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May be a "kids these days" thing, perhaps, but I've definitely run into a Brit or two who have stared at me blankly when I used feet to describe distance.

Maybe this is part of why we aren't in agreement. I don't think anyone is suggesting that what you've written makes for a good game. If the players have to go to the volcano "against all wishes, logic, and circumstances," then heck, yeah, you've got a railroad. But if you've thrown the ring...

I think we all understand that, and implying that anyone in this conversation doesn't is a straw man argument. I have not read a single post in these two long threads (and I certainly haven't written one) that states or implies that the poster likes to take meaningful choice out of the game...

Armorcast is also a good source--mostly stuff for 40K-style miniatures wargaming, but plenty that works for RPGs and fantasy as well. I have a zillion of their tree stumps, logs, stone walls, barrels, and crates, along with a few river sections and gothic ruins.

I think perhaps the most American-centric element of D&D (and most RPGs) is the use of inches and feet in measurement. Here in the UK it's not that big a deal--inches and feet are about as common as metric. Elsewhere, it's all metric. Tell someone one square equals five feet, and they'll shrug...

Great post, generally. You could also add a list almost that long about the role of religion in society (and government). I don't fully agree with your conclusion, though. When I started my current (now two years running) campaign by explaining that the setting was Europe in 1198, the players...

Hmm. I don't think bluffing in poker is quite the same as what I'm trying to convey. As you point out, bluffing in poker is an attempt to influence the decisions of other players. But in my examples, the GM isn't attempting to influence the players one way or the other. He's simply trying to...

My answer applies to homemade adventures and would at the least require some polish before it would be truly useful to published adventure authors. Bullet points are your friend. They help you focus on what's actually important without getting bogged down in details. They keep things succinct...

I'm not sure about your point here; whether it's about uncertainty as a necessary part of the RPG experience, or simply belabouring a technical definition of the word "game" that might not be relevant to many of us. Assuming the former, I think you're a hair off. The decision-making process...

Very nicely put. Couldn't agree more. My point (and I think we're in agreement on this) is that the above is not antithetical to plot. The GM simply needs to understand that his plot, just like his encounters and scenes, starts according to his vision, then is in the hands of entire group...

I wonder if part of our disagreement may be that we're glossing over the concept of "outcome." In the analogies used in this thread, Batman catches the Joker, the Allies take the beach at Normandy, the Ring is thrown into the volcano, and Team A won 7-6. Those are the outcomes we've talked...

Somewhere along the way, without me consciously realizing it (I'm like a frog in a pot of water, I guess), the concept of "having a plot" has become synonymous with "knowing how the game will end." I've contributed to it myself, by running with the D-Day analogy and ruminating on whether knowing...

Sorry if I misunderstood your intent, or was a little sharp in my response. What I read was: KidSnide: Faced with players who don't play the game the GM prepared, a GM can A) talk the players into going along, or B) run something else. You: Or C) railroad. My point was simply that we should...

Hussar and I seem to be on the same side of the argument, but my point is not really the same as his (though I think his is true and valid). My point is that even though we know the outcome of the battle, the first 24 minutes of Saving Private Ryan are still engrossing, thrilling, and intense...

I think it's Reaper that I got a campfire set from. Given how many scenes in the typical RPG take place around the heroes' encampment, I'm astonished how long it took me to find a simple campfire. (Yellow d4s get old after a while. . . .)

I think this thread is headed for closedville, so I'll get in my thoughts quickly. The artwork isn't to my tastes. But it and this thread remind me of Shelly Mazzanoble's columns and book: They reflect a different way of looking at our hobby and game. They push out beyond the boundaries of what...

If he is a crap GM. You have a whole lot of people on this thread speaking intelligently and eloquently about how they can and have (in some cases, thousands of times over decades of gaming) deal with the unexpected in a plotted game and end up with a result that is satisfactory and fun for...

Fair enough. I feel vindicated, then, since my first post basically said "plot does not equal railroading."

I agree that game wikis can be hard to navigate, but I think that's more an issue of the typical wiki structure: You're supposed to find topics through search or links, rather than an index. (In my game wiki (here, if you're interested), I've gotten around this by creating and maintaining an...

But that leads me back to my original point, actually: Good GMing doesn't involve "leading players by the nose." So we both agree that a plot hook is fine (and we seem to agree that 99% of the time, the players will run with it). We accept the expectation that the plot hook will lead to a...