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"He's beyond my healing ability..."
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<blockquote data-quote="Olgar Shiverstone" data-source="post: 5614509" data-attributes="member: 5868"><p>*puts on "I'm with Celebrim" T-shirt*</p><p></p><p>An entirely enforce linear plotline is one definition of a railroad, and a relatively literal one.</p><p></p><p>But I'd widely regard as a railroad any DM action that by fiat causes the world to function in an inconsistent manner such that it removes the illusion of player choice. Having a single spell fail, that would otherwise work perfectly and as intended, in a minor instance so the DM can deny a player action to set up his pet dramatic scene? Yep, railroad.</p><p></p><p>Not all railroads are necessarily bad, particularly if short. I think it depends on how much you trust your DM. But as a DM I feel it is a slippery slope -- used too often, you can start to take away player choice in other areas. IMO a DM should only restrict player choice in a manner consistent with the game world (e.g, you can't go east without a boat or a fly spell, because there's an ocean there; you can kill the townspeople if you want but beware the town guard; raise dead may fail because the spell recipient must want to return, etc). I feel the best DMs -- or at least the ones I want to play under -- set up conditions such that events allow for player choice consistent with the game world. So they might heal the dying messenger or speak with dead or cast a augury when you least expect it -- it's part of the game world and the DM should roll with the punches. My preferred DM response would be "Yes, you can do that, and then this happens ..."</p><p></p><p>Remember, my definition of railroad includes a key qualifier: "removes the <em>illusion</em> of player choice." Preserve the illusion and you're not railroading by my definition.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Olgar Shiverstone, post: 5614509, member: 5868"] *puts on "I'm with Celebrim" T-shirt* An entirely enforce linear plotline is one definition of a railroad, and a relatively literal one. But I'd widely regard as a railroad any DM action that by fiat causes the world to function in an inconsistent manner such that it removes the illusion of player choice. Having a single spell fail, that would otherwise work perfectly and as intended, in a minor instance so the DM can deny a player action to set up his pet dramatic scene? Yep, railroad. Not all railroads are necessarily bad, particularly if short. I think it depends on how much you trust your DM. But as a DM I feel it is a slippery slope -- used too often, you can start to take away player choice in other areas. IMO a DM should only restrict player choice in a manner consistent with the game world (e.g, you can't go east without a boat or a fly spell, because there's an ocean there; you can kill the townspeople if you want but beware the town guard; raise dead may fail because the spell recipient must want to return, etc). I feel the best DMs -- or at least the ones I want to play under -- set up conditions such that events allow for player choice consistent with the game world. So they might heal the dying messenger or speak with dead or cast a augury when you least expect it -- it's part of the game world and the DM should roll with the punches. My preferred DM response would be "Yes, you can do that, and then this happens ..." Remember, my definition of railroad includes a key qualifier: "removes the [i]illusion[/i] of player choice." Preserve the illusion and you're not railroading by my definition. [/QUOTE]
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