Imagine a castle. Now imagine it as as your Dungeon Master's Screen. This is probably about as close as you can get to putting and actual wall between you and your players.

Certain game designers and players I know would probably say this speaks volumes about the adversarial nature of the GM/Player relationship in Dungeons & Dragons. Me? I'm waiting for the DM siege weapons so I can fling dice across the table at anyone who isn't paying attention. Or maybe a pencil-firing ballista... ok, yeah, that would poke and eye out, but damn it YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN FOCUSING ON THE GAME!

My dad was a science teacher, and I spent many a day going to work with him, on Saturdays or summer days, while he set up his classrooms, rebuilt bulletin boards, and generally did teacher stuff. I have pleasant memories of wandering through empty schools, exploring new corridors, and taking the occasional break to draw epic space battles while my dad put the finishing touches on a display case packed with jars of preserved crittees caught at Sandy Hook. I also headed to work with my mom a bunch of times, where she'd show me the computers, the main frames, and -- of course -- the robot that delivered mail.

Yesterday, I got to do the same with one of my kids.