As I am waiting for my gaming group to arrive for our Sunday afternoon game session, I realized that I’m somewhere in the early stags of Game Master (GM 📖) burnout. I can’t bring myself to prepare even the slightest bit of an adventure for this evening – I’ve instead read through Google+ Role Playing Game (RPG 📖) posts and downloaded my copy of Marvel Heroic: Civil War Event Book.
But don’t get me wrong, if someone offered up a game that they would run, I’d jump in immediately.
How did I get here? Since March of this year, our gaming schedule has been extremely erratic – Schedules: the Game Killer. There have been vacations, youth group meetings, failed quorum, minor illness, visiting relatives, and I’m sure something else.
Couple an erratic schedule with attempts to play/run two games on alternating weeks, and consistency falls apart. An interesting observation is that I have a difficult time preparing between sessions.
It was extremely refreshing to go to GenCon 2012 and get in a few games with new faces. To see how they play, to interact, and to show a bit of how we play at our game table in small town Indiana.
I’ve gamed with Matt since 1988 – our gaming relationship can vote, drink, buy cigarettes, and soon rent a car without restriction. And don’t get me wrong, I love gaming with Matt, but there is something about stepping beyond my normal group of players that is energizing.
And I’m not trying to recapture the energy of GenCon, but instead would settle for a game that we can regularly play. Perhaps we should look into a GM-less game – but Fiasco with a 12-year-old? Maybe. And perhaps I need to put on hiatus the idea of a long running campaign – perhaps a three session campaign.
And ever gnawing at the back of my brain is the trauma to my vision and ideal of “growing up gamer”…my now 4-year-old divorce and the ensuing sharing of parenting time. Two of my gaming group members – my son and daughter – live with mom half of the time. This necessitates two separate games on alternating weekends.
Since high school, gaming has been a weekly event. We would often not game on Thanksgiving and during Piggly – one of Matt’s family holidays – but otherwise, the dice were always out at least once a week.
Where Does All of this Leave Me?
With 15 minutes until an indeterminate number of RPGers show up, I’m introspecting. I’m hoping that my group will arrive, but don’t know what we will do if everyone is here. I suppose there is always Dominion or Eminent Domain.
I’m hopeful that everyone will show up so we can discuss our next game. And set some expectations. And maybe, with a little bit of luck, whip out some dice and roll up a character.