Loosing motivation as a DM.

[Sir-Carlos]

Hi, so, I have the following problem. We are currently playing the Call of the Netherdeep campaign. (Awesome campaign btw.). We played the first chapter and had an absolute blast. But then, we took a long break because of some IRL issues. But now I am not really feeling it anymore and I have a feeling that the players aren't super excited either atm. We recently played another session, but honestly I didn't enjoy it as much. It is strange, because the campaign reads to be really awesome and so far we had a blast. But taking this super long break kind of killed the momentum completely. It just doesn't feel the same anymore.

Is that strange? Did you experience that too, at some point? What should we do? I thought of maybe trying another system and playing a series of short, self-contained adventures. Idk.

[MrStabby]

Sometimes this does just happen. I don't know the adventure so this might be covered anyway.

Maybe throw in a quick side quest?

If the gap is an issue it might be that they have lost track of what's happening, they no longer care about the NPCs, they are not invested in the wider campaign, they have lost a sense if the interpersonal relatio ships between the PCs...

A small, self-contained little adventure to get the party back into the swing of things and get some of these bits sorted might smooth the ride. Then when the party is engaged with each other and with some of the NPCs in the world, weave these back in.

[animorte]

I honestly think a lot of people experience this as some point. Earlier this year we had a consistent campaign going, meeting just about every week. Same story: IRL stuff -> momentum ruined. We couldn’t even get half the party interested enough to show back up for that one.

I had an idea. Let’s do some one-shot things, rotating DMs. Bring your character from this campaign or make a new one. Low stakes, less commitment.

That kind of got things moving again. This is somewhat recent so it’s not quite built up again, and people still have IRL things going on (imagine that). But something is happening and that’s good enough for me.

[LecternOfJasper]

Oh, absolutely. My group generally assumes any game that is not being regularly ran is basically over, as any time we try and start it back up again it has a whole different feeling and people lose the thread of what's going on.

[GreenDragonPage]

Long breaks are often the death of campaigns. It happens. Happened to me many, many times. Talk to your players and see what they think. The likely answer is to start a new campaign. :)

[Mastikator]

Yes it happens, yes it's normal. And follow your instinct to start something new that inspires you. There's a saying "no dnd is better than bad dnd" and it applies to every game and to the GM. Doesn't have to mean the players are bad for a GM, it could just mean you're not feeling it.

I think it's OK that some games just die, it's just a game after all, if a poker night, or idk monopoly goes unresolved well; big whoop. Slightly bigger whoop for an RPG, which is actually just a small whoop. What matters is that you stay in touch with the players you want to stay in touch with and find ways to enjoy each other's company. For example by playing something completely different.

[Pauly]

The only campaigns Ive been involved in that involved a long break and successfully resumed were the ones where we had a different campaign run in the break.

I’d be inclined to start the new chapter with new characters at the appropriate level, rather than try to carry on with half remembered characters.

[MaryPoppinsYall]

Take a break until a really interesting idea comes up. You have to tell a story you want to tell. Luckily this is a world of stupid magic. Got a cool desert themed idea? The forest romp they are on goes into a cave leading to an underground desert. Filled with gnomes. I dunno. Just find the story you wanna tell.

[Stonehead]

Like everyone else has said, sometimes that just happens.

If you want to do something to try to reclaim that spark, try to find whatever initially made you excited about this campaign and re-read/re-watch/re-play that.

You can't replay session 1 again, but if you listen to a podcast, or read a summary, or look at some fan art or something, that might make you excited to play it again.

Not foolproof, but sometimes that works for me.

[Easy e]

Again, not a popular opinion here, but GM burn-out typically signals to me that the GM is doing too much of the heavy lifting of the campaign.

Instead, outsource more of the work to players and get them building the world, plot lines, and NPCs for you instead. Then, even you as the GM can be surprised by where the game takes you! Plus, a lot less prep work and planning as well.

[KineticDiplomat]

I think I came to a "seems stunning but in hindsight very obvious" conclusion in my late twenties/early thirties:

Games live or die on well run scheduling and attendance. The GM's most important role is not the fun stuff, it's making sure the game keeps running predictably and avoids unplanned momentum loss. At the same time, you're GMing because it's fun, not because you want to be a glorified scheduling assistant. Here's what I've found helps mix those and is easy to do:

1) Have a post game "housekeeping" where you get everyone to commit, or not, to the next session. It helps with scheduling. It also helps keep people respectful of the game as a social commitment, not something you just log on to. And it respects your time as a GM so you don't prep for an empty room.

2) Plan your breaks purposefully. Over Christmas, when does your game go on pause, when does it turn back on? If a player has to go to a funeral, when are you getting the group back together? "We'll see" means more lost time, more lost momentum, more dead games. Put it out deliberately a few weeks before the event, and then again at your last session prior to breaking. Then plan your close outs, cliff hangers, and fresh starts around it if you can.

3) Have a semi-formal policy on what you do when players can't make it. "One player out we keep playing, two out we push" is predictable, and predictable means momentum. You can break from your stance, but everyone should know what the baseline is. Again, it reminds everyone that it's a social commitment and respects the GMs time.

----------

And of course I would be remiss not to suggest dropping D&D and going to a less intensive system. Time is your most precious resource, and you're using a system that callously wastes it in prep and in execution.

[animorte]

Games live or die on well run scheduling and attendance. The GM's most important role is not the fun stuff, it's making sure the game keeps running predictably and avoids unplanned momentum loss. At the same time, you're GMing because it's fun, not because you want to be a glorified scheduling assistant. Here's what I've found help mix those and is easy to do:
This was something I learned as well. Good tips.


And of course I would be remiss not to suggest dropping D&D and going to a less intensive system. Time is your most precious resource, and you're using a system that callously wastes it in prep and in execution.
Throwing out the hard facts. I have experienced people playing various different TTRPGs. They still sit around and call it D&D, so as long as you’re having fun, call it whatever you like.

[Stonehead]

Again, not a popular opinion here, but GM burn-out typically signals to me that the GM is doing too much of the heavy lifting of the campaign.

Instead, outsource more of the work to players and get them building the world, plot lines, and NPCs for you instead. Then, even you as the GM can be surprised by where the game takes you! Plus, a lot less prep work and planning as well.

In the original post, it sounded like he was running a premade adventure, in which the worldbuilding, storyline, and NPCs are already created. It would be a bit weird to get the players to write the plot line of an adventure path they're playing through.

[Easy e]

In the original post, it sounded like he was running a premade adventure, in which the worldbuilding, storyline, and NPCs are already created. It would be a bit weird to get the players to write the plot line of an adventure path they're playing through.

Indeed.

More of an "in general" comment about avoiding burn out.