How GM burnout RUINED my campaign (and how to fix it) 

Thank you for this helpful video!

Based on your tea promo, I think we need a Downton Abbey RPG now. "Mr. Barrow uses Cutting Remark. Carson counters with Stiff Upper Lip, and attacks with Know Your Place."

My friend sent me a link to Many Worlds Tavern this morning, and I just placed an order a few hours before this video came out. What are the odds.

I'm a retired Vet. I run 14 Campaigns a Month. I dont get burn out even though I create all the worlds, NPCs, Monsters, Encounters, and Economies myself. To stop myself from burnout though, I do take vacation breaks every six months that last 2 or 3 weeks. I also Schedule the groups for specific days, at specific times and then and I keep to those schedules. If i dont, then that can cause burnout. Not each session HAS to be done all in one go. and not all campaigns have to be quick. Burnout sucks. and ive been DM'ing for 27 years, ive grown accustom on how to plan around burnout and keeping player attention while gaming.

@@kapnkerf2532 I would TOTALLY play in that

I've heard of factories running their machines until they broke down, doing only the minimum repairs necessary to get them back up and running and then doing it again. While it's a good short term strategy, long term it's going to bite you.

Your body often also charges interest for the overdue maintenance. If you think you’re being more efficient, you’re really just kicking the katamari down the road.

Good quote.

And it never does it at a convenient time, either.

@@RichardHopkinsLobosSolos Half measures will cost you three times as much in the end.

new GM here. I had this sinking feeling when I realised I was basically the game engine. Usually you've got a graphics engine, voice actors, an orchestra, and a responsive AI to do the GM's side of things... No wonder burn out is a thing O_O My computer overheats being the GM!

@@CappyK yeah for sure there is only so much one person can do i found a few ways myself to help like talking to my brother who dms our main campain but isnt apart of mine. it really helps as we can look at things differently and not everthing has to be from my head. we also found these role and play improve books at comicon of last year that let you create indepth npcs or encounters on the fly, i cant recommend something like them more.

Hah, the subtitles say "I hope your cat barks in your shoe", which is a bit less savage and more surreal

If my cat barked in my shoe I'd probably hang up my hat.

This made my day.

Honestly? Ginny seems to project such "sweetheart energy" that even when she is being savage, it seems like she is being nice about it! lol

Hope the cat barfs in both shoes... like people are not passionate about their hobbies or even structure the rest of their lives in order to pursue those hobbies.

This is pretty much the solution in every Ginny Di video, ever.

That's true 😂 the fact that people seem to struggle with that so much is some unfortunate job security that I truly wish I didn't have

This is the most common type of burnout for me as well--really enjoying running and the players/PCs but having new interests and ideas for settings or games and getting tired of the old ways I do things!

100% This is me. I get obsessed with a new creative project, so when my muse starts me thinking about the next setting/campaign, it can put the current campaign at risk. When I realized this was happening after 8 years in my primary homebrew, I TALKED to the players - which in my case are also old friends. We worked out a plan to accept more exposition for me to fast-track them through the last few scenarios, pausing my storytelling just for key RP or combat moments. The plan would have wrapped up the campaign with an epic 3-part (3 session) finale. Sadly, a certain pandemic hit right when this was meant to happen - and that particular table of friends was not interested in porting it all to remote TT. ... Pandemic aside though, you and Ginny Di are correct: talking it out with your fellow humans can lead to solutions.

I think that "talk to your players" gets overused since 5e because it's so easy for players to feel like they don't need to listen or participate in that talk. For a lot of players they can just ignore it & say whatever they feel ends the immediate problem of that discussion the gm is trying to unjustly force them to participate in so they can go back to playing the game without any changes.

You just gave me an idea. Next time my players visit a town I'll ask the players which characters have been in the town before and if they say yes i'll follow up with "what happened/what did you do?". Lets say someone tills a short story about them visiting a bar and was talking all night with a stranger. Then I'll let the roll a charisma check and see if that person got along with the player or worse, got offended in some way (if the check fails). Now they'll have a clpser connection to the place and might be on the lookout for the character they met last time.

Yeah, I'm looking at both story-oriented and retro games as alternatives to those GMing expectations

That is why I loved DMing 4e. It was so much better for DMs.

You can always run something other than 5e too. There are systems out there that are pretty rules light and still a ton of fun, like Fate.

If switching players with GMs and stories from serial to one-shots is good enough for Naruto, then it’s justification enough for me.

When I've not prepared enough I go all in on coversations and crazy NPCs. Just let the group chase a fleeing pig or stall with a impuslive barfight

Often the players just want to have a laugh and you should to.

@@chrisrobin4962 Its true! I've found making just plain old silly encounters or instances really help lighten the mood and take pressure off and just remind me that at the end of the day, we are together to play a game and have fun.

@@seniorfiance 100%! One of our most memorable moments in our group was during a barfight and one of the PCs (a dwarf) went down on the floor and started biting a NPCs foot. So take a breather from time to time, they don't know when things should happen, that's your decision, so there isn't really any stress :)

Why? It’s a game.

@Foolio 77 refer to the aforementioned irl drama.

@@johnfolmer5412 most people have never experienced real trauma, or a stressful event, though they often throw those words around for attention. Not saying that’s your case, but playing an RPG, or DMing, is a getaway. Forget about everything else and jump into the game.

@Foolio 77 so what exactly is the point in telling me this? In a video about gm burnout, which talks about among other things the stress of running a dnd game, why are you trying to tell me not to be stressed about it? As you said, you don't know who I am. You don't know what I have been through. Why do you feel compelled to try and prove a point that I may or may not already know? The grandstanding is unnecessary.

Destigmatize? It’s a game, what stigma?

@@Foolio77 Even outside the game, there is a real stigma about not admitting to burnout and just forcing oneself to work through it.

Having multiple dms rotate campaigns at the same time is such a cool idea! Everyone gets a chance to play and more flexibility in when they want to prep. I love it

Where do groups like you find each other? How do groups like this form? I can't get people IRL to show up, and I'm both wanting to try and avoid either playing online, or having to try and overcome my ADHD to go through the hoops of rounding up at least 2 strangers to play a game together.

@@Tiyev same bro lmao

I want to try having a co-DM too. I've been running my first campaign and a lot of it has felt more difficult than usual because the people I would normally talk to about random worldbuilding are players in the campaign.

@@Tiyev I think it depends on your roll when finding your players, at least a bit. I have some good experiences with the lfg subreddit and mobile apps that connects you with local people ( in germany we have "jodel"- app maybe in your country is a similar one available). But keep in mind that you have to be strict. If players don't show up or if you don't have fun playing with them for whatever reason,... kick them. It sounds harsh but not all players and DM have the same expectations and playstyle. Nobody will be angry (for long) and if they are not understandable you really don't want to play with them at all. It is a bit like a relationship. Even though some people like each other, it doesn't mean that they can be couple. But always be friendly and kind!

@@papercraftcynder5430 there is nothing wrong n talking with your players about worldbuilding even if they are players in your group. Just don't talk with all of them at once ;). Well you can't reveal you master plan but other aspects are fine :) Most players know about meta gaming and most players can keep secrets :)

If you don’t mind me asking, what sort of campaign are you running? Are you designing grand story arcs and detailed encounters? Also 5e?

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Same. I've got a game this Sunday, and when she said "Tip 1, Do less" I was just like "oh yeah I can just DOWNLOAD a map

@@mooseymoose nah I wouldn't say anything ambitious. Take a very reactionary approach to dm-ing, trying not to plan things out too extensively (as everything is subject to change). Think it's just one of those things where I need to not suffer in silence, and talk to my players about my struggles. I'm here to have fun too, and if the experience isn't fun for me, then why am I playing.

@@jordanw2741 Right on, I can understand the non gaming aspects take as much if not more out of you than the strictly gaming aspects .

I was going to say exactly that. Bravo, Ginny Di!

Do people not like saying DM?

@@wandering-bard DM (as in Dungeon Master) is exclusive to D&D. WotC even trademarked it to make sure others could not use the term. So using the term GM sends a message of inclusivity when it comes to other RPGs. It is not about liking saying DM or not. It is about who can actually use it and why.

@@gonzaPaEst Gotcha. That makes sense. Thanks for clarifying.

Plot twist, the cat is actually a shape-shifted druid and the slimy hairball is actually a McGuffin-of-Dungeoneering/Adventure-kickoff!! 😁😁😁

My friend, I think you have learned THE secret of running a game. D&D is not a 'game' that needs to be run like you're some computer game, it's an 'alternate world' that you merely tell the players how their actions affect it. It's inherently improvisational and it sounds like you built the skill to handle it. Also, letting go of the idea that players are 'supposed' to do X, Y or Z is one of the biggest steps. Awesome to hear you got it figured out!

I'm the same way now as well! Using Witchlight as a base but having the players basically create the world themselves allowed for us all to feel far more invested in it while allowing me to spend more time between sessions not prepping. I also hardly prep and it feels so freeing lol Improve is a skill that I wish I had learned way earlier in my gaming life haha but I'm glad I have it now!

dude I've been trying to get good at improv since like 2009... lol. The only improv I'm good at is "wacky". Trying to steer my campaign of the last couple years into the feywild so it can be less stressful but it's been TORTURE trying to get those last few pieces in place on the material plane. I burnt out hard IRL in June... was on stress leave until January, and JUST starting to maybe feel back to normal now, but still not enough to pick up DMing again :( I've been stitching together smaller modules but I think next time I'd just run a hardcover published module... because oof. At least those give you a framework for how the NPCs react to certain things. That's the hardest part for me, honestly. I have to sketch out an entire conversation worth of talking points anytime anything important needs to happen in dialogue...

This is always the kicker for me. One hugely popular piece of advice is not to plan too much and to let the players choose the story's path, but that can conflict with this idea of staying in scope and not having to build things bigger and more complicated on the way. I can feel very confident that I have a grasp on how to get my players to the end of a campaign against a Goblin King, even, but by the time we get there they're all somehow ready to go dismantle the entire social or religious structure of the world. Which like- I'm all for, but I'm not ready!!!

Lol, we’re level 4 and one of our party members has already picked up the idea of killing a god, so that he can use the dead body as an object to bind the soul of his dead daughter, that he has been carrying around for the last couple of centuries, to. He has aligned with some cult already. His second idea was to go on a quest for the already dead body of a god that he can use. I really wonder where this is going (and pity my DM sometimes😅).

For me, I want to see what high-level gameplay looks like, even just once! But once I'd had that, I could relax more into smaller scale games

@@alexmegami But why do you need a "Let's kill god" level plotline to have high level gameplay? A fight against a powerful dragon is still pretty simple to plot for but could easily be a very high level fight. Unless you don't mean mechanically "high level" but then I'm not sure what you do mean.

@@octo448 I don't think "let's kill a god" and "let's kill a high level dragon/the Tarrasque/some other huge creature" is actually all that different in terms of planning for the sessions, unless you think you need less of a reason to kill a dragon.

I don't know what my GM screen has to do with necromancers LOL but thank you

@Ginny Di I did once see an RPG where the PCs are all undead, and the game master is called the Necromancer. Maybe that’s the system they’re used to?

oh, that's badass! if you figure out what it's called, I'd love to check it out!

It's true, although this vid is explicitly not referring to dungeons and dragons in specific at all. It's the creative process and being responsible for GMing any game, from Worlds of Darkness to, sure ya, even DnD 5e. I mean, some systems basically ARE, mechanically speaking, near identical to older DnD editions, which makes sense because they were a huge pieace the system's inspiration (pathfinder). What's being talked about can even apply to raiding in an MMO... Not identifying things that are beginning to feel "less fun" about what you're doing, not communicating well with your group about YOUR hopes and expectations, and letting your insecurities run away with themselves, among other things.

My group vacillates between Pathfinder 2e and things like Masks for this reason. If we want crunch, we'll go for crunch, if we want wild completely open theater of the mind, we'll go with that. 5e kinda wants to eat the cake and have it as well. You're right, and my number one complaint about the system is the tremendous onus placed on anyone who DMs.

@@rickloftus9330 I'm just about to start a blades in the dark game actually, very much looking forward to it

Other systems are great! But I think your problem you are describing is just the pitfalls of playing a familiar and popular game. Players have more expectations for how DnD works and should feel. Communication and just bravely ignoring the stuff you don’t like helps imo

@DOOMsword7 to a degree, yes. But also the system doesn't provide much scaffolding to meet those expectations, where other systems do. Pathfinder has a much more robust tactical combat simulation, plus much more interesting character customizing. PbtA games are much better at supporting character driven role play experiences. OSR games do dungeon crawl exploration games better. 5e is mid at everything.

No.

Literally went from watching the latest VLDL to watching this Ginny vid. Seeing your comment gave me whiplash Rob

This. All of this

Whaaaat? Life advice loosely disguised as tabletop gaming advice?! I would never 😇

I've been burned out just trying to form a group, to run a game for. I can't even run a game. I tried to get people to show up at this one place, but 2 weeks in a row, no-shows. Even though I've talked, face to face, with a couple different people who both sounded interested, some from a DnD group that runs in the nearest game shop, which is a 1 and a half to 2 hour drive for me, anyway.

@Tiyev That is harsh, but perhaps you could start smaller, perhaps one or two players through online one shots, preferably players who are ready to play pregens at that moment instead of a later schedule, and see where that goes. Commitment can be daunting for some, while others are just eager to scratch that RPG itch at the moment it suits them.

I recommend Return of The Lazy Dungeon Master by Sly Flourish. It is all about minimalist prep with maximal results.

Oh man... preparing for a wedding and running a game is a lot. Hopefully your players continue to be kind and understanding in their responses, as no one should be shocked if you get close to the date and need to just pause for a bit. That's when, if they really need to play a TTRPG, someone else can step up and do a little multi-week one shot where everyone starts at Level 5 or something. Congrats on the pending nuptials.

@@New2DM2 Thank you! Everyone has been really understanding. Everyone but 1 person in that game is in the wedding party, and she is a long time college friend. We have another weekly game with where I trade siblings out so I still get my rpg fix lol

I sympathize with your situation. A huge part of being a GM is being able to do easy, engaging improv. It really takes skill to know how to do everything for a game off the cuff - or know where to look up things on the fly. But hey, you're now wiser for your experience.

B/c our gaming setup is a bit weird, the holiday one shots I’m referring to are sort of a very loose, episodic campaign (common characters and world, games following the major sabbats on the wheel of the year, so that’s 8 games/yr). I level them between games, and we’d been hoping to take it to lvl 20, which means we’ve got 5 left before the characters get retired. I’m hoping that by then, I’ve gotten them to find enjoyment in some other system, and we can continue the tradition, just not with D&D. I can limp through 5 more games in the interest of completing that goal b/c I definitely want to *have* done that (even if I’m likely to dread prepping those 5 games; completionism and sunk cost are a hell of a drug).

Well, the well you've been going to just became solidly CC, so I hope the asinine corporate decisions that were attempting to get shoehorn into the hobby don't cause too many ppl to feel like the controversy itself really has anything to do with their own home game. Because it didn't before, and does even less now. And I'm glad you mentioned it because everyone should keep it in mind. There ARE allies and voices behind the scenes pushing back against shit that could have affected creators, allies which we have to thank for the leaks and warnings. So if it's a matter of just finding a way to properly separate some cynicism from what it has to do with what you found fun about playing the game, then I wish you the best luck finding a way through it! WoTC is a company made up of ppl, most of whom are passionate fans the same way I or you are. And yes, they have execs and bean counters, but the absolutely epic, historically stupid timing and thinking surrounding the OGL moves solidified entire arms of industries who have rights to DnD properties and dwarf Hasbro's leverage, like Paramount and etc that were also standing by seeing one epic disaster move after another start setting fire to their own hard work, (community and indie 3rd parties included). Cynicism aside, I'll be really surprised if they were to attempt anything this awful or brazen again. They could, but I think they might find themselves suddenly in lawsuits from so many directions claiming their actions were harming the value of everyone's investment in DnD... I don't know, but the CC move in the end was such a big move, SOMEONE with a little wisdom was able to get through to ppl trying to float all that garbage.

@@chipsalom given the sales boom Paizo saw, I imagine I’m not alone. PF is the opposite direction I’m going in terms of crunch, but while the vast majority seem to understand academically that their home game with products they’ve already bought doesn’t feed the beast (except for maybe in the vague many people play D&D not because they think it’s the best game but because everyone plays D&D, so they feel like they don’t have a choice if they want to find a group sense, where in continuing to play they’re contributing to normalizing D&D play as normal and borderline mandatory, but that’s not really something any one table can solve), WotC just threatened the entire TTRPG space, and them eventually backing down after virtually everyone rallied to the fight is a good thing, it’s left a lot of people with a lot of negative feelings associated with D&D. To be clear, for those who love D&D and were heartbroken at the thought that they might have to move on if things had played out differently, even if WotC had stuck to its guns, as long as you weren’t paying them, continuing to play the game harms no-one, and no-one should be judged for it. In me, it hit a person for whom D&D was the “fine, I guess” game in the TTRPG space. Having cut my teeth on 3.X, I had some nostalgia for D&D, and with 5e being a remarkably unambitious version (what if we gave them 3.5 back with some streamlining and some ideas we’re stealing from Pathfinder), I barely needed to read the books to run it, which was a plus, but in coming back, I realized that my tastes had shifted hard towards the rules light/narrative game realm, so on a purely selfish/personal level, this clusterfucktastrophe has given me the ammo I needed to push my group to try out games that might be a better fit for our table than D&D. I’m a more excited TTRPG player than I was this time last month by far, where having players whose disabilities made learning new things and adapting to change difficult meant that I was more-or-less stuck (family game, so ditching my table wasn’t an option), and D&D wasn’t bad enough to force action.

I ain’t reading all that, so: I’m happy for you, or sorry that happened.

For example one of my players is a big Metal Hellsinger fan aside from being a Critter. So all I had to do was find a way to incorporate the plot of that game to the Exandria setting

You don't even need 2 active GMs just one person you can talk about your Campaign in detail and work out things together. But out of interest, how do you manage it? Do both GMs participate in the sessions or only one?

@@percymarshall2479 this!👆

First - thank you for the work you do, I'm sure you don't hear it enough. One of the things (and you probably know this) is that burnout and exhaustion can look the same, though they may need different treatments. A key difference is goals. For gaming, if what you love is the worldbuilding, it will be energizing. If you hate map-making, it will be a grind, eventually leading to burn-out. I'm sure the same goes for nursing.

Ask them .... they are almost certainly completely happy .. always remember if they are unhappy you will quickly know, if you have given them most ecstatically wonderful experience of their entire lives they will probably tell you ...anything in between, you will only know if you ask them ...

The only GM's I've known who've not had that problem have ALL been really bad GM's.

As someone who started playing D&D because of Critical Role, I really hate this attitude that Critters = bad players.

@Ginny Di Don't get me wrong- I love Critters and they are some of the best players I have run into. What I'm saying is that everyone, including Critters, is lacking a structure or clear path to running D&D. There are lots of books to buy and streams to watch, but content such as yours is special. I appreciate what you and other youtubers are doing for the community as far as providing storytelling prompts and resources for DMs IE this video.

Sponsorship is the only reason that most youtube creators can afford to spend as much time, money, and effort on their videos as we do. I try to make them fun because they are absolutely necessary if people want free weekly videos from me.

@@GinnyDi That's fair. Again, yours are the most entertaining I've seen. You definitely make them fun. The effort you put in shows.

Just for the pleasure to let a little spontaneous suggestion... If you feel that you approach exhaustion, fatigue or burn out, sure take care, but as an option, return the feeling in expressive ways towards your players... You lack details on what is to come ? ...People are not giving them valuable informations and they are lost. - Your lanscape is not all ready ? ... A thick fog arise around them... - You do not know which ennemy they will meet ? A strange creature is lost too and encounters them, not knowing also how to react to them... -They are going too fast to your next region or event ? ... A guide offers his services but leads them to an ambush in another way. - Even simpler, you feel exhausted this day ? An unexpected (if they never care about this) or strange fatigue (if surnatural) take them at their camp during the night... that lowers their capacities, menacing to be lethal if they not quit this hostile environnement or find a remedy soon enough... Just a way to say that you can express and use your feelings. ..