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Message: <blockquote data-quote="payn" data-source="post: 8542948" data-attributes="member: 90374">So, I'm going to use linear instead of railroad because they mean different things. To many railroad means little to no agency in the hands of the players. Linear means an overarching plot and theme create a boundary for the game. For example, " Odysseus is stuck far away and needs to find his way back home. In working his way back home, he runs into all sorts of fantastical lands, people, and monsters, and has to use his wits and weapons to keep progressing homeward..." there is nothing stopping this from being a linear adventure. Mini escapades dont make a non-linear adventure on their own. Its an imperfect example because its a story that has no participant agency in the outcome.   I think kids have trouble with Odyssey and Divine Comedy because of the writing style. It's from a time they cant relate to. Just like students often glaze over with the flowery prose of Shakespeare because they have little reference for cultural aspect of both the language and the events occurring on page. They might grow an appreciation for this style and become interested in it, or maybe they never will because it isnt relevant to them at this (or any) time in their life.  Perhaps a better example is television writing. In the past, popular television writing had an episodic style. A formula appears around the crew and each week they face a new challenge. Some small threads appear and the characters change over time, but that is largely in the background to give a sense of development and progress. The heart of those stories was an adventure by the characters, for the characters, in an expected fashion for the characters. Modern television writing has become more serial. Where an overarching plot and story develop in each serial piece. All movement is forward, or perhaps backward, but progress is happening in every episode. Often, the world around the characters has more impact on them and their development than the opposite, which is common in episodic writing. Both linear and non-linear can be episodic or serial in their approach. I think folks have a problem with the episodic approach in non-linear games because they have no focus. They must be entirely proactive in their adventuring which adventuring itself is its own reward. A serial minded player wants to see impact both on the character and the world around them. This often requires a lot of investment that episodic style doesn't require.So, ultimately I dont think the style of game (linear vs non-linear) has a lot to do with it. I think overall drive and agency does. What are the boundaries of the game? If you are expected to adventure in the desert, then being a Druid with a Shark companion isn't really going to work. If the band of adventures decides to become sailors or pirates, that doesn't fit the desert theme either. Though, there is no reason a linear adventure cant start in a desert and end up in the ocean. Linear will be driven by the overarching plot in those elements, where nonlinear is often driven by the character's themselves. Furthermore, I think preference for linear or non-linear often comes from your gaming formative preferences. You will likely prefer one method or the other based on the first and most successful attempts at gaming. In the past, there was very little in linear adventure design, so folks had the most experience in a non-linear episodic style game. Modern gamers have a wealth of linear serial style of adventuring material to choose from. -Cheers</blockquote>

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