As a DM, what is your default answer to player requests?

[drowdude]

I tend to make it fairly clear what material gets a "you can use this" stamp out of the gate. Other than that the default answer is generally "I will look at it; but don't get your hopes up".

Although it can depend on the players. Some I can more-or-less trust to build to concept rather than cherry-pick all the "best" options. For other individuals, the default answer becomes: "NO. But out of curiosity what is it?" heh

 

[was]

I'd go with the maybe option and let them make their case

 

[steeldragons]

Yeah...I think I'm pretty much in the "maybe" club.

I am more than willing to say "yes"....I am more than willing to say "no."

The premise of the original thread is MUCH too broad, IMHO. It really...totally...depends on what the request is! I don't have a "default answer."

A question about allowing this or that background, NPC family member or something like that? Most likely a yes.

A particular skill or ability from this or that splat book...Possibly. I have to look at it.

A non-setting race or non-setting class...most likely, a flat out "no" if not a "Well we can, with this particular caveat"...which I suppose would count as a "yes, maybe."

As others have pointed out here, if it goes against a prescribed setting...and I DM in my own long-established and well-detailed prescribed setting....oftentimes there is a "no" or a "yes, but".

At the same time, I have gotten players well out of the habit of requesting "out of setting" or "out of approved material" things simply by the plainly stated fact, "If you bring it into play, then it is fair game for ME to use! BWAHAHAHAHA." <ominous thunderclap and flash of lightning>

This, generally speaking, is enough to make the player who thinks he's getting something "by me" or "improving his character beyond anything the world can handle" to decline the approval.

EDIT: Also, from the DMing perspective, one MUST consider that fact that if you allow X or Y for one player, then X or Y is a valid option for ALL players. So the question really isn't "What's your default answer" but "What can of worms are you willing to open?!" /EDIT

Jus' sayin'.
--SD

 

[pming]

Hiya

For the most part I say "No", if the player just asks for something without offering anything else. Most of the time when there isn't a followup sentance it just means the player is looking to min/Max or something. If they give me more, or some kind of reason, I almost always switch to "Yes, but...".

This is game specific, though. For some games it's almost always "Yes"...like Dark Dungeons, BECMI, MSHA, etc.

 

[KiloGex]

With my group, it's a progression. With my players it's a game where they make an insanely egregious request to which they know that I'll say "absolutely not" to, and then little by little they'll lower the absurdity until I eventually say "Sure, why not". However, even when I make it to that point, I still run them through a gamut of questions to make sure that they've thought out their choice carefully and wisely.

Usually if they are asking to play a specific class then my answer will be yes, especially since I don't care about class dynamics or group compilation. However, when it comes to races is when I'm much more picky, often times turning my players down and having them make more rational choices. "No, I will not let you play an outsider from the Shadow Plane in this low-magic campaign where you home town is bigoted towards mages and any use of magic... Why? Because they would have killed you before your first birthday; that's why."

 

[Vegepygmy]

What is you “default” answer to player requests?

"Sure, unless it will negatively affect the game somehow."

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I lean toward Yes, with a smattering of Maybe.

But when I say No, I'm like a feminist -- no means NO. This is not a democracy, and it is good to be king!

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Maybe, let me think about it....

The Auld Grump

 

[The Shaman]

What is you “default” answer to player requests?

I don't have a default answer - in my experience, the questions players ask and the situations which prompt them are too varied for stock answers.

 

[JamesonCourage]

I do think that this is too broad. If you're asking if I subscribe to the "yes, and" or "say yes or roll the dice" philosophies, then no, I don't. I wrote a section in my RPG book in the Running a Game chapter called "Saying No". I think it's important, and I say no often.

However, I say yes to many/most things. It's not because I'm a GM who has the outlook of "say yes" for my game. It's because most of the time, my players have plausible* requests.

* Plausible: this is subject to my judgment, and it must fit the genre, feel, theme, concept, and internal consistency of the setting I'm using. I'm willing to take player input in case I forgot something, but I'm the one who makes the call, and I've got no problem saying, "no, you cannot invent gunpowder," "no, there's no easy method of getting in the castle," or any other variation of "no, that's not an option."

As always, play what you like