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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 8755640" data-attributes="member: 58197">Say the DM sets up a scenario where the PCs need to get to a place 1,000 miles away, and they have six months to do so. At this point, they can get there on foot. The goal is achievable whether teleportation exists or not.The PCs then spend five and a half months chasing squirrels and not following up on the leads that would tell them what was happening and where they needed to be. At this point, if teleportation does not exist or the PCs don't have access to it, the PCs cannot achieve the goal. But the goal was not unachievable when the DM set it up--it became so because of player decisions.Whether this is bad DMing depends on the group's play style. In a linear "epic quest" campaign, it is bad DMing; the DM should have guided the players back to the main plot, and if the players absolutely insisted on avoiding it, the DM should have either changed the plot (say by pushing the deadline back) or ended the campaign.But in a sandbox-style campaign, where the world evolves in response to the players' actions and there is no single storyline that you Must Complete, it's fine. The PCs failed at this task, they deal with the consequences, and the game goes on.</blockquote>