What stops you from running a game?

[DrQuinn]

Time. I just don’t have the time I used to when I was a high school/college student and before kids. Back in the before times when I used to staff on games I liked to run at least one little plot a week with a bigger plot running through the month and I probably still have a spreadsheet out there somewhere from a game I ran with every active character and the possible hooks and arcs I could throw at them. I definitely don’t want to start something where I couldn’t devote the time to get/keep people involved in all the stories I want to tell.

[Roadspike]

@lordbelh said in What stops you from running a game?:

For me it’s time and a willingness to commit on an extended timescale. I’ve written up game ideas in the past, with pages and pages of theme and system documentation. But anytime I’ve gotten close to pulling the trigger and bringing in others to make it a reality, I’ve paused to ask myself if I’m seriously going to follow through.

And the answer’s always been either: no, or I don’t know.

I’m happy to waste my own time worldbuildings, but not so much other people’s time.

Absolutely true. I have a game 95% ready to go, and another 1-2 written out in game design docs, but don’t have the time to put in to keep a storyline moving along, and I would feel really, really bad to open a place up and then have to close it 6-9 months later – again.

@Pyrephox said in What stops you from running a game?:

In my previous attempts at staffing, I have been called exclusionary and unreasonable for not approving characters that were submitted without things asked for in chargen, or in opposition to things asked for in chargen. In the end, it’s probably just better if I don’t staff anywhere, for both myself and others.

See now, I consider this to be good Staffing. Staff should know what game they want to run, what type of characters they want there, and what they (generally) want players doing. And they should be firm with it. Otherwise it becomes a mishmash of themes and settings, and it’s also no longer the game Staff wants, which makes it (at least to me) a job.

[L. B. Heuschkel]

@Roadspike said in What stops you from running a game?:

See now, I consider this to be good Staffing. Staff should know what game they want to run, what type of characters they want there, and what they (generally) want players doing. And they should be firm with it. Otherwise it becomes a mishmash of themes and settings, and it’s also no longer the game Staff wants, which makes it (at least to me) a job.

Agreed. And I say that while staffing on Keys which has – not quite wrongly – been called the ultimate fan fic game because we do allow a bizarre mish-mash of themes and stories. We have clear guidelines nonetheless as to how to get all that stuff to mesh and when people don’t obey those guidelines, their characters do not get approved.

[Jumpscare]

I was looking at the unread threads the other day, and I was amused that the other thread titles could be legitimate answers to this thread’s question.

Yes, all those things could definitely stop someone from running a game!

[IoleRae]

@Jumpscare

Hilarious.

[Third Eye]

Not so one thing I legitimately love running is wild animal encounters.

I don’t love much else but I love posing about how big moose are.

[sao]

@Third-Eye now I want to find a way to GM a whale.

[Third Eye]

@sao said in What stops you from running a game?:

@Third-Eye now I want to find a way to GM a whale.

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssss.

One as an NPC you could ‘talk’ to would be a blast.

[farfalla]

@Third-Eye ABSOLUTELY NOT.

[Polk]

@Tat said in What stops you from running a game?:

I see lots of people with cool ideas or themes they’d love to play in.

What are the things that keep you from actually running a game? What are the barriers?

Code and time.

People want a certain amount of stuff coded to play on a game. Coding that stuff takes time. I don’t have it.

I was coding my own engine to be able to launch a game, but I ran out of time when I inherited Liberation Mage.