Literally Run Whatever You Want Part 2

Having run so many D&D games, I have tried a lot of different settings and storylines. Throughout the years, many of the games have ended early and many of my ideas do not get to be fully realized. It can be a struggle to find new and original content, and to stay motivated to keep running interesting and engaging content. So how do you make sure that you’re not getting burnt out? What can a DM do in order to make sure that after years of gaming, you will be able to keep presenting content you can be proud of?
I’ve written before about DMs running whatever they want, but what does that look like in the long term? There have been multiple games where I have ended up being the one running the game when I was not told ahead of time, and so I need to use something off the top of my head. Those situations used to be scary, because I didn’t like the idea that I would run a game that was substandard even with zero planning. That’s why I had to learn to be comfortable running things that I wanted no matter what other people might think. Obviously I still care about making the game fun for my players, but in terms of choosing content, I think about myself first. I typically pull from books and video games, and it’s a probably one of the best sources you can use.
Video games are a wonderful way to get ideas about story hooks and dramatic missions. Recently I was playing through Shadowrun: Dragonfall, a really fun RPG I got on Steam, and the sci-fi missions are actually perfect for translating into ideas for D&D. For example, in the video game, my team is hired to break into a facility to tie up some loose ends, and ultimately, kill one of the members of the team that originally botched the mission. If I were to run a D&D game tonight, with no prior planning, it would be easy for me to come up with something that felt similar. Perhaps the party must break into a secret alchemical lab, get passed the hobgoblin guards, finish the sabotage that the first group was sent to do, and then find the remaining member of the team who was captured; an ogre who claims he was set up and begs to not be killed.
You also need to remember when running existing settings, that you can drastically change aspects of it to make a whole new experience. Usually I play in Forgotten Realms, and so for one campaign I created a race of aliens that had advanced technology that had descended to Faerun and was conducting experiments on different races. Their main strength was that they were completely immune to any kind of magic, the kind of edge that dramatically puts them ahead of the great powers in that setting. It was a fun dungeon the party explored when they found an old observation facility in which they had to complete some basic tasks while being recorded before they could proceed, only to then break through the wall and enter the deeper facility.
Those ideas were taken from various sci-fi sources, one of which was the game Portal. I have found that when I am playing a video game and have a memorable experience, I log it away in my brain because I know that I can replicate that experience for my players. What’s great about doing this is that the players will either A) have not experienced the media that inspired you and it will feel like a fresh storyline or B) have experienced it and gain enjoyment from the reference to something they have already enjoyed.
My piece of advice in all of this is that you should always run your games to include things you love; stories, missions, items, emotions, etc. You absolutely will get burnt out if you don’t shake things up every now and then, so challenge yourself to do something new. Next time you’re running your weekly game, ask if the players are up for a one-shot adventure you’re going to run on the fly. Then, pick the last movie you saw or the last video game you played, and use your favourite part from that to create an adventure. Experimenting with DMing is really fun when you’re doing it with content you already know you love.
