gm burnout Options

[Maelstrome]

What do you do to cope with gm burnout? it gets bothersome to write sessions these days. and my new group thats new to the whole rpg thing just seems interested in killing and looting. which in my opinion isnt what sr is really about. also we are playing another game which has no equipment or combat system because everything is resolved in a scene like fashion instead of round based. two of my players tried to gm the othe day, one said they would never do it again and the other is hesitent but is being pressured into gming fourth by another player.

what are your experiences with this type of thing?

[Professeur]

Quit gaming with those people. If something you do for free time seems like a chore, stop doing it. And find new people to game with.

[Wombat]

Go on hiatus from GMing for a bit and just play, or failing that take a break from the game entirely. You should be refreshed after a few weeks to a couple months. You'll know when you're ready to come back to GMing once you start having more SR ideas than you know what to do with. Of course, there's always the looming threat of becoming a well-known author of dystopian literature. Curse you fate!!!

[Backgammon]

I'd recommend quitting for a while. Could be a year even, or more. Shadowrun will still be there when you get back. And in the meantime, in the first few months you won't think much about SR, but then story ideas and such will start to creep in, and you'll be back to thinking "man I could do a cool scenario with that!".

Or not. Either way, do what you want. That's what's important.

[BlueMax]

Bruda, I hear you.

I am constantly on the edge of burnout. My group is experienced but they have chosen lately to play boringly cold. Its not even murderous characters/ cold blooded killers. Instead they just don't have any ambitions, attachments or goals. Its the players not the characters, so a reset wont save me.

sigh

At least I get to play in a hoop kickin game on Sunday.

BlueMax

[Mercurian]

You said that your current group is relatively new. Do you still have access to your old crew? Maybe convincing one of them to join in and take over GM detail for while could help?

Other than that, I'd have to agree with the others and just step back and take a break since none of them wants to put on the GM hat. If you still want to game, however, the declaration of a 'vacation' might jumpstart one of them into running a game.

[Ice Hammer]

For me, it certainly helps to take a break. Everyone in my group (4 people total) can and are willing to GM for the group if necesary. And sometimes, we get interested in having just a one-shot game for a few weeks to do something different. On top of that, we break things up in a rotation, six weeks of Shadowrun and six weeks of another game. By the time I get to the end of my six weeks, I'm usually relieved and I look forward to being just a player again. And when those six weeks of the other game is up, I'm usually excited about GM'ing again.

Usually, I'm prepared in advance for my shadowrun games. But as others have said, while on a break, it can be great to refresh your creative juices and generate new ides that could enhance the game. So, I suggest taking a break, playing another type of game just to keep your group together and to have fun, and find someone who would be willing to share the GM duties.

[Lindt]

Most GMs have a little burn out every once in a while. Just take a week or 4 off. Get someone else to run a game. Try a new (simple) system, I recommend "Kobalds ate my baby". Watch a few good crime suspense movies, or reserve an evening where they only thing you do with your team is housekeeping (go shopping for new gear but RP everything, get in touch with contacts they havent used in a few runs, ect). Or find a copy of "Harlequin's Back" and read it. If that book won't make you want to run a GREAT game, you should find better players.
~

[Draco18s]

Give them an impossible mission, sit back and let them figure it out.

*Cough*
Our GM gave us the job of non-stressfully extracting a target from Sauder-Krup's New York archology, payout (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) 75,000 for 6 players. He did not plan how this was to be accomplished, because any time he does we find another way to do it.
We did it, non-violently.
After expenses* we made (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) 5833 a person.

*Paid a coven of mages to Influence him to visit a hat shop in the mall. Our mage convinced him the face was his best friend and to try on full-face mask hats. Sniper bumped into them, knocking them over. Face changed his face to be that of the target and removed the mask. Mage used Control Actions on him to walk him out without removing his mask. Face palmed his comlink (later ditched it). Upon getting cleanly away the Control Actions was dropped, the face beat up the mage and said, "We need to get out of here, they were trying to kidnap you, I've got plane tickets to Seattle, hurry." Getting him to the drop location they tranc patched him and downloaded company secrets and gave us our pay.
Expenses: 30000 to the Mages, 8000 to an infobroker for info about the target, 2000 for travel and sundries.

[The Jake]

1. Quit gaming with these people.
2. Alternatively, just stop running games for them.
3. Have a sit down and explain the situation to them and explain what you don't like about their playing style. If they really don't get it, see 1.
4. Find another group to game with. Sometimes finding another group that you are better aligned with makes it a lot more tolerable playing with a far more annoying group, because you're getting your kicks elsewhere.

- J.

[Dream79]

I like Draco18s idea of giving them a run that requires low key nonviolence. A couple extractions, data theft or investigation type runs which Mr. J. doesn't want any collateral damage, media attention or the immediate awareness of the target.

If it's more then just the groups playing style, you might try just spacing out sessions more. I know back in my teens I could run something twice a week. Then later it was once a week. Now with work and all, I couldn't imagine sitting down and being able to keep up with a once a week session. The last group I was with for instance was every other week and two GMs taking turns running two different games.

It's easier to do that with a group of experienced players since they usually know the work the GM goes through. I've had less experienced players complain about down times between sessions, but if I can't run weekly without burnout (have to deal with real life too) it's "tough shit, I have things I need to do". Otherwise it's like other people said, take a break, have someone else GM for awhile or find a new group.

[nezumi]

An alternative to breaks (for me) is spend more time inundating with the sort of creative material you plan on emulating. Whatever it is you enjoy; political novels, action movies, whatever. As long as it gives you ideas. Something about that makes me want to GM more, just to get those ideas out in the next run.

[Wesley Street]

Dear Burned-Out in Boise,

I'm hitting the edge of burnout city myself so I certainly sympathize. After running a campaign for over a year my brain has become a little frazzled and I'm often looking for short, prepackaged adventures rather than writing my own. My suggestions are thus:

1. Provide your group adventures that absolutely cannot be completed with looting and pillaging. A few failures under their belt will change their mindset.
2. Remember that your players are new to RPGs. They may a "video-game" mindset and there will be a definite adjustment period. Remain patient and they will come around.
3. Use your traditional RPG game time to play a fun multiplayer board game. Tannhauser, Twilight Imperium, and Talisman are all wonderful and engaging table top games.
4. Take some time for yourself and use it to research and prep adventures in advance. Your players will thank you and you will thank yourself when you don't need to rush. And remember, there's nothing wrong with a bubble bath, some candlelight and a good book. You need to love yourself before you can love your players.

Best of luck!
~Dr. Wesley

[Malachi]

3. Use your traditional RPG game time to play a fun multiplayer board game. Tannhauser, Twilight Imperium, and Talisman are all wonderful and engaging table top games.

My group already does this. Once every 8 weeks or so we throw in a TI night. I swear that's one of the best board games ever created...

I also recommend: Munchkin, Order of the Stick, and Zombies!

[Maelstrome]

thanks everyone for your advice and input. ill finish up the game im running now. one of my original group wants to run ogl steampunk again so ill get a break for a while.

[Wounded Ronin]

My solution has historically been drinking.

[Snow_Fox]

right mix it up a little. When we were able to play regularly we had a main GM and he would setup a serries of runs on a theme, then while he rested two of us would GM other runs while he recovered.

[PBI]

I had this problem, too, a classic "no one else wants to/thinks they can/whathaveyou" be the GM, and since I volunteered, I ended up GMing for several years. Finally, once I'd reached burnout, I tok a break and then, when the RP bug got me again, I went back in to GMing with the iron-clad proviso that one of the other players would undertake to run a completely different campaign and that we'd alternate, and it worked beautifully. Now I get my fix as a player and am able to continue GMing and everyone is happy.

[crazyconscript]

I kinda started doing the alternating GM thing in our campaign. We started out with 3 players and the GM, but then suddenly 2 games in the group swelled to 8-9 players(one person cant always show up). So after one (very) hectic game with 8 runners, we decided to split the group. Out of our pool we have 3 GM's, so each week we run 2 games and each has 4 runners. The first GM has his story going and me and my friend alternate with me doing one-shot run's or him running a homebrew zombie game. It's worked pretty well so far, as we all get our RP fix and i also get the pleasure of being the big nasty GM from time to time (IMG:style_emoticons/default/vegm.gif)

[InfinityzeN]

Way back in the day when I was running SR3 at a pace of a little over a game a week (about 5 games a month), I suffered burn out pretty darn bad. I took a week off and did some brainstorming the next week. I came up with a totally wacky oneshot that was just pure fun.

First, you get all the players together and tell them to make up a bunch of joe averages. I used WW's mortal templete and system, but you can use anything. Then they get two pools, a Stat Pool and a Skill Pool, which increase as they complete "Story Arcs". I used rating for Skill Pool and rating*3 of Stat (so Skill goes up after 2, 5, 9, 14, etc and Stat goes up at 3, 9, 18, etc) for increases, with Skill Pool starting at 1 and Stat at 0. They can assign them at any point in a story arc to a stat or skill, increasing that stat or skill by the points put into it for the rest of the story arc. Very important to let mundane joe averages have a chance.

The actual game, which had a Taxi Driver, a Lawyer and a Bum as players, started out with the Lawyer in the Taxi Drivers cab, rushing to court when the Bum walked out in the street. Massive crash, all the PCs 'died'. Then they all woke up laying on the floor in this strange white room with a little 1' tall green man floating there, looking at them and saying to himself "Yes... yes they will do..." Bright flash of light, roll on the massive handy dandy chart, and I dropped them smack dab in a movie/comic book/etc spoof (a "Story Arc" if you would, Instead of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, it would be Indago Jones and the Golden Coconut).

Just run it campy and let the players get away with crazy stuff if it makes everyone laugh. "Congo" I think was the one they liked the most. It started with me telling them "For some strange reason, your all speaking with a British accent" and they just ran with it. The white ape attack was fun too, since one of the players had the bright idea of looking at the script to find out what was going on right before it happen. So he reads "Large group of white apes attack camp, automatic machineguns cut down first wave" right before it happen. Of course, he pushed it a little too far, so I had some rapters show up and attack the apes and people. He didn't catch on right away, but after reading the next line "And then the T-Rex shows up", the threw the script away real quick. Congo mixes well with Jurassic Park.

Big honking cable guns in the back of a 'vert while being chased by black attack heli and hummers was also one that did well. If you need a movie to watch for overall feel, "Big Trouble in Little China" is how most of the games should go. Oh, and PCs never die. They just get knocked into the next Story Arc.

The important thing is that me and the players were laughing and smiling the entire time. Hell, once they figured it out they started suggesting other movies and comics. Just make sure you have seen/read them, or at least a good enough over view to totally wing it. Skip all the slow boring stuff, make everything over the top and crazy. When your finally ready to end it (after one game or several dozen), at the end of an Arc have all the players wake up in the hospital. Then just before the fade to black, all of them think they saw a little green face wink at them through a window.

---------------------------

If all that is too much work for you (its not really, you just make a list of moves/comics and run the whole thing off-the-cuff), you can always try the game "Men in Black" or "Toon" which are classics that we went too when most of the GMs were suffering burnout.

[fistandantilus4....]

Getting some fresh inspiration for yourself can be helpful, as was mentioned before. This can also be new material to work with, like a different genre for a little bit, or a new SR book or area to focus on.

Either way, try finding a way to get them out of their comfort zone. This doesn't necessarily have to be a non-vioelnt run, but rather, run a game that requires more thought out into it. Give them something that requires multiple stages to be effective, or has multiple goals that don't necessarily include a body count. Try a pre-made like Survival of the Fittest, Ghost Cartels, or Paradise Lost. I've always been a fan of PL, because you generally can't kill your way through the end.

Alternatively, you can change it up a bit for you, giving them what they want, like a run in the Renraku Arcology during the Shutdown. But it does sound as if they only have a basic, two dimensional idea of what they can do in SR. Sit them down and talk to them, give them an idea of what you're looking for or expecting in the game. Work on getting some more character depth by using 20 questions or back grounds to develop them more, make some more creative NPCs or a Nemesis, etc. The main thing is to talk to them. They may not understand what you consider broken.

[Wounded Ronin]

I find that Olde English is especially good for getting the creative juices flowing. Be sure to drink the whole 40 ounces.

[Maelstrome]

they understand what they can do in the game. i have no problems with power levels as long as the get it on there own instead of handed to them. i have talked to my group about it and they just want a kill and loot game.

really the group is mixed. they all want to fight a lot but the new people just want to hack,slash,kill,loot,leave.the more experienced people are fine with most things but get bored if fights get avoided or are too few.

now we have quit sr and maelstrom to play steampunk which is basically tweaked dnd. one of the new players is getting bratty and will probably get cut off soon. other than that its getting back to normal. after the story the current gm is finished ill be runnig a 7th saga esque game.

thanks again everybody.

maybe this thread will help plenty of others to.

[BlueMax]

I find that Olde English is especially good for getting the creative juices flowing. Be sure to drink the whole 40 ounces.

What? I can't pour any out for my Omae s who have passed in the line of running?

[Wounded Ronin]

What? I can't pour any out for my Omae s who have passed in the line of running?

Only after you've drank your first and started your second.