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Lots of great suggestions here, including some I was hoping to make.

The whole purpose of a gaming group is to sit down, hang out with friends, and have fun, right?

Instead of playing D&D, have a movie night instead. Have everyone meet and watch a fantasy or sci-fi movie together, preferably at someone's place, so you can all act like total goof-offs during the whole thing. Maybe seeing some heroic action will re-inspire you to get excited about the game again. It might help you guys bond as friends a bit more, too.

If you're set on rolling some dice, play a "beer and pretzels" board or card game instead. Munchkin's simple and light-hearted. WotC's own Inn-Fighting is worth a mention.

And there's always handing over the DM reigns, temporarily, to someone else. The problem player is a good candidate, and should give him a greater appreciation for all the work a DM has to do.

Buchatar wrote:

I would just like to thank everyone's response to this post. Been a wonderful help as I've now seen my own thoughts in a much clearer light.
I've taken "all" the ideas mentioned and just shuffling through them in my head, some very good ideas. (-cough- Shinydice -cough-)

Regarding the quote above, I think at the moment it is leaning heavily towards "being creative just to keep game going". However hopefully next wednesday I'll be able to end the homebrew dungeon the party are in and focus a bit more on city-related adventures, thanks to the party a few options I can work on have opened up.

I would pass control over to someone else, as 2 people have briefly mentioned wanting to run a game. Unfortunatly once a week (maybe twice, very rarely) is our only free slot so that throws out the idea's for alternate campaigns as the players want to get back into the hot seat, and the 2 members havn't raised much regarding being a DM. What I am looking forward too though is a 24-hour session towards the end of November that everyone have pencilled in so mentally prepping myself for that.

Also I most definatly shall be headed down to Blockbuster sometime later on and finding an old favourite, something to get the juices flowing... I've always wanted to try a Gladiator theme'd group :)

Anyhoo! I must be off, thankyou all for the advice and I'm sure I'll see you on these forums now and then. :)

What might help is switching the groups schedule so that while you still meet every two weeks, your game runs every two weeks and on the other week one of the other potential DMs runs a game. Taking over as The DM can be a bit intimidating if you haven't done it before, but your game will still be going as well as theirs. I find it really helpful with my group, having burnt out totally on DMing in the past, to know that I have a bit longer between sessions to prepare, a chance to play, and that in an emergency there's another DM present who may be able to run their game with a little notice.

I see that you've gotten yourself in higher spirits, but I figured I'd chip in my two cents as well.

When I feel like I've hit a block, for whatever reason, I drink brandy, listen to the Amelie soundtrack, and just keep writing, after enough brandy I generally get tired and go to bed, then, come morning, and a much clearer mind, I can separate the chaff from the wheat - editing the nonsense out with an eraser, and run with whatever good came of my ramblings.