Combating Player Indecisiveness

Take the corridor to the left or to the right? (Okay, it's probably the left. That's always where the treasure is, yeah?) Take a caravan north or rent your own horses and head west? Use the targeting computer or trust in the Force? Beam down or take a shuttle? What spell should I cast next round? While specific decisions may be unique to certain tabletop games, TTRPGs are, not unlike real life, a realm of (nearly) unlimited options. Or at least, options limited only by your own imagination. So it isn’t any surprise that a single problem often plagues players: indecisiveness. There are so many choices you’re able to make, it can become difficult or overwhelming to make even the simplest decisions. Often, it isn't a matter of basic "this vs. that" decisions, but situations with a myriad of available options. Couple this with occasionally having to decide things as a group, and it can easily become the kind of catastrophe that would gridlock just about any tabletop game. How can we combat that, especially when it comes to combat? It all really comes down to time. So, let’s take some (time, that is) to look at a few ideas together.

If you’re running into this problem of indecisiveness, be it as GM or player, you're probably most often seeing it during combat. Combat can easily be something that turns some players off to TTRPGs, not necessarily because of graphic violence (participants have the power to make a game's violence cartoony or inconsequential), but due to the sheer amount of game time it can take to get through. One culprit of that is indecisiveness. You can’t really blame players, as not only are there a vast range of options, but the circumstances are constantly changing. Deciding to focus the magic missile on the bandit leader, only to have him be dead by the time it gets around to your turn can be a cause for anyone to pause. For players, you should have a plan A and plan B (unless those get outlawed in games, too. If we can’t have autonomy over our IRL bodies, autonomy of our in-game imaginary bodies could well be next).  No matter what you call your alternatives, have something you’d most like to do. Unloading all your axe attacks on the creature in front of you, sending a magic missile against the biggest threat, using a Jedi mind trick to make them think Vader has called them back to base... You'll also need to have a secondary plan, though. The original target or goal may disappear, like so much sand through an hourglass. Even if your other option is to just punch the closest target, at least you'll have something to do in order to keep things moving when it gets to your turn. Do your best to stay aware of when you’ll be up next, and the state of things as it gets closer to your turn.

Helping with player indecisiveness from the GM side is a little more involved. While you shouldn’t provide players their options, it can’t hurt for GMs and seasoned players alike to help new people out by giving a few suggestions. Those new to the game may not have a clear understanding of what they can do at a given time. As long as everyone is letting the final decision remain with the player in question, and they aren’t being criticized for their choices, it should be fine to offer a few ideas. To keep things going smoothly, it's important to be clear on any house rules. Make your own arbitration  decisions quickly and verify with the rules later. All things being equal, though, things can still slow down even with with a team of seasoned players. Make sure you're tracking people’s turns (nobody wants to be missed, and there are a number of tools available to do this), and consider instituting a timer. Have players set up a default option like “I hit it with a stick” or, if they're okay with it, the more cold-hearted “you freeze in place and lose your turn”, and let that be what happens should they take longer than an (agreed-upon) set amount of time. As long as the expectation is clear and implemented fairly across all players, this should help keep the combat moving.

What about when you’re out of combat though? The heat of battle isn’t the only place you’ll see player indecisiveness. It can come at any time during a game. While we all want to enjoy our time together at the table, it can really drag things down when the players aren’t sure what to do. Having an “out of combat" timer could help here as well. Certainly, if time is of the essence in the game world, it can also add tension to a scene. To help keep things going, you might consider again setting some default options for what the characters might do in one of these “stuck” situations, and just as in combat, have those things happen if the players get to that sticking point after a certain amount of time. If you aren’t interested in timers, though, you do have another thing to consider: just because your player’s characters are idle doesn’t mean the world around them is. That world keeps moving. It's a living place, and something is bound to happen. New adversaries may arrive, the sun may set, danger may be on the move.

While setting default actions and using timers are methods that can help a table keep moving, your mileage with either of these techniques may vary. Be sure to incorporate ideas from the players at your well, because there are certainly other options out there. What have you done in your games or seen done in other groups? We’d love to hear about them! Make sure listen to what works (or doesn't) for your players, though. Timers can add anxiety, especially for newcomers, and default options may be boring, especially for seasoned veterans. The players will hopefully have an idea of what works best for them, or at least what they’re willing to try. So, until it's time for next week, enjoy your tables.. now get out there and break some dice. 

-A

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