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Topic: DMing can be so draining (Read 495 times) |
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Purple Puppy
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Players are dropping like flies from my campaign and its getting harder and harder to find new ones. I'm pretty much ready to give up and wait for NWN2 to re-build the whole things rather than continue on with the building and organizing now.
Sure, I kept going for weeks, finding new players when others dropped out, but now its just gotten too much and I'm sick of it. I'm no longer enjoying building or planning. It doesn't help that the players have stopped posting in the IC Thread and also seem put off by all the comings and goings of others. I've had 3 consistent players in the group who are serious and set to stay, but only 2 of the 3 are originals that joined up on the first session. Another original is away at camp or something like that, but I have my doubts as to whether he'll return after all this time.
All in all, I feel completely put off, I have to force myself to build and prepare for sessions, even though I used to spend hours building and I enjoyed it before people kept leaving. I feel indifferent as to whether the game runs or not, but I used to get really excited about it all.
Now I'm just waiting to see what the rest of the group want to do, I have asked if they'd rather play Firefly, since that way I can be lazy and don't have to do any serious building or planning. I'll just follow the documentation and do things that way, or improvise.
Seriously though, I feel like all my creative energy as a DM has been drained away by continual disappointment.
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Gulfwulf
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You're not alone, Purple. I think I only have two original players still left in my Saturday campaign, everybody else is "new." If you don't want to finish out your current campaign, you might be better served to use a prefab, like firefly, because that would require little, if any, building on your part and you can just use the DM docs to provide you with ideas on making the campaign your own.
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Katarina Dragonstar
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DMing on NWN can be very draining, for a lot of different reasons, and it's certainly very different from pnp DMing. But it's very easy to get burned-out if you're not having fun. Inconsistent player attendance makes it very hard to plan anything. The suggestions about trying a mod that you don't have to build is a good one, or cut back your current campaign to just those who regularly show up. Regardless, you need to find your "fun" again.
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Forrestwolf
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Sorry you're having such a rough time! I've certainly seen campaigns go through slow periods, and you MIGHT be just dealing with that (summer and all), but the suggestion to keep the campaign small is a fine one - some of the best PNP games I've ever seen had only 3 or 4 players.
Of course, DM burnout occurs in both PNP and NWN - and it doesn't help when players get flaky. Take a step away if you need to, and a packaged game is a good way (yay Firefly!), but you might find yourself more energized later.
Anyway, I also just wanted to say thank you for DMing NWN - it's a thankless job far too often. Try to have fun!
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Dane Bramage
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I agree with what everyone above me has said... and will say it again in a slightly different light... focus on the three players that are consistant. Reward them for thier dedication. Even build the module around them. I'm not sure what your campaign is like, but one thing that really grabs me is when my character has an impact or is directly related to the story arc. Not only are you rewarding your players for being there, but you are also giving them a place within the campaign.
But, in general, yes, it's a thankless job and quite taxing. I remember when I DMed a regular campaign, I would get off the 'puter after a 2.5 hour session and have the shakes. Just be totally buzzed. Very intense experience.
It takes a lot to keep it going. Personally, I woudln't worry about eveyrone else... just play with your regulars and have a good time.
Good luck.
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Tarridus
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I agree with what others have said and also thought as you did Purple when I first started building and DMing.
It was draining and I was so self conscious of my ability that the entire experience became un-enjoyable at first. But then, as I continued to build and refine the story I wanted to tell. Focusing the story around the characters I had became easier once narrowed down the 'type' of characters I wanted. For my Twilight of the Elves campaign, I focused on *surprise* a group of elves and their journey. In another campaign I played in, the group of players' characters were childhood friends who reunited when their mentor was murdered. By focusing the type of players to a specific type, you give the campaign itself a sort of focused storyline that allows you to narrow down what you need to build.
Remember, your campaign doesn't have to have the sort of polish as a single-player mod. Areas can be more like 'soundstages' where you don't have lots of placeables or NPCs, if the players are aware of this, you can focus on the basics and it can just be fun in itself.
Just a bit more ideas to add to what others have started.
-Tarridus
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Rofelli
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If you choose to focus on a few players, you may wish to keep the others involved by offering them temporary jobs from time to time. For example, you might ask a good role player future “jobs” as an NPC actor for a session or two, or to help you coordinate larger events. For example, it is almost always helpful to have an extra set of hands (and eyes) if you ever choose to ambush the players.
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Purple Puppy
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Thankyou for your advice people.
Well, now that you shed new light on it, I guess maybe I am being a bit sensitive about it all. I did make plans for specific PCs and that makes it worse when they leave and you've made all those plans for them. I keep forgetting your seasons are opposite (winter and not holidays where I am).
I asked the group and it seems all of them want to continue, so at least they seem to like it enough still to want to keep going. It helps to know that its not my DMing or the module itself that is making people leave.
As it is there is already enough built to keep them going for at least another 2 sessions, but your advice has encouraged me to stop brooding about it and keep going, so I think I'll get back to building now.
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| « Last Edit: on: Aug 2, 2006, 10:54AM » |
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Etarnon
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Yeah, man. Realize NWN is a lot more work than face to face, since you got to build everything. BUT, once built it is a lot damn easier to use than to whip up new stuff on the fly for paper and pencil.
Here's from 27 years of DMing experience, and 3 years of NWN.
Do the following:
Treat those three regular players like the gold resource that they are.
Don't give any new hires major storyline until they have been there for three sessions, at least, cause if they last that long, you are doing something right and it works. if they don't last, it usually might be them, more than likely since you got the three regulars.
Identify and post what you expect from people, so that you get a better match, when recruiting.
Take stock of the people that come in, and make NPCs of their character. This is so that if they miss a session, you can play that PC too.
It's easier to do this with NWN since you have the interface, and the players see the PC talking. whereas in Face to face, it seems like you as DM talking to yourself as player.
With NWN this illusion can be maintained, for the most part, up until the point of combat. For that, you can use various henchmen scripts, as simple or as complicated as you like, so that you don't have to split between good and bad guys. Give control of these combat NPCs to the party leader.
When players leave, NPC 'em to keep your storyline coherent, then write em out with a bang, or over time, or develop them into friendly or enemy NPCs as you need, so that your game, as a whole is not badly disrupted, when these people drift off.
Keeping the storyline coherent is a real key.
Like others have posted, Identify what your regular three are doing and write for that, with a little wiggle room.
Good luck.
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Dane Bramage
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on Aug 3, 2006, 7:01 AM, Etarnon wrote:| When players leave, NPC 'em to keep your storyline coherent, then write em out with a bang, or over time, or develop them into friendly or enemy NPCs as you need, so that your game, as a whole is not badly disrupted, when these people drift off. |
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Now that is a good point, and one I never even thought of. Question is (OT of course) is there an easy way to create the creature in the toolset from the bic file, or does one have to go back and create them from the ground up. in other words, how do you import a bic file into the toolset?
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Gulfwulf
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on Aug 3, 2006, 1:44 PM, Dane Bramage wrote:| Now that is a good point, and one I never even thought of. Question is (OT of course) is there an easy way to create the creature in the toolset from the bic file, or does one have to go back and create them from the ground up. in other words, how do you import a bic file into the toolset? |
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To import a bic file, you need to use the PC-NPC converter feature of a program like Leto. That or use the DMFI DM wand to create a copy of the PC when that PC is logged in. I've done the later a few times to create "evil" copies of my players, ala HoTU's mirror room. 
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| « Last Edit: on: Aug 3, 2006, 9:54PM » |
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Dane Bramage
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Sorry to stay off topic, but...
Does the DMFI copy add the character to the pallet or just allow you to "paste" a copy for the time being?
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Forrestwolf
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I THINK in the current DMFI build, you can 'store a PC as a database object', and then retrieve it later. That means even between modules - they stick around in your DMFI database file. So no, they are NOT on the palette - but they ARE available with a single wand action anytime you want. Nifty, eh?
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Gulfwulf
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on Aug 3, 2006, 6:22 PM, Forrestwolf wrote:| I THINK in the current DMFI build, you can 'store a PC as a database object', and then retrieve it later. That means even between modules - they stick around in your DMFI database file. So no, they are NOT on the palette - but they ARE available with a single wand action anytime you want. Nifty, eh? |
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That is correct, FW.
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Etarnon
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I just use LETO, in my off hours, after browsing the PC Stored Character Database.
We have a regular policy of NPCing a significant character (meaning, has not just solo'd around and then left after a few weeks) of players that have not logged in for 6 months or more.
The others, we just delete, unless it is a pre-arranged absence (Deployed to Iraq, moved overseas, wife had a child, etc.) In that case, we just make note of the Account, and leave it alone, until the player returns.
But really, once a character joins the Server / Player group, we take it as the overall arc of story, not just "That Character exists, only when a PC is playing it."
Since the story of our server is the story of the Land as a whole, it's not quite the fact that the individual player has no control, just that there are story arcs larger than that of the individual heroes, though they have their own stories, of course, as much as the player gives us hooks to implement from their bio, or ongoing RP.
I thought everyone did it this way, actually.
It's so much easier, since you can rig up a copy in the pallette. And playing it Face to Face is .. DM to self weirdness. But with the interface, it works.
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NWN DM
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Damn straight it's draining.
And you're right, it doesn't help that players are mostly transient.
One postponed session last winter cost me 50% of my player base for a long running campaign. And this was with a lot of advance notice, no "no call no show DM" scenario.
It's the nature of the internet.
Now, with my closed campaign for friends and co-workers, I have been able to keep 6 regular players... but even then, there have been a few people who for whatever reason did not find the game to their liking, that went somewhere else.
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