Into the Fey thedmlair.com/collections/into-the-fey Escape from the Fey thedmlair.com/collections/escape-from-the-fey Lairs & Legends thedmlair.com/collections/lairs-legends Lair Magazine thedmlair.com/collections/lair-magazine Thieves Abound ruclips.net/p/PLzmFNHcgMkXH5dUFBg4dWFFK1p1eDn5xB
There are 5 of us. I was the only DM. We play twice a week. One of the players wanted to DM too. So I DM my game and the other player DM's his game and we play the others game every other week. That has helped a lot with burnout, as I can now be a player too.
@@phillipfranco55 I also do this with my group now I’ve got a fledgling dm gearing up to run sands of doom and another player wants help designing a homebrew system for Pokémon in dnd good times!
@@phillipfranco55 thats such a good system! Everybody shrank in fear any time I brought up passing the mantle - even though Ingave them all my notebooks and my number for advice. Good for you though!
@@Subject_KeterBro why is “I stab” such a relatable response thoooo😫. I’ve also gotten a lot of “I don’t know”, like brotha you’re playing the character.
@@spellelfIt wasnt DnD but i literally meet a guy who was like "I use all my power to.. make the main character a tax man." And i literally had to be like "bro.. you can be whatever you want.. b r o" Literally had to be ready to blast him incase he went back to his Taxsona. 😂
This same thing happened to me. I didn't dissolve the group, I took the hint and left the group but it did dissolve soon after on it's own. I was running a long campaign of McGuffin searches to bring them all together to defeat the fiend of darkness and shadows. There was one item per player they had to find and each item had a curse the players had to remove. My group seemed to be tired of the adventure as it didn't seem they were paying attention, not even to the pre-game synopsis' of the full game or events of the last session and they would prove this with questions during the game about something that was fully covered in the synopsis. I cut the game short by two McGuffins and fast-tracked the red herring end boss and then on to the actual end boss. I then left that group feeling unappreciated and disrespected. After a couple years I ran into one of the players at a fluke Adventures' League game I happen to decide to try out. He told me he loved that campaign and it was the best he had ever experienced in a TTRPG. I just thanked him but was thinking "why didn't you show that when I was running the campaign?". It wasn't burnout for me, it was the disrespect I felt from the players that caused me to stop.
Fantastic video! I was desperate to play D&D, so took on the DM role as no one else would. My first group of friends seemed excited at first but pretty much immediately were terrible players. They'd say they want to play, and then keep checking their phones, getting distracted discussing what food to order, not paying attention to any information I was giving them... one was straight up watching a football match I stopped it for them, and collected a group of my other friends, who were much more enthusiastic and have been a blast to play with. Everytime we finish a session, their grateful feedback and excitement fuels me to create more, so my players are definitely what keeps my burnout at bay.
My god. I just went through the exact same thing, I also had a player watching football! When we got outside football season he was just playing mobile games xD
I tried to set this up with a group once. I said i would go first since i had the most experience. Then when i was ready to rotate nobody else stepped up and we just stopped gaming until the next time i ran again...
Wrapped a 3 year campaign and was fried, nobody willing to take the GM role and that was 7 months ago. Found a game where I could be a player and relearning what I like about the game. Now getting ready to GM again but changing from 5e to pf2e for a fresher feel
I love my players so much. Without their engagement and visible joy, I couldn't lead a 2-year campaign and follow up with another 1.5 year-long campaign. Respect your DM's craft, dear players. Positive feedback, minimizing player to player quarrels, and being open in discussion of your expectations of for your character throughout the campaign are keys for keeping your DMs burnout at bay. PS Also, let your DM be a player in one-shots. Works like a charm
Great timing on this one Luke, thanks! I burned out a bit after running 5 campaigns at the same time. I stopped all but 1 and started a new one as a player. It helped a ton. Your advice is great, thanks!
Solid advice all around. I am the "substitute DM" for our campaign -- whenever our main guy gets busy at work, or otherwise needs a break, I fill in with a short campaign. I admittedly am not nearly as good a DM as he is. But the players put up with me because it's better than no game at all, and they know that "Real Dad" will be back soon enough.
I stopped my game close to a year ago now. Pretty much the same group for 6 years and on a 3rd campaign. The amount of prep I was doing was getting out of hand. I was using a VTT, was drawing out my own maps based on what was going on in the game, and prepping the VTT with the needed tokens and inputting the needed needed data. Started to very much feel like a job. Talked to the group about moving to a theater of the mind way of playing. Got to much of the "I need visual reference" response. I gave it a while. Longer breaks, minimal prep, etc. One day I just called the game. I explained what I was going through and the group was understanding. Im now getting ready to run a game using Shadowdark. Something far more rules light and also getting away from the VTT. Going old school basically.
@@SomoneTookMyName dnd beyonds maps are pretty great for me lately. I was building maps online for awhile and it was hours and hours of work. Now im running rime of the frostmaiden and all the maps are already there and the tokens work great
Have a few players in my group who are a year of weekly play in are still struggling and the vtt is great but prep sucks (Their "main" DM was also new and not running the best type of game for new players) Going to start running shadowdark as wel
@joekline5554 it depends on how much set up you do but can definitely add up real fast. Some people do theater of the kind with vtt just as a log🤷♂️ honestly I've thought about doing it that way on more than one occasion
@@nickzurita32 One of the issues I was running into was with maps and it was burnout. So I would create most of the maps for the game. Having a background in art I would come up with some pretty detailed maps for vtt use. Spending several hours on just one map. Though not opposed to using others maps found on the net. In many cases they would not fit the situation. In any case. Everything started to wear on me really fast.
This video sounds a little bit of "how to revive the flame in your marriage" advices. Great advices. It's okay no to be okay and take a rest some time! Thx for the video!
Just saw the segment on the oneshots you did. I am very happy to see other people also enjoying Shadowrun. Here on YT it often feels like there is only D&D.
Great suggestions! I run two-year campaigns and I notice that about 12-14 months in, my creativity goes on the decline. It's been like that my whole life. Prior to GMing, I would simply shelf the current project and wait for inspiration for one of my others, sort of juggling them throughout the years. What I find myself doing now is the necissarry 4-6hrs/week to run the game, and channel the rest of my free-time to the next campaign. We have 25 sessions left of my dystopian Futuristic setting, but I'm already waist deep in prep for the upcoming superhero setting. So far, it's working. The creativity is flowing. :)
I must be really lucky I ve been dm since the age of 18 I am now 59 and still running d&d games every weekend For the same group of people for all those years And I ve never had dm burnout ever I am still passionate about it
10:40 yes bacon is delicious. On this point I would like to mention that in days of yore during the early days of DnD we played shorter campaigns. They often just dealt with a relatively simple problem not a world shattering BBEG type scenario. These mini-campaigns often had an overarching theme but it wasn’t a months long commitment. It also lead to allowing for different DMs running campaigns with the same PCs. Players could also swap in new or old PCs. Tired of being the cleric? Just run your thief. Want to try a monk? Go for it since it isn’t a months long thing. Love the shared world y’all created ? Awesome stay in it with new content. It keeps the spark alive.
I am running a lengthy campaign. It’s been going for 4 years… we have taken 3 seasonal breaks, for me, the gm, to breath. One summer break, one winter break, one fall break. We always have a restart date it works for us. And I am a happy gm!
For me, it was the constant battle with the 5e system that drained me. It just didn't work the way I wanted it to, no matter how much effort I put into it. The frustration was the worst thing that ate up the fun. Tried different systems, found PF2 thanks in part to the videos here. Now I have the feel of dnd, but a working ruleset that supports me as a DM and doesn't kick me in the balls.
My first and only experience DMing 5e was the Lost Mine of Phandelver starter set, which I finally finished last week. In addition to the adventure as-written falling far short of its potential, it just kinda seems that 5e doesn't like the DM very much.
I am curious what you found Pathfinder does different that you enjoy it more as the DM? Don't get me wrong, i have my share of issues with 5E, from its watering down of many core class features, basically making exploration useless with a few accessible spells, CR is broken and really doesn't work most of the time without tweaking to the game, mechanics can be clunky (I am incapacitated but can still take a Bonus Action and Move?) But to be blunt, most of the issues I have are that it's less fun to play than 3.5 as a player, as a DM I don't notice as much.
@@seangill2522 in particular the functioning CR system. I can build encounters that work the way I envisioned them. I have working price lists and min. level information of magic items. And I love that everything has a cost, it's not a no brainer to just put on a shield to get 2AC, you have to actively use it to get the AC. Little things like that are everywhere that are more limiting but make for a better game overall. And I know exactly when a player is done with his turn. 3 actions -> done. How often I have to ask at 5e whether a player has finished his turn. What I don't like is that there are too many specific rules. That you can be practiced for individual weapons, for example That's why I hope DC20 will be good and find a middle ground between PF2 and 5e.
I've been GMing for 30+ years, and I rarely have come across any published adventure that actually makes it easier to run a game. There is so much more to adjust to fit the group, memorize complex plots, and it usually stifles creativity. I've been running published adventures almost exclusively since 5e came out. I think if I stop, that might actually help my burnout.
I have always been the broke GM. Everything I run is something I've come up with, or me flying by the seat of my pants as the players make their own fun. I did try to run a module for 5e, the Tiamat one, and I didn't have as much fun there. Mainly, that was balanced for a 5-player party, I had 3..also, 2 out of the 3 were far more interested in joining the cult than fighting them, which it had no path for to begin with. I've always felt the best place for a module is Conventions and Gaming shops, where you are running with pre-gen characters and players you've never, or rarely, met - really useful there.
I have a group that's been together for 7-ish years at this point. These are some things that help us. FIRST, we are two couples. Occasionally others will get roated in, but that is usually temporary. This simplifies scheduling. SECOND, we have a very regular schedule, and always double check at the end of each game night when we're next getting together. THIRD, while we have an 'anchor game' (Dresden Files), we run it in 'seasons'. When one major arc is over, the Dresden GM takes a break to plan the next one, and someone else steps in. That's often me, but sometimes we will play board games. Right now, we are playing through Stuffed Fables. I don't guarantee these will work for everybody, but they work really well for US.
Hoo boy that burnout order bit at the beginning hit the nail on the head. The biggest thing for me is players involving themselves. My group unfortunately are very passive and require a lot of poking and proding to get things moving. I've switched things up, tried to get people invested, looked here and there on the internet to inspire and excite, and kept trying to see where it was that I was going wrong since its like pulling teeth to get people to do their own thing sometimes. After a while of thinking I was just a shit DM, I just realized it was my players(not that I'm perfect or anything lol). The few times I got to be a player, I was very active and never realized with my friends how much they wait for someone else to take charge and do things. As a DM, it's the worst feeling ever because everyone is afraid to take charge. It feels like everything I do is boring or uninteresting even if I logically know that's not the reason. I ask my players constantly if there is something I need to change, if they want something specific to start happening, things they would be interested in, etc. They say they are fine and having fun, but that doesn't help me in the slightest. Unfortunately, sometimes people are just passive. My experience has taught me that every party needs one go getter or its gonna be a miserable experience. The few times an old friend of mine who was a forever DM themselves joined in, they were the absolute best sessions I ever had. They poked all the buttons, proded for all the secrets, and pulled on every plot thread. It was fast, it was fun, and some of the best moments in my campaign were due to their willingness to participate. God that was the good stuff. Night and day to what I've got going now. That and one of my players is an "Um Acktually" rules lawyer that makes me want to huff powdered glass. That also doesn't help the burnout either lol. I'm still DMing for them, sunk cost fallacies and all that, and sessions are hit or miss, but I'm getting close to a big hiatus so I can try and recenter the campaign, and get us to the end so I can hang my DM hat up for a very long time. But breaks are uber necessary. I've taken a couple when burnout got unbearable.
Passive players are the worst. A lot of folks just standing around staring at each other, it's challenging as the one or two non passives will dominate the game which further pushes the passives into passivity.
Most of my time playing TTRPGs is as GM, and those times where you don't have an instigator make it so hard to keep the momentum going, so the occasions I get to just be a regular player I often end up being a shit stirrer. It's so much fun and the GMs usually appreciate it. Be the change you want to see and all that :)
The thing I love is how most of this advice can also be applied to many other forms of creative work. So even if you aren't a DM, or even a player of DND, this is still a very helpful video regardless
Been there before!! I took about a 2-3 month hiatus and thought about why. I figured out that I was too wrapped up in making sure everything was perfect. I realized that all my players were having fun and that was the most important thing to me. I have fun when I can tell they are having fun, so it helped me realize it didn't have to be a perfect game. I've been DMing about 6 years straight (minus that short period).
Everyone I know: DM burnout is real and you need to be careful Me: I've been doing this for 5 years every week only missing for holidays or sickness. I have never felt so alive!!!!
If anyone needs tips, I'll share what's worked for my group. My group plays every Sunday, and was originally helmed by just 1 DM every time, Me. After I burned out hard, almost falling apart, ee decided to try to keep together for another to step up. What ultimately has worked for us and been able to help prevent that DM burnout, is 2-week rotations. DM A will run for 2 weeks, then DM B runs for 2 weeks. We also will cycle through who is the DM, even some of our less confident players have DM'd a few sessions. We also leave room open for One-Shots when the need arises, say a DM is busy or a player can't make it during the middle of their story arc in the game,and we don't want them to miss the action. Keeping things fresh and cycling through is ultimately the trick. It has actually allowed me the opportunity to get excited once more about stepping back behind the GM screen. We've all grown so close over the years and I'm truly grateful to have them as my friends.
I frequently feel stressed out due to lack of prep, I feel unappreciated, or I don't want to be the person who is always engaged. DMs are either talking or needing to pay attention, and it can be overwhelming. One of our best solutions to DM burnout is rotating between three DMs and running publish adventures. We have a weekly scheduled game time, and if too many can't make it, we just cancel and play the next week. Our old games always fizzled out around level 7-10 and we never went back to them. Published adventures provide content and an end goal. Both help prevent DM burnout. We usually have two games running concurrently. When one DM needs a break, we switch. The best way to make your DM feel good about their game is to show them respect personally, and respect their game. Show up on time and be ready to go. Don't argue over little things. Pay attention and take notes. Don't complain. Help keep the focus on the game. Work with the other players to move the game forward. Give the DM feedback when they ask for it.
This is gold "The best way to make your DM feel good about their game is to show them respect personally, and respect their game. Show up on time and be ready to go. Don't argue over little things. Pay attention and take notes. Don't complain. Help keep the focus on the game. Work with the other players to move the game forward. Give the DM feedback when they ask for it."
Good advice. My online group played through Curse of Strahd, every other week (it took like a year and half). Then the DM was in the middle of having a baby and moving around the same time, so I offered to DM a short campaign (Sunless Citadel) so he could just be a player for a while and cut way down on his prep time. Now we’re playing Shadow of the Dragon Queen with the original DM again, and we’re getting near the end, so we’re talking about how to move forward, and we might have another one of our players take over the DM role for the next campaign to give him another break. Great group of players (fairly unusual, I think, for a group that met on Roll20 and has no personal friendships with each other outside the game). We’re all willing to help out in whatever way we can to stick together and give the DM a chance to recuperate from DMing.
I've suffered GM Burnout, and very bad burnout. After nearly 4 years of weekly games, I was done. I couldn't do it, I'd been hating the game for a while, and I just ended it. Right as they were gonna get into "Act 3". And look, given the situation, it was the best decision I ever made in game-terms. I let it get out of hand, but I ended it. And now, after a 6 month hiatus, after preparing for a whole new campaign I've completely revitalized my approach to GMing. It's like I'm running the game for the very first time again. This, I think, is the best and most important video for aspiring GMs to watch. Excellent stuff.
I had to stop my other campaign with my friends because of burnout. It seemed like no one cared if we played or not and never prioritized the game over other things, resulting in constant rescheduling. Eventually I just stopped asking when they would like to play, because I was frustrated preparing for the game that never happened. I feel a lot better now, and I still have another game going with another group which is going a lot better
My thoughts exactly. I loved DMing back in the day (1980s) when were were kids and had endless summers to play. Returned to the game in the 2000s with 3e and it was fine for RPGA events (Comic shop drop-ins always had enough players). However, home campaigns or online games as an adult was different. Sure, life... but many times it wasn't just someone's wedding or new job, but showing up unprepared, not caring, wasting time, etc.
It was so useful when a friend of mine introduced me to a ttrpg server she was in, I joined as a player for an indev ttrpg system but then I just kinda hanged around, ran a couple of my own campaigns in dnd, a few pathfinder games but I really hit my stride with PbtA systems, primarily monster of the week and city of mist. It's absolutely fabulous how there's a core of people who are dedicated and down to play various systems, how every one of us is a resource for the others and I'll never forget how great hanging out in the general VC was before the group split off into their individual campaigns. It's a nice little community, and I'd be lying if i said that even having a reputation on the server (I'm very much a performer type of creator, I fly by the seat of my pants and throw insane and engaging shit at my players) to the point where some people know whether they'll like a game I run or not just off of me being the DM doesn't help. In the end, my goal is to entertain. And hearing from others that my players spoke well of me is probably the best feeling possible.
Totally agree. Was getting there myself. I only started playing 10 months ago and took over DM after about 2 months. We switched DMs now for a few months and I will take over again.
I've noticed that I'm a forever DM by choice. Not only am I the most experienced DM in my group, I also enjoy DMing more than I enjoy playing (much to the relief of my players who are the opposite). But I have noticed that burnout can happen in one specific situation for me: If I feel my players are no longer having fun or are no longer putting in the commitment on their end for the game. If players spend too much time distracted during the game, if they start consistently skipping on sessions, etc... It's what led me to taking a half-year hiatus on my main campaign, cancelling another and dropping out of my local adventurer's league. Now I try to prevent this by remaining aware of what my players are feeling, and if I get worried, I touch base with them. Sometimes, it's something they are dealing with in real life and it could help if they could take a break from the game. Or sometimes, they don't even realize they are doing it. A prime example was that one of my players was always starting to complain about the combat encounters excessively (especially when they couldn't steamroll them), but then did not pay attention during any of the other scenes. I was starting to get worried that I had failed as a DM and it was beginning to drag me down. I was talking to all my players about this, and the others did not share most of these sentiments. They did give me some feedback, but in general they were happy. So I was very confused, until the day that I ran a little 1 on 1 session for that player to hash out some background for their character, and during a difficult combat, he hit me with the "Okay, now you are just bullshitting me." That made something snap within me, and I put the session on an immediate hold and confronted him about it. It turned out the player had some personal turmoil and was taking out those frustrations on me. And he realized it after that. He apologized, I suggested a small 30 minute break, before continuing the 1on1. And after we came back, his attitude had completely changed, and he has been enjoying the sessions a lot more now. I was worried I was too harsh, but he has told me that that confrontation was something he needed to realize that he was starting to ruin the game for himself, for me and for others. TLDR: Sometimes a single player in a group can be enough to make you doubt your abilities as a DM and lead to burnout. And when this happens, the only solution is to talk with this player and try to figure out with them what is wrong. Communicating with your players is so important. Everyone is there to have fun after all.
I like seeing many people sharing their experiences with GM burnout, makes you feel less alone when you know that other people can fall into this but that can also get out from the pit that is the burnout. I´m finally getting out from that, with one of my players now making his own game for the rest of our group and me taking it more easy when making stuff.
I switched to running my first 5e game 1.5 years ago because I was burnt out. I had been running a Shadowrun game but have run tons is SR in the last 10 years and I was having a really hard time coming up with fun missions for the characters. I was tapped for SR stuff but was running on an imagination high from watching all of C2 from critical roll. And so, I convinced my players to switch. It’s been a great change.
Yeah... I had this hit me VERY fast. Like, between the first and second session of the current campaign I'm DMing. We had a long time gap between sessions and there was some shuffling with players (mostly friends and family) to get a group together to continue the story. It's a homebrew setting, but the returning players liked it a lot and wanted to continue. After some talks, I started getting things ready and developed/flushed out this new world greatly to make it feel more unique and lived in. Then we were making the PC's. Only one was willing to come back as the same character after the other returning decided to make someone new all together. There was a lot more to this, but I now feel like everything that I busted my ass on to get this together has been disregarded because the group is constantly changing their minds before we even start this second session. So much of the story for where we picked up no longer applies. I feel like I wasted so much time and effort, and now I'm being expected to change everything before they even step back in. I feel defeated and I'm tempted to quit before I dig this hole any deeper...
I’ve been playing on and off in one shots while DMing my groups main. Campaign for a couple of years, but I recently joined a new campaign by one of the players and a couple of others and it has been incredibly fun and refreshing to be a player again. I kind of forgot how nice it was.
Maybe make the encounters tougher and more difficult, have your players think in a way they have not done before. Maybe use pre school level puzzles, and for villains use lair actions or something like that. Hope it helps.
I prefer being a DM to a player tbh and because D&D is my distraction from personal stuff as you touched on in the video, DM burnout is a concern of mine so the segment at the end of the video where you talked about how to prevent DM burnout in the first place was incredibly helpful. One or two of the things I do already, like having something on in the background or taking in creative stuff between working on sessions. It's actually to a point now where I accidentally put something in the game that's very similar to something in pop culture because it was on in the background or came up during one of those little breaks where you're just absorbing rather than grinding, which my players and I get a good laugh out of it. One bit of advice I'd give is to pick your players carefully. My current campaign, which has been ongoing for over a year is probably the most fun I've had running DnD and I started running my own games back in 2017. I think that's purely on my players as, having had negative experiences that did cause burnout I only run for friends or friends of friends now. A lot of people aren't going to respect your time as a DM, or will overstep clearly set boundaries. That's gonna burn you out incredibly fast. It shouldn't feel like a job (unless of course being a DM is your job). It should be fun.
Love your content. You might consider not using a red border on your thumbnail, particularly at the bottom. While scrolling through my feed, the red border gives the impression that I have previously viewed part or all of the video which makes it more likely I will skip it by mistake.
I would add that LIFE also chews through Dungeon Masters. I, personally, have been pretty deeply depressed for several months due to a bad back problem and lack of ability to work. I am a man of faith so I cling to that, but sometimes I just get tired of being gnawed on! I run one game for a couple friends and play in a game with my family, and both have been on hold for MONTHS. Ugh. Thanks for sharing, Luke.
I would also like to add that giving D&D/Pathfinder specifically a rest can be a good idea. There are a few reasons for that. I'll focus on the least obvious: A different system may not have the thing you like most at DMing as part of the job. Let's say you like to world build. Play fellowship: the players have almost absolute control over how the people their character represents are. Because you put more effort into the game than is enjoyable to you, things that aren't world building seem like chores - and that can be a downward spiral. With the expectation taken from you to do the world building, you can rediscover how other aspects of DMing are enjoyable. Also, all the cool world building ideas you have can be included when you make your return to your main game.
A good friend of my who likes GMing has given himself a rule to make it so he doesn't burn himself out or develop resentment: never spend more time on a session than it will actually be. Planning a four hour session? Four hours of prep MAX. The exception he gives himself is if some bit of research or development is really interesting and he actually, actively enjoys digging into it. He is fascinated by the deep sea so doing research on really weird fish for monster ideas was not work but fun. Designing a pre-industrial sawmill/carpentry hub run off a central water wheel that powered a variety of "power tools" via a complex series of belts and gears was fun to him as a mechanical design challenge or puzzle. However, drawing up a series of smugglers routes through the sewers? That's not engagingly fun for him so when he hit the four hour limit he stopped and called it "good enough."
I see people in the comments saying they felt unappreciated, here's something i started doing in my current game, when i conclude a session, i say thanks for playing, and they started responding "thanks for running" i think it helps everyone feel valued. I dont know why this isn't mentioned in all the d&d / dm advice I've seen
Great advice good sir. Dm burnout is a real issue. I haven't run a game in almost a year as a result of burning out bad from trying to do too much at one time. It never works well when I say yes to everything.
I became a GM because I just wanted to play more DnD without having to burden my first GM with prepping a whole campaign for me to play in, that felt selfish. Building a world and watching people interact with it is fun, but my true love for DnD was always as a player, taking long developed characters and getting into their shoes in a given scenario. As a GM, I can have an unlimited amount of characters to play as, but they're never as important as the PCs. So I can't really play the characters I want to, but have to create a whole ecosystem of NPCs for my players to interact with. It's like I've built the perfect world I always wanted to play in, but I cannot, as I am the GM. It was a lot to take on just to keep playing DnD, but I'm hoping it's worth it, because the irony is that I've had to shelve the characters I so desperately want to play as, so I can facilitate others playing in my world instead, and that honestly kinda hurts. Long story short, I just wanted to play as a character I've been building for many years, but for fear of playing less DnD, found myself in a situation where I still don't get to do that, but am now running a game instead, thinking that would sate my DnD addiction. Not as much as I thought...
I am so lucky we have a rotation system and four GMs (including myself) in the group. We rotate GMs about every six to 12 months. This gives everyone time to get into the campaign and have fun. The GMs get to create 'cliff-hangers' for final sessions, so we have an exciting place to restart.
I mostly brainstorm scenarios during my day job & other random moments throughout my day. The actual preparation of a session only takes me about 45 minutes. 30 minutes of that is pre-rolling encounters & initiatives of the NPCs/monsters.
Thanks for this video. I didn’t know I needed it but I think I’ve got some of the symptoms of burn out. We’re about to finish one campaign and then start another and the idea of all the prep, on top of a busy month at work, has me feeling a little stressed. I’m going to suggest to the group that we move to fortnightly games until the end of the summer to help with the work load. Then we’ll get to start the new game with the new edition & I think that will go down well. 😀
I had a campaign that lasted a grand total of two sessions before I burned myself out...this was because in hindsight I was more invested in the planning stage that actually playing the sessions felt more of a hassle, not to mention I was going for a "fly-by-seat-of-pants" approach which resulted in me writing myself into a corner that I was never going to get out of. Basically I had players chase down a cult but forgot that they were still level 1 and had no idea what to do with the actual cult lair. In the end, I've decided to give myself a break and come up with a "reboot" for my setting. I'm focusing on planning out a small adventure first and letting the players enjoy that one before I consider any kind of plans for future "campaign" stuff. In fact, I might end up going for a rotational DM approach and have players take over DM duties for a few sessions or for a particular adventure (I would of course give them adventure ideas/notes).
I am a backup dungeon master for both of my groups (for my main group i asked to be the dm after we finnished the campign my dm run before me and i stoped when i had something in my life that got me too bussy for the time period so my forever dm started running again with me as a player) (and i met my other group when i wanted to dm for somebody again and my brother's friends came to our home and i told them i wanted to run icepire peak and one of them told me she's been a forever dm and wants to be a player again so i dmed the whole adventure and then she came back to dming to all of us) so yeah i like being a dungeon master and a player but im not really the forever dm
I've been GMing games weekly for a little over 35 years now and all of this hits. But my players are my best friends and so I push through. We might change a campaign, have conversations about what is going wrong with a given game, switch genres, and so on.
I’m with you Luke, I like making the adventures and designing combats. I don’t like world building or making NPCs or maps lol. I’m kind of a perfectionist, but to avoid burnout, I’ve had to learn to be ok with running the quality of game that I am willing to put in the effort for. I had to scale back on my prep and be willing to accept that some things I will have to improv more and it won’t be as good as if I had some specific ideas prepared. As long as my players are having fun, then the game is fine even if it could be better. I’m putting in a lot more effort than them for free for the same amount of fun so it’s gonna be what it’s gonna be.
My friends and I have a good system. We have 3 concurrent campaigns with 3 different DMs. And because 3 of the 6 of us are DMs, we’re good supporting characters when we’re players in getting the other 3 to interact or get involved. And everyone has a chill personality haha. We actually have the opposite problem where no one wants to be the main character/face of the group especially the three of us who are DMs haha. No main character syndrome here. But when someone does step up organically and thematically, it is so satisfying.
One big reason GM burnout happens... Is 5e itself. 5e is a brutal system for GMs and is literally one of the hardest TTRPG systems for a GM to run. The 'Ivory Tower design' puts GMs at Odds with their players because the players want to use their cool overpowered abilities, while the GM is forced to counter or build around them or else those overpowered abilities will make all of their encounters fall flat. It also doesn't help 5e does not support their GMs in the least. There are tons and tons of 'secret rules' that the book doesn't tell you and that GMs.
I tend to prepare in small bursts over the course of the week as my prep. Like, I also love playing an mmorpg and when I'm sitting in town in a dungeon que as a dps, I'll tab out and start working on my campaign as I'm waiting for the que to pop. I'll also think of things at work while I'm doing mindless activities and then if I think of something I like, I'll work on it when I get home.
I've been running for almost 9 years now. I'm on my... 3rd? 4th group? Depends on how many rollover players constitutes a new group to you. Either way, sometimes a group just doesn't fit. My first few groups were casuals, the "beer and pretzels" type of group. They were all friends, and brought me in as GM so that they could hang out. I didn't know that when I started with them. I, however, run a serious game. I've found that Adult ADHD players are my favorites. Yeah, getting them to the table and focused is literally herding cats (often with actual cats being a distraction), but once they're in the game? Five hours of focus. One player is constantly blowing up our telegram chat with extra thoughts. It's awesome. Keeps me motivated. Five regular players, and I'm the only neurotypical one.
I created a world across 3 campaigns with the first being a future, the second the Early history, and the latest being right in the middle where i basically sandbox the entire thing with little prep besides connecting things that have happened. When players connect things i make it cannon and it's rewarding for everyone involved.
The best thing about my burnout was it forced me to actually examine & define what I found enjoyable about running games. Once I figured that out and started doing it... burnout gone! I was excited to play again.
My players were lovely, even when i reached the highest level of burnout. There wasn't anything specific aside from the frequency that overtime ran me into the ground. I managed to keep the game going, one a week. For about 4 years with a few breaks of several months, not for burnout but for moving, irl medical issues, etc. However, I picked it back up again, no one else was experienced enough to DM the game as it was a world and story of my own creation. Finally, I did take a break for burnout, but when I tried to bring it back, all of my players were excited. And I just couldn't get into it anymore. It sucks, because the story was wonderful, they changed the world i made forever with their antics and additions, and yet the story will most likely remain unfinished. It feels like years of work, wasted. However, the memories i have of the fun we all had, and the idiotic fun they caused, will be some of my favorite as a DM ever. Maybe one day we'll get it going again, or i'll have the energy and drive to start with a new group, though I doubt the last one as the original party made such a huge impact on my world that I literally made and changed lore for them. Here's hoping it does get continued in some way or another.
I was seriously burned out with 5e. Switched to PF2e and my burnout was gone. It's so nice not having to do so much prep in order to make balanced encounters
One possible solution is to play a system that's less crunchy than D&D. There's a lot of rules which can bog sessions or creativity down. I remember one time me and my friends were at an RPG convention and we played a "session with nothing but a couple of dice, a few scraps of paper and massive sleep deprivation. Might not be good for a long time campaign but it's nice to let loose and wing it sometimes. There are systems that have their rules on a couple of pages, too.
my group was giving me burnout and it took a lil bit to figure out why. it was cause they got bored when they got level 12+ and it got too much work to give them challenges for them. now we are going to level 6-10 before we start over. something else that helps me is we are not changing where we are based out of. i now have over 5- pcs/npcs to help flesh out the world. the players also use their old characters to send the new characters on missions.
14:08 My background music for prep (and other work needing some concentration) is, and has been for 30+ years, Andreas Vollenweider's "Trilogy" album (Behind the Gardens, Caverna Magica, White Winds). Always gets me focused in a noisy open plan office when I can just stick my headphones on.
I was in a huge Westmarches style game last year. We started off with 40+ players and 8 GMs. Within a couple months two of us had run ~60% of the games and all the GM's wanted to do was argue about stupid stuff in the GM only discord channel. Most of the players had moved on due to a lack of available games. Thats when I noped out.
One way our GM avoided burnout was looking for a better system. We used to run a very crunchy system (Exalted) and the amount of work put in to the fun you got out (aka signal to noise ratio) wasn't good. Eventually we found games that had a balance that was much more up our alley, like Fellowship.
Our group has recently started a rotation for who DMs after our DM burnt out. I suggested it since I thought it would help him with burn out by giving him more time between sessions
As a forever GM I agree with what you've said here. Though, I've recently become aware of another problem for us Forever GMs; I've been running for 32 years, and still love it, but I've lost touch with 1 half of the table... the player side. In the last 32 years I have *played* in 1 campaign that stetched for 4 months with weekly games. I don't know when I lost touch with tabletop as a player, but I've recently come to that realization. We forever GMs, even those of us who love the job, need to play at least 1 campaign every couple of years.
I'm a session short of finishing my first campaign. I'm still enthusiastic and having fun, but starting to note the first signs of breakdown. Luckily, we had a break due to university exams and after this campaign, two players asked to dm a mini campaign
When I had DM burn out, I had just run through a lot of slog combat sessions. Then I wanted to balance it with a big role-play session, but then I couldn't find one after pouring through too many 3rd-party adventures. I was just frustrated on top of frustrated. We eventually cured it when they let me run a long string of one-shots, each using a new (not dnd) system. I learned a lot about games and my favored playstyle as a DM. We are not doing a mini-campaign with dnd5e set in Dark Sun while we wait for the new edition to come out
I remember when I started to develop my first real burnout. Granted it was partially because of our group's That Guy cheating constantly, but also the fact that anytime a game got proposed, I was the only one actually able to run it. I've had to run the games I wanted to play so many times that I'm always hesitant when I hear about a new group wanting to experiment with new games
Many of these things were me 1.5-2 years ago. 5e's lack of New DM support made planning a game so much of a chore I wasn't even enjoying the fruits of my labor anymore. For me personally, that's how it started.
I’ve been playing/running D&D non stop since 1979. Played every edition (some more than others) and NEVER have I burned out. Until 5e. After 8 years I couldn’t do it anymore. The load on the DM is too much and I refused to run 5e. We took a break, tried BECMI, OSE, Ad&D and pf1e. Landed with pf2e.
For me, I've learnt my players' expectations and capabilities. They're not big on social encounters, so I tend to keep them brief, and only steer them into necessary ones. They also aren't particularly invested in making their characters three-dimensional - at best they're a bunch of tropes. What this means is that I essentially run a railroaded campaign for them with an interesting story. I do most of the narrative and the story-telling (which I don't mind, even if it can be a bit tiring sometimes), throw some interesting combat encounters at them, and try to keep them engaged with fun magic items, a recurring villain and a strong overarching theme. It's not a great game, but it is good, and it does give the players what they want. But really, I miss being a player. I want to be a player in a serious game, with other players who want the same thing...
I don’t have burnout anymore but a couple years ago I was feeling it hard, I almost stopped dming all together. One of my players was a huge problem player and was ruining the game for the lot of us. I avoid conflict so I didn’t feel comfortable confronting him, but once he was confronted and gone, it was like a full 180 of the game attitude. I say all this to say that if it’s a problem player getting to you, get rid of them, even if it makes you uncomfortable.
Thanks, Luke. I haven't realized, that I was in that state until I saw you video. I'll try some of you tips^ stepping out to be a player for a while seems to be a good one :)
"How do you prevent GM burnout?" Thats... why I'm here. Honestly though, playing a different system really helped. We do a small campaign in the setting Cairn that is really fun. I always feel stress and anxiety every time I prep the game or before people come over. It sucks. I love GMing, and playing with them, but I just forget things I prepare or don't prepare enough when they ask to go somewhere. I feel like I need to be an encyclopedia, even when I ask them their plans ahead of time. I'm always forgetting something. It hold back tears most sessions as I struggle through. but the idea of quitting terrifies me.
We have three GMs. I run shadowrun, one runs PF1e, another runs DnD5e. After each adventure, we cycle through. This gives each of the GMs the opportunity to take a break from GMing and prepare the next adventure's basic idea more thoroughly.
"Favorite fantasy books, over the shoulder on my right." Accounting for Dummies. I imagine this purchase helped address the question "Can one make a living as an independent RPG content creator? Hope the answer is yes.
What kills me as a DM is crunching the numbers during combat and keeping track of NPCs. Story, setting, and character development are my bread and butter
So, for those who don't want their creativity with premade advebtures - here is what I do. I first roll a d20. If it' 10 or lower - I go from the start. If it's 11+ straight to the end of the adventure. And then based on the medium / sections - I roll d20 (directional die) + dX (go to die) to read it through. Sometimes I end up with the end boss fight - as a starting point for the adventure. Sometimes meeting NPC's - can end up being the end of the adventure. Then tweak what I received to more sense. This way I memorize the entire adventure, make it fun for myself, make it my own and challenge my brain to wonder. Works great for me at least 😂
I had dm burn out for a few month and I was holding on to it for so long. I recently stopped and let one of my players started to run Band of Blades while I started to write in my spare time and put my creativity into something I enjoy.
I love my group, but I am getting burned out with D&D after playing it for 6 years. We are about to do our second session of Vecna and I said straight up this is the final D&D campaign. They all were very understanding and we all settled on running Call of Cthulhu next
I went a bridge too far and used Skaven in my D&D campaign. Now, however much I love Warhammer...talking rat people was just too much and my players completely checked out on me. I was burned out so I took a break.
For me anything close to the choas gods level of uselessly bitching has me bored and checked out. Skaven cool. Choas lord saying how he is going to win in 4 alt futures removed thay were erased. Boring.
Into the Fey thedmlair.com/collections/into-the-fey
Escape from the Fey thedmlair.com/collections/escape-from-the-fey
Lairs & Legends thedmlair.com/collections/lairs-legends
Lair Magazine thedmlair.com/collections/lair-magazine
Thieves Abound ruclips.net/p/PLzmFNHcgMkXH5dUFBg4dWFFK1p1eDn5xB
There are 5 of us. I was the only DM. We play twice a week. One of the players wanted to DM too. So I DM my game and the other player DM's his game and we play the others game every other week. That has helped a lot with burnout, as I can now be a player too.
@@phillipfranco55 I also do this with my group now I’ve got a fledgling dm gearing up to run sands of doom and another player wants help designing a homebrew system for Pokémon in dnd good times!
@@phillipfranco55 thats such a good system! Everybody shrank in fear any time I brought up passing the mantle - even though Ingave them all my notebooks and my number for advice. Good for you though!
I just dissolved my group due to burnout because i wasn't feeling appreciated by my players, even after I've told them twice prior about my feelings.
I know that feeling, i want to play DnD with my friend but.. dude is a rock golem.
I would be like "describe what you do" and he like "I stab".. bruh
@@Subject_KeterBro why is “I stab” such a relatable response thoooo😫. I’ve also gotten a lot of “I don’t know”, like brotha you’re playing the character.
@@spellelfIt wasnt DnD but i literally meet a guy who was like "I use all my power to.. make the main character a tax man." And i literally had to be like "bro.. you can be whatever you want.. b r o"
Literally had to be ready to blast him incase he went back to his Taxsona. 😂
This same thing happened to me. I didn't dissolve the group, I took the hint and left the group but it did dissolve soon after on it's own. I was running a long campaign of McGuffin searches to bring them all together to defeat the fiend of darkness and shadows. There was one item per player they had to find and each item had a curse the players had to remove. My group seemed to be tired of the adventure as it didn't seem they were paying attention, not even to the pre-game synopsis' of the full game or events of the last session and they would prove this with questions during the game about something that was fully covered in the synopsis. I cut the game short by two McGuffins and fast-tracked the red herring end boss and then on to the actual end boss. I then left that group feeling unappreciated and disrespected.
After a couple years I ran into one of the players at a fluke Adventures' League game I happen to decide to try out. He told me he loved that campaign and it was the best he had ever experienced in a TTRPG. I just thanked him but was thinking "why didn't you show that when I was running the campaign?". It wasn't burnout for me, it was the disrespect I felt from the players that caused me to stop.
Why do you sound like Chills before his balls dropped
Fantastic video! I was desperate to play D&D, so took on the DM role as no one else would. My first group of friends seemed excited at first but pretty much immediately were terrible players.
They'd say they want to play, and then keep checking their phones, getting distracted discussing what food to order, not paying attention to any information I was giving them... one was straight up watching a football match
I stopped it for them, and collected a group of my other friends, who were much more enthusiastic and have been a blast to play with. Everytime we finish a session, their grateful feedback and excitement fuels me to create more, so my players are definitely what keeps my burnout at bay.
My god. I just went through the exact same thing, I also had a player watching football! When we got outside football season he was just playing mobile games xD
This is one of the reasons I like to play with rotating DMs. Everyone can try their ideas for an adventure or two, but then go back to being a player.
@thajocoth 2 of my regular players are also DMs, we've got enough games going that I'm itching to DM again
I am still annoyed that COVID ruined our game where I finally got to play a session rather than GM.
I tried to set this up with a group once. I said i would go first since i had the most experience. Then when i was ready to rotate nobody else stepped up and we just stopped gaming until the next time i ran again...
Honestly probably the best way to do it if you can
Wrapped a 3 year campaign and was fried, nobody willing to take the GM role and that was 7 months ago. Found a game where I could be a player and relearning what I like about the game. Now getting ready to GM again but changing from 5e to pf2e for a fresher feel
Switching from 5e to PF2e was the best (TableTop related) decision I’ve ever made. Hope you like PF2e, friend!
He is just giving professional psychology advice at this point. what a legend.
I swear it was going to be a segue into a better help ad lol
I love my players so much. Without their engagement and visible joy, I couldn't lead a 2-year campaign and follow up with another 1.5 year-long campaign.
Respect your DM's craft, dear players. Positive feedback, minimizing player to player quarrels, and being open in discussion of your expectations of for your character throughout the campaign are keys for keeping your DMs burnout at bay.
PS Also, let your DM be a player in one-shots. Works like a charm
Great timing on this one Luke, thanks! I burned out a bit after running 5 campaigns at the same time. I stopped all but 1 and started a new one as a player. It helped a ton. Your advice is great, thanks!
Solid advice all around. I am the "substitute DM" for our campaign -- whenever our main guy gets busy at work, or otherwise needs a break, I fill in with a short campaign. I admittedly am not nearly as good a DM as he is. But the players put up with me because it's better than no game at all, and they know that "Real Dad" will be back soon enough.
I stopped my game close to a year ago now. Pretty much the same group for 6 years and on a 3rd campaign. The amount of prep I was doing was getting out of hand. I was using a VTT, was drawing out my own maps based on what was going on in the game, and prepping the VTT with the needed tokens and inputting the needed needed data. Started to very much feel like a job. Talked to the group about moving to a theater of the mind way of playing. Got to much of the "I need visual reference" response. I gave it a while. Longer breaks, minimal prep, etc. One day I just called the game. I explained what I was going through and the group was understanding. Im now getting ready to run a game using Shadowdark. Something far more rules light and also getting away from the VTT. Going old school basically.
@@SomoneTookMyName dnd beyonds maps are pretty great for me lately. I was building maps online for awhile and it was hours and hours of work. Now im running rime of the frostmaiden and all the maps are already there and the tokens work great
Have a few players in my group who are a year of weekly play in are still struggling and the vtt is great but prep sucks
(Their "main" DM was also new and not running the best type of game for new players)
Going to start running shadowdark as wel
VTT increases burnout exponentially imo
@joekline5554 it depends on how much set up you do but can definitely add up real fast.
Some people do theater of the kind with vtt just as a log🤷♂️ honestly I've thought about doing it that way on more than one occasion
@@nickzurita32 One of the issues I was running into was with maps and it was burnout. So I would create most of the maps for the game. Having a background in art I would come up with some pretty detailed maps for vtt use. Spending several hours on just one map. Though not opposed to using others maps found on the net. In many cases they would not fit the situation. In any case. Everything started to wear on me really fast.
This video sounds a little bit of "how to revive the flame in your marriage" advices. Great advices.
It's okay no to be okay and take a rest some time!
Thx for the video!
Just saw the segment on the oneshots you did.
I am very happy to see other people also enjoying Shadowrun. Here on YT it often feels like there is only D&D.
Great suggestions!
I run two-year campaigns and I notice that about 12-14 months in, my creativity goes on the decline. It's been like that my whole life. Prior to GMing, I would simply shelf the current project and wait for inspiration for one of my others, sort of juggling them throughout the years. What I find myself doing now is the necissarry 4-6hrs/week to run the game, and channel the rest of my free-time to the next campaign. We have 25 sessions left of my dystopian Futuristic setting, but I'm already waist deep in prep for the upcoming superhero setting. So far, it's working. The creativity is flowing. :)
I must be really lucky
I ve been dm since the age of 18 I am now 59 and still running d&d games every weekend
For the same group of people for all those years
And I ve never had dm burnout ever
I am still passionate about it
@@paulbooth3024 out of curiosity, have you ever played DnD 5th Edition for a 'long' amount of time?
@@jakegray1723 since it first came out
Ditto on and off since 1983, moved on from D&D to OSE now looking at C&C
@@jakegray1723 I can only speak for me but I run AD&D since the late 80s :D
10:40 yes bacon is delicious. On this point I would like to mention that in days of yore during the early days of DnD we played shorter campaigns. They often just dealt with a relatively simple problem not a world shattering BBEG type scenario. These mini-campaigns often had an overarching theme but it wasn’t a months long commitment. It also lead to allowing for different DMs running campaigns with the same PCs. Players could also swap in new or old PCs. Tired of being the cleric? Just run your thief. Want to try a monk? Go for it since it isn’t a months long thing. Love the shared world y’all created ? Awesome stay in it with new content. It keeps the spark alive.
I am running a lengthy campaign. It’s been going for 4 years… we have taken 3 seasonal breaks, for me, the gm, to breath. One summer break, one winter break, one fall break. We always have a restart date it works for us. And I am a happy gm!
For me, it was the constant battle with the 5e system that drained me. It just didn't work the way I wanted it to, no matter how much effort I put into it. The frustration was the worst thing that ate up the fun.
Tried different systems, found PF2 thanks in part to the videos here. Now I have the feel of dnd, but a working ruleset that supports me as a DM and doesn't kick me in the balls.
My first and only experience DMing 5e was the Lost Mine of Phandelver starter set, which I finally finished last week. In addition to the adventure as-written falling far short of its potential, it just kinda seems that 5e doesn't like the DM very much.
I am curious what you found Pathfinder does different that you enjoy it more as the DM? Don't get me wrong, i have my share of issues with 5E, from its watering down of many core class features, basically making exploration useless with a few accessible spells, CR is broken and really doesn't work most of the time without tweaking to the game, mechanics can be clunky (I am incapacitated but can still take a Bonus Action and Move?) But to be blunt, most of the issues I have are that it's less fun to play than 3.5 as a player, as a DM I don't notice as much.
@@seangill2522 in particular the functioning CR system. I can build encounters that work the way I envisioned them.
I have working price lists and min. level information of magic items.
And I love that everything has a cost, it's not a no brainer to just put on a shield to get 2AC, you have to actively use it to get the AC. Little things like that are everywhere that are more limiting but make for a better game overall.
And I know exactly when a player is done with his turn. 3 actions -> done. How often I have to ask at 5e whether a player has finished his turn.
What I don't like is that there are too many specific rules. That you can be practiced for individual weapons, for example
That's why I hope DC20 will be good and find a middle ground between PF2 and 5e.
I've been GMing for 30+ years, and I rarely have come across any published adventure that actually makes it easier to run a game. There is so much more to adjust to fit the group, memorize complex plots, and it usually stifles creativity. I've been running published adventures almost exclusively since 5e came out. I think if I stop, that might actually help my burnout.
I have always been the broke GM. Everything I run is something I've come up with, or me flying by the seat of my pants as the players make their own fun.
I did try to run a module for 5e, the Tiamat one, and I didn't have as much fun there. Mainly, that was balanced for a 5-player party, I had 3..also, 2 out of the 3 were far more interested in joining the cult than fighting them, which it had no path for to begin with.
I've always felt the best place for a module is Conventions and Gaming shops, where you are running with pre-gen characters and players you've never, or rarely, met - really useful there.
I have a group that's been together for 7-ish years at this point. These are some things that help us.
FIRST, we are two couples. Occasionally others will get roated in, but that is usually temporary. This simplifies scheduling.
SECOND, we have a very regular schedule, and always double check at the end of each game night when we're next getting together.
THIRD, while we have an 'anchor game' (Dresden Files), we run it in 'seasons'. When one major arc is over, the Dresden GM takes a break to plan the next one, and someone else steps in. That's often me, but sometimes we will play board games. Right now, we are playing through Stuffed Fables.
I don't guarantee these will work for everybody, but they work really well for US.
Hoo boy that burnout order bit at the beginning hit the nail on the head. The biggest thing for me is players involving themselves. My group unfortunately are very passive and require a lot of poking and proding to get things moving. I've switched things up, tried to get people invested, looked here and there on the internet to inspire and excite, and kept trying to see where it was that I was going wrong since its like pulling teeth to get people to do their own thing sometimes. After a while of thinking I was just a shit DM, I just realized it was my players(not that I'm perfect or anything lol). The few times I got to be a player, I was very active and never realized with my friends how much they wait for someone else to take charge and do things. As a DM, it's the worst feeling ever because everyone is afraid to take charge. It feels like everything I do is boring or uninteresting even if I logically know that's not the reason. I ask my players constantly if there is something I need to change, if they want something specific to start happening, things they would be interested in, etc. They say they are fine and having fun, but that doesn't help me in the slightest.
Unfortunately, sometimes people are just passive. My experience has taught me that every party needs one go getter or its gonna be a miserable experience. The few times an old friend of mine who was a forever DM themselves joined in, they were the absolute best sessions I ever had. They poked all the buttons, proded for all the secrets, and pulled on every plot thread. It was fast, it was fun, and some of the best moments in my campaign were due to their willingness to participate. God that was the good stuff. Night and day to what I've got going now. That and one of my players is an "Um Acktually" rules lawyer that makes me want to huff powdered glass. That also doesn't help the burnout either lol.
I'm still DMing for them, sunk cost fallacies and all that, and sessions are hit or miss, but I'm getting close to a big hiatus so I can try and recenter the campaign, and get us to the end so I can hang my DM hat up for a very long time. But breaks are uber necessary. I've taken a couple when burnout got unbearable.
Passive players are brutal.
Passive players are the worst. A lot of folks just standing around staring at each other, it's challenging as the one or two non passives will dominate the game which further pushes the passives into passivity.
Most of my time playing TTRPGs is as GM, and those times where you don't have an instigator make it so hard to keep the momentum going, so the occasions I get to just be a regular player I often end up being a shit stirrer. It's so much fun and the GMs usually appreciate it. Be the change you want to see and all that :)
D&D groups arent much different from school projects
The thing I love is how most of this advice can also be applied to many other forms of creative work. So even if you aren't a DM, or even a player of DND, this is still a very helpful video regardless
Been there before!! I took about a 2-3 month hiatus and thought about why. I figured out that I was too wrapped up in making sure everything was perfect. I realized that all my players were having fun and that was the most important thing to me. I have fun when I can tell they are having fun, so it helped me realize it didn't have to be a perfect game. I've been DMing about 6 years straight (minus that short period).
Everyone I know: DM burnout is real and you need to be careful
Me: I've been doing this for 5 years every week only missing for holidays or sickness. I have never felt so alive!!!!
If anyone needs tips, I'll share what's worked for my group.
My group plays every Sunday, and was originally helmed by just 1 DM every time, Me. After I burned out hard, almost falling apart, ee decided to try to keep together for another to step up.
What ultimately has worked for us and been able to help prevent that DM burnout, is 2-week rotations. DM A will run for 2 weeks, then DM B runs for 2 weeks. We also will cycle through who is the DM, even some of our less confident players have DM'd a few sessions. We also leave room open for One-Shots when the need arises, say a DM is busy or a player can't make it during the middle of their story arc in the game,and we don't want them to miss the action.
Keeping things fresh and cycling through is ultimately the trick. It has actually allowed me the opportunity to get excited once more about stepping back behind the GM screen. We've all grown so close over the years and I'm truly grateful to have them as my friends.
I frequently feel stressed out due to lack of prep, I feel unappreciated, or I don't want to be the person who is always engaged. DMs are either talking or needing to pay attention, and it can be overwhelming.
One of our best solutions to DM burnout is rotating between three DMs and running publish adventures. We have a weekly scheduled game time, and if too many can't make it, we just cancel and play the next week. Our old games always fizzled out around level 7-10 and we never went back to them. Published adventures provide content and an end goal. Both help prevent DM burnout. We usually have two games running concurrently. When one DM needs a break, we switch.
The best way to make your DM feel good about their game is to show them respect personally, and respect their game. Show up on time and be ready to go. Don't argue over little things. Pay attention and take notes. Don't complain. Help keep the focus on the game. Work with the other players to move the game forward. Give the DM feedback when they ask for it.
This is gold "The best way to make your DM feel good about their game is to show them respect personally, and respect their game. Show up on time and be ready to go. Don't argue over little things. Pay attention and take notes. Don't complain. Help keep the focus on the game. Work with the other players to move the game forward. Give the DM feedback when they ask for it."
Also say thank you when the GM is being flexible toward you as the player
Good advice. My online group played through Curse of Strahd, every other week (it took like a year and half). Then the DM was in the middle of having a baby and moving around the same time, so I offered to DM a short campaign (Sunless Citadel) so he could just be a player for a while and cut way down on his prep time. Now we’re playing Shadow of the Dragon Queen with the original DM again, and we’re getting near the end, so we’re talking about how to move forward, and we might have another one of our players take over the DM role for the next campaign to give him another break. Great group of players (fairly unusual, I think, for a group that met on Roll20 and has no personal friendships with each other outside the game). We’re all willing to help out in whatever way we can to stick together and give the DM a chance to recuperate from DMing.
I've suffered GM Burnout, and very bad burnout. After nearly 4 years of weekly games, I was done. I couldn't do it, I'd been hating the game for a while, and I just ended it. Right as they were gonna get into "Act 3".
And look, given the situation, it was the best decision I ever made in game-terms. I let it get out of hand, but I ended it.
And now, after a 6 month hiatus, after preparing for a whole new campaign I've completely revitalized my approach to GMing. It's like I'm running the game for the very first time again.
This, I think, is the best and most important video for aspiring GMs to watch. Excellent stuff.
I had to stop my other campaign with my friends because of burnout. It seemed like no one cared if we played or not and never prioritized the game over other things, resulting in constant rescheduling. Eventually I just stopped asking when they would like to play, because I was frustrated preparing for the game that never happened. I feel a lot better now, and I still have another game going with another group which is going a lot better
My thoughts exactly. I loved DMing back in the day (1980s) when were were kids and had endless summers to play. Returned to the game in the 2000s with 3e and it was fine for RPGA events (Comic shop drop-ins always had enough players). However, home campaigns or online games as an adult was different. Sure, life... but many times it wasn't just someone's wedding or new job, but showing up unprepared, not caring, wasting time, etc.
It was so useful when a friend of mine introduced me to a ttrpg server she was in, I joined as a player for an indev ttrpg system but then I just kinda hanged around, ran a couple of my own campaigns in dnd, a few pathfinder games but I really hit my stride with PbtA systems, primarily monster of the week and city of mist. It's absolutely fabulous how there's a core of people who are dedicated and down to play various systems, how every one of us is a resource for the others and I'll never forget how great hanging out in the general VC was before the group split off into their individual campaigns.
It's a nice little community, and I'd be lying if i said that even having a reputation on the server (I'm very much a performer type of creator, I fly by the seat of my pants and throw insane and engaging shit at my players) to the point where some people know whether they'll like a game I run or not just off of me being the DM doesn't help. In the end, my goal is to entertain. And hearing from others that my players spoke well of me is probably the best feeling possible.
fun fact. Some systems dont put you through the ringer just for being GM
This was a very honest and helpful relation to what I've been going through. Thank you
Totally agree. Was getting there myself. I only started playing 10 months ago and took over DM after about 2 months. We switched DMs now for a few months and I will take over again.
I've noticed that I'm a forever DM by choice. Not only am I the most experienced DM in my group, I also enjoy DMing more than I enjoy playing (much to the relief of my players who are the opposite). But I have noticed that burnout can happen in one specific situation for me: If I feel my players are no longer having fun or are no longer putting in the commitment on their end for the game. If players spend too much time distracted during the game, if they start consistently skipping on sessions, etc... It's what led me to taking a half-year hiatus on my main campaign, cancelling another and dropping out of my local adventurer's league.
Now I try to prevent this by remaining aware of what my players are feeling, and if I get worried, I touch base with them. Sometimes, it's something they are dealing with in real life and it could help if they could take a break from the game. Or sometimes, they don't even realize they are doing it.
A prime example was that one of my players was always starting to complain about the combat encounters excessively (especially when they couldn't steamroll them), but then did not pay attention during any of the other scenes. I was starting to get worried that I had failed as a DM and it was beginning to drag me down. I was talking to all my players about this, and the others did not share most of these sentiments. They did give me some feedback, but in general they were happy. So I was very confused, until the day that I ran a little 1 on 1 session for that player to hash out some background for their character, and during a difficult combat, he hit me with the "Okay, now you are just bullshitting me." That made something snap within me, and I put the session on an immediate hold and confronted him about it.
It turned out the player had some personal turmoil and was taking out those frustrations on me. And he realized it after that. He apologized, I suggested a small 30 minute break, before continuing the 1on1. And after we came back, his attitude had completely changed, and he has been enjoying the sessions a lot more now.
I was worried I was too harsh, but he has told me that that confrontation was something he needed to realize that he was starting to ruin the game for himself, for me and for others.
TLDR: Sometimes a single player in a group can be enough to make you doubt your abilities as a DM and lead to burnout. And when this happens, the only solution is to talk with this player and try to figure out with them what is wrong. Communicating with your players is so important. Everyone is there to have fun after all.
I like seeing many people sharing their experiences with GM burnout, makes you feel less alone when you know that other people can fall into this but that can also get out from the pit that is the burnout. I´m finally getting out from that, with one of my players now making his own game for the rest of our group and me taking it more easy when making stuff.
Thank you for making this video it is something I really need in my life at this point (major life and DM burnout) and needed to hear : )
I switched to running my first 5e game 1.5 years ago because I was burnt out.
I had been running a Shadowrun game but have run tons is SR in the last 10 years and I was having a really hard time coming up with fun missions for the characters. I was tapped for SR stuff but was running on an imagination high from watching all of C2 from critical roll.
And so, I convinced my players to switch. It’s been a great change.
Yeah... I had this hit me VERY fast. Like, between the first and second session of the current campaign I'm DMing. We had a long time gap between sessions and there was some shuffling with players (mostly friends and family) to get a group together to continue the story. It's a homebrew setting, but the returning players liked it a lot and wanted to continue. After some talks, I started getting things ready and developed/flushed out this new world greatly to make it feel more unique and lived in.
Then we were making the PC's. Only one was willing to come back as the same character after the other returning decided to make someone new all together. There was a lot more to this, but I now feel like everything that I busted my ass on to get this together has been disregarded because the group is constantly changing their minds before we even start this second session. So much of the story for where we picked up no longer applies. I feel like I wasted so much time and effort, and now I'm being expected to change everything before they even step back in. I feel defeated and I'm tempted to quit before I dig this hole any deeper...
I’ve been playing on and off in one shots while DMing my groups main. Campaign for a couple of years, but I recently joined a new campaign by one of the players and a couple of others and it has been incredibly fun and refreshing to be a player again. I kind of forgot how nice it was.
My frustration is how my players walk all over my encounters. It's very tough making a challenging and tense game for more than 5 players in 5e.
Maybe make the encounters tougher and more difficult, have your players think in a way they have not done before. Maybe use pre school level puzzles, and for villains use lair actions or something like that.
Hope it helps.
I prefer being a DM to a player tbh and because D&D is my distraction from personal stuff as you touched on in the video, DM burnout is a concern of mine so the segment at the end of the video where you talked about how to prevent DM burnout in the first place was incredibly helpful.
One or two of the things I do already, like having something on in the background or taking in creative stuff between working on sessions. It's actually to a point now where I accidentally put something in the game that's very similar to something in pop culture because it was on in the background or came up during one of those little breaks where you're just absorbing rather than grinding, which my players and I get a good laugh out of it.
One bit of advice I'd give is to pick your players carefully. My current campaign, which has been ongoing for over a year is probably the most fun I've had running DnD and I started running my own games back in 2017. I think that's purely on my players as, having had negative experiences that did cause burnout I only run for friends or friends of friends now. A lot of people aren't going to respect your time as a DM, or will overstep clearly set boundaries. That's gonna burn you out incredibly fast.
It shouldn't feel like a job (unless of course being a DM is your job). It should be fun.
Love your content. You might consider not using a red border on your thumbnail, particularly at the bottom. While scrolling through my feed, the red border gives the impression that I have previously viewed part or all of the video which makes it more likely I will skip it by mistake.
I love the throw back to the older edition of Savage Worlds... I am a Savage DM and I haven't seen that book in a few years
I would add that LIFE also chews through Dungeon Masters. I, personally, have been pretty deeply depressed for several months due to a bad back problem and lack of ability to work. I am a man of faith so I cling to that, but sometimes I just get tired of being gnawed on! I run one game for a couple friends and play in a game with my family, and both have been on hold for MONTHS. Ugh. Thanks for sharing, Luke.
The only way to get me out of the creation room is to burn me out.
I would also like to add that giving D&D/Pathfinder specifically a rest can be a good idea. There are a few reasons for that. I'll focus on the least obvious:
A different system may not have the thing you like most at DMing as part of the job. Let's say you like to world build. Play fellowship: the players have almost absolute control over how the people their character represents are.
Because you put more effort into the game than is enjoyable to you, things that aren't world building seem like chores - and that can be a downward spiral. With the expectation taken from you to do the world building, you can rediscover how other aspects of DMing are enjoyable. Also, all the cool world building ideas you have can be included when you make your return to your main game.
A good friend of my who likes GMing has given himself a rule to make it so he doesn't burn himself out or develop resentment: never spend more time on a session than it will actually be. Planning a four hour session? Four hours of prep MAX.
The exception he gives himself is if some bit of research or development is really interesting and he actually, actively enjoys digging into it. He is fascinated by the deep sea so doing research on really weird fish for monster ideas was not work but fun. Designing a pre-industrial sawmill/carpentry hub run off a central water wheel that powered a variety of "power tools" via a complex series of belts and gears was fun to him as a mechanical design challenge or puzzle.
However, drawing up a series of smugglers routes through the sewers? That's not engagingly fun for him so when he hit the four hour limit he stopped and called it "good enough."
I see people in the comments saying they felt unappreciated, here's something i started doing in my current game, when i conclude a session, i say thanks for playing, and they started responding "thanks for running" i think it helps everyone feel valued. I dont know why this isn't mentioned in all the d&d / dm advice I've seen
Great advice good sir. Dm burnout is a real issue. I haven't run a game in almost a year as a result of burning out bad from trying to do too much at one time. It never works well when I say yes to everything.
I became a GM because I just wanted to play more DnD without having to burden my first GM with prepping a whole campaign for me to play in, that felt selfish. Building a world and watching people interact with it is fun, but my true love for DnD was always as a player, taking long developed characters and getting into their shoes in a given scenario. As a GM, I can have an unlimited amount of characters to play as, but they're never as important as the PCs. So I can't really play the characters I want to, but have to create a whole ecosystem of NPCs for my players to interact with. It's like I've built the perfect world I always wanted to play in, but I cannot, as I am the GM. It was a lot to take on just to keep playing DnD, but I'm hoping it's worth it, because the irony is that I've had to shelve the characters I so desperately want to play as, so I can facilitate others playing in my world instead, and that honestly kinda hurts.
Long story short, I just wanted to play as a character I've been building for many years, but for fear of playing less DnD, found myself in a situation where I still don't get to do that, but am now running a game instead, thinking that would sate my DnD addiction. Not as much as I thought...
What I do is, I would write down the characteristics of them down and eventually write a story about your characters exploring.
I am so lucky we have a rotation system and four GMs (including myself) in the group. We rotate GMs about every six to 12 months. This gives everyone time to get into the campaign and have fun. The GMs get to create 'cliff-hangers' for final sessions, so we have an exciting place to restart.
I'm watching this because if the thumbnail. Good job luring me here lol
Great points of view and facts as well!!
I mostly brainstorm scenarios during my day job & other random moments throughout my day.
The actual preparation of a session only takes me about 45 minutes.
30 minutes of that is pre-rolling encounters & initiatives of the NPCs/monsters.
Thanks for this video. I didn’t know I needed it but I think I’ve got some of the symptoms of burn out. We’re about to finish one campaign and then start another and the idea of all the prep, on top of a busy month at work, has me feeling a little stressed.
I’m going to suggest to the group that we move to fortnightly games until the end of the summer to help with the work load.
Then we’ll get to start the new game with the new edition & I think that will go down well. 😀
I had a campaign that lasted a grand total of two sessions before I burned myself out...this was because in hindsight I was more invested in the planning stage that actually playing the sessions felt more of a hassle, not to mention I was going for a "fly-by-seat-of-pants" approach which resulted in me writing myself into a corner that I was never going to get out of. Basically I had players chase down a cult but forgot that they were still level 1 and had no idea what to do with the actual cult lair.
In the end, I've decided to give myself a break and come up with a "reboot" for my setting. I'm focusing on planning out a small adventure first and letting the players enjoy that one before I consider any kind of plans for future "campaign" stuff. In fact, I might end up going for a rotational DM approach and have players take over DM duties for a few sessions or for a particular adventure (I would of course give them adventure ideas/notes).
I am a backup dungeon master for both of my groups (for my main group i asked to be the dm after we finnished the campign my dm run before me and i stoped when i had something in my life that got me too bussy for the time period so my forever dm started running again with me as a player) (and i met my other group when i wanted to dm for somebody again and my brother's friends came to our home and i told them i wanted to run icepire peak and one of them told me she's been a forever dm and wants to be a player again so i dmed the whole adventure and then she came back to dming to all of us) so yeah i like being a dungeon master and a player but im not really the forever dm
I've been GMing games weekly for a little over 35 years now and all of this hits. But my players are my best friends and so I push through. We might change a campaign, have conversations about what is going wrong with a given game, switch genres, and so on.
I’m with you Luke, I like making the adventures and designing combats. I don’t like world building or making NPCs or maps lol. I’m kind of a perfectionist, but to avoid burnout, I’ve had to learn to be ok with running the quality of game that I am willing to put in the effort for. I had to scale back on my prep and be willing to accept that some things I will have to improv more and it won’t be as good as if I had some specific ideas prepared. As long as my players are having fun, then the game is fine even if it could be better. I’m putting in a lot more effort than them for free for the same amount of fun so it’s gonna be what it’s gonna be.
My friends and I have a good system. We have 3 concurrent campaigns with 3 different DMs. And because 3 of the 6 of us are DMs, we’re good supporting characters when we’re players in getting the other 3 to interact or get involved. And everyone has a chill personality haha. We actually have the opposite problem where no one wants to be the main character/face of the group especially the three of us who are DMs haha. No main character syndrome here. But when someone does step up organically and thematically, it is so satisfying.
One big reason GM burnout happens... Is 5e itself. 5e is a brutal system for GMs and is literally one of the hardest TTRPG systems for a GM to run. The 'Ivory Tower design' puts GMs at Odds with their players because the players want to use their cool overpowered abilities, while the GM is forced to counter or build around them or else those overpowered abilities will make all of their encounters fall flat.
It also doesn't help 5e does not support their GMs in the least. There are tons and tons of 'secret rules' that the book doesn't tell you and that GMs.
I tend to prepare in small bursts over the course of the week as my prep. Like, I also love playing an mmorpg and when I'm sitting in town in a dungeon que as a dps, I'll tab out and start working on my campaign as I'm waiting for the que to pop. I'll also think of things at work while I'm doing mindless activities and then if I think of something I like, I'll work on it when I get home.
I've been running for almost 9 years now. I'm on my... 3rd? 4th group? Depends on how many rollover players constitutes a new group to you. Either way, sometimes a group just doesn't fit.
My first few groups were casuals, the "beer and pretzels" type of group. They were all friends, and brought me in as GM so that they could hang out. I didn't know that when I started with them. I, however, run a serious game.
I've found that Adult ADHD players are my favorites. Yeah, getting them to the table and focused is literally herding cats (often with actual cats being a distraction), but once they're in the game? Five hours of focus. One player is constantly blowing up our telegram chat with extra thoughts. It's awesome. Keeps me motivated. Five regular players, and I'm the only neurotypical one.
One of your best videos in a long time with positivity throughout it. Thank you.
I created a world across 3 campaigns with the first being a future, the second the Early history, and the latest being right in the middle where i basically sandbox the entire thing with little prep besides connecting things that have happened. When players connect things i make it cannon and it's rewarding for everyone involved.
The best thing about my burnout was it forced me to actually examine & define what I found enjoyable about running games. Once I figured that out and started doing it... burnout gone! I was excited to play again.
The real Matt Mercer effect is the participation of his players .. love Matt, the players are incredible
Yeah a reset period after ending a long campaign is really awesome. I did that and it really refreshed me for my next campaign.
My players were lovely, even when i reached the highest level of burnout. There wasn't anything specific aside from the frequency that overtime ran me into the ground. I managed to keep the game going, one a week. For about 4 years with a few breaks of several months, not for burnout but for moving, irl medical issues, etc. However, I picked it back up again, no one else was experienced enough to DM the game as it was a world and story of my own creation. Finally, I did take a break for burnout, but when I tried to bring it back, all of my players were excited. And I just couldn't get into it anymore.
It sucks, because the story was wonderful, they changed the world i made forever with their antics and additions, and yet the story will most likely remain unfinished. It feels like years of work, wasted. However, the memories i have of the fun we all had, and the idiotic fun they caused, will be some of my favorite as a DM ever. Maybe one day we'll get it going again, or i'll have the energy and drive to start with a new group, though I doubt the last one as the original party made such a huge impact on my world that I literally made and changed lore for them. Here's hoping it does get continued in some way or another.
I was seriously burned out with 5e. Switched to PF2e and my burnout was gone. It's so nice not having to do so much prep in order to make balanced encounters
Masterful advice Brother Luke. You’re the best. Love and blessings to you and yours. ❤️🙏🇺🇸
One possible solution is to play a system that's less crunchy than D&D. There's a lot of rules which can bog sessions or creativity down. I remember one time me and my friends were at an RPG convention and we played a "session with nothing but a couple of dice, a few scraps of paper and massive sleep deprivation. Might not be good for a long time campaign but it's nice to let loose and wing it sometimes. There are systems that have their rules on a couple of pages, too.
my group was giving me burnout and it took a lil bit to figure out why. it was cause they got bored when they got level 12+ and it got too much work to give them challenges for them. now we are going to level 6-10 before we start over. something else that helps me is we are not changing where we are based out of. i now have over 5- pcs/npcs to help flesh out the world. the players also use their old characters to send the new characters on missions.
14:08 My background music for prep (and other work needing some concentration) is, and has been for 30+ years, Andreas Vollenweider's "Trilogy" album (Behind the Gardens, Caverna Magica, White Winds). Always gets me focused in a noisy open plan office when I can just stick my headphones on.
I was in a huge Westmarches style game last year. We started off with 40+ players and 8 GMs. Within a couple months two of us had run ~60% of the games and all the GM's wanted to do was argue about stupid stuff in the GM only discord channel. Most of the players had moved on due to a lack of available games. Thats when I noped out.
I got burnt out and flat out stopped.
That was years ago.
ZOMG Luke, the PF Bestiaries over your left shoulder are doing my OCD head in 😂😂😂😂
One way our GM avoided burnout was looking for a better system. We used to run a very crunchy system (Exalted) and the amount of work put in to the fun you got out (aka signal to noise ratio) wasn't good. Eventually we found games that had a balance that was much more up our alley, like Fellowship.
Our group has recently started a rotation for who DMs after our DM burnt out. I suggested it since I thought it would help him with burn out by giving him more time between sessions
Yeah! I was super excited to see Savage Worlds mentioned in this video.
But good content, too!
As a forever GM I agree with what you've said here.
Though, I've recently become aware of another problem for us Forever GMs; I've been running for 32 years, and still love it, but I've lost touch with 1 half of the table... the player side. In the last 32 years I have *played* in 1 campaign that stetched for 4 months with weekly games.
I don't know when I lost touch with tabletop as a player, but I've recently come to that realization. We forever GMs, even those of us who love the job, need to play at least 1 campaign every couple of years.
I'm a session short of finishing my first campaign. I'm still enthusiastic and having fun, but starting to note the first signs of breakdown. Luckily, we had a break due to university exams and after this campaign, two players asked to dm a mini campaign
Straight Outta what?
Straight Outta WHAT!?!
Oh ok. Luke finally leaned back far enough gir me to see it. Lol
When I had DM burn out, I had just run through a lot of slog combat sessions. Then I wanted to balance it with a big role-play session, but then I couldn't find one after pouring through too many 3rd-party adventures. I was just frustrated on top of frustrated.
We eventually cured it when they let me run a long string of one-shots, each using a new (not dnd) system. I learned a lot about games and my favored playstyle as a DM. We are not doing a mini-campaign with dnd5e set in Dark Sun while we wait for the new edition to come out
I remember when I started to develop my first real burnout. Granted it was partially because of our group's That Guy cheating constantly, but also the fact that anytime a game got proposed, I was the only one actually able to run it. I've had to run the games I wanted to play so many times that I'm always hesitant when I hear about a new group wanting to experiment with new games
Many of these things were me 1.5-2 years ago. 5e's lack of New DM support made planning a game so much of a chore I wasn't even enjoying the fruits of my labor anymore. For me personally, that's how it started.
I’ve been playing/running D&D non stop since 1979. Played every edition (some more than others) and NEVER have I burned out. Until 5e. After 8 years I couldn’t do it anymore. The load on the DM is too much and I refused to run 5e. We took a break, tried BECMI, OSE, Ad&D and pf1e. Landed with pf2e.
For me, I've learnt my players' expectations and capabilities. They're not big on social encounters, so I tend to keep them brief, and only steer them into necessary ones. They also aren't particularly invested in making their characters three-dimensional - at best they're a bunch of tropes. What this means is that I essentially run a railroaded campaign for them with an interesting story. I do most of the narrative and the story-telling (which I don't mind, even if it can be a bit tiring sometimes), throw some interesting combat encounters at them, and try to keep them engaged with fun magic items, a recurring villain and a strong overarching theme. It's not a great game, but it is good, and it does give the players what they want.
But really, I miss being a player. I want to be a player in a serious game, with other players who want the same thing...
I don’t have burnout anymore but a couple years ago I was feeling it hard, I almost stopped dming all together. One of my players was a huge problem player and was ruining the game for the lot of us. I avoid conflict so I didn’t feel comfortable confronting him, but once he was confronted and gone, it was like a full 180 of the game attitude. I say all this to say that if it’s a problem player getting to you, get rid of them, even if it makes you uncomfortable.
Thanks, Luke. I haven't realized, that I was in that state until I saw you video. I'll try some of you tips^ stepping out to be a player for a while seems to be a good one :)
"How do you prevent GM burnout?"
Thats... why I'm here.
Honestly though, playing a different system really helped. We do a small campaign in the setting Cairn that is really fun.
I always feel stress and anxiety every time I prep the game or before people come over. It sucks. I love GMing, and playing with them, but I just forget things I prepare or don't prepare enough when they ask to go somewhere. I feel like I need to be an encyclopedia, even when I ask them their plans ahead of time. I'm always forgetting something. It hold back tears most sessions as I struggle through.
but the idea of quitting terrifies me.
Happened to me aswell, i took a week back amd switched to starfinder. Now im all giddy again each week😊
We have three GMs. I run shadowrun, one runs PF1e, another runs DnD5e. After each adventure, we cycle through. This gives each of the GMs the opportunity to take a break from GMing and prepare the next adventure's basic idea more thoroughly.
This is very good advice... I'm going to be referencing this, for sure
"Favorite fantasy books, over the shoulder on my right." Accounting for Dummies. I imagine this purchase helped address the question "Can one make a living as an independent RPG content creator? Hope the answer is yes.
As soon as he said it and pointed, that big yellow Accounting for Dummies jumped out to me too. How much in-game accounting does he include? 🤔
Way of the Lazy Dungeon Master has saved me from a lot of burnout
I'm learning to DM for my DM to give him some breathing room. And he's excited about my sessions so its working out nicely for all of us.
What kills me as a DM is crunching the numbers during combat and keeping track of NPCs. Story, setting, and character development are my bread and butter
So, for those who don't want their creativity with premade advebtures - here is what I do. I first roll a d20. If it' 10 or lower - I go from the start. If it's 11+ straight to the end of the adventure. And then based on the medium / sections - I roll d20 (directional die) + dX (go to die) to read it through. Sometimes I end up with the end boss fight - as a starting point for the adventure. Sometimes meeting NPC's - can end up being the end of the adventure. Then tweak what I received to more sense. This way I memorize the entire adventure, make it fun for myself, make it my own and challenge my brain to wonder. Works great for me at least 😂
I had dm burn out for a few month and I was holding on to it for so long. I recently stopped and let one of my players started to run Band of Blades while I started to write in my spare time and put my creativity into something I enjoy.
I love my group, but I am getting burned out with D&D after playing it for 6 years. We are about to do our second session of Vecna and I said straight up this is the final D&D campaign. They all were very understanding and we all settled on running Call of Cthulhu next
I went a bridge too far and used Skaven in my D&D campaign. Now, however much I love Warhammer...talking rat people was just too much and my players completely checked out on me. I was burned out so I took a break.
For me anything close to the choas gods level of uselessly bitching has me bored and checked out.
Skaven cool. Choas lord saying how he is going to win in 4 alt futures removed thay were erased. Boring.