# RPG a Day 2026 - 20: Promise tags: #thoughts #thoughts/RPGaDay/2026 ![[RPG a Day 2026 (illo).jpg]] ![[Promise - Barnum Bailey (banner).jpg]] There's been some talk around the hobby lately, particularly the Japanese side, talking about the responsibility of people showing up to the table and what the GM/KP's responsibility should be. There seems to be a growing sentiment that the players are customers and the GM is providing a service. The players are actually in control of the situation and should be able to demand whatever they want. This is just the age-old entitlement question being dredged for the 1,000th time. Like everything else in the hobby, topics churn through like a high-speed blender. I'm sure we'll see the dungeon wheelchair show up again in the next month. This is one of the reasons that I am so adamant that the GM is not a special role at the table. They aren't some amazing different thing with completely different responsibilities. They are simply one more player at the table who just happens to have somewhat different responsibilities within the mechanics of the game. They play the character of the World and have access to additional mechanics. Their job is not in fact to bring the fun or to bring the snacks. If they do so, it's out of the goodness of their own dark heart. Instead, their job is to play their role in this role-playing game. The World needs a speaker, and their job is to speak for it.[^1] (Yes, I know that is in itself a lie. We have many games in which there is no GM and everyone speaks for the World, as do the mechanics themselves. We'll burn that bridge when we come to it.) Once you take this position that the table authority is not some magical thing on a different level, but instead just another player with different responsibilities, a lot of these problems just fall away. They aren't responsible for all the bits and bobs and everything else. If they do so, it's because they want to, and the other players should be appreciative. The other players have no greater claim to the GM's time than the GM has to theirs because they are all equal players together. No player has a greater right to call for changes to the mechanics—though from that perspective, everyone equally has the right to call for changes to the mechanics, which is also a good thing. This is of course complicated by the fact that there are *actual* GMs-for-hire out there. If you are in my rather niche audience, I want you to know I hold you no ill will. I am a great believer in *["never give a sucker an even break"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Give_a_Sucker_an_Even_Break)* and that *["there's a sucker born every minute"](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/04/11/fool-born/)* If someone wants to outsource one of the most fun parts of playing a tabletop RPG with their friends to someone who doesn't know them and has no personal stake in their enjoyment, and you're willing to put up with being treated as a service provider, I'm not one to tell you that you shouldn't. It's not really a thing I would choose to do, though. Ironically, I have seen multiple examples of pay GMs in my feeds effectively *"firing their clients,"* usually because said clients had overstepped their bounds in entitlement. There are some things ["up with which we will not put"](https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/famous-quotations-and-stories). Notably, you can always fire the rest of your group. You don't have to play with them. You can find other people that want to play whatever your game of choice is. Maybe you have to change games for a while, learn something new, play something different, or explore a different mode and style. It's probably good for you. Learning, experience, education, all of these things are useful within the hobby, and you should be doing all these things consciously and willfully. But when you have to fire the rest of your group, it's a fine opportunity to take it up right then. Sometimes groups simply split because one group wants to explore one type or style or method of play. The rest like doing what they are doing. There is no shame when this happens. It is just a side effect of people drifting over time. Interests, styles, foci, and time all change as our responsibilities and our personalities grow and change. The 47-year-old campaign, which hasn't changed systems more than once (and that was for a minor rules version update), is the rarity. Hell, given that a lot of focus these days seems to be on one-shots and short arcs, it's even easier to decide quickly that either *"this group is totally not for me and I can go get into something else,"* or you just decide to ride it out and do the best you can because it'll all be over soon. You can move on somewhere else, having noted that some people want to play in a way that you don't enjoy. Ultimately, there is no promise that you make to others when you sit down at the table to play, except that you are there to play the game in good faith. You are there to play your character to the best of your ability, to engage with the other players attentively, to rigorously apply the mechanisms of the rules right up until the point that everybody at the table decides to do something else. That's the promise. You don't even have to pinky swear it with people. As long as you live up to your promise to them, you've been a good player, no matter what your role at the table is, even if it's the GM. It goes literally without saying that you probably shouldn't have to talk about these things at every table you go to. But in this modern age, where the eternal September has infected all parts of our universe, it's probably a good idea to at least touch on them briefly at the top of your Session Zero. You are having a Session Zero, right?[^2] Live up to your promise. Play earnestly. Enjoy the game as best your ability allows, and embrace the experience. Don't be afraid to fire the rest of your group and go find something new if the promise is broken. Keep your enemies close and your promises closer. [^1]: The greatest example of this is found in one of my favorite games to read, structurally, **[[Fantasy World]]**, in which the game authority is literally named The World. [^2]: As in **[[Day 10 - Origin|RPG A DAY 2025: Day 10 - Origin]]**, **[[Adventure Design 102]]**, **[[Getting to The Meat of Play]]**, **[[The Forever GM]]**, **[[Twitter - You Don't Have to Be an Improv Expert|Twitter: You Don't Have to Be an Improv Expert]]**, and **[[Character Creation Challenge 2025 - Day 02 - Grimwild|Character Creation Challenge 2025: Day 02 - Grimwild - Jalen Ambo, Veteran Warrior]]**.