It's been a few (three or four) months now since I last GMed. Ostensibly, I should be working on what I've promised my players: a Call of Cthulhu campaign set in the Amazon Jungle in the 1930s.

In practice, I've been procrastinating lke a little bitch.

Don't get me wrong. In the last few days I've been on my biggest research kick since my old Vampire: the Dark Ages campaign, 10-15 years ago. I've been looking through the geography, fauna and human populations of the Xingu River basin via several Brazilian government websites. I've digged out a copy of the 18th Century manuscript that first caught Percy Fawcett's attention. I've been brushing up on Infectious Diseases and consulted the AD&D 1e DMG for tips on how to handle them (weekly disease checks, ho), which means I'll probably lump them in a table with insect stings and infestations.

I've even drafted an outline: give PCs a bit of trouble as early as their meetup in Rio, and definitely in their last contact with civilization in Cuiabá, the last town at the edge of the jungle (a rough-and-tumble frontier place in the 1930s). After Cuiabá the game becomes a big ol' wilderness crawl powered by dangerous random encounters and disease/hazard checks (which have to be statted and slotted into table entries), with a generous serving of resource management, until (if) they find the Lost City, where it becomes a CoC-powered dungeon crawl.

The research and the ideas come easily enough. Setting pen to paper, though... work, study, social obligations, Christmas shopping, videogames, sometimes it seems RPG prep takes a backseat to everything.

I used to say to myself that it was because I didn't have a deadline, but scheduling unprepared sessions just led to me improvising, which I do well enough but lately I've been finding unsatisfactory. I want a bit more from my gaming.

I also thought, once, that procrastination meant my heart was no longer into the campaign I was running, and took that as a sign to switch games. And yet as I now crave a longer campaign, I realize that every good, long-lived campaign must have its highs and lows and I gotta stick to my guns and get my ass off the chair and kick the engine until it's running again.

Is it just me, or can anyone relate?

I can relate down to the letter, there. I've got several things I'm working on and I feel a bit scattered. Of course, like you said, it's a matter of sticking to one's guns, not getting rattled, and staying on target.

Keep the faith and keep your eyes on the prize: a campaign to be proud of.

Later!

Harl

I can relate, although partly I think my procrastination lately is due to a bad case of the yips.  But otherwise, yeah, I cantotally relate.

I am the opposite. I get everything prepped and then get too revved up to DM.

Sometimes I freak a little when a session gets called off due to this or that.

Quote from: Future Villain Band;801540I can relate, although partly I think my procrastination lately is due to a bad case of the yips.  But otherwise, yeah, I cantotally relate.

I have had the GM Yips for a bit now. I just feel like the games I'm running recently just don't have the same charm. Not having player complaints, but something feels off to me.

Getting started (from day to day) is often the hardest part, ime. Figure a way to shortcut that shit and you win half the battle.

I find that having a suface or three to leave works in progress (and all my pens, pencils, brushes and other life consuming bullshit) out on is helpful. Killing the ten minutes of getting my shit together before start up has helped immeasurably.
My drawing table especially taunts me until I sit down and do some shit.

I just start the campaign and hope everything hangs together.

To my mind, there's no point preparing things to the Nth degree, then not actually running the campaign. Similarly, there's no point in promising a campaign that never happens. Far better to start something, then it will generate its own momentum.

Much like writing, painting and all the other bits of creation, you've got to know when to stop your prep. Sometimes less is more.

I've started campaigns with little/no prep (like now) and find that I do not have enough spare time to convert my ongoing growing pile of notes into something coherent like maps and handouts for the Players.

Sometimes a  good long break from GMing is needed to recharge and re-energize. Not too long ago I was playing in several different campaigns and running nothing. I did this for a few years.

Now I'm running a 5E campaign and just recently started running a 2nd one ona different night for another group. One of the players plays in both groups so I'm not using the same campaign material either. I enjoy prepping both games and have already produced a lot of extra material for both games.

When I'm into running and recharged procrastination isn't an issue. When I start doing so, it's usually a sign that it will soon be time to just relax and play and re-energize.

The Butcher said
" The research and the ideas come easily enough. Setting pen to paper, though... work, study, social obligations, Christmas shopping, videogames, sometimes it seems RPG prep takes a backseat to everything."

Agreed . . . I have two young kids . . . We get to play 3-4 times a month most months . . . . And . . . who has time to play video games now?

 I make notes in my phone whenever something strikes me.  Even if it is a small scene or element idea that I won't use for a year or two . . . Having this list of fragments often comes in handy for a build around.

 Research is key, especially when your players are smarter than you as a whole, not a knock, just a fact.

I can relate to the improvising . . . Sometimes it's among my best work, sometimes just ok.

Good luck.

I can relate, but not so much because I'm prone to procrastination as a GM -- I do, by most lights, an insane amount of prep work -- than because I'm prone to procrastination, period.

If I went with unstructured time for sessions, I'm sure it'd be a lot worse.  As it is, knowing that the next scheduled session is Saturday, I'm likely to spend Thursday night on prep work -- it's the night I set aside every two weeks to do it.  However much I don't feel like it, I know I'll be damn unhappy if I don't have that material to hand for Saturday.

Quote from: Ravenswing;801559I can relate, but not so much because I'm prone to procrastination as a GM -- I do, by most lights, an insane amount of prep work -- than because I'm prone to procrastination, period.

If I went with unstructured time for sessions, I'm sure it'd be a lot worse.  As it is, knowing that the next scheduled session is Saturday, I'm likely to spend Thursday night on prep work -- it's the night I set aside every two weeks to do it.  However much I don't feel like it, I know I'll be damn unhappy if I don't have that material to hand for Saturday.

I can relate to this for school work or actual work. For my hobby stuff if I'm not looking forward to prepping it then chances are I'm not looking forward to running it even if it takes awhile to admit that to myself.

My best prep comes after a session, when I'm on a gaming high. The day of gaming, I'll review my notes, make some new ones over coffee and hope for the best.

I time budget. I'll spend 1 hour of focused prep per 4 hour session. Anything after that is bonus.

I have tons of loose notes/emergent details arising from actual play and I work with those willynilly as the mood strikes me. That work will never be done.

I used to practically write modules for each session. Prepping story, encounters, NPC write-ups, etc. Had a binder full of notes for my campaign world, tons of details. Crazy stuff. I tried to stick to the rule of "spend as much time prepping the session as you plan to play it."

However, running a lot of HeroQuest 2e killed that for me. I found that I could, and indeed, really enjoyed running games off the cuff. I now go in with a minimum of preparation, and just react as the players slog along.

Two books I highly recommend if you're interested in cutting back on the prep:

Sly Flourish's "The Lazy Dungeon Master"

Graham Walmsley's "Play Unsafe"

Both books go into a lot of detail on ways to cut back on prep, and really only focus on stuff you need for your game. The Lazy DM book is more about ways to intentionally slack off before you get to the game session, while Play Unsafe is about bringing improv tricks to the table. Together, they're a great pair of books.