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One thing I've seen in play, and it was confirmed to me by a bunch of players I don't play with in Discord a while back, is that sometimes players will do very incremental or vague action declarations (or more often ask questions) in order to corner the DM so that they must agree to allow the...

I would say it's on the DM then not to assume anything and ask questions to get at the player's goal and approach.

I treat it the same as every other action declaration: What is your goal, and what is your approach to achieving that goal? Then I decide whether, given the approach to the goal in the context of the situation, if it is an outright success, outright failure, or has an uncertain outcome. If...

I have a No Assumptions Policy. I lay out whatever variants or houserules I'm employing in a game (which vary from game to game as needed to support the theme), and ask DMs whose games I join for the same information. Having no expectations except one of open communication means I'm rarely...

My regular group covers a lot of content in any given 4-hour session. I sometimes play with other groups (or watch actual plays) who seem like they are standing still by comparison. We play weekly, online with a VTT, no more than 6 players and on average 5. We're not playing any modules right...

It's pretty rare when I implement house rules, but I do frequently turn on or off variant rules to suit the game I'm trying to run or include or exclude other options (such as particular races or classes). Generally I will do so as needed, informing the players of my choices and why I made them...

Most in my experience don't want feedback - they want validation for all those amazing no-stakes shopping and tavern scenes. It's best to hash out what you like and don't like in Session 0 in my view so the DM knows what to do in advance (and you, too). By the time you're offering feedback after...

It's too ill-defined for my taste. When I sit down to plan an adventure or campaign, my first question is what kind of experience I'm trying to bring about at the table. What's this game supposed to be about? Then I think about what dials need to be tuned to ensure everything is pointing in that...

It really depends on the kind of game you're trying to create in my opinion. But those levels in my experience do offer good survivability and interesting characer build options for the PCs and a wide spectrum of potential foes/hazards without it getting to complicated for the DM to challenge...

This sounds like a lot more effort and granularity for not enough upside in my view. And a higher chance of being inconsistent with the DCs on accident. My middle-aged brain is all for simplicity these days!

That's only true if the DM represented their game as a sandbox, but is actually running a plot-based game, and tricks or coerces the players to stay on the plot even though they would choose otherwise. If the players know it's a plot-based game, and agreed to play it, then there's no railroading...

I try not to proliferate the use of Forge waffle, which I believe that is.

I'm not sure I understand. Can you explain what you mean? I think rather it's just doing what the rules say to do when playing the game. It has the add-on effect of incentivizing players to do certain things, such as boldly confronting deadly perils in worlds of swords and sorcery, which in...

How do players "get XP independently" when, per the rules, the DM is the one who decides how and when XP is earned? Which people are those? What are they training them to do?

You appear to reference that here, where you put XP and free will in opposition ("vs") in some sense.

Oh, I'm aware of its use. I just find it leads to all sorts of confusion. Look no further than these forums to see it in action. This very thread even. Definitions should serve to clarify in my view, not obfuscate.

It doesn't really have anything to do with "free will" in my view. That was brought up by you in one post upthread, and someone else later as a way to describe what they see as a difference between milestone XP and standard XP. It does have an effect on what decisions players make in my...

And that is where people start to apply it so broadly it loses all meaning to the point of some really ridiculous definitions that were recently thrown around in another thread. It's not a rail - it's a plot. It's railroading - which is by definition bad - when the players are seemingly offered...

Railroading literally means being coerced or tricked into doing something. That can't happen if you freely agree to it. You probably think of everything in terms of a sandbox. That's not how every game is designed. Pick the XP system that fits the game being played.

It's not a railroad if nobody's being coerced or tricked. If we all agree to follow the plot of Hoard of the Dragon Queen to the best of our ability and get XP for doing that, that consent and behavior means there's no railroading going on. If we all agree that stealing the throne of the kobold...