What is "railroading" to you (as a player)?

[Scott Christian]

That seems completely opposite of the general definition.

I think the general definition is that the DM exerts too much control. That is what it all boils down to in a nutshell. Call it lack of player agency. Call it having to follow a path. Call it lack of options. Whatever you call it, it distills down to the DM exerting too much control over the narrative.
A DM setting up a sandbox isn't what many call railroading.

 

[SteveC]

I don't really want to get too deep in the weeds because this discussion has come up many times before. There's absolutely no consensus on what railroading is in RPGs.

Some people don't mind it. I don't know who said this first, but I love it: "I'm all about for the railroad if it takes me to Awesometown."

Other people will call any game that isn't entirely resolved by oracle rolls on tables a railroad. Like the Gygax appearance on the Simpsons "It's a [rolls dice] pleasure to meet you!"

The key is to get player buy-in before you start the game so whatever level of directed plot there is, your group feels like it always has agency.

In the example used in the OP, I would never feel it's Railroading, since powerful forces in the Feywild certainly could make this happen. Saying "you have to come up with a solution to this problem to get home" doesn't mean you're telling the group what that solution is. My own group just did a trip to Barovia, and we weren't upset when we had to get back out rather than just planeshifting once we found what we were looking for.

 

[mamba]

I think the general definition is that the DM exerts too much control. That is what it all boils down to in a nutshell. Call it lack of player agency. Call it having to follow a path. Call it lack of options. Whatever you call it, it distills down to the DM exerting too much control over the narrative.

how much control over the narrative was there though, they did not have a spell component for some reason, apart from that they apparently could do whatever

The first idea a player has not working does not a railroad make

A DM setting up a sandbox isn't what many call railroading.

apparently they can as long as your sandbox misses one option they think of in a spur of the moment

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

I don't feel that's railroading as much as plot set-up, and as long as it's not used too often (the GM taking players' abilities away ex machina) it's okay.

To me, the example of railroading was, when I was younger, there was a DM. The problem was he was one of those DMs who, instead of being a game master, feels they're laying out the Great American Novel. He felt if the party, out of six encounters with the enemies, won once, tied twice and lost three times was 'good for character'.

He bemoaned having oceans of plot that he hoped people would delve into to varying degrees, some swimming, some diving, some just skittering across on jet skis - and my friend, who was also in the game, flat out said 'you may have oceans of plot, but you keep us in a train that's travelling on rails above the water. We have no meaningful way to interact with the plot even if we wanted to.'

 

[Reynard]

I think the general definition is that the DM exerts too much control. That is what it all boils down to in a nutshell. Call it lack of player agency. Call it having to follow a path. Call it lack of options. Whatever you call it, it distills down to the DM exerting too much control over the narrative.
A DM setting up a sandbox isn't what many call railroading.

Ok. So how does me having a totally open situation and no constraints on the players' options (besides "no plane shift") translate to lack of options?

 

[Hriston]

So I had this situation last night when a player got upset because he felt the party was being "railroaded" and I take issue with his definition. I set up the adventure in which the party is stuck in the Faewild after the Winter Court stages a coup and takes over. They have locked down the plane, closing gates and using magic to steal plane shift tuning forks from those arriving. The player made some (incorrect) assumptions about why this was happening and then decided to just nope out and plane whift the party home, which is when the player discovered they were at least momentarily trapped in the Faewild and would have to find a way home.

I do not consider this to be railroading. I consider it to be setting up the adventure. There is no predetermined path to finding a way home. They can try anything they want, and they have 2 wishes on hand (and if they used those, they would work, but no one tried). This little jaunt is a side thing right before the climax of the campaign, meant to give them one last level bump as well as potentiually find allies in the Summer Court if they decide to break the Winter Court's hold.

Anyway, two questions:
1) Do you specifically think what I did here was "railroading"?
and 2) In general, how do you define "railroading" or being railroaded as a player ina game?

Did the player feel that the situation you presented of being trapped in the Feywild did not meet the expectations set at your table regarding the opportunities their character would have to make decisions? If yes, then they are using the term correctly.

 

[aramis erak]

Anyway, two questions:
1) Do you specifically think what I did here was "railroading"?
and 2) In general, how do you define "railroading" or being railroaded as a player ina game?

1) Yes, but not to a bad level
2) Any point where player choice no longer matters.

 

[Scott Christian]

how much control over the narrative was there though, they did not have a spell component for some reason, apart from that they apparently could do whatever

The first idea a player has not working does not a railroad make

Mamba, that question does not matter. You're right, there first idea failing doesn't make a railroad. But, and this is important, for some, having to simply fill a blank canvas with the DM's whimsical desires, is railroading. It is the old: Gygax, the DM, makes you search the dungeon, until he feels that you have explored enough to find the secret door.

apparently they can as long as your sandbox misses one option they think of in a spur of the moment

No offense, and this is where I take offense to many, there aren't that many options to escape a plane. You can create many, especially if you have the adventures exploring a sandbox map. But, if you did the work as DM, you would probably have four or five options for them to get out and double the amounts for them to explore. (This is, of course, if you insist they are trapped there.)

• That rhakshaka that teleports north, south, east, west, constantly selling favors for souls. He might have a way to get out.
• Since we're dealing with the Feywild, those two rivers that flow uphill into the latent volcano. Yeah, there are tunnels underneath that are attached to other things that no one controls. But the turtle dragon, Bligmouth, really really really doesn't like visitors.
• That dryad's tree that's full of empty rum bottles and broken heart carvings. Maybe if you get inside her tree, it's like a dimension inside a dimension. It's there you can get out. But to get in her tree requires her permission (forced, coerced, granted, etc.)
• Apparently Winter Court is still managing to bamph in and out. Maybe an assault or surreptitious encounter can help the group use this to their advantage.
• Keeping with the Feywild theme, those blood oranges that grove from old lady's orchard are said to be imbued with honeybee wings, and honeybee wings are known to hold a bit of teleportation magic. So maybe she knows something? (Or her hive knows something?)

If you are going to eliminate conventional magic options (except for wish), then you, as a DM need to think this through. The PCs are trapped in a Hawaiian style island environment, full of volcanoes, orange groves, sugarcane fields, and one where the Winter Court is just pissed at never having any control. Build four or five more areas, with each area leading to NPCs that can offer ideas on how to get out. Maybe two or three ideas each. Let the players roleplay. Let them explore. And make sure you know how they can get out. Because if it is just, "When I feel like it," then that is railroading to many players.

 

[Scott Christian]

Ok. So how does me having a totally open situation and no constraints on the players' options (besides "no plane shift") translate to lack of options?

I don't know the answer to that question. As I stated earlier, I personally don't feel you are railroading. But I have been a part of thread after thread after thread (with you included) on this forum about railroading. And you know, as well as I, that railroading is a very personal definition.
I for one, know that my playstyle is in fact railroading to many on this forum. I don't care. You shouldn't either.

 

[Celebrim]

As a player, it's what I would consider railroading if I did it as a GM.

It's a collection of techniques that are used to limit and guide player choice.

How I respond to that depends on how subtle it is, what I perceive the reasoning to be, how often it happens, and whether the GM becomes hostile (overtly or covertly) if I try to get off the rails.