I am the problem GM in question.
I haven't played for a long time. My last two attempts at it were with GMs that represented "no" rather than "yes, but" approach. Often railroaded to the point of lacking the ability to decide in what order party will take side quests. Baits ignored by the monsters, things "not in the scenario" simply not working, things like that. Probably you all know how it is. It wasn't terrible experience per se, but it was more of tactical experience than roleplaying and problem solving one. Not something I seek.
Now, I'm GMing a module that gives characters a goal and environment. I always do my best to make every character decision count, for good or worse, and module encourages this approach as well. I see they are having fun with it, have crazy ideas and even when some of these ideas fail, they have fun. I take my pride in it, because even if I'm far from being perfect, I give them fun and that's what RPG is about.
Now, the problem part. I envy them this kind of fun. I want some of it for myself. And I'm afraid it will begin to show soon, if it haven't already.
In our group there is only one person who has any experience as GM. I described his game at the beginning of this question. Also, majority of our group are medics, and this profession is almost proverbially overworked. Adventure Path I DM now started like two years ago and we are in the middle of book 2, so taking a break for me to play would be problematic.
Do you have any experience in similar situations and can advise how to proceed, before my players start posting problem-gm questions?
To be clear: I do have fun being DM. Problem is, envy starts to overshadow that fun.
Systems I played "recently" are Vampire (can't recall if it was Old or New World of Darkness) and Savage Worlds. Our main campaign I GM is Pathfinder, but we had a little break when I DMed Paranoia. Issue I describe did not depend on the system we were playing. Quite contrary, WoD and Savage Worlds looks like even less rule-loaded than Pathfinder is. It is all about playstyle, not ruleset, as far as I can tell.
It is about making things count even if not written in the adventure book, not about specific game mechanics under which things would happen.
Best Answer
If you are not having fun as the GM, maybe its time to pass the torch.
When I started playing D&D, the person GMing was really good at it, but did not enjoy it. One day after the session was complete he said something like this:
In the end, I decided to take over and I am glad I did. I am having much more fun as the DM than I did as a player. Some people really love GMing and other people really love playing. There is no shame in stepping aside. When I started, I had about 5 sessions as a player under my belt. The previous GM helped me along the way. He passed on what he had already prepped and helped me with some of the rules as I learned.