Character Options and the Beards of Women

Earlier, I was reading a thread on the D&D forums dealing with an interesting problem that a particular GM found themselves in. One of his players wanted to play a female Dwarven Barbarian in a chain mail bikini, and this was alright for the GM. The problem was that the player also wanted the dwarven woman to have a beard.

This presents an common conflict that can occur between GM and Player, that of players desire for options vs. the GM's desire to depict the world as they see fit. My general belief is that the GM defines the world, the Player's define their character, but sometimes this is not as clearly divided as one would think. What is to be done when the players wants something for their character that goes against the GM's ideas for the world?

Here the GM needs to do some serious thinking. First, consider why you have made the call that you have. In the above example, are dwarven women beardless because of any worthwhile reason or is it purely your own aesthetic competing with that of your players? If so, this is a time where the GM should step back and give the player the option they want.

Second, consider if the player desires the choice because they want to tell a particular story or are they trying to get a particular advantage? While this consideration doesn't have a particular application in the instance above, the GM must also remember that they are a rules arbiter as well as a storyteller.

And finally, the GM must consider if the choice will take away something from the rest of the players (including themselves). This is a much more difficult issue for a GM to see, and the one that is the most relevant with the above situation. Some groups may see bearded dwarven women as disruptive of their suspension of disbelief, and a GM should take that into consideration.

However, I don't think that this is the true issue in the above situation. My reasoning for this is the double standard that the GM is employing here. He is trying to claim that a woman with a beard will make things too silly, but not even blinking at the idea of a chain mail bikini that provides the normal amount of protection... Seems to me that the true problem here is that the GM has a single idea of what he finds acceptable in his fantasy world, and is not taking into consideration the desires of the players.

Now, I am in full support of the DM's prerogative to limit or ban things that he feels are disruptive to the feel of his campaign world, but I also feel that this is one of the issues that the DM needs a great deal of wisdom to handle correctly. It is good to build a world that feels original and real, but a good GM should always be cautious about limiting the player's choices to the point that you quash their contributions to the game world.