Taking a break from Pazio, not the Society,

I find myself needing to take a break from the Pathfinder Society boards.  The coming changes have stirred up a hornet’s nest of contempt, and seem to have exacerbated other feelings.  I’m taking a break, so I can still enjoy the game.

In the past few weeks I’ve been accused directly and indirectly, of being a bad GM for…

·        Wanting to run new scenarios rather than the same scenario over and over, so I can apply GM credit/gain boons.  Yes, how dare I want to run through scenarios/modules/adventures I’ve bought and paid for to get the full value out of them.

·        Daring to ‘fudge’ a die roll so that a first time player doesn’t get to watch his character die to a lucky roll

·        Not sponsoring a ‘community attitude’.

I’ve been also accused of being a bad player for:

·        Opposing a proposed system that encourages not ‘taking one for the team’ and playing down.  Most annoyingly, by someone who doesn’t go to scenarios/games that ‘don’t interest him’  So I’m a bad guy for showing up and not wanting to play down, but he’s not for just not going at all?

·        Not always GMing to split a table, instead of playing.

Between that and the attitude I see of people arguing from authority that ‘the community’ agrees with them, or saying ‘We feel’… I’m taking a break.  You know what?  I don’t care if you have 5 stars, I don’t care if you started playing RPGs at Gary Gygax’s table.  I don’t care if you’re a writer, a Venture Lieutenant or a Venture Captain.  Your ‘authority’ is exactly the same as mine.  Unless you’ve a mouse in your pocket, or voices in your head, you aren’t speaking for the community.  You’re likely just talking out your aft.

I’ve an emotional interest in Paizo in general, and personal interest in the success of the Society as a community as a whole.  When I got back at the table, playing a 4 hour session exhausted me.  I was rocking forwards and back (a sign that my Social Anxiety is about to hit critical mass) by the end, and I was exhausted the next day.  Now I can take the stress (and it is stressful) of GMing, and run full day events, with little effect.  I’m stronger because of my interactions with the local community, and I’ve met some good people.  I’m looking forward to testing my endurance (and meeting more people) in two months at Origins.

The local community can’t generalize, or marginalize me as part of a faceless group that matches their stereotypes.  They’re real people who interact with me, warts and all, every week.  I don’t want the actions of a loud closed minded minority to drive me away from the real people I’ve met and been to their homes.  People I interact with may not like me, but they don’t like me not some easily dismissed pseudo-real person they can pretend matches their notions, because I make them uncomfortable.

So why am I posting this on the Hermit-blog?  Because I’m not conceited enough to post a long rant on the Paizo site saying why I’m leaving.  This however, is my blog, and I’ll say whatever the frak I want.