Not really! I love being a DM. But then unlike my two friends I wasn’t the regular DM weekly for 12 years. So there’s that.
For forever DMs out there. Do you ever get to play?
Do you take regular breaks?
How does DMing work for you?
And thanks. I see you.
🙏❤️
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This is why my group has like four different games going. I run one, and three of the others also run their own. I get to play twice a week and run a game every other week.
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Don’t tell my friends, but I actually like GMing more than playing now. It’s fun to have the galaxy-brain “always on” feeling and multitask information. (And it’s always your turn in combat!)
How to accomplish with peanut brain?
Use a different, simpler system.
DnD and PF are on the crunchier side of the spectrum for ttrpgs, as much as I love PF2. There are tons of great systems you can learn all the rules to in a matter of minutes and run awesome campaigns in without all the crunch. Personally, I love the crunch but it’s not for everyone so you shouldn’t force it if it’s not for you. Simple doesn’t mean dumb either, a great example is the newer system Shadowdark. Dungeon Crawl Classics is another solid choice, there are a bunch of others though. Like the indie system The Electrum Archive or TEA. The rules are free, simple, but engaging (with inspiration from Morrowind and Dune so bonus points from me).
Don’t confine yourself!
spoiler
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When Hercules visited King Eurystheus, he told Hercules he would need to complete 12 difficult labors for him. One of those labors was to steal the golden apples that belonged to Zeus. These apples were in a garden and guarded by a hundred-headed dragon and the Hesperides sea nymphs. Hercules did not know how he was going to get past these guards to steal the golden apples, so he sought the help of Atlas at the advice of Prometheus.
Hercules visited Atlas and proposed a deal: if Atlas fetched the golden apples, Hercules would hold up the earth. Atlas hated holding up the earth, so he willfully agreed. After Atlas had retrieved the apples, he returned to Hercules and told him that he would take the apples to King Eurystheus himself. After all, Atlas did not want to return to holding up the earth.
Hercules could not let Atlas do that but also didn’t know how to give him back the earth, so Hercules came up with a plan. Hercules asked Atlas to take the earth for a moment while he placed some soft padding on his shoulders to help him hold the earth. When Atlas agreed and took the earth back on his shoulders, Hercules grabbed the apples and left Atlas at the edge of the earth holding the world like he had done for so many years before.
I just wish I had the creativity, ability to improvise, and dedication necessary to DM. It’s the fact that I’m lacking in all three that keeps me out of that position.
I’m the forever GM, but my players also insist I play a PC in the party, so I kinda still get to play. I think they know otherwise I’d never be a player. LOL
My group’s had a pretty good thing going for 6ish years now. 3 out of the 6 if us all love DMing, and so we rotate beween new campaigns every couple years and all of us get a chance to play. We actually have 2 going on right now, and I’m a player in both. My last campaign ended in 2021 and I’ll be taking over for one of the campaigns in a couple months
I actually enjoy playing a lot more than DMing. I don’t really like DMing all that much but I hate not having a game even more. I wish one of my friends would step up to the plate.
I’d like to be the blue dude. I want to try running a little campaign, but my group has 2 very good GMs and I’m generally nervous and not good at talking. I’ve considered maybe running something online with some vague online friends to learn how, but our GMs are my roommates and I’m sure they would hear me playing with strangers and ask why and/or insist that our own group won’t judge me. Which they wouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean I want to look like a fuck up in front of them in comparison to the standard of GMing theyre used to
Maybe just try running something for you two DMs then! I’d bet that they’d be happy to help nurture another DM’s growth. Speaking anecdotally about my own experience with mentoring other DMs I’ve never felt that they’re fuckups, but rather just felt great joy at seeing them grow.
I like DMing, so I’m always DM.
Fucking love that my group is basically all the second guy. We’ve all taken the GM spot at one point.
Let’s see. I started as DM in 92, after the group I was a player in fell apart.
From then, it was 99 before I had a chance to play as a player again. However! It was the first time someone ran my home brew system other than me, so it was a double pleasure. It was cool as fuck to see my best friend build his own world around the same mechanics and ideas we’d used with me as GM
After that, it was, I think 2003? A friend ran a white wolf game series. We did Vampire, werewolf, and changeling (or whatever the faery system was called). That lasted maybe six months though, the dude running it was a flake.
That’s it, that’s the sum total of play time I’ve had as a player in thirty odd years lol.
I’ve gotten my fix in video games off and on. D&d online, neverwinter there for a while, replays of Baldur’s gate and 2, that weird superhero MMORPG. I’d play Baldur’s gate 3, but I don’t have the income to upgrade my hardware. That’s usually good enough tbh.
I’ve thought about finding an online group to join, but I’m not super reliable these days. My parents are aging, I’ve got a kid, so I can’t do regularly scheduled play reliably. That’s a big ask for a group to put up with.
Thing is, I fucking love running a game. The world building, the planning of sessions amd campaigns, all the minutia of it just makes me happy. I have NPC enemies built up in five or six game systems that probably won’t ever get used, but I have fun making them up.
When I don’t have a game going, I write instead.
You might be the dumbest man alive but Laura Les sure is the dumbest girl alive !
