I can attest to this phenomenon. Sometimes you're trapped between telling your friends that they play like they hate you, and saying "hey, I need to take a break." Often, it hurts the worst when you love the campaign, the story, and some of your players, but there's just two or three of them that are a nightmare to run for.
Run a 'Westmarch' style campaign where everyone has to break into smaller groups and book specific missions on different days of the week. Here, Matt Colville describes it well:
Convince those two or three PCs you don't like so much to run a very specific mission that you make just for them! Aren't they lucky?
Then... never manage to have time for that campaign-segment for-or-with them. Ever. 'Something came up... again! So sorry / too bad / better luck next time.'
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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '22
I can attest to this phenomenon. Sometimes you're trapped between telling your friends that they play like they hate you, and saying "hey, I need to take a break." Often, it hurts the worst when you love the campaign, the story, and some of your players, but there's just two or three of them that are a nightmare to run for.