Dungeons and Dragons legend Matt Mercer admitted DM burnout is a big reason as to why he stepped away from the lead position in Critical Role Campaign 4, and recently shared advice on how to manage it. By walking away and taking time to “replenish his cup” of creative juices, Mercer hopes to “return from a place of genuine inspiration and renewal” once he hops back in the Dungeons and Dragons DM seat.
Matthew Mercer is one of the most well-known names in the Dungeons and Dragons actual play scene. Beyond his prolific voice acting career, Mercer has been DMing Critical Role, the most popular D&D actual play on the market, for over 10 years. However, when Critical Role Campaign 4 started, Mercer surprised fans by ceding the DM seat to Dimension 20’s own career game master and comedian Brennan Lee Mulligan.
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Matt Mercer Isn’t DMing Critical Role Campaign 4 Due to Burnout
Now, viewers have official confirmation as to why that is. Though most assumed this was the case, Mercer admitted during an appearance on the Crispy’s Tavern: Tales and Tea podcast last August that he felt the threat of DM burnout, and needed to take a break to avoid it. The “continuous need to produce creatively” was “a very draining and very scary thing,” which became a major factor in handing the reins over to Mulligan for Critical Role Campaign 4.
For those unfamiliar, burnout is the mental exhaustion caused by prolonged exposure to stressful and performance-driven situations. It is not exclusive to Dungeons and Dragons; indeed, people can easily experience burnout at their job, creative endeavors like art and music, and even with pastimes like video gaming. It is far from a rare phenomenon, especially considering how many live service games are active nowadays.
Dungeon Masters in particular are primed to experience burnout. DMs spend hours of their time preparing and homebrewing for their players, only to then perform during a session for between three and five hours, if not more, possibly multiple times a week. These gamers are equal parts storyteller, referee, mediator, and teacher, responsible for keeping everyone else engaged and entertained, so it is no surprise that they might be susceptible to burnout.
And for Mercer, it is even worse. For him, Dungeons and Dragons is his career, a creative endeavor, and a pastime all in one. Running games for seven or eight people every week, creating maps for combat encounters, and ensuring the show is entertaining for viewers is a full-time commitment that meant he would often pull 70-hour work weeks or more – even before considering Mercer's prodigious acting career. No wonder he needed a break.
How Does Critical Role’s Matt Mercer Handle DM Burnout?
For Mercer, the biggest step was facing the truth and admitting he was burning out in the first place. "My biggest advice for burnout is to acknowledge when you're at the edge and take every opportunity you can to step away and replenish your cup," Mercer told Business Insider during a recent interview. Once he did, Mercer could start to recover his energy and creativity, all while still enjoying the hobby as a player in Critical Role's fourth campaign, and occasionally hopping into the DM seat for one-shots, live shows, and other specials. What’s more, Mercer is convinced that the time taken resting would make up for that which they would waste trying to bulldoze through the burnout, if not moreso.
"But I find walking away and taking some time to enrich your creative input means that whatever time you lost beating your head against the wall will be more than made up for when you can return from a place of genuine inspiration and renewal."
Needless to say, all Dungeon Masters should regularly check on themselves to see if they are experiencing burnout. If so, they should consider following Matt Mercer’s advice and step away from the DM seat for a time. Perhaps they might let someone else run a game, reach a good spot to end the campaign or put it on a timeskip hiatus, or even just do fewer, shorter sessions to give their mind a rest. There is nothing wrong with taking a break – after all, Dungeons and Dragons is a hobby that is supposed to be fun, not stressful.
- Franchise
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Original Release Date
- 1974
- Publisher
- Wizards of the Coast
- Designer
- E. Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson