I broke up with one of my groups tonight, /tg/.
I joined them back in April to try out DnD5e. We had some good times: 3 GMs, rotating game schedule, couple of homebrews, general fun.
A couple of months ago, I stopped having fun. A couple of the players had started to just come across as obnoxious, the games became increasingly uninspired and railroady, and the gameplay seemed to devolve into an arms race of oneupsmanship.
And yet it seemed like everyone else was still having a blast. I still don't know if anyone else feels the same way.
Tonight I told them I have to back away for an indeterminate period. They say I'm always welcome to come back, but I don't know if I can tell them I won't be without hurting feelings: I've got grievances, but they're still having fun. I've got to go.
tl;dr: Left group voluntarily because I'm being No Fun Allowed.
Commiserate with me, /tg/. You ever leave a group 'cause you knew you were the problem?
>>44437915
We have players do that pretty frequently in our group. Nobody really holds it against them. Sometimes you just need a break to appreciate the game.
I have friends that I can talk about /tg/ stuff with, but not game with. Just like I have some friends I would go to jail for but would last two weeks with as a roommate.
Just figure out the boundaries and work from there.
>>44437915
Man, I know this is going to happen to me at some point, because I've been a ForeverDM for nearly 3 years straight now, and I've been with my current main group for 2, and while they're awesome people and I love playing with them, I know that I'm gonna start losing the touch as a DM and their interest in the campaign will slip.
I know that at some point, I'll get burned out on the lack of any sort of recognition or thanks for the work I put in, as ungrateful as that sounds.
Mostly because the concept of telling people "You guys aren't trying hard enough and it's making it not fun for me" is not something I can really see myself doing.
>>44438183
>I know that at some point, I'll get burned out on the lack of any sort of recognition or thanks for the work I put in, as ungrateful as that sounds.
Trust me, buddy: every GM on this board knows what you're talking about.
I was one of the rotating GMs I mentioned in the op. A big part of the frustration for me is that the players who don't GM are not only completely oblivious to the work involved, but also can't even be bothered to play half the time. I can't even begin to articulate how tired I am of getting interrupted, as a GM and as a player, by someone who needs to ask a question that was answered an hour ago while they were texting.
>>44438297
Thankfully, I don't have a group like that. And I wouldn't ever rotate out DMs, just because I do the job specifically because I don't trust other people to do it well.
Though it has annoyed me when I asked another player who is a DM for his own games if he wanted to run a one-shot for the group on a day we would have otherwise cancelled the session due to an attendance conflict, and he said "No man. You're our DM."
It's not that I don't like the job, because I do. Hell, I haven't been a player in so long I don't even know if I could be one. It's just that I put in all this work to make cool sessions, compelling plotlines, and involve the players, and despite the insistence that they're having fun, no one can be bothered to show the slightest bit of enthusiasm. And that's the killer for me.
All I want is some people who are excited to be there.
Yeah, my group died recently because of a lack of enthusiasm. We had a fun time for a year but somehow it turned into work and I gave up when I didn't feel appreciated for all the work I was doing.
But I figure in a few months we might get excited about some other game and get together again.
>>44437915
>You ever leave a group 'cause you knew you were the problem?
While you weren't having fun and thus you choosing to leave is probably for the best, I don't think you were a problem player. I see nothing in your story to say that you were causing problems. The others saying that they would welcome you back makes me think they enjoyed your presence.
>>44438183
Ironclaw has something unusual in its rules that you might want to adapt. A third of the xp each player gets from each session comes from the player telling the GM how they thought the session went. Those that speak up all get the same amount, no matter what they say.
So at the end of each session I asked each player how they thought the session went. A few times they had complaints that I learned from. Most of the time they just said that the session was good. Even after sessions that I thought had run badly because of my screwups. Without the XP, they would have stayed silent and I'd have felt terrible because I'd have thought that I'd let them down.
Finding that I was harsher on my GMing than any of my players is a good feeling to have. So I adapt that to any campaign I run.
>>44441703
>A third of the xp each player gets from each session comes from the player telling the GM how they thought the session went.
We don't do XP.
>>44437915
You did the right thing OP.
I know it's sad to leave a group, but the first reason to get into games is to have fun. And nobody should be required to put up with people they don't like in a leisure activity.
I've been gaming for a long time, and there were times when my regular group wasn't available and to play I had to wander around a bit. Didn't always work. It's better to step back than to risk turning the feelings about the game into hard feelings for people.
>>44438945
You know that film poster if fake, right?
Because every time I see it, a part of me screams like it was a little girl before dying on the realisation it's never going to happen.
>>44442018
Internet cynicism tells me a sequel would have Jareth recast to Idris Elba.
>>44441704
Depends on the system. I don't know Ironclaw; with D&D you can drop XP entirely, but some games use XP as a purchasing mechanic (WoD, FFG Star Wars, etc.)
