My gaming group is still in the midst of Pathfinder’s Second Darkness Adventure Path, modified for Warriors & Warlocks--something I find it difficult to generate a lot of GM-enthusiasm for as my interest has drifted over to the City, a place familiar to readers here. The difficulty comes in the fact that my player’s haven’t made that same mental leap.
This is a common problem for me, an expression of the oft-cited “Gamer ADD,” I suppose. I always seemed to be pining for the next game while sitting at the table with the current one. I'll be playing GURPS Fantasy while thinking about Transhuman Space, then half-heartedly exploring Transhuman Space while dreaming about Mutants & Masterminds.
A lot of it, I think, is the time-frame involved. As the GM and “game planner” I’ve spent a lot of quality time with the game-to-be before the player’s get there, and so I get burned out on it sooner. Also, our frequency of gaming as dictated by the difficulty of coordinating busy adult schedules, means weeks (sometimes even a month or more) between sessions, meaning there is no such thing as a “short” campaign, whatever occurs in-game.
Anybody else experience this problem? Any solutions?
Those long spans between sessions can really be difficult, we ran into that recently ourselves (a ten week delay.)
ReplyDeleteI find myself wanting to run a post-apoc game like Gamma World or Mutant Future from time to time, or a sci-fi one like Traveller or X-Plorers. If it ever gets to be too much, I plan on trying to lure the players towards a distant land where there's a mix of high and low tech and I can blur and mix the genres more.
Is it the desire for a different type of game or just boredom with the current rules that has you day dreaming?
I am *so* there with you. And I think you identified one of the primary causes of the problem: burning out on preparation before the game even gets started.
ReplyDeleteThese days, I comfort myself in the fact that I have a few more outlets: blogging, Mythic GME, and once-shots. I'd love to take my existing group to whatever it is I'm currently fancying (like Supers), but I understand their reluctance. A long-running game is very satisfying to players. It's also satisfying to me once I take a step back and look at things after my latest gamer crush has passed.
That being said, you *totally* need to get your players hooked on the City.
I suffer from the exact same problem. If there is a cure I'd love to know what it is!!
ReplyDeleteAll I can add is that that post could have been written by me (just change the names to protect the innocent) and like Bill said above: if there's a cure to this ADD I'd love to know what it is!
ReplyDelete@Ze Bulette - Mostly its setting or genre, though even before getting started on the City idea, I was getting tired of the prep-time for W&W (though its not that bad as games go). The older I get the more rules-lite I want things.
ReplyDeleteI think I enjoy world creation more than DM/GM-ing, which maybe be one of the problems. I don't enjoye fiddling with rules as much period as I did as a young(er) man.
@Risus - Jim Shelley, the only one of my players that ever reads my blog is eager to play in the City, but the other two don't know anything about it as yet.
@Bill and Flea - At least we know we're not alone. :) I sometimes think the only cure might be multiple gaming groups, but where would that time come from?
@ Trey - time isn't so much the issue for me, it's simply finding gamers in this benighted, backwoods area of the UK! ;)
ReplyDelete@Acrobatic Flea When I have the time (which is seldom these days) I don't have the players,
ReplyDelete@Trey I think I'm like you in that I enjoy creating more than running. + all the little background duties that come with DMing tire me quickly (coordinating players, reminding folks of the next game time etc..)
I am right there with you, I struggle with ADD constantly, I never made the connection with prep exposing the GM to the world for sometimes week prior to the players even stepping foot in it. That is probably much more of a culprit that all the other nefarious evil-doers I have come up with in the past.
ReplyDeleteAlso, eagerly looking forward to The City!
Thanks. That's an issue player's fail to appreciate, too. The game feels brand new to them, when the GM's been "pre-playing" it in their head for weeks perhaps in various ways.
ReplyDelete