Oh, the twisted irony...

[atemu1234]

I've been playing these games for years, and, in fact, it's often been my go-to method of procrastination. Don't want to do classwork/homework (when i was in highschool)? Stat up a few creatures. Didn't want to write a paper? Write a mission for the players.

It's only recently I've started doing something new - procrastinating from making missions for my players. Why? Well, I've been busy, and it used to be we'd meet once every two or three weeks, and I'd have about eight hours of downtime most days, not counting school (which I'd write missions during) or sleep (which I'd also avoid, choosing to rely on obscene amounts of caffeine). Now I get maybe 2/3 hours of downtime at best, need my eight hours of sleep (and still need energy drinks to get through the day!) and am busy enough with work that I can't reliably write missions anymore. Which leads to stress over how the players will respond to my lack of preparation, how much needs to get done - and that makes the procrastination worse.

I'm going back to school in the fall, too - back to college, where I'm going to need to actually work hard now to stay afloat. This game used to be my 'coping mechanism'. Now it's closer to my curse.

Anyone else relate?

[Graysire]

I can relate a lot, I've had times where I've been super invested in school for whatever reason, and then the game and the players who want to play seem to get in the way more than anything

[Chronikoce]

Yup, I've gone through this. I actually quit d&d completely for about a year because it was becoming a major source of stress due to how busy I was. I enjoyed returning to the game after that time away so don't feel bad if you need a break.

[Florian]

Anyone else relate?

Pretty much, yes. Due to circumstances, I had to get my whole education on what we locally call the "Zweiten Bildungsweg", meaning the whole complex of evening school, external qualification and so on, all of that alongside me working as a freelancer. RPGs are fun nd a good source for procrastination, but I´m only running ready-made modules or APs as I simply do not have the time or energy for custom stuff.

[Grand Poobah]

I come from a health care background.

If preparing for a game/session has now switched from a stress reliever to a stress causer, you need to stop doing it until things have settled down and you've got more time to spare.

Leaving D&D aside for a moment, being stressed has many knock on effects, both physical and mental. The fact you still need energy drinks to get through the day suggests even 8 hours sleep isn't enough, and a lack of sleep further adds to your woes. You need to act to mitigate the contributors to your stress levels where possible and as soon as possible.

For your own health and well being, I implore you to ask if someone else can DM, or, run pre-made modules which require minimal prep time that you can do in the 1-2 hours of downtime you'll have after getting an extra hour or two of sleep on top of the 8 you're getting now :smallsmile:

[atemu1234]

I come from a health care background.

If preparing for a game/session has now switched from a stress reliever to a stress causer, you need to stop doing it until things have settled down and you've got more time to spare.

Leaving D&D aside for a moment, being stressed has many knock on effects, both physical and mental. The fact you still need energy drinks to get through the day suggests even 8 hours sleep isn't enough, and a lack of sleep further adds to your woes. You need to act to mitigate the contributors to your stress levels where possible and as soon as possible.

For your own health and well being, I implore you to ask if someone else can DM, or, run pre-made modules which require minimal prep time that you can do in the 1-2 hours of downtime you'll have after getting an extra hour or two of sleep on top of the 8 you're getting now :smallsmile:

Bah! If I cared about my health - physical or mental - I'd have to change like 90% of my habits, most of them the fun ones.

As-is, the game's not the issue as much as the prep work, and the stress of having anything akin to a friendgroup.