Recently, I've been having a bit of a problem getting my head in the game when the time comes to sit down and start playing. I've got all kinds of atmosphere (mood music, a DVD slide show of 40k imagery and Thoughts for the Day, etc) but recently, it just seems that more and more, when game night rolls around all I can think of is what I have to do at work, paintings sitting around needing to be finished, repairs that need doing on our rental properties, and half a million other things -none of game related. Late at night when I'm sitting up at the computer painting or mulling a scenario over, I'm rearing to go, but 2:00 am on some random week night just doesn't quite work for the rest of my group and their 9-5 lives. This has led to rather lackluster sessions even if i felt the scenario I'd concocted would blow our collective socks off the night before. Poor delivery because I just can't get my own head into the game and keep it from wondering off seems to be the root cause of this. After all, if a GM can't immerse himself in that nights game, how can he expect the players to do so?

There seems to be all forms of ideas, tips, and tricks for helping to get players engaged with the game and session on hand but painfully little on what a GM can do to get his or her own head into the game. I guess it's high time there's a thread dealing with that, not just for me but any GM who might have an off night or feels that they could stand to improve their performance a bit.

So, I ask, what do you fellow GM's do to get your self psyched up for the game, ready to roll, and how do you keep it up? What tips and tricks have you learned to get your mind on track after a long day or those times when you have anything but the game on your mind? How do you make your self excited or interested in a scene that you know the players will absolutely love but, for what ever reason, your just not all that into it that night?

At university I spent a lot of time going out socialising etc. Basically had quite a fun time. Afterwards I began doing a law course. It was a pretty intensive course packing a normal 3 year degree into 1 year. I didn't have to much time for fun. Even weekends were often taken up.

One of the few night off I had was on Monday nights at a gaming club. I knew that if I just worked then i would probably crashed and burn later on in the year, worst case scenario around exam time.

So I saw the gaming night as actually a valuable tool to relax and completly detach myself from law. I didn't really hang out with any of the people from the club outside of Mondays and equally none of my friends I did the law course with were into gaming. Essentially to entirely seperate worlds.

Anyway this helped me GM scenarios and generally get into character because come Monday night I was really trying to push out all the other mundane stuff in real life.

This probably isn't of direct help but it does seem like it is mainly real life worries rather than lack of creativity that are hindering your games. Getting into the mentality of seeing the gaming night as a way to relax might help.

The other thing is a kind of built in guilt about having fun when you have work to do. Make a list of three or four important task to finish before gaming night and if you have achieved them then begin GMing in the knowledge that rpging isn't infringing on your real life.

The other solution might be to give GMing a rest for a week or two.

Finally I have never really used atmospheric music and the like because I like the game to be quite flexible, switching easily between horror, action, drama and comedy. But thats just preference.

Something of a long-term solution, but one way is to set up a 'cue' that makes you think in a suitable fashion. For example- when working on upcoming scenarios etc, make sure that a particular piece of music is playing. Every time. Then when it comes to game time, before you start- relax, have a beer or two and put on that piece of music.
I've used this trick on a number of occasions, with limited success, I must admit, but it's always been piecemeal- I was listening to Siegfried (yes, the entire opera) from Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle while writing a campaign module for WFRP a couple of years ago, and I found a couple of arias perfect for setting the mood for me, but when it came to running it, I found some sessions worked really well (generally those preceded by arias featuring the Nibelungs and their leitmotifs) while some fell flat (generally those preceded by pieces with other associations for me, such as the 'Forging Song (Nothung! Nothung!'). I suspect that if I'd been consistent as to which piece was playing as I worked to begin with, I'd have had better results.

Scent cues could also work (and be used in the middle of a game without breaking the players' mood and immersion), but I'm personally dubious as to how to set that one up.

Some people find that setting a 'trigger' for themselves works. Basically at the start of every session they do something right before the actual gaming begins. This doesn't have to be anything weird or obvious - some people turn on some music that they'll play throughout the session, others just open up the gaming book. Some roll some dice. This helps to switch them into 'game-mode'.

Personally, I knock back a shot of tequila

Well, like most things in GM'ing, I'm sure there's no one size fits all answer. I think it is important to identify what motivates you to be a GM in the first place.

For me the two things I get most out of GM'ing is watching a collaborative story unfold, and feeling like my players are having a good time.

So typically when I am trying to jazz myself into the mood (be it to run or to write beforehand) I typically review my notes on what has happened recently. Before the start of any new adventure, I always send out a handout entitled "Previously on Sin & Salvation" which summarizes past highlights of the campaign leading up the present adventure. (Much like most TV shows do these days.) Granted, its primary purpose is to make sure my players' minds are refreshed, but it is also a helpful tool for me to get excited about the game.

Point number 2 is also why I am (just ask my players) such a tyrant about reliable attendance and notification of absence. Nothing kills my motivation to GM worse than people who have so little regard for my game they can't even let me know they're going to miss it. By contrast, when most of the group is there early, they're talking about game before we start, and I've seen lots of email chatter over the week, I am almost always energized to run. Unfortunately this isn't something I can control as much as point #1, but recognizing how much it affects my energy as the GM is still helpful. Since this item especially can be a self-feeding cycle. As you say, how can you expect the players to be into it if the GM isn't?

One thing i do Prior to the guys arriving is fill up the kettle, make room in the fridge for the coke or Dr Pepper and get a couple of bowls ready for the chips n dips.

Once thats done i then take 20 to read through the mission, from the beginning to where they are now and then through to where i think they'll get to by the end of the night.

Once the guys arrive its a quick turn of coffees and the first batch of chips n dips and get all of the meet & greets out of the way.

Once we're settled down, i do a quick Q&A session as well as a general recap so they remember what they learned and what they had so far accheived or fubar'd.

That often then gets the ball rolling "right you've done that and that left you in XY & Z.. lets take it from there..."

Once in a while i'll queue up some music as well to be playing in the background, and if they're in a uber imperial place i'll lightup some incense.

I listen to ambient music, have a beer or two of the micro-brewery near here and find a comfy chair to sit in.

I run my own stories, usually every other week, so I have the following schedule.

Week 1: Monday through Sunday- I completely ignore Dark Heresy unless inspiration strikes. I don't worry about it.

Week 2: Tuesday- For a day or two I mull what has happened and what essentially needs to happen next session in my mind. I'll review my recap notes, add to a timeline of things that happened/will happen based on my last session notes.

Thursday night- I usually sit down and script out the situation, events that will happen, events that have happened, character names, and I stat out combats that are likely to happen.

Friday night- I review my notes, make sure everything's in order. Last minute changes applied again, if inspiration strikes. Wednesday and Thursday are the days I devote to really rationalizing and slogging through writing the story.

Saturday- Game day, but we start at around 3pm, so until about 2pm, I completely ignore thinking about the game. At 2ish I review my notes, 3 rolls around, we start getting everyone geared up, and we play by about 4. I *really* get into the game by about 5pm.

While everyone's pre-game ritual is valid (especially agree with Fideru's), I think it's more important to identify why you're not as pumped up for a game as you are when writing for it. Obviously, it's not the source material. You'd not be up at 2AM writing if it were. Is it one or more of the players? Personally, if a player is screwing around or generally not into the game, it totally throws my night.

What about your work day? It sounds like you don't have a "normal" 9-to-5 desk job. Does your work day end only an hour or two prior to gaming? If so, you might need to unwind a bit more before gaming.

The last question I have is where do you game? Is it in the same room you work from? For example, I work from home having the glorious option to telecommute to work. When I lived with roommates, my bedroom was also my home office. I found that I couldn't relax and fall asleep because I associated my bedroom with work and my mind wandered to everything but sleep (not unlike your mind wandering to everything but gaming on game night). If this is the case, try gaming in a different room or maybe even a different location entirely.

Hope that helps!

Some good black tea and some random dice rolling works for me, though some good dark & perhaps energetic music beforehand works as well (E Nomine and the Dreamside are favorites). Also, the good thing about the dice rolling is that your players won't know if it's actually for anything so they'll always be wary and that helps create the illusion that bad things could potentially happen at any time.

I have a selection of ambient music to invoke various moods I want for my campaign - once I get started I can switch it over to whatever sort of music I care to have in the background.

The two things I make sure to work on first are the beginning of the campaign, and the climax - once I have them worked out to my satisfaction, I flesh out the rest of the scenario. Ideally, everything will be worked out in great detail, but we've all got lives outside of GMing and sometimes we just don't have enough time to get the whole thing polished up before it's time to run the game - so I make sure that the important parts are finished first. II hope I don't have to explain why the beginning and the climax of the campaign are the most important parts.

As far as getting my psyched up for running the game... I really don't have a problem with it. When I get done working on my campaigns I'm always so excited for my players to play it, their simply showing up is all the motivation I need. Once I'm done making a campaign I just can't wait for people to play it.

I find that if I read through random sections of the rulebook that I want to play more. Especially if it's a game I'm not 100% familiar with and I find an interesting section that I've not read before and will want to incorporate into the next game.

Another thing that really helps is the players involved. My current 2 roleplaying groups are both very radical roleplayers, as it were. One group consists of semi-serious roleplayers with a 'zaney' psyker called Pixie and they manage to get **** done and have a laugh at the same time. The other group are always contributing ideas or going off on a side-quest for kicks and managing not to mess up the entire system.

Another thing I might do to get myself in the mood is get out the Xeno Generator or some Character Sheets and start rolling some dice. Even if I don't end up making anything I am going to keep for the campaign, it gets me thinking about the system.

My advice: have a break from it!

Seriously. If a dozen other thinks occupy your mind, take your time for a half a dozen of this thinks and do not play during this time period. After that, you might have an "easy time diving into the game" again.

Gregorius21778 said:

Yeah, i second this, sounds to me like your having GM burnout. Get someone else to run for a time. Im ususally the GM for our group but having played DH for 6 months and not GM'ing has been great.

S.K.

Thank you for the answers so far! You've given me some things to think about and a few bits of perspective that I'd lost. In the end, i think it might be, as suggested, possible burn out. I had been running DH for well over a year now and the current storyline for 9-10 months (which is a record for my ADD riddled malfunctioning mind). Unfortunately, for various reasons, I'm the only GM this group has -if I don't run something, we don't play. The current storyline's about to be resolved in about 3 more sessions and after that, i guess I can take a sort-of break and run something that requires a completely different mindset like Little Fears or some such for a bit.

Either way, I didn't quite get the magic beans i was hopping for, but I'll keep shopping this cow round and, please, anyone else with any tips, tricks, and advice, feel free to post if you have a gem that you think might help other GM's out with their techniques.

Graver said:

Well then it seems about time to let some of your players do some GM:ing of their own. You have been kind enough to GM for them this long, now you need a break and some time to sit on the player side of the screen.

I can't really see any good reason why one of your players should not be GM:ing for the group. If they have never done it before, give them some help, if they don't have their own books, lend them yours. Sure you have to expect some pressure, but it's not THAT hard to be a GM (even if it certainly is a skill which might take some time to be perfected).

A good start to introduce them to GM:ing would be to let them hold some pre-written adventures. The second part of the Haarlock trilogy should be out in a month or two shouldn't it? A great way to start of a GM career.

So get on with it and put some demand onto your players! "You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours", if you get my meaning?

Graver said:

As you choose, but ever thought about "not playing at all" for a month or two? The world holds so much more then just RPG

If you trust one of the players let them run a session or two.