So, a few weeks ago, I suspended my D&D campaign and quasi-resigned the DM’s chair. “Quasi”, because it may be a temporary move. I know campaigns come and go all the time. But this is more than a little bit traumatic for me. My circle of friends in Seattle for practically my entire time here - almost 8 years now - is composed almost entirely of the people who have played in my game. There have been hiatuses before, and the occasional guest DM when I was feeling particularly burned out, but this is different. The new DM, a *GREAT* DM in times past, has an open-ended mandate to run for as long as he wants. If and when I pick it up again, I don’t know that I’ll pick up the Ptolus campaign where I left off. In other words, I’m done.
We started at the Wizards of the Coast offices, where I posted a want ad in Local-U.S. (an Outlook discussion group for general postings that went to everyone who subscribed to it (which was practically everyone in the company)), looking for folks interested in trying the then-new Wheel of Time d20 game. When we stopped meeting in the WotC conference rooms (gaming in conference rooms after hours was pretty common) and moved to living rooms, a couple more joined. From there, it’s been an ebb and flow as boy/girl-friends came and went and the occasional drop-out was replaced by “a guy I know.” We switched to a D&D game that went for about 5 of those years, and recently switched to another - the Ptolus campaign I’d started posting about.
With the Ptolus campaign, I thought I’d try new things. I’ve always been incredibly improvisational; it is either true or a mild exaggeration that I wrote fewer than 1,000 words, TOTAL (NPC names, locations, story notes, etc…) over the course of the entire campaign. This time, I wrote a detailed players guide that covered world-building issues and house rules. Rather than hand-wave character creation issues I wrote (for me) a complex set of rules that merged Arcana Evolved and SRD-style characters together. I asked for backgrounds from each player, and I laid plans for everyone’s background to fit into the overall story.
Problem was, I’d never used this sort of information before, and I just wasn’t very good at it. I’d lose track of things, and I neglected a couple players whose stories I just hadn’t come to grips with yet. I was using a lot of published material (Ptolus, as well as professionally-written adventures), but that required more set-up than I was used to. I was paradoxically over AND under-prepared to DM each week. With that circumstance facing me week after week, I finally lost the will to beat myself up and I packed up my tents.
The take-away from all this, for me and for you, is that if there’s going to be change to your game, it should come gradually. Find the couple of things that most bother you and focus on those. And for pete’s sake, talk to your players and ask them for their input. You might be completely off-base about where your strengths and weaknesses are.
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Elizabeth Barrette 01.13.09 at 10:04 pm
Wow, that sounds rough. I’ve been through a number of campaigns, with various ends, some explosive. I tend to invest a lot more in roleplaying than most people do; for me it’s an exercise in personal growth (whether as GM or player) and not merely idle entertainment. So I customarily favor heavy character development and crosslinked plot threads, with attendant recordkeeping. (My occasional attempts to NOT do that have all failed.) When it works, it’s breathtaking. Some people really love it, again from both directions. Others find that it’s not their idea of a good time.
My gaming wisdom comes down to: Know what you want and need. Know what your friends want and need. Assemble a group whose interests have enough overlap for everyone to have fun. Pick a gaming system that supports your interests. Don’t do exactly the same thing all the time; shift emphasis to keep things fresh.