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<blockquote data-quote="Stalker0" data-source="post: 8694530" data-attributes="member: 5889">I think we can also debate the notion of DMs offering a &quot;false choice&quot; vs players imposing a &quot;choice outside the plot&quot;.The 3 door scenario is an example of the former. The DM is directly implying to the players, &quot;I am giving you a choice&quot; but then is not.In the latter example, the DM goes &quot;alright you all are heading head back to Balwick city right?&quot; The players nods and the DM gets his encounter ready, when one of the players goes, &quot;hey all, maybe we shouldn't go the direct way back, maybe we should take that longer route Gurney told us about, could be safer&quot; The players debate for 10 minutes, going through teh pros and cons. The DM honestly doesn't care, they didn't have any bandit encounters planned, they just wanted the players to meet NPC X to kick off the next plot. Whichever way the players decide to go, NPC X will show up.So in the second example, the players have &quot;imposed&quot; a choice on the DM, its just not a choice that will have any impact on the plot. Another example of this is...a PC chat ups a given person in a tavern who is not important to the plot in the slightest. Maybe its a fun encounter, but ultimately the DM isn't going to do anything with it, the plot moves on. This is a form of railroading but I say its not a true evil, its just the DM focusing the story. Whereas the first scenario is a harsher one, as the DM is effectively &quot;promising&quot; the players a choice, but then not delivering.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Stalker0, post: 8694530, member: 5889"] I think we can also debate the notion of DMs offering a "false choice" vs players imposing a "choice outside the plot". The 3 door scenario is an example of the former. The DM is directly implying to the players, "I am giving you a choice" but then is not. In the latter example, the DM goes "alright you all are heading head back to Balwick city right?" The players nods and the DM gets his encounter ready, when one of the players goes, "hey all, maybe we shouldn't go the direct way back, maybe we should take that longer route Gurney told us about, could be safer" The players debate for 10 minutes, going through teh pros and cons. The DM honestly doesn't care, they didn't have any bandit encounters planned, they just wanted the players to meet NPC X to kick off the next plot. Whichever way the players decide to go, NPC X will show up. So in the second example, the players have "imposed" a choice on the DM, its just not a choice that will have any impact on the plot. Another example of this is...a PC chat ups a given person in a tavern who is not important to the plot in the slightest. Maybe its a fun encounter, but ultimately the DM isn't going to do anything with it, the plot moves on. This is a form of railroading but I say its not a true evil, its just the DM focusing the story. Whereas the first scenario is a harsher one, as the DM is effectively "promising" the players a choice, but then not delivering. [/QUOTE]

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