Distancing yourself from GM-centrism, one step at a time
I recently read the statement that "not having turns on combat puts a burden on the GM"1 and I had to squint at the screen for a little while. Like, I get not liking combat without turns, but that statement just doesn't make sense to me. The easiest way for me to phrase this is "just fucking ask your players what they do when you finish saying something, like you do whenever something else happens", but for the sake of writing a longer post, I'm going to try to come up with a more detailed explanation, that doesn't focus on my personal preference.
What exactly is "burdening" a GM? Is it putting more stuff into the GM's mind while they're running, or learning, the game? Is it making sure that there are rules for most situations, making it so they need to be memorized or constantly referenced? Maybe it's making rules too simple, leaving a lot for the GM's own interpretation of the game? Or could it be creating player abilities that shift the fiction, and remove authorial power from the GM? I feel like this is a completely personal response! People who are familiar with my games (or my posts) might know where I stand on this, which is definitively on the "making stuff up and adjudicating situations is why I'm here, so more detailed rules burden me" side of the equation.
However, I'd like to offer a perspective that I wished, from the bottom of my heart, went without saying: this should not be in the hands of the GM! When playing any other game with your friends, it would be absurd to posit that a player not knowing when to act (to take our current combat-turn example) is the fault or burden of anybody else but that player!2 They should know the rules and they should talk with their fellow players in case something isn't clear for them, and every other player should be able to help them! Of course, there is always someone who will know the rules better, or who maybe taught them to everybody else, but every single player of a game should know what the players should be doing in that game, regardless of their role!
So when the GM narrates an NPC's action during a combat situation and there is no turn structure, there should be no burden on them whatsoever. Players are playing a character, that character should be reacting to what happened. Players are also playing a game, and they should know they have game actions that can be taken. If it's a certain kind of game, players should also be capable of debating amongst themselves how they will proceed - and if it's another kind of game, players should be able to just act and interrupt each other and see what happens! And hey, the GM is also a player! If no one is acting, you are playing the world! How is the world reacting to what happened? If players are debating, you can and should ask questions! Add context! Put pressure! Or don't! Leave them talking while you contemplate the possibilities!3
So yeah, what really puts the burden on the GM is the trad-dnd-whatever mentality of "the GM should be burdened", because they're oh so important.4 In any case, I hope this post was a lot of redundant text and you are playing the best games of your life with players that care about them, care about you, and care about each other.
anb
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I'm not sure where I read it, but it was either on some discord or on the r/rpg subreddit. It's also an opinion I've stumbled upon quite often, not always worded exactly like this.↩
As I hope I'm making clear later on: this is not about pointing the blame at the player who didn't know, but instead at the culture that makes the player-who-feels-no-responsibility-of-helping-the-game-run-smoothly-because-the-gm-should-be-doing-that so prevalent. Some GMs are also this player, by the way.↩
All true in the "combat with turns" situation as well. Players should know that they have a turn, players should help keeping track of turns, so on and so forth. The specifics change, but in both cases it's not about the rules.↩
And this isn't even storygame propaganda, I quite like being a GM with final decision power and all that jazz. It's about, you know, playing a game.↩