Wednesday, February 8, 2017

On Being A Game Master: Maxing Out



I've been lucky to be a part of three game groups over the last several years and I've been consistently running two games for most of that time. However, late last year the GM had to leave the one group I got to play in and I took over, essentially, by default. 

My plan was to stick with modules for all three groups and make the best of it. The best laid plans...

Three groups is difficult to run for me. Scratch that, it may be impossible for me to do. Part of it is something I'd already noticed about two games, when you get to the end of a session and your pumped up with motivation and ideas, you have a completely different game to prepare for and things get a bit fuzzy. Three games take that problem to the worst possible outcome for me.

I knew I had made a mistake almost immediately, but I didn't want to let anyone down (such a foolish notion). But within about three weeks, I was so burned out I nearly just stepped back from everything.

Thankfully, the one lesson I have truly learned in the last quarter century is to talk to your groups. I was able to hand the Thursday game off to a different GM and am finally starting to get things back on track.

It's good to try to organize things, but don't ever forget to be honest with yourself about your limitations and don't let your hobby turn into work.

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Monster Monday: Obstrevoi for Shadowdark

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