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Author Topic: I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.  (Read 4285 times)

HappyDaze

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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« on: October 10, 2017, 04:39:39 PM »
I've been running a FFG Star Wars game for the last few months, and I've come to really hate the rules. I played this rule set from 2013-2015 and I playtested several products for the line, so I'm very familiar with the system. However, I stopped playing it when I moved in 2015 and only recently came back to it even though I detest pretty much everything about FFG's take on RPGs. This is the first group I formed in this new area (I moved across the country to help out elderly family members) after not playing for almost two years, and the group was assembled for this specific game as I don't personally know or associate with the players outside of this game. They are not going to play another game since they came together specifically for FFG Star Wars, which leaves me wondering if I should keep on running the game or if I should tell them that they need to find another GM while I look for players for another game.  In some ways I feel like our connections are almost work-like and that GMing is my non-paying side job. Looking at it that way, my "job satisfaction" is low, but I don't currently have any other "job prospects" so maybe I should keep going until I find another group doing a game I'm more interested in and then I'll cut this group loose. Then there's "no gaming is better than bad gaming" echoing in my head that tells me I should just end it now and have more time and energy to spend on other things.

Any suggestions for dealing with this situation where the gaming group is only a gaming group and has no real social ties beyond that?

Redforce

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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2017, 04:41:54 PM »
Wow, if you are that unhappy, why is continuing even an option?
If a hobby becomes a chore, you have to either drop it or change it, for your own sanity.
I am not familiar with FFG Star Wars, but the main complaints I have read are interpreting the rolls of the special dice that come with it.  Too fiddly or something like that, they say.

TrippyHippy
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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2017, 04:58:01 PM »
Well you could tempt them with the 30th Anniversary D6 version of the game that FFG are re-releasing. It's flat out just a better version of the game, with a much easier system.

However, you shouldn't pressurise yourself to play in a group you don't get along with. Yes, sometimes it is hard to get a group together, but no gaming is better than bad gaming. You're only making life miserable for yourself.
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Itachi

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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2017, 05:13:36 PM »
Say you're taking a break. Tell the real reason and see if they have interest in trying other game. If so, good for you. If not, wish them a good time with their game and move on. No point in torturing yourself like that.

HappyDaze

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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« Reply #4 on: October 10, 2017, 05:25:20 PM »
Quote from: TrippyHippy;999726
Well you could tempt them with the 30th Anniversary D6 version of the game that FFG are re-releasing. It's flat out just a better version of the game, with a much easier system.

However, you shouldn't pressurise yourself to play in a group you don't get along with. Yes, sometimes it is hard to get a group together, but no gaming is better than bad gaming. You're only making life miserable for yourself.

I like D6, but they won't touch it. I would never give FFG money for another D6 product when I already own it and can go to d6holocron for the rest.

GameDaddy
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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« Reply #5 on: October 10, 2017, 05:29:41 PM »
Quote from: HappyDaze;999728
I like D6, but they won't touch it. I would never give FFG money for another D6 product when I already own it and can go to d6holocron for the rest.



Run what you like, and build your group around that.

I'd like to try running d6 Star Wars however don't have the rules, and only really started playing with d20 SW and went on and adopted SAGA. Both of these work just fine for me, because the first Star Wars games I ever ran in 1978 and 1979, I hacked D&D to run the game, so the d20 mechanics seems intuitive for me to grasp.
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Gronan of Simmerya

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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« Reply #6 on: October 10, 2017, 05:36:10 PM »
If you don't like the game you're running, eventually the game WILL suck.

Just say "I really hate these rules and I'm not having fun.  Can we play something else or do you guys want to find a new referee?"
You should go to GaryCon.  Period.

The rules can't cure stupid, and the rules can't cure asshole.

Steven Mitchell

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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« Reply #7 on: October 10, 2017, 06:02:16 PM »
Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;999731
If you don't like the game you're running, eventually the game WILL suck.

Just say "I really hate these rules and I'm not having fun.  Can we play something else or do you guys want to find a new referee?"

This.  If you feel that way about the game, it is already dead.  You are coasting on fumes.  I got this way about one system, to the point that I begin to positively dread game day, and would do almost anything to avoid prepping for it (including distasteful chores I had been putting off).  So unless you can milk this feeling to get your garage cleaned out or something similar, the sooner it ends the better.  You might be able to limp to a good stopping point.  I let my situation go too, and wasn't even able to do that.

Dumarest

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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« Reply #8 on: October 10, 2017, 06:10:28 PM »
How did you get started running a game you hate?

My #1 rule for being a referee is that it has to be a game I want to play. I mean, I'm only doing this for the fun. If gaming  is no fun I'll go read a book or do something else I enjoy instead.

crkrueger

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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« Reply #9 on: October 10, 2017, 06:14:38 PM »
Just fess up and admit the system doesn't do it for you anymore, you're going to run another system.  Ask them if they want to come along for the ride.  If they don't, "Hasta Lasagna - don't get any on ya."
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Schwartzwald

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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« Reply #10 on: October 10, 2017, 06:41:21 PM »
Is this the one with all. The weird custom. Dice where. Each roll can produce like multi results.

Omega

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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« Reply #11 on: October 10, 2017, 08:31:46 PM »
Why wont they touch the WEG version? Are they die-hard FFG fans?

If you arent liking the system then all you can do is tell them so and work out a solution. And make it clear that this isnt a snap decision. You are very familiar with the system.

Im in a simmilar problem as locally theres 3e D&D players and Gurps players. But I am ambivalent about 3e and Gurps I just do not like and Im not fond of the company either from past dealing with some of their less pleasant actions. I could DM either easily with a little familiarization. But I'd rather not.

AsenRG

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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« Reply #12 on: October 10, 2017, 09:58:39 PM »
Quote from: Redforce;999724
Wow, if you are that unhappy, why is continuing even an option?
If a hobby becomes a chore, you have to either drop it or change it, for your own sanity.
Yeah, this:).

Quote from: GameDaddy;999729
Run what you like, and build your group around that.
Also, this is your best option, or at least that's the one I've always resorted to.
And while you're building your new group, don't forget that there are better time to do in the now-freed timeslot than running a game you don't enjoy;).
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Opaopajr

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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« Reply #13 on: October 11, 2017, 12:37:08 AM »
Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;999731
If you don't like the game you're running, eventually the game WILL suck.

Just say "I really hate these rules and I'm not having fun.  Can we play something else or do you guys want to find a new referee?"


This is the correct, and mature, answer. Listen to his agéd peehole. :D

Quote from: GameDaddy;999729
Run what you like, and build your group around that.


Yup. This way you will be passionate about the work, and willing to endure much to accomodate the experience for others' enjoyment.

You are not a computer server. You are not there to serve alone without dissent. And if they find their preferred system so pleasurable, they undoubtedly must be chomping at the bit to run it themselves, too.
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S'mon

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I don't hate the players, but I'm damn sure I hate the game.
« Reply #14 on: October 11, 2017, 04:30:05 AM »
I would tell them that you'll be finishing up, but do 1 or 2 finale sessions to wrap things up so everyone leaves satisfied. Definitely don't continue indefinitely. Take a break and plan to start a new campaign in a system you like, inviting your old players and looking for new ones.