Confession: I love TTRPGs but I'm honestly bad at the creative part

I love tabletop games. The worlds, the characters, the moment a player does something you never saw coming. But if I'm being honest, I'm not naturally good at the creative side of it.

I blank on NPC names. I freeze when players go off the rails. I spend hours prepping and still feel like I'm winging it at the table. For a long time that made me feel like I wasn't "a real GM."

So, I built ArcForge, basically as scaffolding for people like me. It handles the parts my brain isn't wired for (organizing scenes, tracking combat and loot, keeping notes straight, giving me a starting point when I'm stuck) so I can actually show up and enjoy the game instead of drowning in prep. It's not there to tell the story for me. It's there so I stop quitting before I get to the fun part.

I don't think I'm alone in this. So I'm curious:

• Do you love these games but feel like you're bad at running them?

• What part trips you up the most (improv, prep, names, rules, keeping players engaged)?

• What finally helped you get over that hump, if you did?

No judgment here. I'd genuinely love to hear from the other "I love it but I'm a mess at it" crowd.