Recent content by Umbran

I am raising questions that I think matter in this context. Do you find that ink spilled to be particularly consistent? Because I don't. However, I find that to be a good thing - what constitutes a good practice varies so much with playstyle, that we need a whole lot of ink spilled to cover...

Are you claiming there are, and you know them? Are you going to claim "zero/minimal GM force" is a "best practice"? RPG play is a leisure entertainment with many, many variations and valid different preferences. Your risk of othering playstyles is very high if you don't take time and care...

Do you recognize that calling one "normal" is setting up a fraught scheme?

Whether the term is "fraught" isn't the point I had for the question. And, you kind of lay it out there... You would separate "force" from "normal play". As if some use of force is abnormal, or wrong?

Let us turn this around: What uses of GM force AREN'T railroading?

I think there are degrees of GM influence on game progression, so, that simple dichotomy fails to describe the real things that happen at our tables.

You know, I have issues with this being only two states, and only one party gets any input on what state you are in. RPGs are endeavors in which people have to cooperate. Cooperation generally means nobody involved always gets exactly what they want. So, granting some space in there is...

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.