MC Fatigue

Irish · Post by **Irish** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 8:55 am

I'm beginning to feel run down over constantly being the only person in my group to run games anymore. Only 1 other person has run more than one game, but he's steadfastly refusing to run anything in the immediate future.

So I put the question to the Den in general- how do you deal with MC fatigue? Any tips for encouraging people to step up to the plate without them deciding that plate should be DnD 5e?

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 9:24 am

Rotating MC duties. A lot of people are willing to run one game in a campaign if they don't have to generate the entire campaign world and such. If you start a game up with the expectation that turns will be taken on who is the MC "for the night" a lot more people are willing to step up to the plate. Less pressure if they can just run a single adventure for established characters.

-Username17

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 9:29 am

Try having multiple simultaneous MCs. It might not be as daunting for people in the group if they have someone else to bounce ideas off of and split the load of both preparation and runtime crunch. This is fully compatible with rotating MCs.

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 10:43 am

I always used to be looking for a chance to play as a player.

A number of things have now led me to realize and reconcile myself with the fact that actually, I just plain prefer to be GM. And indeed I don't actually need or even especially want to be anything else to enjoy TTRPGs.

I think the turning point or last straw or whatever was the campaign I played in that spawned the Our Favorite Edition thread.

So my advice is to go play as a player with a really really bad GM. Worked for me, GMing fatigue is no longer a thing. Cured forever. Though I do occasionally get TTRPG fatigue in general.

tussock · Post by **tussock** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 12:24 pm

I like finding new things to work with. Like take a book I haven't much bothered with before, dig through it and find something that feels like I haven't done that (much). Taking new things and making them fit in somewhere with whatever's going on in the campaign.

So if there's now going to be Shadow Dragons, where do they hide, how does this particular one hang here without everyone talking about it, suddenly it's gotta have henchmen and puppets and then it needs a plot and bla bla bla it's entangled in all sorts of shit, because of course it is.

And then I have to figure out clues, how can the PCs be expected to figure any of that out at all, preferably tie into things they've already got but don't understand yet, and once I've got way too many clues I want to hand the fucking things out and that means playing D&D or whatever.

Same for modules, find something to change, critters to set moving and ways the occupants can interact and respond to intrusions, and drag in some more foreshadowing and give more real options, then I want to use it, try it out, see what happens.

Krusk · Post by **Krusk** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 3:23 pm

what fatigues you specifically? There is probbaly some stuff to help with that, and any advice you get is probably going to be more direct to your issues.

Irish · Post by **Irish** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 3:42 pm

What fatigues me specifically is being the only person to DM for my group for about close to a year now, and doing so every single week. Nobody offers to switch in and run even like a short little side thing except for one guy who will only do it if its 5E.

My problems with that are twofold:
1. It's fucking 5E, and
2. He's a fucking awful DM, is 17 years old so is EXACTLY as mature as you would expect such a person to be in outlook, and manages to combine silly edgelord immaturity with an incredibly grognardy approach to gaming. Seriously, it's like he stepped out of the "glory days" of 2E. Dude isn't even old enough to have played with THAC0 and he likes it, for heavens sake.

So yeah, I'm left as the only choice for a game at all in my group and I'm beginning to feel burnt out on it, and as such I was looking for some tricks or tips in maybe convincing some other people to step up to the plate (or to at least back away from 5th edition).

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 3:51 pm

The point is you didn't answer the question.

Are you fatigued of not getting to play because you really want to play?
Are you fatigued because designing encounters is hard?
Are you fatigued because you've used up all the plots you thought of and now you have to think up more?
Are you fatigued because the act of sitting at a table managing the game for your alleged friends is a chore because they are all a bunch of entitled assholes who spend the whole game trolling you?

Why specifically are you fatigued?

silva · Post by **silva** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 4:09 pm

Irish wrote:I'm beginning to feel run down over constantly being the only person in my group to run games anymore. Only 1 other person has run more than one game, but he's steadfastly refusing to run anything in the immediate future.

So I put the question to the Den in general- how do you deal with MC fatigue? Any tips for encouraging people to step up to the plate without them deciding that plate should be DnD 5e?

My group was in such a state a few years ago. We only played Shadowrun by then, with me as the GM. What I did was this:

1. Refusing to GM anymore, stating that I was pretty fatigued and if we insisted our sessions would suffer for it. Then someone else took the reins of GM and I gave them some guidance while calibrated my exceptations low at first. In the end it payed off, as now everybody is GMing more or less well and Im having fun playing all I want.

2. Sold them on a bunch of other games, hooked by their own interests ("Hey do you also watch that series Game of Thrones/Vikings/Leverage ? What about a game there ?" or "The last Mad Max/Star Wars movie was awesome, neh ? I know some nice post-apoc/Star Wars rpgs! Why dont we try them ?" ). When I knew it, everybody else was tired of Shadowrun too and we have been changing games since. We already played Steampunk games, Post-apoc games, and now we are going to try a Vikings themed game.

An interesting side-effect of this is that I could see my groups tastes changing and getting less tolerant to Shadowrun rules problems, while getting appreciative of other games rules that, in the past, they dismissed on sight as "Nah this is not Shadowrun". They have widen their horizons and this is good.

Dogbert · Post by **Dogbert** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 9:26 pm

Well, if there's no one at your table willing to run a game you'd actually play, then you'll have to look in other tables for what your current table can't give you.

I don't see what's so complicated about it.

Irish · Post by **Irish** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 8:58 am

Kaelik wrote:The point is you didn't answer the question.

Are you fatigued of not getting to play because you really want to play?
Are you fatigued because designing encounters is hard?
Are you fatigued because you've used up all the plots you thought of and now you have to think up more?
Are you fatigued because the act of sitting at a table managing the game for your alleged friends is a chore because they are all a bunch of entitled assholes who spend the whole game trolling you?

Why specifically are you fatigued?

Specifically 1 and 4. They aren't all assholes or anything, they just seem genuinely terrified of the idea of running a game/absolutely aren't willing to put in the effort to run a game/5etarded.

Dogbert wrote:Well, if there's no one at your table willing to run a game you'd actually play, then you'll have to look in other tables for what your current table can't give you.

I don't see what's so complicated about it.

1. Not all of us are so fortunate as to have access to lots of gaming groups in their area. I live in a pretty damn small city.

2. The 2 whole other groups that do exist, all are furiously circlejerking about how amazing 5th edition is. I legitimately do not understand why this is the case, although my suspicion is that they believe new= good.

tussock · Post by **tussock** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 9:48 am

If you're grumpy about running at all, your players won't want to run. I've been there.

So play 5e. Just, for the atmosphere and stuff, roleplay along, ignore all the crap rules the same way your DM will be ignoring all the rules like the DMG tells them to.

With your young Edgelord. You know how people go to see really bad movies with their friends and have fun anyway? Like that. Person you're rescuing turns out to be the bad guy luring you into a trap and stabs you to death with no clues at all that was about to happen, even though you had things in place should've prevented that? LOL, of course it did, how "unpredictable". Oh, but you're not dead, just captured with no equipment! LOL. But your chains are loose, would you like to escape? LOL.

shlominus · Post by **shlominus** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 10:01 am

a couple of sessions of 5e won't kill you.

with a little luck, whover tries their hand at gming will like it. maybe in time, while working on becoming a better gm, they'll then understand 5e's flaws and move on to systems you appreciate more.

at worst, you'll have a few sessions that are not so great, but your batteries will have been refilled. and you'll most likely have a few good stories to tell.

also, what tussock said. if you make being the dm look like a chore, don't expect others to take your place.

K · Post by K » Mon Dec 21, 2015 10:33 am

There is something to be said for the regenerative powers of beer-and-pretzels gaming.

Play some Rifts, or some Mutants and Masterminds, or Paranoia. Just make your goal "have some goddamn fun" and be creative and things get a lot easier.

silva · Post by **silva** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 12:47 pm

K wrote:There is something to be said for the regenerative powers of beer-and-pretzels gaming.

Play some Rifts, or some Mutants and Masterminds, or Paranoia. Just make your goal "have some goddamn fun" and be creative and things get a lot easier.

This is also true. Though I would suggest games with simpler, lower learning curves: Fiasco, Risus or Mountain Witch.

MisterDee · Post by **MisterDee** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 3:50 pm

There's no panacea to the "run a game every week" fatigue.

Seriously, do something else with your time - videogames, boardgames, Test Cricket, whatever. It'll do wonders.

TheFlatline · Post by **TheFlatline** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 5:10 pm

MisterDee wrote:There's no panacea to the "run a game every week" fatigue.

Seriously, do something else with your time - videogames, boardgames, Test Cricket, whatever. It'll do wonders.

Yeah. Board games might not be a bad idea. If you're competition adverse there's lots of co-op games out there. The Legacy series is even bringing permanent campaigns into the fold. Go check out Pandemic Legacy for an example of a co-op with permanently changing rules based on how well you play.

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 8:16 pm

Here's another alternative that has sometimes worked for me in the past: state that weekly adventure prep is too much, and you can only run your game every other week. State that you'd still like to get together weekly and on alternate weeks either someone else can run something or you can break out the boardgames. That's a way to take some of the pressure off of yourself and also make it easier for someone else to step up.

Conversely, there are times when this has backfired due to either the lack of recall and continuity that 2 week gaps impose on campaigns and/or the inherent scheduling difficulties in any RPG group.

TheFlatline · Post by **TheFlatline** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 8:17 pm

Josh_Kablack wrote:Here's another alternative that has sometimes worked for me in the past: state that weekly adventure prep is too much, and you can only run your game every other week. State that you'd still like to get together weekly and on alternate weeks either someone else can run something or you can break out the boardgames.

As I get older my gaming frequency slowed down. We're talking about monthly games now when we talk about getting a game together.

It's easier as a MC.

Krusk · Post by **Krusk** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 12:55 am

If its just a genuine desire to play a game now and again I can get that. Unfortunately for you, that sounds like your option is "Play in a shitty game".

I went through a similar situation the beginning of the year. I'm apparently the only one in my group who can DM a decent game (they all bitch about one another doing the exact same thing. No loot, low power, DM fap NPCs).

I let someone else DM for ~6 months while I recharged (rotated for 3-4 session games). It was awful, and we let them wrap up their games up. Two players quit the group until it ended, and came back on the condition that no one but me DM. During that time I got to get my "i'm a player" out, and I got so frustrated with shitty games, I refuse to play in them anymore. I've realized that for whatever reason most people are shitty at it, and if I want to play a decent game, apparently I have to run it. Now though, most of the group sees it as well. This means I run the game I want. "We are starting at 6th level, and only going to level 1 or 2 times. You will be pirates and we are using X, Y, and Z variants" instead of "everyone make whatever they want, and Ill try to improv something you enjoy". I railroad hard at the beginning to set up a plot and campaign I'm into. I ease off once things get moving, but I ensure its a plot I want to explore before we even make characters. Each character is vetted, and had better fit with that theme. If I'm not into it, i don't even propose it.

I also have taken to running shorter games with a defined time period. "We are going to play twice monthly for 4 months. I expect to go from level 3-10" or something. Then I plan for 4 months, and swap it up. Pirates, then shadowrun, Right now is a hexcrawl, next is a scifi giant robot game. No, you don't really have a say.

Not to say I'm an ass about it, I take consideration, and try to make it interesting to each player. They just only have so much input. When someone wants to be a comedic furry robot in a grimdark super serious game, I tell them they have to save it for another time. If you say you have a neat idea for a kender, I explain that you can fuck off and that isn't happening.

Obviously its only been working for me for a year, but I've been running 2-3 games a month, and haven't run out of steam since Juneish.

Dogbert · Post by **Dogbert** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 7:57 am

Irish wrote:1. Not all of us are so fortunate as to have access to lots of gaming groups in their area. I live in a pretty damn small city.

Who's talking about meatspace? I haven't sat at a meatspace table in almost ten years. If you really want to play, virtual tabletops have groups a plenty to join. But then, if you don't want it enough, there's also excuses a plenty not to try.

MCs are like the dating pool. If a player doesn't have the inclination/skill to become a MC now, then chances are they won't have them later either. If you want to play and don't want to play neckbeard edition ran by an actual neckbeard then you'll have to look elsewhere.

Dogbert · Post by **Dogbert** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 9:59 am

Krusk wrote:and I got so frustrated with shitty games, I refuse to play in them anymore. I've realized that for whatever reason most people are shitty at it, and if I want to play a decent game, apparently I have to run it.

"If you want a job well done, DIY."

I see where you're coming from, that's my story as well, but I also discovered that the key to happiness lies in lowered expectations. No game is ever going to be "perfect," but sometimes "good enough" is all you need. By "good enough" be understood MC not being actively out to piss in your cheerios and let you do the thing you intended to do with your character to have fun.

The PF game I've been playing for a year now would usually have been not to my liking, but this time I was only there to play d&d's most basic premise: a functioning murderhobo. Amass wealth, get power (and finally attain lichdom, after trying in 4 failed games)... and MC didn't try to stop me from getting either. No attempts at conning us out of our loot, no resistance posed in us crafting our own magic items, no author tracts, no broken Aesops. This was the year I finally made my peace with d&d. Could the story have been more to my liking? Perhaps but who cares? MC is having fun, I am having fun, and we're not pissing in each other's coffee, that's all that matters.

Krusk wrote:This means I run the game I want. "We are starting at 6th level, and only going to level 1 or 2 times. You will be pirates and we are using X, Y, and Z variants" instead of "everyone make whatever they want, and Ill try to improv something you enjoy".

Again, a man after my own heart.

I've been living by "My game, my rules, the specific scope I want to give this adventure" for years now and everything is SO much easier and there is zero drama. I give my players the full pitch beforehand and they decide whether they're in or not. Now, my players can give me a counter-proposal, but obviously I have to like it.

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