Recent content by Umbran

That's just what Batman would say....

So, I think I see what you are getting at, but you are keeping it so generic as to make it less clear. Let us take an example that avoids specific rules. Joe is playing a goblin. Moderate intelligence, not the highest Wisdom. He's on a heist in a wizard's tower, trying to acquire the...

Maybe. Maybe... maybe... maybe... There's a lot of possible maybes.

Wit respect, if their expectation is that the first thing they try is necessarily going to get them what they want, they have an expectation that doesn't fit typical RPG play. I think it would be odd to still have that expectation after an entire campaign. Like, not all locks open on the...

It isn't even a setback, it is a failure to move forward. Now, if there were one thing we could constructively note, it might be that just having the spell fail is probably not the best approach to resolving the attempt. This was probably a good opportunity to apply a "fail forward" technique...

Agreed. We are (typically) playing games that include adversity, in which not all attempts to overcome that adversity will succeed. So, "I didn't get what I want on my first try," shouldn't be considered a railroad.

Also, we should not rely on people who are upset, put out, or otherwise emotionally engaged to get language correct. The player calling it a railroad does not mean it is a railroad. The player calling it a railroad is an indication to the GM that the player is unhappy. They'll use whatever...

I would counter that you (and possibly the player) are inaccurately conflating "situation" and "plot". If the situation only has one possible resolution, and the players will be driven to that resolution whether they like it or not, then it is a railroad.

One spell failing to achieve their goal does not a railroad make.

My collection is a black hole - things enter, but they never leave. In actuality, it is mostly that I have never bothered to try to unload anything. I just put up with awkward stacks of books from time to time, until I increase shelf space.

It depends a little on the table agreement, but probably not. It sounds more like situation setup than railroading. I might consider it railroading if the PCs were engaged in something else, and this came out of left field and you forced them into it. I have changed my thinking on this...

Okay. Next time I'll take that same report, and use it as justification to slam about in the hobnail boots of red text, instead of giving folks a conversational gambit to stand down.

This isn't hard. If the thing the clock is measuring is known to the characters, then it isn't meta. If the clock's reference is unknown to the characters, then it is meta. I hope making it simple will stop you folks from being snide at each other, because you're not exactly making the thread...

Certainly not all games do. But the process of play of them trying is still supposed to yield what the players are looking for.

Not in detail, no. But, aren't the specific design goals done in alignment with that general premise? We might change, "results in fun gameplay," with "results in the player's desired play experience".