{"id":7007,"date":"2022-12-26T04:00:39","date_gmt":"2022-12-26T08:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/?p=7007"},"modified":"2022-12-03T10:19:26","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T14:19:26","slug":"crashs-course-ep-05-burnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/2022\/12\/crashs-course-ep-05-burnout\/","title":{"rendered":"Crash&#8217;s Course Ep 05: Burnout"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_855\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-7007-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CrashsCourse_Ep_05_Burnout.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CrashsCourse_Ep_05_Burnout.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CrashsCourse_Ep_05_Burnout.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CrashsCourse_Ep_05_Burnout.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/?powerpress_pinw=7007-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CrashsCourse_Ep_05_Burnout.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"CrashsCourse_Ep_05_Burnout.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4404\" src=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse.png 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Hello and welcome to Crash\u2019s Course, a short form podcast where I share my thoughts and advice on playing and running tabletop role playing games in roughly about 5 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>In this episode I want to talk about that horrid thing that affects many a \u201cForever DM\u201d: Burnout.<\/p>\n<p>You know that pang of relief, mixed with guilt over that relief, that you might feel when a game session has to be canceled, so you spend the time instead playing a video game, reading a book, or staring into the endless void and pondering the futility of all you attempt to accomplish?<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Well, that\u2019s an early warning sign of burnout. Like Tennis Elbow, it\u2019s a thing that will likely get worse if the early signs are ignored, but taking proactive steps can keep your games running more smoothly for years to come.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the advice I\u2019ve mentioned in previous episodes has honestly helped me with my own burnout, but let\u2019s focus on new information:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Cut back on the sessions.<br \/>\nBurnout started hitting me when I was running 3 campaigns a week and playing in another one as a PC. Short term, it was very fun, but I have a day job I don\u2019t intend to quit. Now I do 2 games a week, with one of them being an after school club running a published module and the other being two at-home campaigns played on alternating weeks. Technically I\u2019m still doing 3 campaigns, but that\u2019s a lot less prep and stress.<\/li>\n<li>Set a timer.<br \/>\nBecause I record my home sessions in OBS, I have a running timer that tells me how long we\u2019ve been playing. Around the 1 hour mark (give or take based on plot\u2026) we take a break. This isn\u2019t just for the players or just to allow bathroom runs, it gives the DM time to not be \u201cON,\u201d role-playing as every NPC while keeping all the moving parts in mind.<br \/>\nAt the two hour mark (give or take), we end. We might end earlier than that if we had a late start or we hit the perfect stopping point plot-wise, but two hours is an upper limit.<\/li>\n<li>Delegate.<br \/>\nMore than half the time, I\u2019m not the one who points out we\u2019ve been playing for an hour. (It\u2019s become something of a meme in our game and I love it.)<br \/>\nI also don\u2019t keep track of character spell slots. Or what the spells do. Or how many arrows the ranger has. Heck, I\u2019m not even in charge of the world map for one of my campaigns. One of the PCs has an interest in cartography, so now it\u2019s her job to document it.<br \/>\nMy responsibilities involve remembering PC backstories, ongoing plot, and a basic understanding of the rules. This takes a lot of stress off of me, and as a result helps me stave off burnout for another month.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>That\u2019s all for this episode, subscribe to just this podcast at <a href=\"https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@CrashsCourse\">is.aaronbsmith.com\/@crashscourse<\/a> or all my D&amp;D podcasts at <a href=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/\">aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel<\/a> for future episodes.<\/p>\n<p>Music is <a href=\"http:\/\/modarchive.org\/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&amp;query=169788\">Deadly Windmills by JAM from modarchive.org<\/a>, used with permission, as it\u2019s public domain.<\/p>\n<p>This podcast is distributed under a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\">CC-BY-NC-ND<\/a> license.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Follow this series on\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#x25b6;Patreon: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/cogwheelgaming\">https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/cogwheelgaming<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x25b6;Mastodon: <a href=\"https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@CrashsCourse\">https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@CrashsCourse<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x25b6;Mastodon: <a rel=\"me\" href=\"https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@cogwheel\">https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@cogwheel<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x25b6;Google Podcasts: <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hYXJvbmJzbWl0aC5jb20vY29nd2hlZWwvZmVlZC8\">https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hYXJvbmJzbWl0aC5jb20vY29nd2hlZWwvZmVlZC8<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x25b6;Apple Podcasts: <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/cogwheel-gaming\/id1291681389\">https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/cogwheel-gaming\/id1291681389<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MP3 Download: <a href=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CrashsCourse_Ep_05_Burnout.mp3\">Crash&#8217;s Course Ep 05: Burnout<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone\"><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=6006674\">Keep us ad free by supporting us on Patreon!<\/a><br \/>\nThanks to our current Patreon Patrons (as of this upload&#8230;): Chris, Cindy<span class=\"sc-AxirZ bmNQcS\" data-tag=\"user-details-full-name\"> (Patron Emeritus)<\/span>, Ellie, Erik<span class=\"sc-AxirZ bmNQcS\" data-tag=\"user-details-full-name\">, ShanShen, and Walter!<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello and welcome to Crash\u2019s Course, a short form podcast where I share my thoughts and advice on playing and running tabletop role playing games in roughly about 5 minutes. In this episode I want to talk about that horrid thing that affects many a \u201cForever DM\u201d: Burnout. You know that pang of relief, mixed &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/2022\/12\/crashs-course-ep-05-burnout\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Crash&#8217;s Course Ep 05: Burnout&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[312,293],"tags":[362,318,295,327],"class_list":["post-7007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-podcast","category-ttrpg","tag-crashscourse","tag-dnd","tag-dungeons-and-dragons","tag-ttrpg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7007"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7009,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7007\/revisions\/7009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}