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There's a time when you just need to step away, come back refreshed later. Especially if there are problems/demands on your personal life.

My gaming group falls apart at least once a year. Usually around Christmas time. Then in late January we all get together again and start a new campaign or a new game.

I havent had a long running campaign in about 5 years.

MikeM

I take a few weeks off at least once a year. Usually December I do not game. And I have another one who can take over as GM, so when I need a GM break, I have him do it and I just become a player for a while.

One rule I live by is all else comes before gaming. My religion, family, job, etc. If there is a conflict, I will cancel a gaming session.

So, yes I have felt like chunking it all, but I really enjoy it. Howecer, I recognize when breaks are needed and take care of my personnel life first so I can game on certain night(s) of the week. If they conflict, gaming looses and hopefully only temporaritly.

Just some thoughts from an old gamer (30+ years worth). Hope this helps, Big Bob.......................

If it makes you feel any better, Bob, I didn't GM a single thing from 2002 until 2005

I think bigbobsr6000 hit the nail on the head.

We all game for enjoyment and if we don't have our priorities taken care of beforehand, that can lead or add to burn-out of our enjoyment. I've found this to apply to anything that I enjoy for recreation.

Like others have already suggested, take a break or play instead of gm'ing.

My D&D group is mostly fall/winter players. So we tend to break up in spring, but yes my main group we have not played a RPG in about 4 months. So I'm in about the same place has you.

Well do not dispair- as others have said sometimes a little break is what you need. It gets you back up in the go!

I have GMd for well over 10 years and liek to run the long haul campaings. Even when I moved 3 hrs to a different town, I had 2 of my old players move as well (I would like to think that it was so they could keep playin )

We added new players and meet new friends, but eventually work and things got in the way. Most of my old group has scattered about- and now I have a graveyard shift schedule so that pretty much rules me out of any types of gaming. At work we go busy from November thru January and the rest of the year- really not slowing down much except Feb an March.

All of last year I GMd about 6 months thru a PbP (Play by Post) site called Explorers Unlimited. A great site and a great community of Palladium players IMHO! But eventualy work got busy again and I could not keep up with it.

Back in the day of main GMing I worked on ALOT of game content, even did an interactive website that fell by the wayside. Alot of stuff for the Rifters "to be submitted" also got pushed aside as my GMing no longer came into play. But after having all this down time, I decided to look back once more and finish what I can to get out there!

In short (to late now) Hang in there- sometimes a little break is needed to get back into it- thats why it is an addicition, you cant go cold turkey for to long before delving back into the books.

bob the desolate one wrote:so my question to you good people is this have you ever felt like giving up even for a moment table top rp has brought me alot of enjoyment over the years but after the past few months of trying to keep my game alive... i just dont know

Hold on, you've not enjoyed one game, but your giving up on roleplay? What system did you use? It represents the whole gammut of roleplay? So if you don't enjoy playing that game, you arent enjoying roleplay as a whole? Rubbish! Different systems focus on different styles of roleplay.

Try a different system. And don't just fudge while using it, otherwise you'll end up playing the same way you did with the previous system (ie, you won't be trying a different system at all).

We have several GMs Bray, myself and Don. We play brays once a month mine once a month for 2/3year then Dons for the other third of the year. The different games and different styles and different players make for great variety and I enjoy all my gamming. Maybe you just need to game differently and not try to keep the same gammers together all the time.

I can relate. A few years ago, GM-ing became so stressful that the campaign ended up being unsatisfactory to me. It was more of a chore along with other life aspects so I didn't get to do too much preplanning. The game became a conflict with life which was, and still is, becoming more and more busy. But that doesn't mean that I've stepped away from gaming. I've been writing a lot of stuff since.
I haven't played much since then. But, that's mainly because we're all busier. We've been meaning to get together regularly again, but we haven't just done it.
Anyway, I support the philosophy of "You can take the GM out of the gaming, but you never stop thinking like a GM."
Just relax, things will come back to you. I find that I get the most inspiration when I'm learning something like from reading, watching educational media or just researching curiosities on the web or encyclopedias. Go let your brain be fed rather than feeding others for a while. Take down notes of things you think of so you have lots of material for later. Then come back at your own pace.

From one "Bob" to another, good luck.

i have found that in real life it is always good to have at least 2 GM's in the group.. that way if one gets tires or hits a dry spell then the other can take over for a bit. and as for giving up gaming, i have hjad to do that several times in the past, but it always calls me back.. i guess that is why we do this.. cause we couldnt do without for too long. i havent had a tabletop game in 5 years... not because i dont want to, but because there arent many palladium gamers in Abilene Texas.. but that will soon change as we are moving to Michigan in the summer. so see, we all hit down spells with gaming... when i do just step back and turn the reigns over to someone else for a bit.. if there isnt anyone else, then take a break for a few weeks and it will call you back when you are ready.

When I have real-life concerns that become overwhelming, I certainly step away from the table for as long as necessary.
The break often helps refocus me, and revitalize my interest.

Generally, the wild stallions of reality can be tamed and I can return to the game table once those distractions are resolved.

I also use the time to reconnect with other interests and hobbies, and find my inspirational muse.