However, having just wrapped 2001: A Space Odyssey I thought it was about time I caught up on some podcasts and I wanted to find out what Ron and Veronica Blessing had been doing after they closed the doors on The Game's The Thing (one of my all-time favourite general RPG pods)
Turns out they've launched RoleplayDNA: Mapping The Genome Of Gaming - another general RPG pod, but with more of a round-table format and with a frequently updated blog.
The first episode I listened to was the latest - episode five, the end of their first five-episode season (the next season is due to start around July 15) - and I quickly discovered that I could have been listening to the kind of debate that goes on in my head all the time!
Called Chasing Deadlands (with its name taken from the sublime Kevin Smith film Chasing Amy, the theme was about the near-impossible idea of trying to recapture past glories), the discussion primarily centred around Ron's - so-far failed - attempts to recreate of the magic of an extended Deadlands campaign he'd run about a decade ago.
This had led to "Ohh, Shiny" syndrome - which members of my own Tuesday Knights should, unfortunately, be only too familair with (and I'd recommend any of them with an hour to spare to check this episode out) - with Ron frequently starting new campaigns, then getting disheartened after a few sessions, scrapping them and starting something new.
I felt like I'd found my own support group. Between the gags and guffaws, the RoleplayDNA crew were spelling out my exact problem.
I have been so intent on recreating the "magic" that Nick, Pete, Steve and I had with our old Traveller, Villains & Vigilantes and The Fantasy Trip campaigns (none of which I actually ran I realised) that, like Ron, I find myself too easily frustrated when things now are not going the way I'd hoped and too easily distracted by whatever new shiny object has caught my attention.
I'd always thought that constantly referring back to the old games was a method of seeking inspiration, it had never really seriously crossed my mind before that that could actually be the cause of my problem.
I came away from the podcast determined that once I have settled on a system for my next campaign I shall make the Tuesday Knights a pledge that even if I start to get cold feet early on with the game I shall power on through and not let my Gamer ADHD get the better of me (of course, easier said than done).
I just finished listening to this myself; I can definitely relate to the "Ohh, Shiny" Syndrome; my RPG ADHD has been a problem ever since I started DMing. Every couple of weeks I would approach my players with a new setting concept.
ReplyDeleteWhile I love 2nd Edition AD&D and all its campaign settings, I also blame those settings slightly for my personal problems...there were so many different settings, with such unique elements, and I wanted to try them all. AND they inspired my own unique ideas; they really gave me permission to go really far outside of the norm in terms of a traditional fantasy setting.
It's good to hear I haven't been alone in this, and I do need to make it a point as well to just commit to one concept and follow through.
Gamer ADHD is a long-established condition and I think most of us suffer from it - to one degree or another (I remember back in the day when we played Villains & Vigilantes all the time, Pete would turn up to almost every game with a new idea for his character).
DeleteThe older I get the less in favour of choice I become. Limiting choices makes life so much easier ;)