Masters Workshop - Saying NO

 

For my first bit of GM advice that I’ve given in a while I’m going to be talking about a piece of advice that many often give. Something that I don’t agree with.

“Don’t say no”

Is absolutely terrible game advice to offer up to any GM before you know what kind of group they have. Especially to folks who are new to running the game or have players who aren’t very experienced. And yes I’m including adding in the “say ‘yes, but’ or ‘yes, and’” into this.

First let’s talk about not knowing what their group of players is like. Some of you all may be blessed with amazing groups who love to work together to tell great stories through the game. But trust me, you are a minority in that respect. I’ve seen enough to know this isn’t the case. You will run into folks who do crazy shit that makes zero sense, who do things just to make the rest of the other players mad, or just do what they think will help them ‘win’ at the game. To many times have entire games, or even campaigns, been derailed by one player doing whatever without the GM telling them to stop.

I’ve seen this from both sides of the screen countless times. The “but” or the “and” part don’t matter as long as they get to do the stupid inane action they want to. They don’t care about the story, or the other players having fun. Count on running into folks like this from time to time.

Also I’ve seen more new or beginner GM’s just give up after the players run roughshod over them. Imposing limits are important for a new person running a game for the first few times to be able to get their feet over them and get used to being in the head chair. Just saying “NO” can really help a lot. Even if it’s something as simple as saying “We are using stuff from the corebook only so NO you cannot play that class from another sourcebook”. Or to stop a situation from going in a direction they don’t know how to handle. It gives them a set of safety rails to hold onto. If a player can’t handle letting a new GM learn the ropes a little bit before going all out, then maybe they need to find a different group.

Not every group is an immersive shared narrative where each player is equally invested in telling the story. So this rule of “Don’t say no” sure as hell isn’t an amazing rule for all to follow. Feel free to toss it aside, maybe pick it up later if it you do get one of those groups going.