Ennumerating Options

[Acatalepsy]

Imagine, if you will, a player who, looking at a situation, thinks for a bit, and says..."I'm stuck. I don't know what my options are, or all of my options look terrible. I think I'm missing something, but I'm not even really sure what questions to ask. Can you just tell me what the basic, not-immediately-terrible options (that my character would think of) are?"

As a GM, how do you respond to that? As a player, what do you do when you're simply not sure what's going on - either because you think the GM has failed to explain something, or simply you're not sure what your character could reasonably expect to happen in response to any of their actions?

[lytokk]

Go through their character sheet with them and make sure they know everything they have.
Hapenned to me once, as a new player I didn't know what everything I had did and in random occurance, I had a scroll in my pack which could have easily saved my life. I didn't know what the spell did. But, had the DM looked at my sheet and gone through it with me, he would have been able to save my character.

You can't tell them what to do, but you can help them figure out what they can do.

[erikun]

Yeah, just simply listing the options can sometimes be enough. It doesn't even need to be a fancy magic item or class ability. Sometimes, a player can forget something obvious such as positioning in the room or the locations of objects that can help them out. Remembering that you are on a rope bridge with a torch, for example, can help a lot with making decisions on what to do.

[Jay R]

As a GM, how do you respond to that?

Ideally, by letting other players deal with it. "Dirk, would you look at Glen's sheet and help him figure out what his options are?"

If I know in advance, it's a little easier for me to help as a DM.

In any game, newer players can be overwhelmed. We don't have coaching and practice sessions like sports programs do, but when I have a new player, I will try to make the first session or two very basic scenarios with obvious options.

But I will also give advice if asked. I'm trying to get people into the hobby, not chase them away.

[Frenth Alunril]

I have run into this a number of times, but I prefer pretty stark games, where heroic actions save the day...

My approach: set the story like they would the beginning of a movie, "it's a dark time for the empire, the king is sick and his ... (reset the scene). Brave heroes have banded together in hours that they can... (Pump the characters egos). They found... (give the task, key points).

This usually instills confidence and propose, it usually helps experienced players.

With new players, I often introduce them to npcs they develop as teachers and some kind of guide or example. This kind of shows them the ropes. It also really helps when you can say, "you remember (trusted Npc giving examples of standard actions in this situation.)"

Those are my two ways of dealing with it.

[Jacob.Tyr]

There's something that's come up a few times before that I think can help with this situation as well: Helping someone who isn't very clever roleplay a high int character.

Typically, I allow int rolls that let characters come up with potential actions.
DC 1: Come up with basic actions you can take, nothing creative. Any character will know these things anyway.

DC 5: Actions that might involve the environment and situation specific variables. (Duck behind a pillar to gain cover, try complimenting the king).

DC 10: Non-standard outside the box actions, solutions to puzzles, situation specific actions that take advantage of details (you think you could use your blast to knock down the pillar next to the enemies, bringing part of the roof down. The king is dressed very deliberately and fashionably even for a king, compliment his clothing).

DC 20: I'll throw them a bonus to doing something from a DC 10, to show that they thoroughly analyzed the situation they were in.

The characters intelligence and the players are not the same, and requiring them to be hamper the gameplay. Any character is going to know how to "run", but a player won't necessarily know about the rules for moving more than 30'/round. DC 1 lets them know this.
DC 5 lets them know how to move through the room and avoid AoOs.
DC 10 is how likely each enemy is to actually hit you with an AoO and if they used one since their last turn, so you save a couple squares of movement by not bothering to bypass the wizard who's concentrating on a spell and just stepping past the fighter who used his this turn already.
DC 20 and you get the same path breakdown as DC 10, with a bonus to armor if you run past the wizard and are trying to just dodge his AoO.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Imagine, if you will, a player who, looking at a situation, thinks for a bit, and says..."I'm stuck. I don't know what my options are, or all of my options look terrible. I think I'm missing something, but I'm not even really sure what questions to ask. Can you just tell me what the basic, not-immediately-terrible options (that my character would think of) are?"

If a Player ever says this, there has been a grievous breakdown in communications. Your first task is to identify where that is.

IMHO, the best way to do this is to ask the Player to describe the situation in their own words and what options they would like to have and why they don't think they can use them.

If, at any point during their answer, the Player says something that (1) is not true or (2) misses an important detail you, as the DM, must stop them and explain where they went wrong. 99% of the time, this resolves the blockage.

If the Player reaches the end of their description and has a good grip on the situation, go over their chosen options. There is a chance that the Player will reveal some new misconception but, if not, it may just be that you need to assure them that a given course of action has a chance of success. Sometimes Players get timid and it is up to you, as the DM, to reassure them so that they can have fun again.

If they finish their recital and you have nothing to say, well, you have put them in a no-win situation and either can end the campaign (and do better next time) or make a mea culpa and take remedial action.

[kyoryu]

If a Player ever says this, there has been a grievous breakdown in communications. Your first task is to identify where that is.

IMHO, the best way to do this is to ask the Player to describe the situation in their own words and what options they would like to have and why they don't think they can use them.

This is really the best idea in the thread.

One of the things that can be difficult in RPGs is getting people to stop thinking in terms of what's on their character sheet, and start thinking in terms of what's happening in the game.

As a kind of inverse of Oracle_Hunter's suggestion, I'll often "paint a picture" of the current scene (without game jargon) before someone's turn if I think people are starting to focus too much on the numbers, and not enough on the 'world'.

[valadil]

When my players don't know what options are out there it's usually because they aren't focused on the game. Once they get back on track they'll have an easier time with things. To help get things back on track for a derailed player I like going over the situation they've gotten themselves into. I won't necessarily point out new options but I'll bring up all the options they've discussed. Doing this usually jogs their memory and gets the player back into the right frame of mind.

What I try to avoid doing is giving them a set list of options. Telling them they can a) storm the front gate b) bribe the guard or c) sneak over the wall at night, and acting like those are the only possibilities means that they're more likely to go with one of those. Had they stopped and thought about it, the mage could have shaped the stone wall, but as there was no option d), the players settled for a lesser choice.

[Jay R]

If I need to enumerate options for somebody to have fun, I will do so.

And the second best option will probably be listed.

What I consider the absolute best option will not be listed. If you want that, earn it.