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Incorrect. I am not saying "this is rational therefore you should like it". That is a stupid thing to say and I would never say that. I am saying there is a difference between "Oh man, group initiative makes it feel like ol' fashioned Deee ennn Deee! And that's funnnnnn" (Nostalgia) " and...

Nostalgia is an irrational attachment to something because it's old, like Death Ray saving throws. 5e sold on a rational attachment to a game people played and that game worked for them. Different thing.

I think people overestimate the influence of online cliques on sales. But only time will tell how well 5th does.

I would characterize it as: I love that they didn't dial back the original and innovative and radical openness of how fighters and tactics were treated in the early editions for what I saw as backsliding into familiar pre-RPG territory in later editions. But different rhetoric for different...

Once I made a character and saw how easy it was I switched over my home game from the hack I had---which was no mean feat, they were all 10th-14th level. Very pleased, mostly.

It's interesting is all. That's my main point. I dont' recommend it and it has never worked for me or my group, but it's interesting.

There are parts of Burning Wheel which are explicitly written for people who would get in fights when using D&D or for people who couldn't get D&D to do suuuuuuper basic D&D 101 things (like handling duels of wits without defaulting to "Roll. Roll."). So if you are so into D&D that you are...

Better writer or same writer with more time=more expensive=more possibilities written down=less railroady It's not complicated. A monthly comic costs x dollars and takes y days to produce and sells for z dollars. A painted graphic novel can cost 2x dollars, take 2y days to produce and sell for...

With art and graphic design I can tell you 100% in every single case I have ever seen or ever worked on more time will get you a better product--and, unless you stumble backwards into a brand new undiscovered talent, more money will too. I am not saying that WOTC will use it wisely, I am...

That doesn't really affect my point either way. Someone is going to write it and that someone is either going to have more time and money than usual or not.

Of course "better" is subjective but "had enough time to make sure I did all the things I was trying to do and had enough money to hire the artists and graphic designers I thought would be best at putting it together" are not. Either you put out the best thing you thought you could or you go...

My advice (and the advice of most creative people, I suspect) has always been: Less modules and supplements--but spend more time and money making them better. Maybe they've decided to follow it.

When me and the girls started getting back into D&D, I just used the rules I already knew. Then I had a blog. Only later did people say "Oh that's called being OSR". (Usually because they were angry at OSR people for some random dumb reason). When I go to these charity celebrity D&D events in...

I make my own stuff because I don't have time to prep modules. By the time I wade through the flavor text trying to find the meat and take notes on what's actually relevant so I can run it with some confidence I know wtf is going on it's taken 3 times as long as writing my own thing PLUS the...

Traditionally, players control what their characters try to do, GMs control everything else. If the GM controls a character or uses the "Everything else" so powerfully that the player ceases to feel they are controlling what their characters try to do, that's railroading (if they notice and...

Y'know, it's easy to get lost in abstractions without an example on the table everyone has access to. Here's a sandbox: http://save.vs.totalpartykill.ca/grab-bag/hexenbracken/ As you can see--it's wide open on the one hand--on the other hand, it's so big that the descriptions are vague. Which...

The term theory heads use for consciously enjoying railroading is "participationism". And "adventure paths" are definitely that--there are many opportunities in the modules with that label to offer more choice that are not taken and there is explicit advice to ensure certain set-pieces occur...

Thanks---it ended up being reallllly long, but I was tired of having the same Railroad Vs Sandbox discussions over and over, so tried to break it down to all the variants you see out there.

It is if you let it be, it totally is. and at home DM's should aim (or free themselves) to make good railroads. ..if their players like that sort of thing. Which they don't always.

The players decide if it is terrible, but whether they regard it as terrible or not, it will alter the gameworld--so the PCs are essentially deciding if they want to play in the world they know and signed up for or a drastically altered one. They may plump for the latter--but it'll still be...