How Do You Roll?

 

I have been role playing since 1984, and I'm not certain when I began my role as DM/GM/ST. In all those years, I have never had a DM/GM/ST make rolls for the players and I have never taken the opportunity to do it either.

I feel like I have experienced the worst case of DM/GM/ST burnout as I haven't actively taken that role in several years after being helping to run a multiple year chronicle for the classic World of Darkness. I think the last time I was actually in the position of the ST was pre-Covid pandemic.

I have been feeling the pull of wanting to again take the role of DM/GM/ST, but I keep getting stuck on several points that make me feel weary of taking that path:

• I have a large collection of books from a wide variety of TTRPGs and I'm not sure which one I would prefer to run. I have been adding a wide variety of new games to my collection from Kickstarter campaigns I support, but I am always on the lookout at used bookstores for books from older RPG's to continue to expand the options from games I already own.
• With regards to after the decision is made of exactly which TTRPG to run, it's then difficult to figure out what type of story to tell. For fantasy games like Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder, I have a collection of modules and adventure books to chose from.
• With how many videos I have watched of TTRPGs, I find myself feeling lacking in resources. While I have plenty of books, I don't have much in the way of miniatures or terrain. With regards specifically to running Dungeons & Dragons, I have gotten used to using D&D Beyond. The problem is that all the resources I currently have there are from a previous campaign and I do not have ownership of them. Additionally, I don't have a paid subscription so I have limited availability of creating characters. My players are in the same place and they actually share an account and have nearly maxed-out the number of characters they can have on there.
• Over the past few years, I have participated in a D&D game that utilized D&D Beyond, minis and digital maps. I have become used to these resources but feel overwhelmed and uncertain of my personal ability to be able to utilize these newer resources effectively. As mentioned before, I also don't have a large collecting of miniatures to use to help make whatever game I decide to run engaging in that regard.

I think the biggest issue that I need to overcome is my anxiety of getting back on the DM/GM/ST horse and I have been watching a lot of videos on YouTube to help inspire me. While I have viewed many that have accomplished that, I still have yet to get past these feelings.

The other day, I watched a video from YouTube channel Tabletop University about how the first D&D episode of the NBC comedy Community inspired him to run his games with the DM making the majority of the rolls for the players.

This got me thinking about how differently I would like to run my future game. I like the idea of certain rolls not being made in the open or allowing the players to know if they succeeded or not. I think I can make this work, but I know it will be an awkward but I feel it would be worth it.

I've heard of other people using this option with success and would love to hear of your experiences if you have tried this at your table. Also, if you have had burnout before, how did you overcome it. Please leave a comment below.