The Blank Stare

I like to imagine that I'm a really good GM. In reality, I'm an average GM who has problems just like everyone else. Later, I like to think back and try to understand what happened and what I could have done better.

One of the problems I've faced - I'm sure most GM's face it at some point - is the blank stare. The PCs have just arrived in a sprawling wasteland. You give some broad brushstroke description about the sea of filthy tents, a crowd of people in strange clothing arguing over something, and the distant walls of a fortress. You say, "What would you like to do?" and you get blank stares in return. 

That was from a scenario I ran recently and I got those blank stares. It did not feel good.

The basic gameplay loop of most types RPG play is that the GM describes a situation and the players describe how their characters respond to the situation. The GM assesses the likely outcome and, if necessary, calls for dice rolls. The GM interprets the rolls and describes how the situation has changed. The cycle repeats. Prismatic Wasteland calls this the "basic procedure of the OSR," but I think it extends to trad and storygames as well - pretty much any game where a GM is presenting the situation. The Mothership Warden's Operations Manual does a great job of laying out this procedure in glorious clarity. 

If the players do not describe how their characters react and respond to the situation, the loop breaks down. Sometimes the players are staring at one another, waiting for someone else to lead. Sometimes the players are staring at the GM, waiting to be told what to do. If the GM capitulates and tells the players what to do and where to go, you're no longer playing a TTRPG. Instead, the GM is telling you a story.

To figure out what to do in this sort of situation, or how to avoid it, it's helpful to understand why it happens, because it's not always the same reason.

New Players / Unclear Roles

This kind of thing is pretty common with brand new players who may have experience with video games but face choice paralysis in the infinite decision-making possibilities offered in TTRPGs. Worse, it's often compounded by well-meaning more experienced players who try to step aside and let the new player take the lead.

If you are an experienced player, the best thing you can do is demonstrate what good looks like by asking the GM questions, proposing solutions, and having your character take action. Demonstrate how to be a good player and new players will quickly learn and adopt. 

A variant of this is when no one wants to take the lead. Everyone wants to sit in the background and let someone else drive the action forward, jumping in when they see a moment for their character to shine. 

But roleplaying games work best when everyone is involved! One strategy that may help mitigate this is to have one of the players take the role of "Caller." The Caller's job is to gather input from the rest of the players and present the party's response to the GM. It's mainly a tool used to organize large groups of players, but I think it can be used when all the players are shy wallflowers since the Caller can help to get input from the group.

Not Enough Information

A second reason the players may be staring blankly at the GM is that they don't have enough information about the scene to make a meaningful decision. Step 2 of the "basic procedure" is that the players ask the GM clarifying questions. The GM then answers the questions, offers additional clues pointing towards the answers, or calls for checks.

Some players are unaccustomed to this level of engagement with the world. One of the philosophies of the OSR I really like is that the players should be interrogating the world around them. The GM mentioned there is a bed in the room. Why? Is there something under the bed? Has it been recently slept in? Is it a nice bed with a comfy mattress or a pile of rags on the floor? 

These types of questions give the players information they need to engage with the story or make meaningful decisions. 

It's a two-way street. The GM has to give enough information to hook the players, and the players have to ask clarifying questions to draw out details about the situation from the GM. If the GM doesn't provide enough initial information, the players may not even know what questions to ask. If the players don't ask questions, they may not have enough information to make meaningful decisions. 

Unclear Goals or Direction

I ran a game of Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory recently where the PCs were working for a faction. The faction leader gave them a vague direction that amounted to "investigate this place and see if there's anything useful/valuable/problematic happening there." Then I sent them into the above-mentioned sprawling wasteland with little other direction.

The players fumbled around quite a bit trying to figure out where to go, what to do, and what they were looking for. The reason was that I had presented them a quest without a clear end goal and with nebulous stakes. Players without clear goals (either GM-presented or self-directed) may fumble in the dark until they find something or until someone tells them what to do.

This is a characteristic of TTRPGs that Raven Crowking's Nest calls Choices, Context, and Consequences. TTRPGs are interesting when players have meaningful choices in how they approach situations, the context to understand those situations, and an estimation of the consequences of their actions (or inactions) in those situations. Goals are one of the factors in helping to create context. Clear goals - what are we trying to achieve and why - create the context for understanding the choices and consequences.

Have you encountered other situations where your players stared at you blankly, confused or waiting to be told what to do? How did you handle them? I feel like for me, this has been a process of improving my own skills as a GM but also encouraging my players to ask probing questions and "investigate the world."