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<blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 4260274" data-attributes="member: 15538"><p>Not. Railroading.</p><p></p><p>Conditions are not railroading. Without limitations, you have no game at all.</p><p></p><p>GM: You see a 10' x 10' room. There is an orc in it. He is guarding a pie. What do you do?</p><p>Player 1: I draw my lightsaber.</p><p>Player 2: I loot his dead body.</p><p>Player 3: I knock both of the orcs out by throwing them against each other.</p><p></p><p>Player 1 is not accepting the limitations of his role; he is (at least in this example) a D&D character, not a Jedi. Player 2 is not accepting the limitations of the system on his actions; he has not yet defeated the orc. Player 3 is not accepting a limitation on his described actions; in this case, he is not accepting that there is only one orc, and that D&D does not have a "knock two thugs together" manuever.</p><p></p><p>To railroad is to curtail available choices. But characters in a dungeon face only pseudo-realistic limitations. Railroading prevents meaningful choices.</p><p></p><p>A dungeon setting is simply a kind of physical setting with its own limitations. It is not railroading any more than stating a Marvel Super Heroes game is taking place in New York City or Gamma World on post-apocalyptic Earth or that a vampire in a Vampire:The Requiem game awakens hungry and alone in a warehouse. The dungeon IS the story. At worst, PCs can leave the dungeon, if that is physically possible, and ignore its contents.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pawsplay, post: 4260274, member: 15538"] Not. Railroading. Conditions are not railroading. Without limitations, you have no game at all. GM: You see a 10' x 10' room. There is an orc in it. He is guarding a pie. What do you do? Player 1: I draw my lightsaber. Player 2: I loot his dead body. Player 3: I knock both of the orcs out by throwing them against each other. Player 1 is not accepting the limitations of his role; he is (at least in this example) a D&D character, not a Jedi. Player 2 is not accepting the limitations of the system on his actions; he has not yet defeated the orc. Player 3 is not accepting a limitation on his described actions; in this case, he is not accepting that there is only one orc, and that D&D does not have a "knock two thugs together" manuever. To railroad is to curtail available choices. But characters in a dungeon face only pseudo-realistic limitations. Railroading prevents meaningful choices. A dungeon setting is simply a kind of physical setting with its own limitations. It is not railroading any more than stating a Marvel Super Heroes game is taking place in New York City or Gamma World on post-apocalyptic Earth or that a vampire in a Vampire:The Requiem game awakens hungry and alone in a warehouse. The dungeon IS the story. At worst, PCs can leave the dungeon, if that is physically possible, and ignore its contents. [/QUOTE]
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