Quote from: The_Shadow;1044093What I mean by played out is when you've played a game enough to experience most or all of its permutations as written. Your players have tried all the chrome, whether that's the classes, magical options, or items. They've faced most of the published foes, everyone has seen the dice fall every which way and the mechanics are fully explored. Characters have reached high levels. There's no mystery.

I've been playing various types of RuneQuest for well over 30 years and am still surprised at things that happen, so no.

No. Theres allways new trouble to get into.

I tend to find that more complex, specific games get old faster than simple, abstract games. With simpler games, the emphasis tends to be on what you do, not the system. With more complex games, the system is often at the heart of play, and it is easier to get sick of.

This is most clear with combat systems. In a simple combat system, it is usually just a relatively quick way to adjudicate the results of a fight. More complex combat systems are like a kind of game within the game. In the same way I can burn out on playing the same board game all the time, I can burn out on that combat system and by extension burn out on the whole RPG.

That doesn't make games with more complex systems innately bad. I'm just aware that they lend to quicker burnout for me.

I've come to feel this way about Shadowrun. I stopped playing it several years ago, but even then it had been almost a decade since anything in it felt fresh to me. I had a similar feeling toward all of the WoD games around 1999.

Quote from: Baulderstone;1044196This is most clear with combat systems. In a simple combat system, it is usually just a relatively quick way to adjudicate the results of a fight. More complex combat systems are like a kind of game within the game. In the same way I can burn out on playing the same board game all the time, I can burn out on that combat system and by extension burn out on the whole RPG.

That doesn't make games with more complex systems innately bad. I'm just aware that they lend to quicker burnout for me.

I have the reverse reaction. A simple combat system is soon "played out" and we're usually just cranking through an approximately optimal strategy - the choices it offers become rote. At that point I would either like to simplify it to an outright decision or a single die roll and save the time. A complex combat system only feels like a game within the game if it doesn't connect with the game, like settling combat by playing cribbage, because that's when it takes you out of the role playing.

This might just result from differing definitions of "simple".

I would generally say no. However, there are times where I want a lengthy break before I run a game again.

While I am massively burnt out on Pathfinder to the extent that the thought of GMing it makes me feel ill, I wouldn't say it was 'played out' in the sense that I've seen everything it has to offer. It's more GMing 14th level PF with minmax players and going The Horror... The Horror...

Games that I have probably had enough of.

Rolemaster: I still love it and occasionally toy with idea of going back to my beloved blue box and Loremaster modules but a quick look at the combat and magic sytems and their complexity makes me sigh and out it back on the Pretty Shelf.

Ars Magica: played it and loved it but jsut can't bring myself to play it again. Don't know why.

Vampire/Mage oWoD et al: much of the aesthetic just pisses me off now.

Games that I still want to go back to.

Runequest
Dragon Warriors
Traveller
Space Master: despite what I said about Rolemaster, the old 1st and 2nd edition Spacemaster is something I see as a lot more playable and the scenarios and setting of the Terran Empire has not dated.

Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1044106Not exactly, but something very close.  I do sometimes get "system fatigue" where something I play a lot gets to the point where I still appreciate it, but just want a break with something new.  But this isn't because I've exhaustively explored it.  It's usually a case of there is something about the system that chafes a little, and now I want to play something that isn't rubbing that sore spot.   Usually takes many years to get to that point, though.

I've definitely had this and assume it's normal for many. After a while you just  get bored with a system, and want to try something else for a change. For me it's usually within 12 - 24 months.

Quote from: Baulderstone;1044196I tend to find that more complex, specific games get old faster than simple, abstract games. With simpler games, the emphasis tends to be on what you do, not the system. With more complex games, the system is often at the heart of play, and it is easier to get sick of.

This is most clear with combat systems. In a simple combat system, it is usually just a relatively quick way to adjudicate the results of a fight. More complex combat systems are like a kind of game within the game. In the same way I can burn out on playing the same board game all the time, I can burn out on that combat system and by extension burn out on the whole RPG.

That doesn't make games with more complex systems innately bad. I'm just aware that they lend to quicker burnout for me.

Yes, this. I got burned by Shadowrun, in part, due to its combat system.

When  I do, it's less "played it out" and more "got old", and is tied to the genre more than the system. For me, the mechanics either work for me right off the bat or they don't. It's the story or genre that wears thin eventually.

I don't think I've ever played a game where I felt that I'd been there and done everything... One of the reasons I love RPing is that it's always a bit different every time you play.

What does it for me generally is playing the same type of stuff over and over again. I won't partake in a traditional dungeon crawl as I played them to death when I was a kid and I'm thoroughly sick of them now. I won't play Shadowrun as I played it lots and it was always the same type of repetative scenario. I also did'nt like the cosmology which compounded things.

But for certain other games, I could play and run them all day, like WFRP Beyond the Wall or Vampire (Sabbat only).

I GM'd The Enemy Within campaign (WFRP 2e rules but with 1st edition timeline and lore). Took three years but we had quite a few side quests, etc. But I'm already dying to run it again now that I've had a long break.