Trapped Behind the Screen

[drawingfreak]

For those of you unwilling or starting to burn out DMs, it's time to COMPLAIN!

What do you miss about the player side? Do you have ideas that you can't use as a DM?
I personally have had several character ideas come to mind that will most likely never see the light of day:

• A tavern keeper who runs the tavern that ends up destroyed in the first session.
• A dethroned 3.5 god from trying to get back their lost power (was looking at Obad-Hai for this).
• A minotaur monk.

[valadil]

I miss not having to be 'on' according to a calendar. GMing is a performance. If I feel sick or work sucks or even if I just have a busy week stealing all my prep time, I end up not looking forward to the game. As a player I can hide in the back and let the others take the spotlight. As GM I have to ignore the frustration and run with it, hoping all the while that the game doesn't suck.

[Jerthanis]

I miss not having to be 'on' according to a calendar. GMing is a performance. If I feel sick or work sucks or even if I just have a busy week stealing all my prep time, I end up not looking forward to the game. As a player I can hide in the back and let the others take the spotlight. As GM I have to ignore the frustration and run with it, hoping all the while that the game doesn't suck.

Took the words right out of my mouth. What's more, even within a session as a DM, I have to be talking all the time, moving the game forward, paying attention with 100% of my brain for 4-5 hours straight. That's pretty draining. If you're not built for it, or the game isn't going that well, or you aren't sure what's going to happen next, Friday night RP is something that looms over you the whole week.

As a Player, you don't have to do anything between sessions except level up every now and then. You can show up and have fun. If you're done being in the spotlight, you can just stop talking for a while and watch everyone else roleplay for a while.

[Sipex]

Amen to this thread. I've only recently had the pleasure of being a player and it's only going to last a few sessions at most before I take the game back over. There's so much you get as a player that never comes to a DM. I've actually been surprised by the story. Crazy.

And being paranoid all the time is a new feeling too.

[Welknair]

I have only once been a player. I participated in National Game Day when the 4e PHB III was released. Also the only time I've played 4e. I've been DMing a 3.5e campaign for almost a year and a half now... And still have never been a 3.5e player.

[TheCountAlucard]

And being paranoid all the time is a new feeling too.

...then the game you were running clearly wasn't Exalted.

[valadil]

Took the words right out of my mouth. What's more, even within a session as a DM, I have to be talking all the time, moving the game forward, paying attention with 100% of my brain for 4-5 hours straight.

Oh man, I forgot how much the talking gets to me. I'm a quiet person by nature. For the first 3-4 months of my game, my voice dropped an octave over the course of each session and I needed tea and Riccola by the end. It's gotten better, but I think some of us don't appreciate how much of a task oration can be.

[Shyftir]

I start out burned out on GMing, but everybody has to take a turn sometime...

I generally am the guy who runs modules, but that still means I've got to improvise like crazy, because my players like to angle for every little advantage they can.

We always have more than the recommended player count, plus some of them have nigh ridiculous luck at rolling, so if I try to truly follow the module it never works. I'm pretty much forced to beef up every encounter. At least with extra hp.

[nedz]

I mainly DM I guess, and have done so far a long time.
Playing gives me the chance to learn more about the game, and try out some interesting character concepts.

[shadow_archmagi]

And being paranoid all the time is a new feeling too.

I don't know about you, but personally, I felt safer when I was a player than as the DM. As a player, there's only one guy opposing me, and I have a pretty solid set of tools for dealing with whatever he throws at me. It's true, a really harsh one might make it unlikely that I'll survive, but if it comes to that then I have a handful of people in the same boat who can back me up, maybe argue him down a notch.

As a DM, there are multiple people who can and will do anything at all. They hate my plans, and they're always trying to figure them out so they can destroy them.

[Sipex]

I don't know about you, but personally, I felt safer when I was a player than as the DM. As a player, there's only one guy opposing me, and I have a pretty solid set of tools for dealing with whatever he throws at me. It's true, a really harsh one might make it unlikely that I'll survive, but if it comes to that then I have a handful of people in the same boat who can back me up, maybe argue him down a notch.

As a DM, there are multiple people who can and will do anything at all. They hate my plans, and they're always trying to figure them out so they can destroy them.

I look forward to this though, I love it when players destroy my plans with ingenius solutions.

As a player I find I'm paranoid because I no longer know where the danger is going to come from.

[Tyndmyr]

Amen to this thread. I've only recently had the pleasure of being a player and it's only going to last a few sessions at most before I take the game back over. There's so much you get as a player that never comes to a DM. I've actually been surprised by the story. Crazy.

And being paranoid all the time is a new feeling too.

I'd say that, in an ideal world, you could alternate between the two. I learn stuff about GMing all the time when playing...and also, I just enjoy playing for it's own sake. The same is obviously true in reverse as well.

I'm fortunate in the fact that my main group has two long-time DMs(with a third returning shortly), and we're training up more all the time. Hell, some of you in other states might have a GM that originally came from our group. Getting to rotate around between a variety of systems and taking turns GMing is fantastic. I highly recommend encouraging experienced players to try DMing, even if it's just a module at first.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

When your job takes all your brain power and you're left with nothing to create like you used to -
When you feel fleetingly suicidal because you can't deliver the content that you'd demand from a DM -
When you want to kick the table over, burn the books and melt all the minis and go get drunk -
When you're obsessing over the minute details of a wholly realised culture in a wholly realised world and all your players want to do is go shopping -

- then welcome, you shrivled shell of a waning frustrated god, welcome: to Burn Out!

Pull up a barstool. Drinks are on me - till I pass out.

[Sipex]

Well, the current player DMing would make an amazing DM. He has some stuff to learn but he definitely has potential. I posted a big thread about the dungeon we're doing on this very forum actually.

My others are iffy, I've got one who will want to DM but I don't trust her to be able to. She's creative but she already has enough trouble as a player (with the mechanics and such) that it would be a really slow game. She did come up with a story for her character which I DMed which was really good though.

One already DMed a dungeon but found she preferred building them than running them so I won't see her running the game again.

The final player? He's really a wild card, I think he could do it but I have no idea if he has any interest.

[Lesingnon]

I've found in the past that if you're starting to feel a bit burned out just taking a bit of time off can do you wonders.

My experience with it is a bit different than the rest of yours, it seems, because for the most part I've really only found myself ST'ing for PbP's. But there've certainly been times where I've grown myself growing tired of frantically scrambling to keep up with everything. But I remember one finals week when I let the site know that I wouldn't be posting much if at all. And man, even with all the studying I had to do for college the week just seemed liberating because I could let posting fall by the wayside for a while. And once the week was over and it was time to get back to keeping up with the site I just felt a bit invigorated.

[valadil]

I'd say that, in an ideal world, you could alternate between the two. I learn stuff about GMing all the time when playing...and also, I just enjoy playing for it's own sake. The same is obviously true in reverse as well.

I'm fortunate in the fact that my main group has two long-time DMs(with a third returning shortly),

Word. In my groups, everybody takes a turn behind the GM screen. It really helps the quality of the games because GM burnout is rare and we always try to outdo each other. I think anyone who is always GM is more likely to grow complacent about his games.

[GeekGirl]

I miss not having to be 'on' according to a calendar. GMing is a performance. If I feel sick or work sucks or even if I just have a busy week stealing all my prep time, I end up not looking forward to the game. As a player I can hide in the back and let the others take the spotlight. As GM I have to ignore the frustration and run with it, hoping all the while that the game doesn't suck.

I don't believe truer word have been spoken. We play Sundays night, I work early Monday, which makes me very unproductive at work Monday mornings. But its the only day everyone can meet, so i feel bad asking to change the day.

But I have a lot of character ideas I never get to play. I'll get my chance to be a player again one day :D

[Sipex]

Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE DMing. It gives me a creative outlet which others will seriously take interest in (due to being the players). I get to build a story at a leisurely pace with the aid of others and we'll all have something to talk about after.

It's just nice to play every once in a while.

[slaydemons]

The feeling I am enjoy most as a player ( we are taking turns now but before all I did was dm) is the feeling of being able to explore dungeons I didn't make looking for secrets and planting a well timed grease so we can run away

[Tyndmyr]

Extremely true, Val. When you're the only one doing it...not only can it be tiring, since there's usually a fair bit of prep work, there's not a ton of external motivation to improve. Unless you screw up sufficiently badly that your players all refuse to come back(and that's actually surprisingly hard), things tend to just keep going.

With multiple GMs, you learn from the different styles and themes, and uncover all sorts of new things. And of course, you always want your campaigns to be among those your players remember fondly and tell tales of, so there's an element of friendly competition.

For those without this...try growing your groups. It's easier if you have 6-8 people to get a few into GMing, because not everyone is willing to do so. Loan books often, to promote system mastery and such. If someone asks how/why you do things, share it with them if at all possible. Interest is always worthy of being promoted and rewarded.

[Just_Ice]

My least favourite thing about DMing is that I know if I try to run any sort of campaign except "incredibly short" it's going to crash and burn.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

My least favorite thing about DMing is that I'm the only one who's ever willing to do it. I'm really more comfortable as a player, and my organizational skills are really sub-par for DMing, but since no one else ever steps up to bat, I'm left holding the bag.

[Akal Saris]

I just hate it when one of my players is having RL problems and takes it out on me or the other players in-game. There's nothing like running a game for several hours and then have the PC be angry and bitchy about the game because he came into it upset at something else.

I also get irritated when players are too distracted to pay attention to the game. iphones and texting are particular offenders - I understand that some people have ADD (including a pair of my friends who sometimes play), and sometimes RL won't leave you alone, but it certainly makes me feel unappreciated to have you texting while I'm trying to keep the game moving.

Getting into play-by-post games helped me escape the feeling of being the 'perpetual DM' quite a bit though. Even if they tend to move at a glacial pace.

[Jamin]

I really miss being a hero. As the DM I try to create a good story but I have to play all the bad guys which I don't like. All my favorite npcs to play are the non-evil ones. Don't get me wrong I do somewhat enjoy being the bad guy but since I always DM I miss being the hero out to save the world.

[slaydemons]

I also get irritated when players are too distracted to pay attention to the game. iphones and texting are particular offenders - I understand that some people have ADD (including a pair of my friends who sometimes play), and sometimes RL won't leave you alone, but it certainly makes me feel unappreciated to have you texting while I'm trying to keep the game moving.

I got a player like this, but the add kid is just like "yeah I took my meds today lets play." were the first one who has adhd is more like "I want to be baddass and no one question my alignment, I choose paladin." he then proceeds to say we should kill villagers because they have the plague best irony though he caught the plague no one else did

[EccentricCircle]

Yeah, I think as a player you don't always appreciate how hard DMing can be.
I love DMing, because I always have tons of stories that I want to tell, and even if I use every opertunity possible i'm not going to be able to tell them all.
consequently for the last few years I've ended up volunteering to DM at more or less every opertunity. i've had a great time doing it but it can be draining.

I've literally just finshed DMing tonights game and was tired after a long day, not particularly sure what I was going to do next and really didn't feel like running the long and complicated fight that I knew was coming. in the end rather than going onto the long fight ( or the first half of it, we wouldn't have finished) I let everyone level up a week early. everyone was happy.

the thing I find most frustrating is reading around. I find that when I have prep time I'm often busy using it for preparing maps, statting up villains or looking up specific things. I rarely have time to just flick through sourcebooks for fun, so often end up using the same things as I always do, and my knowledge of the rules gets less strong with each passing thing I handwave.

still tireing or not I wouldn't miss it for the world!

[prufock]

I'm lucky enough that my group rotates GM duties. Three out of the four of us run some sort of game, so we generally have 2 different campaigns going on at once. We alternate weeks, so rarely does anyone have to GM two weeks running (unless they want to). We work it so that the two games use different systems, so it's easy to keep them separate mentally, and it's refreshing.

For instance, recently one guy was running Star Wars Saga, and I was doing Paranoia! He's now taking a break, and I'm still running Paranoia!, but another guy has stepped in and is running Vampire: the Masquerade. I have 2 more Paranoia! missions to go, then I'm planning on a short break while we have V:tM and a high-level 3.5 D&D campaign going.

The schedule works well for us, since we play weekly, and everyone gets a chance to be on both sides. More than 2 games ends up with growing detached from the campaigns. The only problem is when scheduling conflicts arise. For instance, if we miss 2 weeks, we can effectively go a month between sessions for a single game.