Gaming is his Life

My husband is about to have the crappiest and worst day of his life. My husband is an avid and chronic GM who loves to run games for people, mainly for the intense scenes that happen. He has been running a Seventh Sea game for over Five years now and tonight that just blew up in his face. Raven hit the auto-destruct button and nothing my husband can do or say is going to make it better. I know Raven did not mean to have this as the end result of her query, but alas others in the group took over and hurried the game to its demise. I am presuming this of course and dreadfully hope that I am wrong, but I was getting a distinct feeling when I left that Hubby was about to explode with fury. You see he had already had a crappy day at work and was hoping to unwind and relax with a good game of Seventh Sea (an excellent roleplaying game by the way). I won't go into the details but he was snipping at me and was bitchy about dropping me off to swim with Raven while he took the kids to Mr. Giants house. Raven had been noticing that Hubby has had lackluster performances as a GM lately. GM burnout, Christmas holidays and other issues we've been having have not helped. She mentioned this while we were swimming and came up with some great ways to help him with his burnout. I had warned her that he had had a crappy day and that we should probably leave it alone til tomorrow. Alas, Raven meaning well and wanting to deal with the issue right away approached Hubby with these ideas. Suffice it to say that it went down hill from there. The kids were not settling and I could see Hubby's hackles slowly rising and his neck turning red. The problem is no matter what I say I want for the game the issue is the characters have gotten so big that they can no longer adventure. That is what I want for my character and what Raven and some of the other players want. Its more complicated than this with all the nasty levels of gamers having played for five years. You know, the jaded one who sits back and contributes nothing unless provoked. The mischief maker who when bored has to do something! The lackluster book reader who doesn't think he belongs in this conversation. The domineering autocrat who has to figure why something is wrong and push all the buttons. And unfortunately the new player(s) who try to fit into an already established clique(I think that's how you spell it). Varying levels of power in amongst the player base....you know those little things.

The problem is I had to ditch my Hubby in this room full of dissent and cruelty because they are destroying a game he has put so much of his love and energy into. The kids were not settling and if they are not going to behave it is better off they are at home. Smiles said on the way home that the reason they were not sleeping was because it was too noisy. She has a point and now at home both her and Bear are sound asleep. Noise usually doesn't bother them, I guess it was the loud and angry voices that did it. My greatest fear at this point is that Hubby will get so angry that he'll break something or worse he'll cry. When he's so angry that he cries he just gets more angry with himself because anger and especially tears are not something men are suppose to do. I am so afraid that the keg that the tinderbox was thrown into will ignite into a disastrous display.

And I am not there to comfort or support him. I was trying to help him earlier before the game but I honestly do not know what state he will be in when he gets home. I am not afraid of his anger, I just don't like it. I was brought up that when someone was angry you were in big trouble and the consequences were harsh. Hubby's family is all about the yelling and swearing and then laughing and making up. I have learned that his anger will subside and then can be dealt with. Its the cooling off period that is difficult for me to deal with. I have no worries about him trying to hit me or the children, it would literally devastate him. He also know that if he ever did I would leave him and I would not come back. I just hate seeing things like this happen to him. It tears my heart out. I don't know what else to say.