Gamer Forge Listener Email: How do I stop the Escalation?

Name: Tim the Enchanter
Email: NA
Comments: My question is for Revan, Joe, and Flagoon. You can use this for the Gamer Forge if you want to. I need some major help!

I am running a game where I have gotten way to over my head. Basically I have been having to escalating my game play because I gave my character too powerful of magical items early in the game and they were slaying everything that I threw at them. The game isn't fun anymore. Its getting too stressful for me and my players are bored and want more!

So my question is how do I reset my game without pissing my players off and how can I balance out my game more?

By the way I love the addition of Flagoon to the show!

Gamer Forge Response:
In regards to reaching critical mass with magic items, we say its all about compromise. By critical mass, we mean accidentally(?) giving out too many magic items and the game becomes unbalanced. This gives rise to escalation because the GM needs to send more challenging encounters to the players. They respond by trying to obtain even more magic to rise above the suddenly harder enemies. You can probably see where this is going. Step one is to cop to it. GM should admit the mistake and move on, no need to make a big deal about it. Next step is to find a compromise. Try giving the players some say in what happens. Ask them to remove all but one of their magic items, then compensate them for the down-grade.
Maybe some additional experience or some kind of material reward, like a small keep or large house, or even a special mount. Something. Don't expect the players to just give up special items all willy-nilly. Any item you draw attention to will generate an attachment. Don't believe us? Next game, try making a big deal about a flashlight or candelabra in your description of the room. Make a big deal about the manacles they found in the dungeon. Draw attention to the silverware at the diner. Don't actually have these things be special, just put a lot of detail in describing them. See what happens.
Finally, step three, acknowledge that it happened and learn from it. You experimented with an idea, and it didn't pan out. Now you know what NOT to do. Time to move gracefully forward. Easy as:
1)Acknowledge
2)Compromise and compensate
3)Learn and move forward