Trouble with Overcoming Total Writer's Block

[Harbinger]

For about a year now I've been almost totally unable to first sustain interest in and now recently to even come up with an idea for a game. It used to be that good fun interesting ideas came easy. Now I calms up with ideas and they all seem hollow and I have no idea what to do with them. How to develop them, what situations might arise, how to make them seem convincing. The last few games I've run just don't seem interesting to me and I don't want to continue with them. The players thought they were ok but I didn't like them. I feel like they're tired of making new characters every three months in different systems and settings but I just can't keep going sometimes. I'd really like to go back to the days when I had so much more time and energy to do this and when the things I came up with were fun and interesting. When I really felt like I was created a world and sharing it with my friends. Now I feel like everything is a facsimile. I don't know how to make things make sense or anything. When I try to think I can't focus on one idea for longer than a few minutes before dismissing it because I can't develop anything about it. I feel like there is literally something blocking some kind of valve in the creative centers in my mind. I feel like I'm taking this too seriously but being able to be creative is important to me. Does anyone know how to deal with this? Has anyone had this before? Thanks.

[Mutazoia]

There are various reasons for what you are experiencing. For instance, children with ADD are generally very creative and able to hyper-focus on one thing, such as writing a story or creating a campaign. As they get older, their brain chemistry changes and ADD becomes ADHD, and concentrating on any one thing gets much harder. (Like having your brain set on "shuffle".)

Sometimes it's just a matter of disuse. Since your brain is a bit like a muscle, if you don't use it, it gets flabby: You haven't created anything for a while, so you get out of the practice, and it gets harder to get back into it, the longer you go with out creating.

No matter what the general cause is, most writers suggest setting aside some time specifically for writing, say an hour a day. Don't have a TV or radio on anywhere...no distractions at all, just sit down and start writing something. Anything really, just as long as you are writing SOMETHING. This generally get's the "juices flowing" as it were.

If you are wanting to work on a specific project, make your self do at least a page a day. Do more if you find you can, but make a set schedule and a goal, and stick to it. Rain or shine, no matter what. Eventually you'll find that you are able to create more and more, and you will eventually get back to some semblance of where you use to be. Creatively speaking.

[hymer]

Break-time! And long overdue!
You sound burned out, and you need time to recover. There's only a tiny chance something will happen to rekindle your inspiration and creativity, and now you're just grinding yourself further into the mud.

One thing you should try is to be a player for a while - a good, long while. That always helps my GM urges resurface.

[clothaire]

Break-time! And long overdue!
You sound burned out, and you need time to recover. There's only a tiny chance something will happen to rekindle your inspiration and creativity, and now you're just grinding yourself further into the mud.

One thing you should try is to be a player for a while - a good, long while. That always helps my GM urges resurface.

This is great advice and something I do whenever I'm burned out as a GM. I would add that this tie spent as a PC isn't just a vacation, it's more like fieldwork.

What encounters working well and which aren't, and more importantly, why?
How could opportunities for role-play be improved?
Are there parts of the world that the GM glossed over that intrigue you?

This is a short list of questions you can be actively asking yourself as a GM-oriented player. Personally, I find that thinking critically and constructively about other people's campaigns gets me excited to run my own.

[nedz]

Break-time! And long overdue!
You sound burned out, and you need time to recover. There's only a tiny chance something will happen to rekindle your inspiration and creativity, and now you're just grinding yourself further into the mud.

One thing you should try is to be a player for a while - a good, long while. That always helps my GM urges resurface.

It's hard to know the full truth without further information but the above advice is likely the best you will get.

[Mr Beer]

Get someone else to GM for a while.

I run pregenerated modules when I'm tired of writing my own material. Granted I have to shoehorn them into the game, which requires work, but still.

[Knaight]

This sounds like burnout to me. Play some boardgames instead for a while, or pass off the GMing torch, or even run something completely and utterly dumb as a rock that takes no real mental energy.

[Harbinger]

First, thanks for the good advice guys.

Ok, so per the suggestion that I be a player for a while: I can't. No one else in my group can/wants to/has the time to DM. Believe me I'd love to me a player. :( As for another group I live in a rather rural area and kind of also play Dnd to spend time with a specific group. I don't think it'd be the same with anyone else. I will try dedicating a specific time to writing something. The suggestion that I might have ADHD is disturbing to me but perhaps I'll look into that. You never know and I guess id rather be aware. Thank you very much.

[Knaight]

Ok, so per the suggestion that I be a player for a while: I can't. No one else in my group can/wants to/has the time to DM. Believe me I'd love to me a player. :( As for another group I live in a rather rural area and kind of also play Dnd to spend time with a specific group. I don't think it'd be the same with anyone else. I will try dedicating a specific time to writing something. The suggestion that I might have ADHD is disturbing to me but perhaps I'll look into that. You never know and I guess id rather be aware. Thank you very much.

Board games are your friend here then.

[Herobizkit]

Sometimes writing for a different genre or setting is helpful in shaking the cobwebs loose. Instead of D&D/Fantasy, write a game set in Modern day, or near-future. Instead of a classic connect-the-dots adventure, try writing a story with drama or romance (or comedy!) as the focus - highlight characters and who they are/how they feel over what they can do.

Game-wise, maybe play a different system for a month or two. Tell your players up-front that you're wanting to change things up and that the next game will be a short one with a definite conclusion.

At my own table, I prefer to run a cinematic game that feels more like a TV show than a sweeping epic. Each 'episode' can be resolved in one or two game sessions, then some in-game time passes, then the next thing arrives on their plate. You could design your game in a similar fashion, dedicating a few episodes to each character, some 'team' episodes, then weave in a short "plot" between those if you like... something that ramps up to a great finale and into the main crux of Season 2.

Or, maybe try reading/listening to some Audiobooks. They're great for recharging vocabulary, plot elements, and providing examples of character elements and interactions. I've been listening to the Acquisition Incorporated podcasts and, for a short while, it fueled my desire to take another shot at a 4e game I started and abandoned a few years back. My group switched to 5e for good, so that likely won't happen, but hey, I could always run it in 5e... :3

[Demidos]

The suggestion that I might have ADHD is disturbing to me but perhaps I'll look into that.

As a psychology graduate, I will mention that diagnoses are incredibly difficult to make, especially self-diagnoses. Making a jump from being unexcited at making new characters to you having ADHD is a quantum leap given the minimal information you have provided. I am almost positive Mutazoia meant that it was a POSSIBILITY, not a reason, and I am completely positive that that is what he should have meant.

Back to my own personal opinion, it sounds like you might be just going through a bit of a rough spot, and I agree that throwing in some new cool things to look forward to, like board games (I'll plug for Pandemic, awesome game) might give you some new ideas for your world as well as a bit of a break. I also second the above poster's suggestion to read some cool books (Put in a plug for the online serial novel Worm, one of the best series I've ever read. It is a slightly dark take on the superhero genre, which you might appreciate given your avatar/image).