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<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 8698663" data-attributes="member: 2629">Some of us have been making the point that, over the long haul, players will definitely be able to tell that you slap things together rather than plan them out.&nbsp; We all have to improvise some as players are unpredictable, but the more you do it - and the more you decide to do it, the more obvious it will be.&nbsp; If you think, &quot;I do this all the time and players do not know&quot; - you may be wrong.&nbsp; And even when you're right - even when players lack the experience with prepared DMs and only know DMs that use this 'invisible railroad' - most will find themselves enjoying a well designed experience far more when exposed to it, all else equal.&nbsp; This is not rocket science.&nbsp; This is not controversial.&nbsp; Everywhere you go in life, the people that put in the effort and prepare better generally do better at the things they try to do.&nbsp; The people that 'fake it' and 'make it up as they go along' generally do worse.&nbsp; And I'll reiterate it once again: We all have to improvise at times.&nbsp; We must put things together on the spot, and sometimes that requires us to use techniques like the OP suggests ... the debate at hand is not whether these tools should exist: It is whether you should plan to use them as your primary option or if you're going to provide a better experience by providing a well thought out, internally cohesive, and systemically complementary story, adventure and setting.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 8698663, member: 2629"] Some of us have been making the point that, over the long haul, players will definitely be able to tell that you slap things together rather than plan them out. We all have to improvise some as players are unpredictable, but the more you do it - and the more you [I]decide[/I] to do it, the more obvious it will be. If you think, "I do this all the time and players do not know" - you may be wrong. And even when you're right - even when players lack the experience with prepared DMs and only know DMs that use this 'invisible railroad' - most will find themselves enjoying a well designed experience far more when exposed to it, all else equal. This is not rocket science. This is not controversial. Everywhere you go in life, the people that put in the effort and prepare better generally do better at the things they try to do. The people that 'fake it' and 'make it up as they go along' generally do worse. And I'll reiterate it once again: We all [I]have[/I] to improvise at times. We must put things together on the spot, and sometimes that requires us to use techniques like the OP suggests ... the debate at hand is not whether these tools should exist: It is whether you should plan to use them as your primary option or if you're going to provide a better experience by providing a well thought out, internally cohesive, and systemically complementary story, adventure and setting. [/QUOTE]

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