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Message: <blockquote data-quote="D1Tremere" data-source="post: 8147843" data-attributes="member: 61148">GM Authority is a lot like presidential authority, meaning it is as absolute as the people are prepares to allow. A gaming group ultimately has more power than a single GM. Why? Because there are enough people that a group can always play with another GM, either by finding one or someone stepping into the role. They only have to replace one person, while the GM has to build a whole new group. Even worse if their reputation is damaged by the experience, possibly causing other groups or individual players to see them as someone who can't work well with others.In your specific example I would allow the player to play an elf. Why? Because it takes no real effort to accommodate one member of a rare or unusual race into such a game, and it helps the player have fun. Adding this elf could even plant the seeds of future campaign material, as they wish to explore and search for more of their kind and the history of the world suddenly becomes very interesting to the players on a personal level. Feature, not bug. Opportunity, not problem. The only time I may tell a player no is if their request would truly hurt the groups ability to enjoy the game and no compromise can be reached.Can a DM tell the player no to their elf? Yes. Will it cause any major issues? Depends on the group. If they are mostly on the players side of the argument it could reduce the whole groups buy in. If they are not then it could really make the one player feel alienated even if they accept the DMs judgement.</blockquote>

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