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The way I handle it is to give the players a list of 3 or 4 options and tell them to choose one or add one of their own. Sometimes, especially at critical campaign direction changing moments I'll even do a survey. But I think a lot of GMs feel your pain. I get where a player can get frustrated...

Railroad has always been a negative. Linear acknowledges that there are defined points, which happens in all sorts of games.

Blaming the victim isn't a good look.

It's a pejorative to a lot of people. It's like saying something offensive and saying "It's just a joke." It doesn't change anything and there's no reason to use it as a description of a style of game. I'm okay with linear campaigns if you say all linear campaigns are railroads you already...

Character freedom varies significantly from one campaign to the next. I'm playing a game set in FR using Candlekeep Mysteries. I can play any species in the book but it's all fairly linear games. Meanwhile in my games I provide a sandbox that's pretty wide open but I limit allowed species. Is...

If a GM is suggesting a campaign for the group that's linear, they should let the players know and get buy-in. They are not interchangeable. That's the point. Calling someone's game a railroad is knowingly using a word widely accepted as a pejorative when there is a perfectly valid term. If I...

Yeah, different strokes for different folks and all that. But it is a very different approach to the way the fiction of the game plays out. But it's like saying that ice cream and cottage cheese are exactly the same because they're both made with milk. They share some similarities, from a...

The results of an attack may be something other than damage but it's still a limited and constrained list. The runes could have been practically anything. There's nothing inherently wrong with that if its what you want. But an attack and its results are actions with specific results, not...

I've had a couple of games with bad DMs over the years, they didn't have second session. Other games I left because the DM was decent but it wasn't for me. A mediocre GM is one thing, a truly bad GM in my experience (an apparently yours) doesn't retain players.

A couple levels aren't a big deal, as others stated you had staggered leveling in 1e. In 5e I always keep people the same level but I stopped using XP quite a while ago. Its really just a preference thing now.

I can't help it if you don't like my opinions on what I prefer for gaming. But I don't do it to purposely annoy people.

I don't think going out of your way to annoy people on purpose is a good thing

There's a difference between railroad and linear to me. To me a railroad means the GM overrides everything, no choice ever matters and do on. It's linear on steroids.

Sure, it would be great if we never had bad GMs. Text in a book will never be a panacea.

No, I meant I like the way D&D works. I, and others, have stated a preference. You want something else? Play something else. I like A, you like B, have fun with B is not "resistance" it's having different preferences. It can. If it does the DM likely won't have players for long. Also, linear...

By "resistance" you mean expressing preferences? Because I see a lot of D&D leads to railroading, DMs demanding absolute authority, that players are just pawns, that players having narrative control over the world is exactly the same as rolling to see if a character's attack hits. The criticism...

Then the issue fixed itself. Which is typically what happens. There's a bunch of other text I could quote, about how the DM pitches ideas and discusses what the players want to do. Other sections that talk about the goal is fun for all, the list goes on. Point is if you have a bad DM like...

If altering the meaning of the runes works for you, go for it. I don't want to play that game for multiple reasons. But they are not in any way the same thing.

I wouldn't put up with that DM for long. Did you? The rules in D&D also tells the DM "Being clear about your expectations and making sure you understand your players’ expectations in return can help ensure a smooth game. Take your players’ opinions and desires seriously, and make sure they...

I run a mostly sandbox game but I would still rank my games somewhere around 3-5 on my scale. Even though I always give people options and choices I ask that they decide where there headed before the session so I can figure out details. Even then I think possible approaches, what's going on and...