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Am I the only one noticing a huge asymmetry in the TTRPG hobby right now - one that’s actively burning out GMs?

Back in the day, it felt like you’d have a dungeon to clear, a few factions thrown into the mix, and the players figured out what to do with them. But now? It feels like the GM is expected (in most cases) to deliver a "good plot," a "great story," and "interesting twists" so the players can be surprised and have big emotional moments.

And what do the players bring to the table? Most of the time, they just show up - and that’s pretty much their entire contribution. Rarely do they even know the rules.

Was it always like this? Am I just burned out? Or did I finally figure out something fundamental about this hobby? …Or am I the toxic one?

Just to clarify - I mostly play online with randoms. I’ve played with friends too, but their expectations were pretty similar, which is why I don’t run games for them anymore.

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Thanks for the answers. I'd like to clarify one point.

Just to clarify - in my experience, it’s not even about the rules or the system themselves. People come to this hobby looking for the same emotions and payoff they'd get from watching a series or playing a video game. And since their input there is minimal, they carry that same passive, low‑effort attitude over to the tabletop.

I've been peripheral to the hobby for a fair few years now, used to GM a huge amount but have only done one or two one-shots a year for the last several years.

My local boardgame cafe has asked if I'd like to run a campaign there on their RPG night, they're looking to expand it.

So my question is - whats actually big in the hobby right now?

I know the immediate answer is DnD, but I'm one of those folk who has never gelled with DnD. I'll leave running that to someone who enjoys it. Other than DnD, what systems or styles are trending at the moment?

One of my biggest GM takeaways from a recent campaign is nothing gets the players going like a Big Map. We started with a poster board where I had marked a few notable locations and encouraged them to draw and fill it in as they explored, and if you've never tried it I highly recommend it. Finish your introductory mission and then break that puppy out and ask "where do you want to go?" and everybody's eyes light up. It doesn't have to be to scale or super detailed, just a general map and room to write and draw.

It also opens up a whole host of extra puzzle options. You can give them in-world treasure maps. NPCs can indicate that something is somewhere or beyond something and players can understand where that is. Players can track where someone has been and where they might be going. The possibilities are as big as the map.

I'm prepping for a hex crawl based campaign soon and I'm looking to figure out how to make Big Hex Map. I've never gotten this level of engagement out of any other prop.

My first encounter with Brindlewood Bay was the worst. I just didn't get it. I tried to solve the mystery, got annoyed that you couldn't really see the clues in detail and were unable to follow them like a detective with razor sharpness rather than like a scattered old lady. The idea that you couldn't figure out who was left out of the will until the theorize move seemed anathema to me.

Still, yesterday, I decided to leave away my preconceptions and play the game on its own terms and it turned out really fun. Even if I got a bit lost because as the session went on as I had several competing theories forming in my head and I didn't know what to pursue and was a bit all over the place. I just went with the flow, taking notes but not being committed to anything until the group finally got together and it was time to brainstorm.

Similarly, my first experience with Daggerheart was bad, in part because the session was a mediocre dungeon crawl with two very quiet player and to some extent because I assumed it would play more like a crunchy game and did not fully play into its narrative side. I have since played several oneshots where rules of cool was king and we leaned into the cinematic heroic side with flamboyant descriptions and crazy shenanigans. I really like it far more. It has enough crunch to make you stop to think about your abilities, without stalling or making you feel constricted. It feels more fluid than DnD in terms of what stories it can tell too.

I'll be running at Gamehole Con in October. I've been running at cons since 2018. Over the years I've put together a checklist that works for me. Figured I'd share. What do you bring?

Pre-gen characters (at least one more than number of players expected, so everyone has a choice)

Game system cheatsheet for all (helps bring players up to speed more quickly)

GM screen (even if I don't use it, it helps people find the table)

Rule Book

Adventure specific material for me

Adventure specific material for the players (handouts)

My GM notebook

Dice tray (I always roll in the open)

Index cards

Pencils for all

Dice for all

Table tents for player/character name

Markers for table tents

As needed (mainly if it is a minis grid game):

Chessex vinyl grid mat

Wet erase markers

Miniatures

I’ll be running my first sci fi game soon and the crew specifically will spend a fair amount of time on board ships, this is intentional and a feature of the game. What tips have you got for creating ‘realism’ atmosphere, tension, a sense of living in space and any somewhat random encounters and ship faults you use in your own games?

I’ll be running HOSTILE by Zozer games using the Cepheus system but tips should mostly be rules agnostic if possible, thanks.

Check out Rat Catchers, a hack of Die A Hundred Times by kobayashi to emulate low-fantasy old world roleplaying. Just put this one together today when I decided to enter the jam, and finding out it ended today.

What happens when your character dies?

I'm trying to learn more about games that have a dying or death action, something that happens in the game when a character dies.

Maybe you get one last chance to slay your foe, or maybe there's a funeral that brings the clans together, or maybe you pass off your stewardship of the land to a worthy successor.

What games do something like that?

After 5e, PF2e, and CoC, what’s the next crunchiest game that could still be said to have a sizeable player base, do you think?

I am more interested in long-form playing than I am one-shots. Do events that span multiple days for longer time slots exist at conventions? For example, I would like to play something that starts the evening before the 1st day of the convention and continues on for 4-6 hours each day of the convention for a total of 4-5 sessions. That should give about 25 hours of roleplaying. This would leave plenty of time each day for other gaming and vendor area visits.

Was looking back at some trailers for the PS4 cancelled game, Deep Down. And its theme seem fun to me: Normal dungeon crawlers who can't cast magic on their own, and has to rely on "magic fused" item like scrolls, rune stones, flasks, etc bought from the local wizard's workshop. Basically, no magic classes, but magic still play an important role in the gameplay through magic items. Is there any system that fit this description of mine?