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It's a long time since I've been to a convention. I went with friends, and we played together as a team. Mostly we didn't know the GMs, which was interesting but generally not bad.

Yes, I know. But in the context of the thread is seemed like it might be useful to spell it out.

John Harper had a good diagram to illustrate this "jigsaw pieces" approach: The Mighty Atom

In Burning Wheel, on a successful roll the task is successful and the intent achieved. On a failed roll, the intent is not achieved - and the GM narrates what happens, which may or may not include the task succeeding. So there are three possibilities: Task succeeds, and intent succeeds...

I think this illustrates how task resolution, in combination with no sense that the GM is obliged to honour the intent, is a recipe for railroading.

This came up a few times in discussions of 4e: what's the DC for a Diplomacy check to allow another character to spend a healing surge? The logic of hit points suggests it should be possible; but there is the risk of intruding on the role of the Healing skill. One possibility is that, on the...

This isn't quite right: there is no "vice versa"; and it is only Comeliness of -9 or lower that triggers this effect, and only if both the creature with the negative comeliness and the character viewing them are of evil alignment. It's not possible for an ordinary mortal to have such a low...

It depends on the system. Classic Traveller uses random encounters. Torchbearer has random Camp and Town Events; but encounters during the Adventure Phase are either triggered by going to a place on the map, or introduced by the GM as twists for failed tests. Prince Valiant doesn't use random...

Awesome to see you posting! I haven't seen you for ages. Pulsipher's skilled play is basically the same as what Gygax describes in his PHB, under the label "Successful Adventures": on the player side, the emphasis is on prep, planning and seizing control (as much as can be done) of what things...

What adventure(s) do you have in mind?

Stone Town is a city that has existed for a long time. And I think it relies mostly on groundwater; I don't think there is a river of any significance.

But isn't the point of worldbuilding to make something exciting? Or at least part of it? Maybe Waterdeep has galleons docking there? Which would be anachronistic, but that's hardly out-of-bounds for D&D and FR.

Maybe a wizard did it! Or a god.

What, for messing with Sam Gamgee?

I'm not sure how precise "measure" is being used. But one way to judge a "golden age" for creative production is by the quality of what is produced.

I'm not sure why we would judge a golden age of RPGs by reference to the commercial success of a few RPG companies. Nor by, say, the publication of adventures and supplements. Some great RPGs by their nature don't rely on pre-authored scenarios.

Some novels are well written. Some novels are poorly written. All novels, though, are written; and all (or near enough to all) aspire to be well written, or, at least, engaging to the reader. The novel that sets out to be boring, a bad read, poorly written, etc is a pretty rare exception...

Anything can be "an event that happens in the game". That doesn't tell us whether or not it is railroading.

That is how 4e Dark Sun handled it (and also gladiators): templar is a theme, not a class. From p 34: A theme embraces characters of almost any class. For example, many templar characters are warlocks, but a templar who serves chiefly as a commander of the sorcerer-king’s troops might be better...

Marvel Multiverse is d666. I haven't read or played it - but from what I've read about it, it's a pretty conventional RPG design. Marvel Heroic RP is less conventional - some people compare it to Fate, although I don't personally think they're as close as is sometimes mooted. I think it's a...