D&D General Railroads, Illusionism, and Participationism

[Composer99]

I know, right!?

 

[Nefermandias]

Feel this tweet is relevant for this discussion:

This kind of post always gets likes in the thousands and that makes me unreasonably angry and frustrated with the current state of the game.

Yes, I'm old and full of hate for these kids.

I guess Thaco the Clown was really aimed at me after all.

 

[MichaelSomething]

This kind of post always gets likes in the thousands and that makes me unreasonably angry and frustrated with the current state of the game.

Yes, I'm old and full of hate for these kids.

I guess Thaco the Clown was really aimed at me after all.

But why? I thought DMs were suppose to be empowered to run the game however they like? Isn't DM EMPOWERMENT a central tenet of the OSR? Shouldn't we be happy that a DM is not letting the rules get in the way of a good session?

 

[overgeeked]

Plenty of people don’t have schedules that allow writing a session at a time. That’s a luxury.

Really? The entire hobby is a luxury from start to finish. It's a luxury to have enough disposable income to buy the books and accessories you need. It's a luxury to have the time to read the books and a further luxury to have time to learn the system. It's a luxury to have time to play at all. It's a luxury to have the time you need to DM at all...to say nothing of doing it well.

Is that like the thing when you're driving that anyone going slower than you is in your way and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

It's a "luxury" to put in more prep work than you are willing to.

 

[overgeeked]

The problem with having to create dozens of hooks and quests as @overgeeked suggests is that it’s wasteful and labour intensive. If you then repurpose those hooks for other locations as a practical measure you’re then railroading again according to them, because you’re forcing encounters.

LOL. No, you keep the hooks and progress them through time. The situation isn't static and it changes over time. So the goblin cave you cleared out becomes infested with spiders. If you clear them out something else moves in. The world is dynamic and evolving...based on the PCs choices. If the PCs choose not to clear out the goblins, then there are consequences of that...like they start raiding nearby villages and towns or caravans on roads nearby. The world exists independently of the PCs. It's not static and waiting for the PCs to appear to come alive. There's no pre-determined story to play through. Whatever story there is emerges from play. What's played at the table is the story.

 

[TheSword]

Really? The entire hobby is a luxury from start to finish. It's a luxury to have enough disposable income to buy the books and accessories you need. It's a luxury to have the time to read the books and a further luxury to have time to learn the system. It's a luxury to have time to play at all. It's a luxury to have the time you need to DM at all...to say nothing of doing it well.

Is that like the thing when you're driving that anyone going slower than you is in your way and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

It's a "luxury" to put in more prep work than you are willing to.

No it’s a luxury to have spare time to write 12 hooks for every one you’ll need and to have that time consistently each week to not have to postpone sessions because you didn’t get time to open your notepad that week.

 

[el-remmen]

This kind of post always gets likes in the thousands and that makes me unreasonably angry and frustrated with the current state of the game.

Yes, I'm old and full of hate for these kids.

Why? There were always tons of DMs who essentially played this way and tons of players that liked it like that, going back to the 80s at least. I knew/know plenty (though I doubt you'd find many of them on these forums). Not my style, personally, but - nothing new except better chance of people finding a table with similar expectations (not mine, tho).

 

[Swarmkeeper]

plus pick up Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master and read the Alexandrian blog.

Hear hear. These are both excellent resources for DMs.

 

[overgeeked]

Hear hear. These are both excellent resources for DMs.

The Alexandrian has also launched a YouTube channel.


And the Lazy DM has one as well.

 

[Gradine]

This kind of post always gets likes in the thousands and that makes me unreasonably angry and frustrated with the current state of the game.

Yes, I'm old and full of hate for these kids.

I guess Thaco the Clown was really aimed at me after all.

DMs who sacrifice fun for strict adherence to the rules make me unreasonably angry and frustrated.




Oh wait no it doesn't, it's cool that there are so many different types of DMs.