What is Holding You Back from Being a Game Master on Myth-Weavers?

[cailano]

Game Masters are always in demand here on the Weave, but many of our players don't choose to run their own games. I'm not here to criticize that decision, but I am curious about what is holding people back. Please check out the poll and let's discuss!

Discussion Rules:
 

1. It's okay for people to choose not to GM. No posting anything negative about that choice.
2. It's okay to encourage someone to GM by telling them they'd be awesome at it but remember rule #1.
3. Yes, we're aware this is not a scientific poll. You don't need to post about it but thanks for caring.
4. See rule #1.

 

[Spacesong]

Give it time. I will run something on MW eventually. Stuff I'm currently interested in running are:

• Lancer
• Call of Cthulhu
• Blade Runner or Alien
• Mörk Borg (and all variant Borg's)
• Various OSR systems
• Pathfinder 2e
• Blades in the Dark
• Nights Black Agents
• Mutant Crawl Classics
• And to a lesser extent 5e

It's mostly just learning formatting, what sorts of features the site has and getting into the pace of the community.

[Bobcloclimar]

For me personally, it's a mix of things. I've never GMed anything in the almost two decades I've been playing, so there's a bit of performance anxiety about meeting expectations given my experiences as a player. It's a silly anxiety, but it held me back for a long time, even though I have a bazillion ideas for potential games (both IRL and PBP).

 

I also used to get overwhelmed by the idea of all the prep that's needed to run a game, although since I've started reading OSR blogs that anxiety has mostly passed - both with the sheer number of one-shots with pregens available, and being made aware of the more flexible, easy-prep nature of that style. Not that this is limited to the OSR, it's just where I've been doing my reading.

 

Finally, time. I barely have any time to myself these days, and I've ghosted enough games as a player due to burnout that I worry about the same happening as a DM, which wouldn't be fair to the other participants. If I do run a game, I'm going to try to make it very casual/simple to reduce the workload on me - but hopefully not so casual that the game slows to a halt.

 

PS: I gotta say, @cailano, your enthusiasm for running games has rubbed off on me a bit, so fingers crossed I actually get off my butt and run something this year 😀.

Edited January 10 by Bobcloclimar (see edit history)

[Lord Foul]

I've spent more of my gaming life as GM than as a player.

I enjoy both, but lately I've been feeling a bit burned out with GMing and so at the moment I'm trying to spend more time playing.

I am currently GMing a TTRPG, which is enough for me right now. This is where I get to scratch my player's itch.

 

[cailano]

6 minutes ago, Bobcloclimar said:

 

 

PS: I gotta say, @cailano, your enthusiasm for running games has rubbed off on me a bit, so fingers crossed I actually get off my butt and run something this year 😀.

I love running games, but that doesn't mean I don't hit burnout points, and it doesn't mean I haven't handled that badly in the past. What I've been trying to do lately is to take on short-form adventures that I can finish in PbP in 3 - 4 months. If the campaign continues beyond that point, great. If not, I get to say I completed it, and everyone knows what was initially promised.

That said, not every campaign has to reach an epic conclusion. Most of them do not. In my opinion, any game that lasts at least 1000 posts is a successful one. It takes a few months to get there, and I feel like everyone got some enjoyment from the game.

[Vedast]

Technology. I wouldn't be confident with creating and importing maps; images and so forth. Same thing for not trying ... umm ... virtual table tops?

[cailano]

5 minutes ago, Vedast said:

Technology. I wouldn't be confident with creating and importing maps; images and so forth. Same thing for not trying ... umm ... virtual table tops?

 

Interesting! I added technical skills as a potential roadblock in the poll.

[leons1701]

Yeah, technical skills is part of the whole "not enough time" for me. I know I could handle most of that stuff, but it would take time to get proficient enough to satisfy myself. I also am not exactly burning to be a GM, I much prefer playing and my past experiences as GM were certainly not satisfying for me, though I've actually had players tell me different. However, these were people with rather lower standards than most Weavers. But mostly it comes down to time, to do the job to MY satisfaction would take a somewhat larger investment than I care to make right now. Maybe in a few years when I retire...

[CharmingSatyr]

I currently run 3 games. However, I'm throwing in my two cents because I'm finding it challenging to branch from games that I know and know well. I have ideas for a myriad of games -- Blades in the Dark, Band of Brothers, Star Trek Adventures, PF2, StarFinder, Spelljammer, Dresden, Mutants and Masterminds, and probably a few others that I've forgotten.

The problem is time and the challenge of learning new systems now that I'm in my 50s. I've lost the ability to just sit and absorb a 150+ page rule book and commit it all to memory.

One of my games will be completed this spring, and I plan on branching out a little out of my comfort zone. But yeah, every step will be uphill and challenging.

[MrAndrewJ]

My answer is "Other," with two interrelated reasons.

1. Anxiety. My playstyle seems to be more social, based on my time in actual improvised theater (not just comedy), and lighter than many people. There can be a lot of pressure to play in a different style than that. Some of this is rules-related anxiety as well. Finally, a lot more of this comes from a community where I used to log in almost daily -- and where one clique effectively ran everyone else out.
2. I'd rather game with friends. If enough people that I get along with agreed to a low-pressure game then I can see myself running something. This would hopefully feel more like a tabletop style friends group playing together.

[Kuri_kun]

For those that know me you know Ive run several games and I was a big player/GM in the living starfinder community we had years ago. My favorite game, a secret socities themed Pathfinder 1st edition game set in Ustalav went for over 4 years before I had to call it quits. I think about running games constantly as my mind is full of campaign ideas that I write stores/outlines for. Just last night I wrote a 3 page outline for Old gods of Appalacha because Ive been reading the book

The primary reason why Ive not run any in quite a long time, despite wanting to, is a lack of time. I might have 2 hours to myself a night, if that long. I work full time in a demanding job and Ive also had to move back home with my parents because my dad hasnt been doing so well in recent years. My girlfriend of 2 years and I also broke up over summer and...Im just not ready to start dating again. Life is hard right now and TTRPGs are a way for me to channel my creative energies into something

Thats my answer, no one elses

That said I think much of the reason why people dont run games is GMing is hard. Its made easier by a variety of tools that we have now a days but its mostly a hard and thankless job. I mean a big issue for me is player retention, for a lot of reasons players just drop or stop posting and sometimes your plot makes it hard to put in new characters and few people want to take over an existing character.

[Suzuki Stumpy]

I’ll admit, I’m pretty much a permanent player.

I’ve attempted to GM at the table before, and I just sucked. Why? Probably due to multiple factors: some performance anxiety, some lack of preparation but mostly I think due to lack of imagination.

same goes for soloing stuff here on the weave. I’ve got a couple of game forums open now that were intended for private solo games into which I poured hours of prep, but then never actually began with the storytelling itself. I find that I’m ok when I have a group of others to bounce off of - as long as there’s someone to lead the story when I inevitably get bogged down.

Finally, there’s just a perennial lack of time. I’m fine posting in a couple of PbP games per week, but having to schedule the time to actually run a game and all the consequent bookkeeping, then that’s time I simply don’t have.

[cailano]

21 minutes ago, Kuri_kun said:

 

That said I think much of the reason why people dont run games is GMing is hard. Its made easier by a variety of tools that we have now a days but its mostly a hard and thankless job.

It can be challenging, but I don't find it thankless. It's obvious when players are enjoying a game (a lot of times, they tell you so), and knowing that you're helping to tell a story that people are enjoying can be rewarding.

[Papa Bear]

Currently running three games. Not sure I can squeeze in another one but I want to... and would need to figure out what!

[hakootoko]

I prefer to run games for friends (including online friends in, say, discord groups) because I find them more reliable and unlikely to ghost. Pitches I've made to discord friends who are on MW have consistently not gotten interest, so I have yet to run anything here.