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The Sandbox and the Railroad
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<blockquote data-quote="GrahamWills" data-source="post: 7471816" data-attributes="member: 75787"><p>I'm with Emrikol; it's a continuum, and he describes the (bad) edge cases very well. One way people review a good boardgame is to ask how many meaningful choices a player can make each turn. If it's too low, the game doesn't need skill to play. At the extreme is Chute (Snakes) and Ladders. At the other extreme are super-complex games which only dedicated players can enjoy because they require too a lot of work.</p><p></p><p>"Railroading" essentially means "too little choice". There is no pejorative word associate with too much choice, but maybe "completely random" would work. This is not rocket science -- people like to make choices, and they like to have information to make those choices. If you have a game without a plot or structure, you do not know how your choices will work out. A bad sandbox (and I've played in a couple) gives you no idea of what consequences are because the GM has not established any structure. A bad railroad (and i've actually never experienced this outside of one-offs) leaves you not caring to make a choice because you know the consequence will not change.</p><p></p><p>The best campaigns I have played in, and the ones my players enjoy the most, are ones where there is a clear structure and a solid plot (a </p><p>"road" or "path" if you like). However, the players can change it. It's not a railroad, because it can be changed. It's not a sandbox, because there is a premise with which to be engaged. It's just a good style of running a game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="GrahamWills, post: 7471816, member: 75787"] I'm with Emrikol; it's a continuum, and he describes the (bad) edge cases very well. One way people review a good boardgame is to ask how many meaningful choices a player can make each turn. If it's too low, the game doesn't need skill to play. At the extreme is Chute (Snakes) and Ladders. At the other extreme are super-complex games which only dedicated players can enjoy because they require too a lot of work. "Railroading" essentially means "too little choice". There is no pejorative word associate with too much choice, but maybe "completely random" would work. This is not rocket science -- people like to make choices, and they like to have information to make those choices. If you have a game without a plot or structure, you do not know how your choices will work out. A bad sandbox (and I've played in a couple) gives you no idea of what consequences are because the GM has not established any structure. A bad railroad (and i've actually never experienced this outside of one-offs) leaves you not caring to make a choice because you know the consequence will not change. The best campaigns I have played in, and the ones my players enjoy the most, are ones where there is a clear structure and a solid plot (a "road" or "path" if you like). However, the players can change it. It's not a railroad, because it can be changed. It's not a sandbox, because there is a premise with which to be engaged. It's just a good style of running a game. [/QUOTE]
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