[RPG] Does asking a player to not to do something violate their agency

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This is something I am rather conflicted about as I have met with several gamemasters and I was told that asking players to not to have their character do something breaks their immersion and violates their agency.

To clarify what I mean: I usually run games that have no true villain with everyone having their own motives and using the group for their own goals I don't operate well while trying to get players to fight a BBEG. However, players seem to be prone to just saying 'We talked to X first and they told us Y was bad so we should go kill Y.' which I feel like takes a lot away from the game's potential.

Would I be violating the players' agency and break their immersion if I asked them to try talking to others as well before making a judgement?

Best Answer

This is a group temperament question but is generally perfectly acceptable.

One of the amazing things about tabletop RPG's (TTRPG) is that there is not one right way to play. There is the statistical maximization; there is the high-fantasy character concept; there is the consumate role-player; and many more. There are also more than one way to GM.

There is an unusual amount of stigma in modern RPG gaming relating to player agency as it corresponds to the GM. I believe (just about) everyone can agree that the one thing a GM has no right to do is control players' characters. What you are suggesting is not controlling players' characters. You're in the clear!

  • First and foremost, asking the players not to commit to a course of action until they investigate more does not stop them from then going and killing the NPC. It just points out that there might be another option.
  • There should be communication between the GM and the players about what the GM wants their game to be like. Players don't necessarily have to play the game you want, but you will likely find that most of them will play along to an extent because everyone, not just the players, is at your game to have fun (yourself included, one would hope).

  • A lot of modern TTRPG players grew up on video game RPG's. Unfortunately, that media is relatively limited and almost always followed one of two tropes:

    1. Present you to the 'good guys' first, so you can take them at their word or

    2. Don't give you the option of not being duped by the first people you work for

      • While these are both valid stories and have served many of us with hours and days of entertainment, they're simply not necessary in a TTRPG world.

By pointing all of this out to your players, you give them more agency to choose how they want to interact with your world, not less. You establish that they're not immediately on a Grand Quest to Slay NPC 2, but instead embroiled in plots within plots.

You may find that some players don't want this style of game. Here I will include the near-obligatory same-page questionnaire that may help establish if you and your players are trying to play the same game. Some people just want to watch your fantasy world burn (or go kill BBEG) and you may want to run a different game for them, or even let them find a different game with a different GM.

Judging from your context, I think you could gain a lot (if you have the time) by watching Matthew Colville's "Running the Game" series on Youtube. Notably from this post, I pulled some from his videos about giving Information to the players and The Sandbox vs The Railroad, and to a lesser extent On Being a Good Player.

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