So The Dark One returns...

Hey all! So, I am back (at last), but I do have a few things I want to bring with my arrival. First and foremost: Borian is taking a Hiatus. I realized over the course of my hiatus that I do not enjoy what Borian has become. It went from something that I enjoyed running to a pile of things, which mainly came from me not being prepared in certain ways. This led to me no longer enjoying running the games, something which I only truly realized during my leave. Be assured Borian players, Borian will be back, and the game I will be running next will allow you to keep your features. Pertaining to the Sams, I have one thing to say to both of your shiny things: They will link to the new game, so no complaining. The main problem with this is that players live on Borian, so I'm going to play my GM card until I can come up with an official RP reason why players can't adventure out into the wild of Borian and just say 'It got much more deadly and Elementals are pissed'. If it seems like a cheap cop-out, good, because it is. Now, the important part of this post: The return of my games. New games shall be run on another Realm, to which players can travel to through boat trip to an mainly ocean Realm, where, upon the central island will be a man in a cloak, and a portal. The world's name is unknown (to the players, at least, Muahaha), and the only information gleaned from the man is that it is a world of struggle. And that's it. My first new game post will be in about mid-January, allowing me to finish setting my world up.

Hey Ernie, What you are describing is classic mate; it's when you look at your creation and no longer find it satisfying. Unless the game is really created well when you take a break from any game, it loses it's appeal. Even some really good games stop after a while for purely logistical reasons and then never start up again because the DM 'loses heart'. When you are in the flow, things seem more interesting because you have momentum, but unless there is some sort of strong story, if you stop then you end up seeing all of the flaws and what has gone before becomes a kind of horrible 'straight-jacket'. Part of being a DM is learning to set things up and keep them running such that you don't ever get tired of what you end up with. It requires a bit of experience, self-knowledge, story telling and creativity before you even start running the game. You then also have to stand firm against players who don't 'get' your vision and want to play a certain kind of character that doesn't fit. If you allow that your vision will shift into a total mis-mash, which, whilst fun for a while, is seldom a good recipe for a long running campaign. I think every DM experiences this at some point. It's only in the last 10 years that I have got past that feeling at the end of most of my games; and I have been DMing for around 30 years. Right now,  I feel I could run Maladon for forever and don't feel any 'inertia' as I begin planning to start it up again. That's because the lore is rich and deep and still has the potential to surprise even me; and is complex enough to keep generating stories that almost tell themselves. I also periodically revisit and add to it to freshen it up. Learn from this; it took me a long time to realise how to create something long lasting; it's all about what you create BEFORE the game begins. Thanks for keeping things going anyway and I look forward to playing in your next creation.