D&D General Why defend railroading?

[TheSword]

#1 is a railroad. You're moving the encounter into their path no matter what they choose.

#2 is not a railroad. Random chance is random chance. It might happen or it might not.

I’m surprised that you think random selection is sufficient to prevent railroading. That’s good to know.

All I need to prevent my ogre encounter being railroading is to design a party of Orcs encounter and then flip a coin.

 

[Cadence]

It doesn't have to have a lot of meaning, but different choices should result in something different happening. If choosing the left fork, the right fork, going off road, turning back and teleporting 3000 miles all result in an encounter with an ogre, your agency is gone and you've been railroaded into an encounter with an ogre. Even if you didn't realize it and never find out.

There are lots things down that road and only down that road too. The ogre wipes out all the agency/those other things ad nothing?

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How about a stack of six different pre-made encounters I shuffle and draw from when the party gets some place I hadn't planned on and had no immediate story-induced ideas?

 

[Charlaquin]

Sure, but if I make a choice to go to the mall and see Janet Jackson, she is not also going to have been at the movies if I had made that choice instead.

Sure, but if you go to the mall with no expectation of whether or not you will see Janet Jackson, it won’t invalidate your choice to go to the mall if she’s there. You also have no way of knowing whether she just also happened to be there too, or an alien beamed her there because it’s where you were going. It makes no difference in your decision-making process unless you were specifically trying to avoid seeing Janet Jackson.

 

[TheSword]

Sure, but if I make a choice to go to the mall and see Janet Jackson, she is not also going to have been at the movies if I had made that choice instead.

It doesn't have to have a lot of meaning, but different choices should result in something different happening. If choosing the left fork, the right fork, going off road, turning back and teleporting 3000 miles all result in an encounter with an ogre, your agency is gone and you've been railroaded into an encounter with an ogre. Even if you didn't realize it and never find out.

If there is an ogre in the forest, is the party allowed to encounter it anywhere in the forest, or only if they travel NNE from the lightning stump for three miles? If the ogres roams, do I have to plan it’s route with approximate timings to see if it intersects with the party.

In essence why is the DM setting arbitrary left or right fork in the path decisions and then being forced commit to equally arbitrary distinctions in outcome as a result.

It’s all Fiat. Random tables included.

 

[Maxperson]

I’m surprised that you think random selection is sufficient to prevent railroading. That’s good to know.

Why would it? It's not something the DM is forcing on anyone. It might or might not happen.

All I need to prevent my ogre encounter being railroading is to design a party of Orcs encounter and then flip a coin.

If you have a 50/50 chance of having a random encounter at every decision point, that doesn't sound like a very fun game, but hey, it technically does avoid railroading since it might not happen.

 

[Umbran]

#2 is not a railroad. Random chance is random chance. It might happen or it might not.

If the choice of road does not influence what you encounter, then that choice was not meaningful. "Whichever way we go, we roll on the same table," means that the way you go does not matter.

 

[TheSword]

Why would it? It's not something the DM is forcing on anyone. It might or might not happen.

If you have a 50/50 chance of having a random encounter at every decision point, that doesn't sound like a very fun game, but hey, it technically does avoid railroading since it might not happen.

No no, there’s a 100% chance of an encounter. It’s just a toss up as to whether it’s ogres or Orcs.

 

[Maxperson]

There are lots things down that road and only down that road too. The ogre wipes out all the agency/those other things ad nothing?

No, but as I pointed out in my train example above, when I get on a literal railroad(train) and go somewhere, I still have lots of choices while on that railroad. Having choice while being forced down a lane or having choice AFTER you are forced down a lane, doesn't remove the railroad.

How about a stack of six different pre-made encounters I shuffle and draw from when the party gets some place I hadn't planned on and had no immediate story-induced ideas?

I usually have about a half dozen pre-made encounters ready. If the party goes out of the prepared area and into the unknown and say comes to that fork, I will generally pick one of those encounters that fits the area and place it down one of the paths. Once I place it, though, I cross it off and will not re-use it later if the party picks the other fork and never encounters it.

 

[Maxperson]

If the choice of road does not influence what you encounter, then that choice was not meaningful. "Whichever way we go, we roll on the same table," means that the way you go does not matter.

Sure, but it's still not a railroad. Not all choices that aren't railroads will be meaningful.

 

[el-remmen]

The look on Janet Jackson's face when she suspects railroading. She all for Control, but not that much.