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OK, after reading the Warz thread, its clear there is a general agreement that at some point TSR and WOTC chose to favor marketing and commercialism over the "needs" of the players. I think there are some disagreements however as to when this very first occured. Personally I think the first...

Hussar: "To me railroading in modules or adventures means that any group proceeding through the module will have almost identical experiences each and every time." Good point. To me the worst offending modules are those that break the DMs back to adapt unexpected free behavior. As P&P...

A destinction needs to be drawn between a module that has 1 or 2 railroading elements (usually to start the adventure like White Plums assumption your going on this mission and saving the role play of accepting the task) and a module with frequent railroading elements that act like a straight...

Terrible analogy guys. You can't compare technological advances in a product type (like a plane) which improve the design over time (becoming faster, lighter, more fuel efficient, more powerful, bigger pay loads, higher altitude, more manuverable etc.) to a game, because a game can be written...

I believe there was something about level limits reflecting a lack of disipline or focus, or greater interets in other things (like gold for dwarves and poetry and song for elves) as longer lived races were more destracted by other things. Another thing to remember is that elves and demihumans...

3E/3.5 are designed to be played as written. They are a wonderfully complete and logical rules set. You couldn't easily remove feats from fighters for instance. Anyhow, as one of the people who does not care for 3E anymore, I can tell you for a fact, that the things I think are 3Es biggest...

Mol, I'm limiting my comments to The Hobbit and LOTR. The other examples I don't know much about (nor any of the Gandalf is an angel stuff). Anyhow, Tolkein was only one example. Many fairy tales have the hero being human who has to ultimately be the one to slay the dragon etc. to rescue...

I don't have any examples sitting in front of me, but I do recall seeing modules where the written description (read to the players by the DM) assumes specific actions that relate to that encounter, and because there is no "map" or way for the DM to get perspective of the entire setting, he's...

Q: "If you've got a portion of the dungeon that gives on a single room, no matter what path you take, and that this room as a single door forward, with a uber powerful trap which would have a single way of being disarmed, then it is a railroad in this precise instance." I totally disagree. If...

Darth, I never used THACO, just tables. So the players did absolutely nothing but role a D20 dice to hit or 2 D10s to save. And most players don't have a clue what they need to hit or save. So its very "cowboy and Indian" in that way. G, I didn't say the elves were similar between AD&D and...

I don't consider constraints at the begining of a module as "railroading" save that one starting point (shipwrecked, inslaved etc.). The rest of the module there are many ways to reach the dungeon, to find out about it, to escape, etc. Look at White Plume Mnt. Its assumed you agreed to...

True, but some modules are written to be run in a railroad fashion and require alot of work on the GMs part to get them to work otherwise. They just aren't open ended. So, consider the question what constitutes a module that fosters railroading by the DM (if you want to get technical). :]...

There seems to be some different definitions floating around. I consider a module "railroading" (to some extent) when the module writer includes an involved story or plot that moves the characters from point a to point b. This can be forced or strongly suggested by the DM (as it has the same...

1979, a monk (don't recall his name) who had some short adventures in town, but died 1 day out on way to old ruins (eaten along with his comrads by a shambling mound). Frustrating as the DM left town shortly after, and we never did see his dungeon, but hooked for life none the less.

Now thats alot of choices. ;)

OK, lets jump to Merric's pole for a complete choice, and keep this one for 1E, 2E and 3E only. ;)

Sure, and in 1E "a few" special elves could attain very high level (but those would be NPCs...PCs are considered the "typical"). Look, the elves were immortal (most alive for 1000s of years), and could practise fighting or casting spells all day for many centurys (compared to 30 yrs or so for...

OD&D has been removed from the original choices, (so its 1E, 2E or 3E). ;) Q: "I agree that this seems as though it may be more an exrcise in confirmation bias than an impartial poll. That said, I voted for the third option, 'cause it and AD&D 2e" This is not an attempt to "confirm bias"...

To the topic: whats wrong with race class limits? Nothing. Those limits are part of the rules that define the game. Anyhow, they also follow the pattern of many fairy tales and popular fantasy novels. Look at LOTR for instance. The elves are immortal. In that time you'd expect them to...