GMing: What If We Say "Yes" To Everything?


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I am honestly not sure where the disconnect is, which means I am not communicating myself well. I'll try again.

When a player asks if they can do something or have something in the world, the GM says yes.

"Can I play a Earth human transported here through a portal?"
Yes.

"Can I be the secret heir of the Kingdom?"
Yes.

"Can my magic be completely unique to me and no one else has ever seen it before."
Yes.

"Can I play an Illrigger?"
Yes.

"Can I convince the guard to leave his post for a few minutes by suggesting the girl he likes wants to talk to him?"
Yes.

"Can I wedge the door shut with one of the bones from those skeletons we fought?"
Yes.

Like that.

Can I solve this puzzle by doing X?
 







So the DM says no to the players puzzle solution - got it.
This seems like an overly negative framing.

"Door Puzzle: the door can be opened by positioning the dragon claw in the socket and putting the rings in the following order: bear, eagle, whale."

I'm not sure what the GM would say "no" to.
 

In an attempt to actually drag this back on topic:

The reason I am presenting the thought experiment is because I am curious if a game would ultimately turn out better or worse (for obviously subjective definitions of those terms) with a "yes" attitude. I think @Umbran and others are correct in suggesting it depends a lot on whether the players are asking those questions in good faith, but I would like to start with the assumption that they are. Because why would you play with people that aren't operating in good faith, regardless of anything else?

When it comes to saying "yes" to character based stuff -- both mechanically and "fluff" wise -- I think that is easy and beneficial. I am not particularly precious about a setting or even verisimilitude most of them time, so if someone wants to play a weird species or a destined hero or whatever, i am game. Why not?

I imagine in play I would ask a lot of clarifying questions and try and get the questions from players down to actions in the world. Here I am more concerned about consistency with the tone and genre at play. "Can I jump that 30' chasm?" is not the same level of "good faith" in high level heroic fantasy than it is in grounded real world cop drama.
 

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