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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Retreater" data-source="post: 8095214" data-attributes="member: 42040">I'm sure there are times we all feel confident in our abilities to DM and manage the table, even those of us who have DMed hundreds of sessions over decades. But then you have a session where things go wrong. Not that there are failed die rolls, or a vital clue is missed, or that there's a TPK. I had a session last night that broke my heart, disappointed my players, and created animosity between the friends gathered at my table. What is done is done, and all I can do now is to try to repair the relationships within the game, try to forge ahead with the game. There's no use blaming people, deep diving into the module to see if I ran it correctly.The situation was that the party was placed at a pivotal decision point. Characters could make a dark deal to get power to defeat the BBEG of the campaign, or they could walk away (having invested around a month of gameplay to get no reward or tools to defeat the BBEG). Due to real life reasons, we took a week off from the game, and in the interim I communicated with all the players for them to discuss how they wanted to approach it. Before we started the session, sensing there could be a division in the group, I recommended they discuss an overall plan and goal before we started rolling dice. They elected not to do so.One of the characters took the dark deal. The rest of the party was divided. One chose not to be involved and left the area. One party member tried to subdue the guy who took the deal. The other party member decided to fight to kill. I told the players that I don't like PvP situations, but I wouldn't take away their agency if that's what they wanted. In the end we have a campaign on pause: characters who refuse to adventure with each other, completely divided on how to proceed. In real life, I have friends who are frustrated with the decisions of each other. I have told them that we can reset the whole evening's game, make all new characters and continue with the adventure, alter the module to give them all a satisfactory solution, or play something else. So what do you do in these situations? Any words of wisdom, any encouragement to this DM who is feeling down?</blockquote>

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