Too Many Game Masters Are Just Itching To Say "No"

I'm not the oldest gamer out there, but I've been around the table a few times. I've played home games, and I've run home games. I've played in organizations, I've showed up for pick-up modules in game stores, I've played at conventions, and I've done my share of LARPing as the icing on the geek cake. And while I've had good game masters and bad, permissive and restrictive, amateurish and professional, there are really only two camps I separate them into these days; were they a game master who looked for a reason to say yes, or a game master who was just looking for a reason to say no?

 

Because the second one is far more common, and though I've intimated this before I'd like to say it plainly this week; that kind of attitude ruins your players' experiences far more than it helps you manage your game.

 

You want to do what? Sure, let's figure out how to make this work.

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"No" Is Your Weapon of Last Resort

Since I can hear your throats clearing, let me be crystal on this one. What I am not saying is that as a game master you should do an impression of a doormat and let your players walk all over you to do whatever they want, say whatever they want, and play whatever they want. You don't have to give them everything on their wish list, and no you aren't supposed to just roll over and let them win because they want to. You and they are still confined by the rules of the game you agreed to play, and the setting you all agreed to be a part of. Whether you're playing it directly as it's written in the book, or you've made changes in the form of house rules, you and your players have agreed to the functionality and limits of the game as it exists. The tone of the game, and the entry rules you lay out in Session 0 must be observed, and respected.

However, this is a matter of perspective, and how you view your job as a game master. Because ideally it's your job to facilitate your players' enjoyment of the game, and that often comes down to working with them so that you and they can find a solution within the framework of the game that lets them do (or at least attempt) what they're aiming for.

I feel an example might be helpful.

Let's say you have a player who wants to make their character an homage to John Wick. Heck, I laid out exactly how you can do it both in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition and in Pathfinder using the rules as they exist. Or maybe they want to play a fantasy version of The Hulk, Killer Croc, or Guts from Berserk (guides at the links for those who are interested). The story practically writes itself, and as long as a player fits their story to the setting and world, and their build isn't breaking any of the rules of the game, what do you gain by telling them no?

 

And even if they don't have enough system mastery to lay out every step of their plan, as a game master, you get far more out of sitting down with your player and saying, "I like your enthusiasm. Let's talk this through and find a solution that works for both of us," than you do in sending them back to the drawing board with a, "And do it properly this time!"

As a game master, you always have that right of refusal. It hangs over everything, like that red button that launches a nuclear strike. However, if you deny your players the kind of game they want to play, and you keep putting up invisible walls above and beyond the ground rules you all agreed to, they're going to leave your table sooner rather than later. They can't play a game with no game master, but you can't run a game with no players. You both need each other, which is why you should work together.

Ensure You Are Both Operating On The Same Assumptions

This is very anecdotal as far as evidence goes, but it's something I've seen often enough that I consider it a pattern when it comes to game masters who are always looking for a reason to say no. Because a good 80 percent of the time the, "No," isn't because something is against the rules, or is directly against the lore of the setting... it's because it goes against the assumptions and preconceptions of the person sitting in the big chair. This is most common in pre-made settings where there's a rule book offering objective write ups, as opposed to a homebrewed setting where the game may exist only partially on paper, and largely within the game master's notes, but the point still stands.

Whichever situation you find yourself in, you need to make absolutely sure you and your players are on the same page regarding what's expected in the game, and why you should listen to them when they make a case for something they want to play even if it gives you a knee-jerk reaction at first.

You all need to be singing the same song for there to be harmony.

For example, the Pathfinder setting of Golarion is not Tolkien's Middle Earth, and it does not have the same lore and assumptions. If you want to play a gunslinging elven pirate with a green beard, heterochromia, and poisonous blood, all of that is possible within the rules and the setting. You could also play someone who's been kept in a statis tube in a crashed starship for a thousand years who now has to explore this strange world they find themselves in, discovering their own past and trying to piece together who and where they are. These characters can perfectly co-exist with the traditional wizards, paladins, and sorcerers we're so used to in our high-fantasy games, because that's what's in the setting as it's written. You're not defying the genre, or trying to be a weird and unique snowflake; you're just playing an option that is part of the game as it's written.

Yet there are a lot of game masters out there who will slam on the brakes for no reason other than that these character concepts are outside what they think of when they conceptualize their game. The characters fit the world, and they fit the lore, but they don't fit the game master's assumptions... and denying players the ability to play characters they want, which fits the world you all agreed to, is not a great way to start any campaign.

This happens all over the place. I've seen storytellers for World of Darkness games shoot down character concepts, or even just character choices, for no reason other than that they couldn't conceive of the events that would make these characters happen. Which is not to say that it couldn't happen, just that it goes against their views of how the game should be, or how they would personally execute a particular concept.

 

"A Nosferatu diplomat? Pshaw, impossible, they're too ugly and repulsive for such a high-charisma position!" Even though the clan would definitely have envoys and messengers in order to represent their interests and communicate with other clans, they can't wrap their heads around someone trying to play a face character with that clan's flaw. "A Get of Fenris who brings vehicle-mounted artillery to the battlefield instead of a hammer or their claws? Bah, the tribe would never tolerate that!" This opinion despite literally nothing in the rulebooks or write-up of tribe culture about how the warriors of this werewolf tribe refuse to use the tools of modern warfare against their enemies, and how the weapon is less important than the enemy it's turned on.

And so on, and so forth.

I could go on listing examples for a few thousand more words, but you get the picture. As a game master you get a lot more mileage out of thinking in terms of what is possible within the rules and setting, rather than what fits your preconceptions of them. And even if your player comes to you with a goal that's a little odd, a little weird, or a little off-kilter, you should try your best to find a way to give them what they're looking for within your framework.

You can still say, "No," if there just isn't a way to make it work, but if you can compromise so you both get some aspects of the story you want to tell then you're both going to have a far better experience with the game as a whole.

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