When the twenty-sided dice rolls to a complete stop, my authority ends. You're on your own from ther

[uberreiniger]

Gaming groups are the last place for soap opera activity, right? They're the last place where you should feel like you're in high school, right? Considering how they were where most of us would retreat to escape from high school this makes sense. yet somehow the groups I GM always seem to have these problems. Essentially, it boils down to this: I am your GM. That stands for Game Master i.e., someone who runs the game. That's what I do. THAT'S ALL I DO. I am not your Den Mother, your Camp Councilor, or your Homeroom Teacher. If you are annoyed that one of the players has an evening class and has to come later, making us start later and you get home later, don't ask me to talk to them, TALK TO THEM YOURSELF. If you want to change the night of the game due to this, don't ask me to ask everyone else to change their schedules, ASK THEM YOURSELF. Don't ask me to ask another person in the group whether or not they like or dislike you, ASK THEM YOURSELF. Mind you, it's not like these people are all casual acquaintances who don't know each other well enough to approach each other directly. We've all been friends for a long time. So there's no excuse for this, but it's not the first time these people have felt iffy about the other people and asked me to be the go-between. And being the go-between is something I have vowed to never do ever again. I am ALWAYS in the middle when friends have problems with each other. I am ALWAYS looked to as the peace maker. I am ALWAYS the one getting asked to ferret out information from the other side that they don't have the fortitude to ferret out themselves. And I am always the loser as the result of this. So I quit and walked away from that role in all my cliques a long time ago. But, much like the retired samurai or gunslinger who has had his fill of violence and longs only to spend his remaining years in peaceful contemplation and humble acts of atonement, yet is perpetually sought out by some up-and-comer wanting to make a name for himself and so is forced to fight one more time, so I am continually called to my old role as peace maker.

Unlike the samurai or gunslinger, however, I am not being threatened with a lethal weapon. Unlike them, it's not kill or be killed. Not a damn thing happens to me if I refuse to be your human shield. Wise up, people. The answer is no.