Gaming and GMing

I think I have to admit that, with this schedule, I can't game on Wednesday nights until this job is done...which could be a while. I have to be in bed by nine, and asleep by ten, preferably asleep by nine. That leaves me a whole half-hour to game. Doesn't really work.

So I think that I'll do two things (as I struggle to try and manage my time correctly):

• I'm going to look for something I can do on the weekend. (If you have a superhero game on Saturday or Sunday, and you're in driving distance of Kitchener, Ontario--say, Guelph or even a monthly jaunt to London or Hamilton, and you'd be willing to have me, let's try each other out.) The something might be online gaming.
• I'm going to fashion some kind of survey for my regular gang to try and figure out what I need to improve for them, when I'm GMing next. 

Just to expand on that last point. Even when I've tried newer-style games, I notice I fall back on the same habits (I'm deathly afraid of the whole "you lose until I say you win" structure which I think I can fall into). I want to fix those problems...but I also want to fix problems that individual players have.

For instance, Viktor posted here saying that he prefers a more puzzle-oriented style, and that's not what I do by default--again, I have a tendency to get railroady if I do it: either my solution is the only solution, or I can be convinced as a wishy-washy guy that the offered solution will work.

I also don't want him or anyone to feel unsatisfied. We're all at the table to have fun. My fun doesn't take priority over his fun, just as his fun doesn't take priority over mine.

So if I can figure out some kind of useful survey, that might give me some answers and I can use the enforced free time to try and make my style more appropriate for that group. Yes, apparently I have drunk the Continuous Improvement Kool-Aid. At a guess, two of them are more puzzle oriented, two are more character oriented, and one is, I think, more story oriented. But I'm only guessing; I would never have pegged Viktor as a puzzle guy, though in hindsight it makes perfect sense.

Those things will go on the back burner pile of Things To Do, I'm afraid, as there are other things that take priority. But still...I want to do them.