Say YES to your players: RPG Blog Carnival
Welcome to the RPG Blog Carnival for March 2021! This month’s theme: Saying “yes” to your players. As any Game Master can tell you, your players are going to throw you for a loop at some point, and the session will depend on how you respond.
Saying no to players ideas, while sometimes essential, can stop the flow of creativity. When your players come up with an off-the-wall idea, some of the best moments at the table are when you roll with it! So let us know the best way to say yes to your players, or the best moments you’ve had! Also, be sure to check out our contribution this month.
Not sure what to write about? Here are some topics to get you started:
- Tips on how to let your player’s shine
- How to uphold player agency
- When you blatantly stole a player’s idea mid-session
- Tell a story on when your players did something incredible
- Your tips on how to use “Yes, and” or “Yes, but” statements
- Tell us how to best use the Rule of Cool
Join in by commenting on this post with a link to your submission. Check out everyone else’s posts, and at the end of the month, I’ll include a wrap-up post. Even if you’re not a blogger, you can still join in! Link to your Reddit or Discord discussion, Youtube video, or podcast and we’ll include it.
If you would like to host the Carnival, there are still 3 months available (at time of writing). You can sign up the official RPG Blog Carnival home page.
I wrote about the silliness of a player insisting on using a ridiculous character and what happened when the GM finally relented and said OK.
https://www.wherearethecheetos.com/blogs/guild-hall/say-yes-to-your-playersand-watch-them-regret-it
What a great story Brenton!
I’ve just updated a post I wrote in January as part of my Games Mastery series to help novice GMs at my club Dragons Keep ( https://www.dragonskeep.co.uk ).
In my experience a lot of novice GMs see things happening in the stories that they consume through other media and forget that one of the reasons Tabletop RPGs are so much fun is that it is a collective story writing experience. The actions of the players and their PCs are meant to change the story.
https://roleplay-geek.blogspot.com/2021/01/why-saying-yes-is-secret-to-great-games.html
This is some great advice Tony! It mirrors the “fixed points in Time” that happen in Doctor Who, but with many more avenues for how it comes to pass.
A story from a while back when working with the players’ desires really clicked for me: https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/2021/03/08/rpg-blog-carnival-the-parable-of-the-bridge/
Absolutely perfect example! Thanks for sharing.
Campaign Mastery’s contribution is “Shades of Yes and No”:
http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/shades-of-yes-and-no-bc-mar-21/
🙂
This is absolutely amazing information! Thank you for the contribution.