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

[Bill Zebub]

More seriously (not that I'm not serious about the 5 Int Genius)...

Is there another stat, other than Intelligence, in which characters with a low value are expected to be roleplayed in a way that prohibits participation in some aspect of the game? Meaning, finding and proposing solutions to challenges is core to RPGs. The argument seems to be that if a character has low Int, the player should be roleplaying that by not proposing "smart" solutions to challenges.

Could somebody explain to me what sort of "contributions" would be frowned upon based on low scores in the other five attributes? Or is the expectation for Int singularly punitive?

 

[TwoSix]

More seriously (not that I'm not serious about the 5 Int Genius)...

Is there another stat, other than Intelligence, in which characters with a low value are expected to be roleplayed in a way that prohibits participation in some aspect of the game? Meaning, finding and proposing solutions to challenges is core to RPGs. The argument seems to be that if a character has low Int, the player should be roleplaying that by not proposing "smart" solutions to challenges.

Could somebody explain to me what sort of "contributions" would be frowned upon based on low scores in the other five attributes? Or is the expectation for Int singularly punitive?

Theoretically, a low-Wis character who keeps warning the party away from rash decisions could be viewed in "violation" of expectations, I suppose.

 

[FrogReaver]

I'm with @TwoSix on this one: you don't have to have "viable alternatives" to enable story elements that you don't think are fun to include in the game?

Okay. Then don’t criticize someone that does want to include them.

 

[TwoSix]

Okay. Then don’t criticize someone that does want to include them.

There was no criticism.

"GM fiat", and the expectation of the setting acting with agency that goes along with it, is a necessary and desired component for principled approaches to sim/trad play.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Okay. Then don’t criticize someone that does want to include them.

Criticizing a playstyle is not (necessarily) criticizing someone. I have not gone back and re-read, but my impression was that @TwoSix was just saying they don't like DM Fiat itself, and wasn't attacking a poster.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Theoretically, a low-Wis character who keeps warning the party away from rash decisions could be viewed in "violation" of expectations, I suppose.

I was thinking the same thing, except...it's quite a bit more nebulous, right? "Rash" is pretty subjective because you can't (unless you are C3PO or R2D2) compute the actual odds of success, and it also depends on how one feels about both the objective and the consequences.

In other words, the low-Wis character warning about rash decisions could easily be an example like I suggested a few pages back: he thinks he's really wise, but really he's a fool. No way to know. That's true even after the fact, because the outcome could have been the result of good/bad luck. (Wisdom == Quantum Intelligence)

On the other hand, the viability of a solution to a problem is more likely (not 100%) to be apparent.

 

[TwoSix]

I was thinking the same thing, except...it's quite a bit more nebulous, right? "Rash" is pretty subjective because you can't (unless you are C3PO or R2D2) compute the actual odds of success, and it also depends on how one feels about both the objective and the consequences.

In other words, the low-Wis character warning about rash decisions could easily be an example like I suggested a few pages back: he thinks he's really wise, but really he's a fool. No way to know. That's true even after the fact, because the outcome could have been the result of good/bad luck. (Wisdom == Quantum Intelligence)

On the other hand, the viability of a solution to a problem is more likely (not 100%) to be apparent.

Agree with all of that. It's why I generally prefer to use Wisdom as a the stat for general awareness, which can be both physical and supernatural, rather than "common sense".

 

[FrogReaver]

I'd guess it’s just a sort of event they avoid altogether. There's nothing that says certain sorts of events can't simulataneously be something that could logically/physically occur in the setting and still feel excessively railroady. Then it just turns into a case of priorities.

Sure. I’m asking from the premise that we are doing this thing because it was done in Reynard’s game. I thought that was obvious.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Since HP IMO has very low modeling value, I'm not sure what you would be roleplaying that is best modeled by high HP.

He tends to charge into physical danger because his experience has always been that getting hurt doesn't really hurt all that much. Kind of like Evil Knievel.

But he has a phobia about germs because he tends to get sick easily.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Theoretically, a low-Wis character who keeps warning the party away from rash decisions could be viewed in "violation" of expectations, I suppose.

I like the idea of a low-Wis character that warns the party away from threats that don’t exist.