Recent content by zarionofarabel

  1. zarionofarabel

    D&D General The Great Railroad Thread

    The rules of reality itself has exceptions. Classical Physics has a particular set of rules. Quantum Physics, in it's entirely, is an exception to those rules.
  2. zarionofarabel

    What Makes A Successful Superhero CAMPAIGN

    This. ☝️
  3. zarionofarabel

    D&D General How often do you use Homebrew in your own games?

    Haha, then I guess I'm the oddball as usual! With the singular exception of a special setting that I built off of a map I fell in love with. It is an island about the size of England (not the UK) that I used to develop a "bottle chronicle" for recurring use. Other than that, I never homebrew...
  4. zarionofarabel

    D&D General The Great Railroad Thread

    Yeah, I guess. 😳 In my embarrassment I decided to take a break from the thread as punishment. 😊 The break got me thinking though, about MouseGuard, also by Luke Crane. So, in Burning Wheel, as you pointed out, the GMs entire purpose is to foster narrative that engages the players interests by...
  5. zarionofarabel

    D&D General The Great Railroad Thread

    Okay. Well, I've always thought that was just the way one was supposed to GM 😊. Like, the whole point of being a GM was to foster narrative that incorporates the players preferences as to what they want to experience out of a game. If I have a player that makes a badass combat god PC, I am...
  6. zarionofarabel

    D&D General The Great Railroad Thread

    Only in that, as a player, I always thought that I was happy to jump on said railroad. As an old geezer, I had always heard the dichotomy of playstyles framed as railroad vs sandbox. In that a railroad is a game where the GM creates a plotline in advance for the players to follow, and the...
  7. zarionofarabel

    D&D General The Great Railroad Thread

    Well, the way I run my sandbox games it's unavoidable to be influenced by the players as they are expected to be the primary drivers of the narrative and ultimately in charge of how the story plays out. As for what situations the PCs encounter, well in essence, no, simply because I only create...
  8. zarionofarabel

    D&D General The Great Railroad Thread

    So then all games, no matter how sandbox or linear, are in fact just cleverly disguised railroads?
  9. zarionofarabel

    D&D General The Great Railroad Thread

    Eh, I'm not sure I understand, I think you might have gotten a little too philosophical for this old dog. I guess if you mean I should include stealth opportunities for a player that makes a sneaky PC, then okay. However I think that having every single GM authored narrative element needing to...
  10. zarionofarabel

    D&D General The Great Railroad Thread

    But wouldn't that then mean that anything or everything the GM does, without prior express player consent, in essence, be railroading? How then could a GM function as a member of the group with the power to add to the ongoing narrative? The players are entitled to add to the narrative...
  11. zarionofarabel

    D&D General The Great Railroad Thread

    I think to call this situation a "railroad" would definitely be a stretch. Simply put, the players are not being forced into taking specific actions. Things are happening in the world, but the players aren't being forced to interact with those things. By allowing the players to choose to ignore...
  12. zarionofarabel

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    Everyone stop critical failing rolls!
  13. zarionofarabel

    D&D General The Great Railroad Thread

    Considering the discussion in this thread, and the generally accepted rationalization of what it is to be railroaded, I can very well see someone being railroaded in a supposed "sandbox" game. If the GM is manipulating the narrative to force/trick players into ending up at a predetermined...
  14. zarionofarabel

    D&D General The Great Railroad Thread

    Fair point. Does it sound weird then if I admit that my worlds never feature uniquely singular opponents that require their own stat blocks? A unique opponent in my games are either unique because of who they are, like an evil king, that uses the generic "noble stat block" but is special because...
  15. zarionofarabel

    D&D General The Great Railroad Thread

    That's what the so called "stat block" is for! That's part of the reason why I find it strange that "sandbox" haters claiming that one needs to prepare encounters ahead of time is not really an issue. Especially with something like DnD where there are literally whole books filled with potential...
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