Burnt Out Players

[Joval]

So, I've been running an SR4 campaign for three years now. We were all unemployed college students in between semesters, so when we first began, we met nearly every day. Later, we all got jobs, I got married, and other circumstances happened where we couldn't meet as often. We have two game sessions to go before we finish the final act of my campaign, and I have been thinking up a new D&D campaign. I made a FB group for records, as my group does with every game, and one player basically told me that he was sick of my style, which he believes is overpowered, and so was everybody else in the group, and that no matter what I say I will not convince him, or anybody else to join because they know it will be a high level campaign.

I'm sure I made some mistakes. For one, I found a group that would stick it out to the end, and so I made this the longest campaign I've ever done, but it likely went too long, and the players likely got fed up with their characters story. I've been DMing, and GMing for 16 years, and I've never had any problems before now. Anybody else run into this?

I was wondering: Any suggestions? I blew it with this group, but I would like the next one to feel more entertained than this one apparently felt. I legitimately thought that everybody was having as much fun as I was, but I was apparently mistaken.

[Kaun]

get one of the other guys in your group to run a game?

Might just be time to take a brake for a bit.

[Rhynn]

What exactly is the complaint/problem? What you've outlined is not a lot to go on: one guy says everyone is sick of an "overpowered style" and they don't want to play a high-level campaign? So run a low-level campaign or a game that doesn't do overpowered (as easily) ? GURPS, HârnMaster, Aces & Eights, a D&D retroclone, Stars Without Number, etc.

[Edge of Dreams]

Vague suggestions:


Get someone else to run a short campaign before your next one
Get nicer players
Ask the players what they'd like to see run, then see if you can integrate that with your GM'ing style
Run shorter campaigns


Personally, I think more than a year or so is too long to be playing one campaign, especially if there are players who have only played one or two characters over that whole span. When I most recently began recruiting for my next campaign, I specifically said, "This should be a 3 to 6 month campaign, depending on circumstances." That way, my players know what they're getting themselves into and there's no pressure to keep playing for years if you're not having fun. Also, it's easier for me to pace the campaign and plan a clean and satisfying ending if I know it definitely WILL end at a certain point. As a GM, I find that far preferable to the open-ended "we'll play until the group gets sick of it and starts yelling at each other, or we party wipe, or someone moves away, or whatever" style of campaign.

[DigoDragon]

get one of the other guys in your group to run a game?

This worked for me in a similar situation. If the player(s) feels burned out with your style of running a game, then see if you can convince another member to start up a campaign. No two GMs are ever alike.

[mcbobbo]

You might try and get more information. If 'your style' is 'overpowered' this could mean a number of things. Maybe they want more crunch. Or more grit. Maybe they just want to be in more danger. 'Who is overpowered, and how' is missing here.

As the others said, burn out means change things up. Let someone else run, or failing that experiment with a new system. Maybe do a one shot or short campaign involving a completely different type of game.

A fresh perspective can do a world of good.

[The Glyphstone]

Did you actually talk to the other players, or are you just taking this one person's word that he speaks for the entire group?

[kyoryu]

Talk to the group about what they like, what they don't like, and what they do and don't want to see in a game.

See if there's a point of negotiation where everyone is happy.

Repeat this talk at regular intervals. Listen to what they want, and give it to them.

A campaign (short or not) run by someone else might be a good idea if there's a high level of frustration currently.

[Mutazoia]

Usually when our group starts getting burnt out, we pause and play a few games of Clay-O-Rama

[Jay R]

A. Talk to the rest of the group. Don't let him tell you how they feel; they get to.

B. It wasn't a failure if they are still showing up.

C. This is great news! Now somebody else should run a game, and you get to play!

D. I recommend that you make the suggestion. "Guys, I've been running a game for awhile, and I'd like to play. Besides, nobody wants the same DM all the time. Will one of you set up the next game?"

[OzymandiasX]

Have a post-mortem with each player individually. If they've been gaming with you for years, you can be certain that they have valuable feedback to give! They'd likely be very glad to give you feedback! (I'd recommend talking to each one individually so you can get more full and more honest feedback.)

Ask them:
What did you like best about the campaign/storylines?
What did you like least about the campaign/storylines?
What would you change about the rules/system we used?
What was your favorite encounter?
What was your favorite roleplay session?

You'll be able to adjust your DM style to better suit your players, if applicable. Or maybe you'll find that one (or more) players just prefer a completely different game style than you like to run, which is perfectly okay.

[OzymandiasX]

Oh, and if they want a lower-powered game, but are used to 3.5 rules. Take a look at the E6 variant!

I think it is amazing! It is a simple and elegant fix to all the things I hated about high-magic, insane power-level 3.5...

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?206323-E6-The-Game-Inside-D-amp-D

[Lord Torath]

A. Talk to the rest of the group. Don't let him tell you how they feel; they get to.

B. It wasn't a failure if they are still showing up.

C. This is great news! Now somebody else should run a game, and you get to play!

D. I recommend that you make the suggestion. "Guys, I've been running a game for awhile, and I'd like to play. Besides, nobody wants the same DM all the time. Will one of you set up the next game?"E. Come back here and tell us how it all went. We all want to know which advice you used and how well it worked. :smallbiggrin:

[Dogbert]

I fail to see the big riddle here.

They told you they're fed up with your style. Your -style-.

Details can be negotiated, windows of improvement can be polished.

Your gaming style, on the other hand, is your core, your -preferences-. Not liking your style means your (ex) table is no longer compatible with you. In gaming as in romance, "changing yourself" to please someone else rarely ends well.

Get new players, you'll all be better for it.

[Knaight]

Your gaming style, on the other hand, is your core, your -preferences-. Not liking your style means your (ex) table is no longer compatible with you.

There is one aspect of a style being highlighted here. I don't see any reason to assume that there is all of one style, or that there are large necessary differences in the similar styles which could also exist. To use a cooking analogy - I might like an ingredient that isn't appreciated by any of the other people I cook for (i.e. anise). The people I cook for might get annoyed if I stick anise in everything, even if the rest of the food is something they would like. Heck, say it's broader, say it is all pasta dishes - avoiding anise or pasta isn't some betrayal of my cooking, it's having a few fewer options. It's an inconvenience, one mitigated significantly by the existence of vegetable dishes, bread dishes, pastries, grain dishes, etc. On top of all that, there's the option for someone else to cook.

Role playing games are a pretty broad category. There are games which don't even have the concept of a player character, games which don't have a GM, games about everything from street luge teams to romantic entanglements to the perpetuation of AI in dying star ships, and it's not like people necessarily find only a narrow spot on this range. Somehow, finding a very conventional role playing game which is lower powered seems like a pretty trivial task.

[Narren]

Get new players, you'll all be better for it.

That's not always feasible advise. My group of players is my group of friends. It's not that we're friends because we play RPG's together....we play RPG's together because we're friends. That being said, taking a break and letting someone else run a game for awhile is probably a good idea. I run the VAST majority of games at my table, but it's enjoyable for everyone to have someone else mix things up sometimes.