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GM's Block *

Started by MoonHunter Sep 4, 2003 14 posts Locked

  1. GM's Block *

    #1
    Edited version 2.0

    GM's block is a serious problem in the roleplaying world. Related to writer's or actor's block, it prevents the GM from being creative and enthusiastic about their work.  GMing can be very demanding. Each GM needs to be creative consultant, a director, an author, a referee, and still be everyones friend after it is all said and done. That is a lot of candles to be burning at one time. It is only natural that one or more occasionally goes out. However, once the GM begins to falter, so does the game.  To be honest, nothing stops a campaign cold than a burned out GM.

    The signs of burn out are obvious, if you know what to look for: a) lack of enthusiasm for your own play, b) throwing the same old plots at your players time and time again, c) seeing your scenarios fall flat on a regular basis, d) not finding a new hook or thing to do in your campaign, e) players expressing dissatisfaction about the game which they never have before. If you believe any of these are happening to you, you might be suffering from some degree of burn out.  If your players notice it, then you are definitely suffering from burn out.  

    There is hope. There are a number of things you can do to revitalize your creative juices and GMing power.

    Sometimes there are physical reasons for why you are not feeling creative. Try to make sure you are getting enough quality sleep, taking in a little exercise, and limiting the amount of chemical modifiers you are taking (caffeine and nicotine being the biggest contributors). If you have any physical ailments, try to get them resolved. You can't do your best when you don't feel your best.

    Sometimes you just need a change of pace. Trying going someplace new, or just different, from where you normally go. The change of location may help you to dislodge the GM's block.

    Most people have a time of day when they're the most creative. Do your brainstorming then. If you don't know what time you are most creative, try a number of times out till you hit the magic time.  Always leave a notebook and pencil by your bedside. You might wake up with a new approach that can get you started again.  Also, carry a "little writers notebook" with you.  That way you can capture good ideas as they occur.  

    Read! I've been burned out before, and reading new things always reawakens my imagination. I read fantasy books to stimulate my creativity, but any genre will work. They do not have to game related fiction. In fact, books of a type you never normally read are best for inspiring you.  Along the same theme, watch movies with different themes. A western can give you ideas completely different from ideas inspired by a martial arts movie. Get ideas from dramas, mysteries, suspense, horror, whatever. Reading and watching movies may have some feature that might provide the spark of inspiration from which a campaign might be born.

    Use your eyes and your ears. Artwork, both fine and graphic, are great sources of inspiration. You can get ideas from a painting of the countryside, a castle, or maybe just a portrait. Flip through your books and see what kind of artwork is in them. I recommend the annual Spectrum book series as the best inspiration art book of all time. On the same note, music can be a great inspiration. Check out music (and its lyrics) of genres and nationalities other than what you normally listen to or used to listen to all the time. Many songs tell stories other than boy+ girl +complication = love of some sort.  Those songs can inspire adventures.  

    Sometimes you need some help to get over the rough spots in your creative drought. Don't be afraid to read and borrow stuff from others. Take ideas and add them together. Role playing magazines always have little things that help a GM, and they can be scoured for ideas you could use.

    Review your previous work. It might help to go looking through some of your old material. Look back at other things you have written, and try revising them to fit your current campaign. Also, the players may react differently to a situation than another group of players. If they do, this will get you thinking on a different line.

    Try developing different parts of a campaign that you haven't already. See what the players could explore, be it physical, emotional or spiritual. Try a moral dilemma instead of your normal court intrigue or combat. Take the group to a new part of your world as yet unexplored. An invasion from space will always take a game in new directions.

    Another tactic is writing small pieces of information or creative thought. These could be one lines of scene description, three sentences describing the organization of a religion, the fast write up for an NPC, some game mechanics that when a piece of description added could be a new monster, or even a game tip. Once you can begin to write things down, they can inspire you to move on to other things.

    Note: The hardest part of being creative is "the starting". Try taking pieces of the middle of what you want to do, then go back and work on the beginning.

    Ask a friend who is not involved in your current campaign read over your work. Talk about it and see what ideas he or she has that can be integrated. There is no such thing as bad constructive criticism. If the friend doesn't like something about it, change it or make it better. Listen to their comments and suggestions no matter how negative they are regarding your work. After all, you don’t have a better idea… at this time.

    If you can, try writing a little short story or stories. Make your brain work in a different way. Put something down, anything. Make it small. Start in the middle or write just a piece of it. Make an outline. Think creatively about something unrelated. Spend time just sitting quietly day dreaming. Take a break. Give up for awhile and do something different. Most likely you are burned out because you are overworked. Enjoy some down time to rest your brain. Curl up with a good book and let yourself drift to a different place.

    If it does not work for you one way, try another. Consider switching to another campaign setting or system. A new setting may be a refreshing break from the standard things your players are used to. If you play Fantasy all the time, use a different section of your brain and try a science fiction game. Sometimes you really need a break from the usual. A change is definitely required if you're out of ideas on a topic.

    A major change is that you can even try playing for a while. Recharge your batteries by not using them, but not growing rusty by still playing.  

    Something I can not stress too much, tell people. As you are working through a case of GM block or GM burnout, make sure to inform your players that you are blocked. Sometimes this is in the form of an apology for the games you have been running. This way they know about your issue and can adjust. Sometimes they can even help.

    There is no magic formula for resolving GM's block.  It is as individual as each individual GM.  However, these techniques have worked for many GMs (and authors and actors)  over the years and are a great place to start.

  2. GM's Block

    #2
    I can not help but notice that the advice that you give for this very serious problem is very centered around you being the GM and not stepping away from that at all.

    All the way at the end, where you tell us to talk about your problem with your players may start a totaly different approach.
    Why not ask your players if one of them would volunteer to be the DM for a while. Even if it is just one adventure or perhaps two.
    Many of the DM's I meet, feel the same problem... The presure of being the DM can be quite harsh and it is a stressfull situation. Often a change of pace, a change of stand-point may help you very much in finding the joy in being the DM again.

    I have to say that since I started playing again, being the DM is much more fun. The fact that I am a player in a campaign that I would never want to DM and that I feel my DM makes judgment calls that are not fair, changes nothing to this situation. Sometimes seeing how you should not do things can be very helpfull indeed.

    I found a great way to combine this all, as I have found another group of players where I could be "just" a player and I still have a group where I am the DM.
    If you are not in that luxureous situation, you can still ask one of your players to stand in for a while.

  3. GM's Block

    #3
    With me, music is a big factor in helping me get out of GM’s Block.

    When I was in my youth, my older brother would play the Beatles or Queen in the background when we gamed. (Yes I know I am dating myself)

    So now when I start to run into problems, I dust off the old albums and play them when I am trying to work on something. It takes me back to the days when everything seemed so new and exciting. To the days where we took down our first dragon, explored our first dungeon or made an attempt at creating our own modules. I try to use that youthful exuberance to recapture my love for fantasy. This usually results in a couple of new ideas I can use.

    The only problem is my wife usually gives me weird looks when I am sitting at the table, zoning out while ‘It’s A Kind of Magic’ by Queen is playing in the background while I have a slight grin on my face.


    If that doesn’t work, I open a monster book and randomly select a creature, I prefer not to use something the players have fought before, and start making notes about it. I write down whatever comes to mind. I then start working on a module based off those notes.

  4. GM's Block

    #4
    You like Queen?!
    I love Queen! My favorite song of all time is "Bohemian Rhapsody"!

    Usually, me and my players take a break, drink soda, and play videogames, especially RPGs such as the Final Fantasys, Breath of Fires, the ancient but still beloved Vay, and of course, the SaGas.

    The best thing to do for me about GM's block is not get it. I make sure not to schedule too many game meetings, so that there is space between each one for me to plan and recuperate. Did I spell recuperate right?

  5. GM's Block

    #5
    For now, I have no problem with a GM's block and never had one either, so I do feel it is rather hard to talk about it.

    I do feel playing the game yourself as a PC is rathere helpfull, at least to me it is.
    I can see that too many sessions would start to break down the run too hard, but I think I would have no problem with a session each week. I think I could GM a session a week for years, at least if I also had a group to play.
    For now I still like both sides of the coin too much to give either one up in favor of the other...

    On music... Yes music is great and it has to have nothing to do with fantasy. I can get as much insperation from Magna Carta as from The Dubliners.
    I don't think anyone gets to be dated if he likes the Beatles or Queen. Personaly I like Queen better, but I do not agree with the captain on the all time best song part. (My personal best song ever would be "Paradise by the Dashboardlight" (taped at a private club in holland))

    But I also like to play Patrick Bruel, a french singer/songwriter. He always reminds me of summer hollidays and leasure time. Very relaxing, makes me forget daily stress, which in turn helps me focus on the problem at hand: Being the DM and not getting blocked at it.

  6. GM's Block

    #6
    ‘Paradise by the Dashboard light’ by Meatloaf is a great song, I have to agree.

    The other thing we do is change games. We will switch to sci-fi games like Gamma World and Traveller or a Super Hero type game for awhile. For me, this gives a completely different mind set when working on a game. When we finally switch back to fantasy, I have plenty of new ideas to work off of.

  7. Updated said piece....

    #7
    Version 2.0 is now in place. Posts made before this post have been incorporated into the article. So those brilliant ideas are not 100% mine, mere 96%. Thank you all for saying something I do appreciate it.

    Now does anyone else have any comments?

  8. I've found

    #8
    Sometimes, if I start getting the ole GM burnout, it's because I'm over thinking everything, planning TOO much. I find that letting of the reins and letting the players lead more, they can sometimes take the game in a direction I wouldn't have thought of and it inspires me to think in a new direction.

  9. GM's Block

    #9
    Queen is just fine, and others will do.


    This is not directly a technique I have tried, this is more a private ritual I do before the session itself. Before the game I look through the many lists of random items, effects and random whatevers I have, you guess it, randomly.

    Besides all the other good advices, try to find new sense in already existing things. What if that item they always carry around is magical? What if that insignificant NPC is a villain of some some sort? What if, what if, what if?

  10. WOW!!

    #10
    Im amazed you guys have enough players to get block. Ive been a DM for over 15 years and havent been able to play. although i have never stopped my world creation. Its continued to evolve over 7 years with no players. maps, dungeons, mythos, Npcs galore. I could run a five year campain with little effort at this point. Yet the whole world sits in an office sized file box awaiting the day hearty Adventures will challenge it.

  11. GM's Block

    #11
    Hmmm, you sound like the kind of person that should visit the various sites on internet that try to help RPG fanatics to team up.

    For instance: the RPG locator found at http://www.wickedclean.com/rpgpl/
    (and numerous others....)

    Yours, Ylorea

  12. Additional 2Cr

    #12
    There is a big finder index at www.rpghost.com

    You can also get your gaming muscles stretched in a play by post game. www.rpol.net is my personal favorite, through there are dozens of pbp games out there. I have been running a Buffy PbP for over a year now (we must be doing something right, we get fan mail).

  13. GM's Block

    #13
    Buffy...awesome.
    Joss Wedon is a god.

  14. GM's Block

    #14
    Good article Moonhunter, as always.

    I agree with your sources of inspiration - I'd also like to add a few reflections:

    The best campaigns seem to be self-perpetuating. I don't know what the recipe is - but things go best when events seem to precipitate other events and you feel you are on a 'roll'.

    Another thought I have is that it helps to not always think in terms of 'adventures'. I more often find myself thinking - what interesting event will break up this journey, what kind of person might cause some laughter if the group met them, what interesting things might happen as a result of a occupation, relationship, ancestory or location - that are not necessarily 'adventures' but provide other RP opportunities. All of which helps to deliver a varied and stimulating session.

    'Buffy' was mentioned and of course the success of that is not all about wide apocalyptic story arcs, but relationships, humour and coping with 'everyday' issues as well.

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