these past months knowing I left behind several games. I am sure based on my last post in those games that the people playing them knew I had a mess of things going on in my life, but I still apologize to everyone for disappearing like I did. Things have very much mellowed out and my life is on a better track.
I hope to get back into the rhythm of playing PbP and maybe even try my hand at GMing a game on these boards for the first time. Has anyone else ever taken an extended leave of absence from the forums? How did you handle your own return?
I got into PBP several years ago and loaded up too many games (four at once from memory). It worked fine for a while but I hit a kind of rough patch at work and found the creative effort just too much, so bailed on all of them.
I've recently returned after a three or four year absence (I think) and my current game has just passed it's thousand post mark. I managed to recruit a bunch of great players (in fact I had about a dozen applicants who I would have been happy to take) so overall I'd say the forums are pretty forgiving of burned out DMs returning.
I guess the only advice I'd give is to be honest and up front with what's going on. I don't think many people will hold a grudge if real life gets in the way providing they know that's what's happening. It's the silent departures that are more likely to be annoying, in my opinion.
This for sure!
I've pulled back in the past and come back, sometimes to the same games. RL happens and anyone who can't understand that, especially where you announced your departure, is not someone I think you would want to game with anyway.
Welcome back! And hey, you gave me more notice than some players I've had.
God, my PbP management is...sporadic. And arguably terrible. Sometimes I miss a day, then get so anxious about missing that day, I miss another, and then before long I'm associating the PbPs themselves with stress and guilt so badly that I start deliberately avoiding them. And because there's so much, "I shouldn't even have missed one day," going on in my head, I almost never give notice for stuff like this. Because I certainly don't plan it! It's a bad habit; a bad way of handling things. I do it a lot.
I have on occasion taken weeks off or the like, when I'm feeling swamped or I expect to be busy. Returning isn't too hard, aside from getting back into the habit.
Welcome back! And hey, you gave me more notice than some players I've had.
God, my PbP management is...sporadic. And arguably terrible. Sometimes I miss a day, then get so anxious about missing that day, I miss another, and then before long I'm associating the PbPs themselves with stress and guilt so badly that I start deliberately avoiding them. And because there's so much, "I shouldn't even have missed one day," going on in my head, I almost never give notice for stuff like this. Because I certainly don't plan it! It's a bad habit; a bad way of handling things. I do it a lot.
I have on occasion taken weeks off or the like, when I'm feeling swamped or I expect to be busy. Returning isn't too hard, aside from getting back into the habit.
I never let the guilt of a failed update get to me. At the end of the day, this is a game intended for enjoyment by EVERYONE involved. That includes the DM not just the players. :-)
Plus, if this is your pattern, the PCs have likely learned to roll with it by now and if they stick with your games you are doing SOMETHING right!
It's nice to hear the experiences of other people! I am finding myself a bit rusty in creating characters I find compelling, but I hope to get into a game in the near future. I am also writing a short homebrew adventure that I hope to run on these boards involving a society of Aasimar and other planetouched beings that use a class of enslaved people called the Meek, a class the PCs will begin as a part of. It will start with players using NPC classes.
Hey, if you ever wanna give the Journey game another shot, we could probably fit you in in some way. You had some creative character concepts.
I am Recruiting for an all Gunslinger Kingmaker/ Iron Gods hybrid. Link is in my profile under Multigame Recruitment III.