'No.' | Running The Game

Sometimes No is the best answer.

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#RunningTheGame #MattColville

[vincesnetterton]

"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government…"

[emilthorngenibsen]

Matt: "yes, but no funnier than it would be if they got hit in the face with a cream pie"
Boss: "Great idea Matt, we should add cream pie!"

[MegaAgamon]

Oh boy the lengths I have taken to stop my druids creating a drug cartel with druidcraft...

[panwall]

A DM needs to learn 4 phrases:
"Yes, and..."
"Yes, but..."
"No, but..."
"No, because..."

These are your tools. Use them wisely.

[gregoryfloriolli]

The problem with joke characters is that there is no joke so funny that it will continue to be funny for an entire campaign.

[thegmoire]

"This elf is going to become THE elf, the one everyone thinks of." Yes! This articulates the issue I have with the "just make an exception" approach, but I haven't been able to articulate it before.

[howtodrink]

I feel liberated by this! Say Yes to the No!

[jamalcolmson]

Player: "My character [insert suicidal goal]."
Me: "Your character, having access to knowledge you apparently lack, would know that such action would result in certain death. Do you still intend to do this?"
Player: "Yes."
Me: "You could just ask to make a new character you know."

[matthewgallaway]

"If a paladin of exceptional purity- that's me"
I don't know Matt, I've read your books.

[MrLeviathan]

"There is /almost/ always an exception" is a fun sentence

[Aesculathehyena]

My GM had a great way to handle "Your character wouldn't do that." He tended to ask us to explain our thinking, in character. And it's come up either way, sometimes it's fine, sometimes it's vetoed.

[charliehalliwell]

Remember: Always distrust statements that begin with "Always"

[MWDFrancis]

“That is my nonsense” - my GM career encapsulated.

[BenSchwartz]

Your cream pie anecdote reminded me of something one of my friends liked to do in competitive debate back in school. Whenever someone argued that their policy would create jobs, he would ask them, “wouldn’t building a one-to-one scale model of the White House out of gold also create jobs?” Often left people speechless or floundering

[HarryH]

I'm The Dandy Highwayman. A swords bard who you're too scared to mention. I spend my gold on looking bold and grabbing your attention.

[vepristhorn]

This is great, I'm so tired of DMs on social media telling new DMs that they have to say yes to everything, that their world and lore are meaningless and that they have to change them to fit what ever character idea their characters come up with

[bathtubmafia]

As is true with most things: limitations breed creativity. Saying no isn't limiting your players, it's encouraging them to define their characters uniqueness in the world rather than their character sheet.

[mathsalot]

"Yes, and..." Should be best friends with "No, however..."

[gma]

As a GM who fights very hard to preserve tone, I feel this.

[jonheddleston]

Giving a reason for no is so important. I remember making a character for a friend's game, but every time I'd pitch an idea, I'd be told, "No that won't work. I can't tell you why though." After it fell apart because he wouldn't just say what he wanted, the reasons for my ideas being shot down were that he wanted me to play a very specific character/backstory, but wanted me to somehow read his mind and just come up with it myself. Yuck.